Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
After a long wait, I finally finished Shadow and Bone and it didn’t let down on my expectations. Granted, I expected it to be good, but wasn’t exactly holding my breath. While the story of a character coming to some power that may very well change their world isn’t exactly original, Shadow and Bone gave us fresh look on magic, especially in a world where not everyone is blessed with a skill.
The world building and slavic inspiration was fantastic. The pacing of the story was well done while still incorporating character development and world building. Even though there were quite a few tropes throughout the book. I found them to still be refreshing in their new spins. I think my only issue was that there was a lot of build up and then a twist that lead to a few events that was ended up being quite anticlimactic for me.
If you’ve read any of my reviews before you would know that I love when fantasy novels take on from cultural inspiration. From the language, to the food, to the surrounding lands Bardugo created a world that you can realistically imagine (if you’re educated in slavic culture at least, or know how to use google) while still having a fresh environment that isn’t overdone. I loved the creepy feeling I got while reading about the Fold and I loved the idea of the uniforms everyone and how even though all these grisha had powers, they each found station above others or banded together-like to like. The unique powers was definitely something I haven’t read about yet and definitely aided in the darkness in the book. HA…literally.
