Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo --A Review--

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart. (Taken from Goodreads.com)

I gave this book 5/5 stars

(revision: I am down grading this to a 4) 

I actually really liked this book. I had heard a lot of mixed reviews on this book, so I went in with zero expectations, and I loved it! I haven't stayed up until 2 AM reading since the Harry Potter books were coming out. That says something.

That being said, here is what I enjoyed about the book: I loved the world. I loved that this was a fantasy novel that didn't take place in a "British" modeled society. It takes place in a "Russian" type of setting and I found it fascinating. Leigh Bardugo created a very cool magic system that I really wanted to learn more about (hopefully we do in the next two books). I just couldn't get enough of the world and the magic.

Also, being the language nerd that I am, I LOVED that Bardugo used Russian words (or I am assuming they are...as I don't speak a lick of it) and other languages. It made the world feel more real and fleshed out. I also felt like the surrounding countries and their languages helped to make this world more real. These things really made the book so great for me.

Of course, I found a lot of flaws with this book as well. I didn't get enough of the magic system. There were more things I wanted to learn about it, more theory, I suppose, and see other Grisha using their powers (not just the Darkling and Alina).

Another thing that left me kind of 'meh' were the characters. I didn't really care about them/for them too much. I thought a lot of them accepted things too easily, or resisted things too much. Also, Bardugo did something I hate......F***in' love triangles....why....geh...I hate them. XP Especially because the characters were only mildly interesting (one more so than the other, but I don't want to give away too many details). Even though I didn't really care about the characters, I was interested to see what was going to happen to them.

I really did enjoy this book, and I am interested to see what happens next. I am going to continue to keep my expectations low (maybe only stay excited to get back into the world, haha).