Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

                       Title: Shadow and Bone

                       Author: Leigh Bardugo

                       Series: The Grisha Trilogy #1

                       Publisher: Square Fish

                       Date Published: May 7, 2013

                       Genre: Dystopian

                       Pages: 416 (paperback)

                       Age range 13+

                  Summary

          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.

                                                                   Review

          I'm very rarely left speechless after I finish a great book (usually, I start freaking out and singing about it from the tops of roofs), but for this book, I was left absolutely speechless. It took me a little while to get into this book at first. Lately, I've been reading a lot of contemporaries, and it took me awhile to get back into my dystopian mindset, but after thirty or so pages, oh man. It was great. I was able to finish reading in a few hours.

          The characters were all strong leads, and really fun to read about. I liked Alina. I think she made some mistakes, but I expected her to. She was a lot more average than I expected her to be, but I liked that about her- she was relatable. I hope she'll grow some more over the next books in the trilogy. I didn't like Mal in the beginning of the story, and I ended up... disliking him less? I didn't hate him, but I also still don't love him. Hopefully, I will like him more in the next books. I LOVED the Darkling, however. He was brooding, dark, mysterious, coercive, and rather evil. I am a terrible person, because I loved the bit with the Darkling and Alina. It was undeniably instalove, and I hate instalove, but I really, really liked this one for some reason. It just clicked. Now, I'm not gonna go crazy and say that I ship them, but maybe we'll flesh out their little sparks some more? Please? Also, I liked how we never really have a love triangle. Alina never really likes Mal and the Darkling at the same time. Very well done, Mrs. Bardugo.

          The plot isn't anything remotely new... I mean, the chick is a SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE, she is the key to utter evil supremacy or utter goodness, and then everyone fights for her while falling in love with her. Nothing new. But the whole story was so deep, and interesting, and dark, and in a new land, and fantastic, that it's impossible for this book to seem cliched.

          Overall, this book was fantastic. I think the first book ended at a great spot, and I can't wait to get my little hands on book two.