Review of Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone 

Synopsis

The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka.

Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?

The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.

But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?

Glorious. Epic. Irresistible. Romance.

Review

I loved Shadow and Bone and I have now become a huge fan of the author. Leigh has an amazing writing style that paints a vivid image of Ravka and the people in it. You can picture all the places and the characters in your head as everything is beautifully described and well developed.

One of my favourite aspects of this book was the Russian feel to the fantasy world. This made it stand out as the majority of fantasy books usually have a world that seems to be based on medieval England. The “magical powers” featured in the book were also fairly unique. The people with powers a called the Grisha and they are categorised depending on what they can do.

My favourite character is the Darkling. He is one of the most powerful men in Ravka, he is shrouded in mystery and at times it is hard to tell if he is good or not. Even by the end he is still a bit of an enigma. In contrast there is also Mal who is sweet, friendly and pretty easy to understand. I really enjoyed that the two romantic interests were so different, one dark, charming and seductive and the other the loving childhood best friend.

Alina is pretty awesome. All her life she has been fairly unimportant and she has to deal with suddenly becoming possible the most important person to have lived in a long time. She is really down to earth and sees the extravagant life at the palace for what it really is, though she can be blind to some things.

Shadow and Bone is simply magical in every possible way. I highly recommend this book to all YA fantasy fans. I can’t wait to read Siege and Storm; the ending has left me very eager to see what happens next.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, this has not affected my opinions or rating in any way*

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