A review by margueritestjust
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

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

3.5

This book is a perfectly fine book - it just doesn't do much beyond that.  It all felt like something I'd seen before. 

I think some of the character writing felt unrealized and conflicting - mostly on Alina's end.  I couldn't figure out how the character was supposed to be growing - most of the writing in this book really seemed to focus more on the world-building rather than character, and Alina seemed pretty stagnant for most of the story.  She was a mapmaker, then suddenly she lives this life in this palace and perhaps it's just the fantasy reader in me but it seemed she just....wasn't making any effort to learn about her power and grow it.  It also seemed weird how much of the book was built around difficult relationships or mentorships.  Maybe not weird, but it did feel fairly juvenile - like oh no Zoya hates her for no reason, ugh I can't believe Botkin and Baghra are being hard on her when she has no training and doesn't seem particularly interested in learning.  Zoya was in particular the most egregious - it lent a lot of Mary Sue-ishness to Alina because it's a staple of those kind of stories.  If the conflict had been addressed with any of Zoya's reasonings behind it, I think it would have come across better, especially if it forced Alina to grow as a character, but there was literally NO explanation given. As a result the conflicts for most of the book just kind of....fizzled out because Alina never actually tried to address any of the conflicts. 

I think that the Darkling is definitely an interesting character in the sense that the "bad boy" in love triangles usually doesn't have their bad traits explored and shown to be bad, as usually in YA books the difference between the two love interests is cosmetic and aesthetic over everything else.  It's a bit bolder to explore this attraction to a villain, the villain, even, and show how much it brings ruin to Alina's life.  As for writing feeling unrealized in particular, near the end
Alina's big moment of triumph and defining moment as a character is when she realizes that by showing mercy to the stag, she has claim to its power.  Then she abandons the skiff with Mal and she feels guilt about abandoning the ambassadors on it, but then the Darkling shouts after her if abandoning them to the Volcra is her idea of mercy and she says in her mind that it's the kind of mercy that he taught her and doesn't seem all that torn up about it, then later feels immense guilt.  Like...what?  I can see what the author was trying to do, and it's an interesting, complex theme, but it's a moment that deserved a lot more clarification for it to have been carried out and had it make sense.


Having finished the book and then the first series of the television show, it's one of those rare cases where I actually felt that the show managed to complexify the themes and characters that were present in the book, though of course there were a few moments that got lost in translation to the screen.  Spoilers for both the book and show below. 
I think the most  disappointing moment that wasn't there in translation from book to screen was the idea that because Alina had shown mercy to the stag, the power of the amplifier went to her because in that moment she has power over its life, and that, more than if it was actually killed or not, mattered to her power.  This was the most interesting idea by far that had been presented in the book and on screen she what?  Poked out the stump of bone in his hand and that was what freed herself?  It was just.......so uninspired and so much less complex.
  This is a book that has an interesting world, and interesting ideas, but a lot of it comes in middling-to-decent YA packaging.  However, this was a debut I believe, and so I tried to keep that in mind when comparing it to this author's later work with the Six of Crows duology, which is just stunning.  I plan on reading the next two when I can visit my library next.  I'm still interested in seeing how this all ends up shaking out.
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