Shadow and Bone

By: Leigh Bardugo

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

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 her 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.

©2012 Leigh Bardugo (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Wonderfully Entertaining

I really enjoyed this YA fantasy book. It had a rich story, good narration and characters I absolutely fell in love with. Of course there is a HUGE cliff-hanger (big surprise there) and I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel. At first I found this book a little confusing and I was a bit lost at times. However, by the end it all comes together and you get a good sense of where this is all heading. Don't get me wrong, there are twists and turns and nothing is too predictable. Some things did make my eyes roll. One of the main characters is actually called "The Darkling". All that aside, it's fantasy so pretty much anything goes.
I'm looking forward to "Siege and Storm" book 2 in June 2013.

4.5 stars

Fans of Graceling by Kristin Cashore will LOVE it

I should have read this one sooner because oh my gosh, it is so good. I really enjoy fantasy and haven’t had a chance to read any Young Adult fantasy in a while so when I kept hearing great things about Shadow and Bone, I had high hopes. And thankfully they were met, albeit some issues.

So, we’ve got Alina, just your regular orphan girl who is secretly in love with her best friend who doesn’t seem to be interested and is off running around with other girls. But then, she’s got a secret power! The thing about Alina is that I do like her but she doesn’t seem overly special or unique to me in any way other than her power. I wanted more personality from her – more spark. But I’m willing to wait for character development to occur in the next two books.

Then there’s the Darkling – alluring, provocative, sexy, tempting. He’s creepy, but I like it. He’s powerful and dark and I can’t help but kind of sucked in by his magnetic pull.

And while this story is about Alina finding her power, it’s definitely a plot-driven book. Though I won’t go into what that specific plot is, since I don’t want to ruin anything for those who haven’t read the book. But it’s fast paced and I could not put it down – I would say I was flipping through the pages but I listened to the audiobook so there weren’t actually pages. And by the way, the voice actor was great. Her voice for the Darkling was sultry and I loved it!

Fans of Graceling by Kristin Cashore should pick this one up – it’s got good, evil, romance, love, and action.

I love this book

Would you listen to Shadow and Bone again? Why?

Yes and I have. I read the book first then I listened to another book the narrator read and loved it and wanted to see what else she narrated. I found this book and had to get it.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything,

What about Lauren Fortgang’s performance did you like?

She is a good narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes,

All time favorite. Lauren Fortgang is amazing..

If I could give this series 6 stars.. or 7... or 8.... I would. This series as a whole has stuck with me. It is my absolute all time favorite series, standing beside the ACOTAR series by SJM. I have yet to connect with another series as strongly as I have with these two.

So let me try to put my love for this book into a few categories.

Overall Plot + Theme

Alright. I don't want to go over the details of the plot in this review -- because I went into this not knowing one darn thing about it so every single page was a surprise for me! What I will say is this... this book will be a wild ride in a dark fairytale-esque world with unpredictable characters. There is action, magic, romance, intrigue.. and really.. what more could you want from a series? I was absolutely 100% entranced with every page that I read... and that feeling continued with the second and third book.

But I will say this... just when I thought I knew what was going on... just when I thought I was safe... well, Leigh Bardugo, you got me.

I found myself jumping out of my bed screaming.. LITERALLY screaming... "Run Alina run!!!" or "Give in Alina, just give in!"

The World-building

If I could get stuck in any world from any book- this would be the one. It is vivid, dark, magical, and completely entrancing.

Here's the thing. I've read a lot of negative reviews basing their reasons on the fact that Leigh Bardugo didn't make a convincing Russian world... but my opinion is that his is her world- not actual Russia- she can do whatever she wants! Sure it has Russian inspiration, but it is clearly its own place. Maybe if you are really attached to the Russian language, it would bother you... but my opinion is to leave preconceived notions aside and let this be what it is.

The Characters

Alina, our heroine.

As with many first books, she needs to grow up some. She is fairly naive, but I liked growing up with her through this series. She's very relatable, in my opinion, darn right hysterical. She's very common with familiar insecurities that we all face. She gets a lot of grief for the mistakes she makes in this book... but come on ladies- I think we would all make the same mistakes she makes, if put in her situation. She will always be one of my favorite heroines because of how relatable she is. I adore her.

The Darkling

I'm not going to say too much about him other than this. He is without a doubt the most interesting character I've ever read about. Ladies, good luck. Honestly I wish I could put some of my favorite quotes from the book here, but it would spoil.

I can't even go into the rest of the characters without spoiling. Just enjoy trying to predict everyone!

The MAGIC

This is my favorite magic system out of any book. I think that stems from me being an artist. The way Leigh describes the powers that some of the characters *cough* have.. its so unique and abstract... like a painting. And classes of magic? Freaking sweet.

