Title: Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy, fantasy romance
Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Group
Publication Date: 2012
Format: Paperback Print
Length: 358 pages

Rating:

I’ve come to the Shadow and Bone series very late in comparison to most of the world. Bardugo’s Alex Stern adult fantasy series (see Ninth House and Hell Bent) is what first made me a fan of her work, but as Shadow and Bone is currently an incredibly popular Netflix show, I’ve been seeing promotion for these books everywhere and knew I needed to give them a try. Luckily I have a close friend who already had the whole box series to lend to me and I’ve been binging them ever since.

Shadow and Bone is such a beautifully crafted fantasy. The Grishaverse, or the world of magic in which the books are set, is so well constructed that from the beginning of the first novel, you get a real feel for the scope of the magic and the hierarchy of society. I love the limitations on power that Bardugo has created for the majority of the characters, and the exception to these limitations that manifest in some of the core conflicts. This first book had so many aspects of fantasy that I love in a novel: a great female main character with deep flaws, a magic school, a court steeped in drama and intrigue, and a really meaty plot. Combined with pacing that moved at a really good clip, I was completely hooked.

Shadow and Bone set the scene for an epic fantasy series. I’m already plowing through book two at record speed right now, so it should be no surprise at all that I rated the first book 5 stars.

Fair warning: spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read this book.

The Book: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone begins first by introducing Alina Starkov and Malyen (Mal) Oretsev, two orphans who are taken in by a Duke in the country of Ravka who has opened his country estate to orphans in need of housing and education. Alina and Mal arrive at the estate around the same time and spend their childhood growing up here. They’re tested when they’re 8 years old by three Grisha, (those born with abilities that seem like magic) to determine whether or not they are Grisha themselves. Still, it seems quickly apparent that neither contains the ability to use what’s called Small Science. The result is that both children continue to be raised on the estate until they are old enough to enter military service.

From here, the story flashes forward to Alina and Mal as soldiers in the First Army, the name for the army of soldiers without Grisha. The story is told from Alina’s perspective, who is in her early years of apprenticing as a cartographer. She and Mal are still friends, but Mal is now a tracker of renown in the First Army with his own life, friends, and romantic interests. Alina has only ever had Mal, so his new interests and companions hurt her, but she refuses to let on, instead trudging through life convinced she’s been given the lot she deserves.

The plot quickly advances as Alina and Mal’s respective units prepare to cross the Fold, a barren, waterless sea covered in shadow and plagued by creatures called the Volcra, who live in the shadows and feast on anyone who enters the darkness. The Fold was created by a Grisha called the Black Heretic, who made it accidentally when attempting to manipulate magic beyond what should be possible to any Grisha or mortal being. The Fold has since separated Ravka from itself and its neighbouring countries, making it impossible to transport supplies and cutting Ravka off from the rest of the world (and, in turn, any scientific, technological, or agricultural advancements). As almost no one is able to cross the Fold and live, the task of transporting goods across the expanse falls to the military, who hope that they can hold off the Volcra through the sheer force of rifles and the abilities of the Grisha.

As Alina’s unit crosses the sand sea on the sand skiff they’re assigned to, they’re immediately attacked by Volcra. The fight becomes so dire that everyone around her is being carried off by the winged creatures or eaten. To protect Alina, Mal takes a hit from the Volcra. In an attempt to save a wounded Mal, Alina uses her body to shield him, but when the Volcra attacks her, she bursts into blinding white light, the major weakness of the Volcra. She then collapses before being whisked back to the shore, where the Grisha immediately takes her captive and forces her into displaying her abilities again, which before this day, she had not known she possessed.

The Grisha bring Alina to their leader, the most powerful of all Grisha named the Darkling. The Darkling can manipulate shadows and it is his ancestors who accidentally created the Fold. He concludes that Alina is a Sun Summoner, one who can summon light, and the last of her kind. Despite her protestations, they sweep her away to the capital city of Os Alta and the palace where the Grisha are educated and trained for military service. Alina is taken away before she can even say goodbye to Mal as the Grisha race her to the capital before word of her abilities can spread and Ravka’s enemies can kill Alina for what she can do.

When Alina arrives at the Grand Palace of the King and his family, she’s welcomed as the saviour of their times despite her total inability to call her own power. When she is brought to the Little Palace, which is the home of the Grisha, she’s equally welcomed, though it’s clear all those around her have questionable intentions. The Grisha rule through their power, with those with the most energy demanding the most respect, and as a Grisha who can’t control her own abilities at all, Alina flounders. She comes from nothing and has had no training in combat, court intrigue, or politics, and suddenly she is expected to understand it all. Combined with her homesickness and missing Mal, she struggles to adjust.

Eventually, once Alina has accepted that Mal is gone with no intention of keeping in touch (after her weekly letters go unanswered), she begins to accept the Little Palace as her home and her place among the Grisha. This belief has transformative effects on her abilities, and she begins to actually understand the role she might be able to play in saving her country. Once she’s accepted her fate, she begins working closely with the Darkling to find a solution to the eternal issue of the Fold and learns that beyond her abilities, there are many political aspects to her place among the Grisha. All is not as it seems and she’ll be betrayed many times over before she learns she must make a choice about what role she wants to play in Ravka’s ultimate fate.

The Review

What a wonderfully meaty plot with a beautifully constructed universe. I loved the Grishaverse and all the varying hierarchies within it. Sometimes the world-building aspect of a plot can feel really overwhelming as a reader, but I thought Bardugo did a superb job of building a relatively complicated world in a super understandable way. I loved learning about the various aspects of both the human and Grisha societies and how they all were woven together to create the struggling country of Ravka.

I also loved the nature of the magic that the Grisha held. It’s described as the Small Science as it’s supposed to be more of a manipulation of scientific principles than it is actual “magic.” I loved that the darker aspects of magic were perversions of this nature, ones that left the universe unbalanced, and that that imbalance caused massive disasters like the Fold.

While the setting and the magic were superb, the characters really brought it all to life. Seeing Alina come into her own, and all the complicated parts of her past and present that create barriers to her doing so is a really compelling journey. I found she could be frustrating and childish at times, but it seemed appropriate she was this way given how she’d been thrust into this role she knew nothing about. The Darkling was also a fascinating character to play off of her, very much her opposite and yet, also similar. You can feel something is off about him throughout the book, but you can’t quite pinpoint how until everything comes to a bit of a head and it all snaps into place.

Mal was the only character I didn’t love. He’s a love interest, but he seems so limited. He ignores Alina until he’s already lost her, and when he comes back to her, he’s irrationally upset about aspects of her experience that she had no control over. I just found him to be overly emotional and unnecessarily brutal on her when it wasn’t warranted, and the result is a lot of turmoil and conflict for her.

From the very first chapter, I was emotionally invested in Shadow and Bone. It’s so wonderfully written with so many aspects that you can dive into. It’s probably one of the best YA novels I’ve read in a long time and I think it has so much potential for the rest of the series. I’m already a good way through book two and loving it, so really looking forward to getting through this series this month!