Shadow and Bone: The Collector's Edition (Shadow and Bone Trilogy)

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His screams faded into the sounds of battle as the volca carried him into the dark. Another burst of flame lit the sky, but he was gone. I couldn't believe any of the words I had read. I just stared at my Kindle for a few moments. Wait...what? What about the kisses and the moments that Alina and the Darkling shared? I admit that I like Mal more than the Darkling, but it was still an intriguing relationship. And the way it was written was just flawless. I was sad to see it go, but if the Darkling had been lying about his goals, he wasn't good for Alina anyway. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? If only the story was as intriguing and interesting as the premise would suggest. There's nothing new here. That isn't always necessarily a bad thing; common tropes can still be very successful when executed well, but that isn't the case with "Shadow and Bone." The plot boils down to the same tired story we've seen again and again in YA novels: a normal, plain (or so she thinks) girl finds out she has an incredible power and gets to play dress up while training to use her special ability, all while trying to decide who she really loves: her best friend or the supernatural bad boy that has just walked into her life. Many other clichés can also be found: Alina's parents are dead; Alina has no female friends...in fact, she automatically hates every girl or woman she sees; everyone sees Alina as desirable or enviable; and the list just goes on. If you've read much YA, you'll likely be able to predict most of the events before they happen, as there are very few (read: no) surprising twists. This story has been done before, and it's been done better. Compared to the average YA fantasy book, I have no complaints about the plot. It felt unique, thrilling, and plenty interesting (again, when not compared to SoC). It's always great to dive in to a new world of fantasy, full of interesting characters, and complemented by a vivid world. We all know how great Bardugo is at that. This first book of Grishaverse offers a fast-paced series of events, with some minor twists here and there. I would've preferred it be a little more complicated, with a couple of interesting side quests, but, we are only progressing along a single story line for now. Still, it's a good one.

More importantly, for me, was the violence, court intrigue and sexy times of which make up some part of this novel. These aspects were definitely there but they were flirted with. I would have liked more of these and a little less of the boarding-house shenanigans and bitchy-mean girl drama. It was outside these factors that I loved the novel. She's a pretty realistic character overall. You can find such people in the real world - unlike main characters in other books. I thought the plot was very well done and I got so caught up in the story that the plot twists just blew me away. I was so engrossed that by the time the climax hit I felt an intake of breath and couldn't tear myself away from the book for the duration of the read!For a while now this series has winked at me from my bookshelf. I know the high around the writer Leigh Bardugo and I have long wanted to see what and why people love her books so much. now I get it. She is indeed a good writer. Except Genya, I think Genya likes Alina because Alina sees her as a person and treats her like a friend. I really liked Genya. I KNEW Alexei was gonna get snatched by a volcra in the beginning. I knew it. I knew he wasn't gonna make it through the Shadow Fold. I liked him in the brief time that he was around in the story. Poor Alexei didn't stand a chance. KVAS. OH MY GOD, KVAS. Dear Alina, a boy who groped you while drunk on kvas does not have an excuse of drunkenness, after all. Kvas is a fermented drink containing less than 1% alcohol. You'd have to drink a barrel of it to be drunk, after which you'd be too busy peeing nonstop rather than groping girls. For crying out loud, my mom let me drink it when I was a toddler. Getting drunk on kvas is like suggesting that people get drunk on Seven-Up. Therefore comparing champagne and kvas is like comparing oranges to chalk or monkeys to cactus. of getting so many Russian things wrong. Well, first of all, why do we even care? Well, the reasons are twofold and both stem from the fact that Russia is the biggest country on the planet, which means that:

