A review by rayne_1906
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

3 hours 15 minutes - I was very much on the fence about whether to rate this 4.25 or 4.5, but I eventually elected to go with the higher of the two. This came as a surprise to myself, as I really struggled through the first 25 pages of this book, after which point I put it down for the night. I came back to it the next day, a little apprehensive and demotivated, as it hadn't really made me want to carry on reading at that point, but I am glad that I did. From that point onwards, there was rarely a dull moment. The writing was clever, in making you feel and believe exactly what the main character did, which led to some really good plot twists. Speaking of which, there were multiple times in this book where I thought, ahh yes I know where this is going, and then the story changed in front of my eyes, but in a way that made sense, no plot twists for the sake of plot twists. One downside to this book is that there is a lot of terminology, in another language, that often isn't immediately described, or wasn't at all to my recollection, and sometimes it all became a little hard to keep track of. I think this is what put me off initially, right at the beginning. However, this quickly became an amazing read, and left me many times thinking how much I loved the book while reading it.
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