Title- Shadow and Bone
Rating– 4/5
Genre- YA Fantasy
POV- First person, past tense
Similar Books/Comps– The Gilded Wolves, Ember in the Ashes
My emotions- I wanted to feel a bit more but I was sucked in enough to care.
Characters–
Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold
I love Mal’s character and their best friend relationship/history together.
The Darkling- notorious leader
Plot/Blurb-
Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic.
Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite―and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift.
As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.
Best part-
Crossing of the Shadow Fold- ―a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters.
What I’d change-
It was predictable and but overall really well done. I’m hoping that morals turn more gray in the sequel and who we think is good and evil may likely be flip flopped.
Quote-
“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me why we don’t belong together.”
Pacing-
The middle was a little slow and flat during her “magic education,”
Cassie Swindon 