The Darkling: **Mild spoiler alert in The Darkling section (it’s not really a spoiler, but if you want to be kept totally in the dark, skip this part!)** He’s mysterious, he’s sexy, he’s…. old? We find out that due to the nature of The Darkling’s power, it severely enlongates his life. He reveals to Alina that he’s well over 100 years old so um, thanks but no thanks? It’s kind of a Twilight situation here (which somehow I was totally okay with in Twilight but not okay with in Shadow and Bone – I don’t know – don’t ask me why). I can understand he looks sexy and he acts sexy, but.. but.. he’s an old man? So yeah, he totally just didn’t appeal to me after I heard that! Had the age not been a factor, we’d have a little bit of a swoon situation going on. After knowing that? Yipes. Sadly, none of the characters (save one, but I'll get to that in a bit) ever move beyond being cardboard cutouts. Alina Starkov (as an aside, her last name really should be Starkova) is a weak main character. She initially shows a little promise due to her cynicism, but her snarking gets old pretty fast, as it doesn't seem like she has any other feelings or emotions beyond being sarcastic about everything and everyone. A cynical main character can be great for adding a unique flavour to the story, especially when it's told in first person as "Shadow and Bone" is, but it's simply not utilized well. Alina fails to deliver a unique point of view. Instead, she just explains what's happening in a straightforward manner and complains a lot...that's it, no colourful expressions, nothing that really captures Alina as a character, just a straight retelling of events with a lot of whining. Really, that's perhaps Alina's biggest problem as a character: she complains about everything. I've mentioned time and time again that I love an annoying character because they have a lot of potential to grow throughout the book. The problem here is that Alina's complaining doesn't seem to be considered a character flaw, so she never moves beyond it. Then there is a matter of "kvas," a beverage everyone seems to get drunk on in Shadow and Bone. In reality, you can not actually get drunk consuming it. This is a non-alcoholic beverage (well, almost, it occasionally has alcohol content up to 1%) which is given to children as well as adults, like, let's say, soda. Wiki this word, I am not lying. You want to write about alcohol, use "pivo" or "braga" or "samogon," if researching that is too hard, use "vodka." The group makes a return to the Little Palace. Nobody knows the real reason that Alina left. She begs the Darkling to show mercy to Mal, and he refuses. He tells Alina that Mal will be left in the Fold to die.

Customer reviews

With that said, the reason I did not enjoy this book the way I had hoped I would is that it is just so uncomplicated and straight-forward. I have no usual complaints about Bardugo's characters and the plot. But they are familiar and well used and not very rich. These characters are simple, void of complex emotions and motivations. Same goes for the plot and conflicts. There is no complexity to them either. The conflicts are of good/evil variety. The plot is easily predictable. Twists? What twists? I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely. He was very close now, and my heart was suddenly hammering in my chest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.” The fictional world of Shadow and Bone is incredible. It's kind of hard to explain, though. Basically you have the country of Ravka, which is separated by the Unsea, or the Shadow Fold. The Shadow Fold was created hundreds of years ago and contains killer creatures called Volcra. Volcra are flying creatures that used to be the people living in the area before the Fold was created.

So humble that when she's given clean clothes that her eyes well up in tears. At one point, your are legally obligated to give her an Oscar-worthy gown for some made up and utterly unimportant reason. You know, I've wondered ever since Shadow and Bone was released last year whether I would fall into the camp of gushing, never-ending love for it... or find myself sat sipping kvas with the other sceptics and laughing over the preposterous idea that we could ever get drunk on it. I was prepared for it to go either way. However, I find myself uselessly sitting somewhere in the middle, lonesomely twiddling my thumbs and pondering all the different things I liked but didn't love and disliked but didn't hate. How very annoying of me. I'm sat here going through my mental list of the book's faults whilst simultaneously trying to figure out what organs and/or limbs I can get away with exchanging for an ARC of Siege and Storm. It's strengths definitely rely on its characters and powerful storyline because the actual narration and writing tended toward the telling as opposed to showing side. Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country's magical military elite-and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift. Kaching. Lights on. Real show begins and we hope you enjoyed that prelude. Also, while you weren't looking, we falcon-punched your ovaries.

Alina was a refreshing character. Alina isn’t perfect at all. She's not that pretty. She's not strong. In fact, she's even pretty weak. She is terribly shy. She has an urge to be loved, and her desire to integrate and belong where she is.