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A review by booksnooksandglory
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This is fantasy YA on crack.
And I love it.
I'm going to try to keep this to just the book but I watched the adaptation (more times than the healthy amount) and that might influence the review, sorry in advance, but I plan on rereading it soon before reading Siege and Storm because the changes in the adaptation might confuse me.
I get now why people love Leigh's writing, I understood why people love her as an author persona, but now I get the love for the storyteller.
I hated Six of Crows so for those who tried "the better series" and gave up on Leigh, give this a go, you will probably understand the angles and the potential her stories have and view it as a slow-burn plot instead of a "boring" one that turns "good" towards the ending.
I'll say; since I was disappointed by SoC I didn't give this one a fair chance, so I abandoned it 24 pages in, and what a mistake that was, when I gave it another go I got hooked on page 36, yep when The Darkling got introduced.
The darling was what got me into the story and what made me love it. This is not me thirsting over a fictional character, he was the driving force of the plot.I'm not a Darklina shipper, but I love The Darkling, he can go fck himself, but as a character, he is well written. I don't want to insert messages that Leigh didn't intend but I think he was what all YA readers need to see, the bad side of powerful men, even if they are hot, even if they give attention and comfort to the MC. He was so manipulative it was amazing, I still don't know if he cared about Alina. He didn't love her, you don't enslave, manipulate or exploit the power of someone you love, but he might have adored her like a reader adores a pretty edition of a book, like a mechanic adores a useful tool.
Yes, Alina is pretty basic in the book and Mal is the Gale version of S&B but that wasn't too annoying.
Anyway, if you wanna read hardcore YA fantasy give it a go, and stream Shadow and Bone on Netflix 'cause although the books are better the performances are perfect, and staring at Jessie Mei Li as Alina is good for the soul.
I'm going to try to keep this to just the book but I watched the adaptation (more times than the healthy amount) and that might influence the review, sorry in advance, but I plan on rereading it soon before reading Siege and Storm because the changes in the adaptation might confuse me.
I get now why people love Leigh's writing, I understood why people love her as an author persona, but now I get the love for the storyteller.
I hated Six of Crows so for those who tried "the better series" and gave up on Leigh, give this a go, you will probably understand the angles and the potential her stories have and view it as a slow-burn plot instead of a "boring" one that turns "good" towards the ending.
I'll say; since I was disappointed by SoC I didn't give this one a fair chance, so I abandoned it 24 pages in, and what a mistake that was, when I gave it another go I got hooked on page 36, yep when The Darkling got introduced.
The darling was what got me into the story and what made me love it. This is not me thirsting over a fictional character, he was the driving force of the plot.
Yes, Alina is pretty basic in the book and Mal is the Gale version of S&B but that wasn't too annoying.
Anyway, if you wanna read hardcore YA fantasy give it a go, and stream Shadow and Bone on Netflix 'cause although the books are better the performances are perfect, and staring at Jessie Mei Li as Alina is good for the soul.