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Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Monday, July 9, 2012


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.

Goodreads Summary

Alina Starkov is a great heroine. At first, I was kind of unimpressed with her, but as the story continued, my impression of Alina changed. Alina is a terrified soldier who has to enter the Fold for a mission. The Fold is a pitch-black corridor of darkness that has cleaved Ravka, Alina’s home, in two and is filled with nightmare creatures that feed on human flesh called Volcra. Alina was petrified as the Volcra descended on her regiment, but when Mal, Alina’s best friend, is attacked, she is able to unleash a power she did not know she had to save him. Alina radiated a beautiful, brilliant light that shattered the darkness of the Fold and scared away the Volcra. After rescuing Mal, Alina is taken to train as a Grisha. These super-soldiers all possess a special ability. Some Grisha can manipulate water or fire, others can stop hearts and some can heal. Amazingly, Alina is the most powerful Grisha of all time. The hopes of Ravka rest on her shoulders.

This book is perfect for anyone who is looking for a new read to fall in love with. As you read, the characters mature and develop. Amazingly, Bardugo was able to incorporate romance into the midst of a fantasy-adventure novel. The scene where Alina saves Mal is breathtaking. Readers aged thirteen and up will love Shadow and Bone. I give this novel five out of five stars.

5 Stars

*Reviewed by Kristin*

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This product or book may have been distributed for review, this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

14 comments:

  1. I really loved this book as well! I am already dying for the next one.

    Great review!

    Teresa @ Readers Live A Thousand Lives

  1. Unknown said...:

    Everyone keeps saying such good things about this book.....so I give in I am going to reaad it...hehe :D Thanks for the review.

  1. Unknown said...:

    This book seems pretty interesting since I saw it in numerous giveaways! (:

  1. I want to read this book! :D

  1. I have heard some really good things about this book. i cannot wait to read it. :)

  1. I just bought this and can't wait to read it!!

  1. i've heard mix reviews on this one. and if it worth 5 stars from you, definitely will check this out

  1. Angie said...:

    I enjoyed Shadow and Bone, but I found the characters somewhat lackluster. Alina irritated me extremely often.

  1. Jennifer said...:

    I can't decide if I want to read this book or not. The cover does catch my attention. And the summary doesn't really sound like something i'd like. But then a bunch of people have liked it. I guess I'll see. Thanks for the review.

  1. Thank you all for the wonderful comments! Alina can get on the readers' nerves, but the plot was great!

  1. Great to see you liked this one! I still need to read this one for review and was a little bit hesitant to get to it, because I haven't read anything on it. But yay! Glad to see it got your 5 star approval :) Great review!

  1. I feel like the black sheep of the Shadow and Bone reader family, and it pretty much sucks. It isn't that I didn't like S&B. I did. I just didn't love it like so many others have. I am not even sure why. The story is written wonderfully, the characters are very real and genuine, the plot moved along at a decent clip. I loved the Darkling. Genya was my favorite character. I don't know what it was about it, but I just couldn't give it the 5 stars that I wanted to. It only got 4 from me. Oh well, can't win em all!

  1. This book sounds like one I'd thoroughly enjoy.

  1. Anonymous said...:

    Okay this one I have had on my TBR list forever really. I see basically everyone loves it but for some reason I'm scared to read it. I don't want to be disappointed. Maybe one day I will finally get the courage to just sit down and read it. ;)