The Writing

This series overall is probably the most quotable one out there, in my opinion anyway. Simply gorgeous. And the pacing? I don't know how some people think this is slow... the pace was like.. holy freaking I can't keep up with my emotions...

The Narration!

The narrator who does this series is PHENOMENAL. It for sure enhanced my experience of this book 100000%. So yes, I HIGHLY recommend giving the audiobook a go!

So to summarize all of my thoughts...

Thank you Leigh Bardugo for this precious gift. Thank you.

And just a hint for the next book... it may or may not introduce my next all time favorite character...
;) ;) DON'T STOP HERE!!

Looking Forward to More

though it took me a lot longer than I would have liked, I'm glad I finally got to Shadow and Bone.

In some ways, its predictable - which is why it wasn't quite five stars for me. How many times have you read about the girl who seems plain, unexciting, and always in the background, but finds out that she's special - has some ability that makes her not just special, but EXTRA special? But you've read it a lot because it works. Sure you're not shocked, but it's enjoyable.

And that was really the only unoriginal thing about Shadow and Bone - at least for me. You've got a special, pampered class of magic born people called the grisha. As the story develops, we understand that this designation is way more complex than it initially appears. I loved that it wasn't obviously black and white, and I really liked the different common reactions to the grisha - ranging from worship to disdain.

There's all sorts of power struggles, between the magic and non-magic people, within the grisha themselves and also the ruling entities. The power struggles made Shadow and Bone really sophisticated for a young adult novel, even one in a fantasy world. It also allowed for some twists that I didn't see coming and really enjoyed.

I got so into the magic and conflicts - from personal squabbles to huge, country changing scale - that the characters almost seem unimportant. That's not the case of course, but I guess they didn't register for me in the way they would in a character driven story. I did like Alina, the main character and point of view for the story. But she could have been any orphan with a humble upbringing from my point of view. She's nice, humble, and has a youthful innocence that carries over to her love interests. She wants what right and even makes some pretty brave moves. But she didn't particularly make me FEEL.

You'd think that's a big deal, but it really wasn't. I still got totally invested in the story and I care a lot about some of the secondary characters. Based on the blurb and other reviews, I kind of expected the romance to be more dominant. I love a friend to lover's romance - and since Alina is in love with her childhood friend (from the very beginning) this definitely has a bit of that. But it gets all screwed up because (1) Malyen (childhood friend) doesn't seem to see Alina that way and (2) the Darkling comes in and sweeps Alina off her feet. The thing is, neither relationship ever felt real for me. One felt like a childhood crush that isn't reciprocated, the other felt suspicious. So it wasn't real romance for me. It was GOOD and FUN and definitely held my attention, but I wasn't swept away in the romance. *shrugs*

I'm particularly glad I listened to Shadow and Bone, since there were some names and places I probably would have stumbled over while reading - this has a Russian element - but Lauren Fortgang flowed over those parts so well. Plus she did a good job with all the voices and personalities - even the male voices really worked.

I'm glad I've finally entered the world of Shadow and Bone - and I'm really looking forward to listening to the next book!

Love

Love this series. Already read it but relistening now and I forgot how much these characters mean to me.

predictable, and some awkward Russian accents...

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

i binged it, it was fine for a afternoon, i moved on to book two, that was a mistake.

What was most disappointing about Leigh Bardugo’s story?

I was hoping it would get better in the next book. It did not I thought I would continue with the next book, only got through the first hour or so, the same thing keeps happening over. I just found it very tiring. i try to give series a chance but it was just to hard to listen to. it probably would have been ok if i was 12.

Was Shadow and Bone worth the listening time?

If your looking for a easy kinda love story this is it. Though it has a weird flow, characters lack depth and the villain thou cool at first is lack luster. why is he evil? what are his motives besides being muhahah evil. the villain or problem makes the book for me. and defiantly ruined the book for me,

Couldn't stop!

I use Audible for my commute to and from work and I limit myself to only listening then (because it's expensive), but I would get home and not be able to stop listening to this book. I read Six of Crows and the sequel and thought this would pale in comparison. I was wrong. I was very confused about who to cheer for for a while and I was disappointed that things didn't turn out the way I wanted, but what really happened was still satisfying in a way. This story made me laugh and had me (figuratively) on the edge of my seat sometimes. The narrator did a great job with the accents and the male voices. About to start the next one!

Awesome listen!!!

Unexpectedly good! My daughter and I listen to books as we drive to her dance class each night. Some of the "teen books" have been painful but "shadow and bone" was excellent!!! We both enjoyed it very much! I have already downloaded the second book in the series for our drive home tonight!

Well. that was interesting

I made the mistake of reading the 6 of Crows duology before these books and I think they spoiled me. This was a good book, but I had to keep reminding myself that this was written much earlier than the duology and the author has grown in skill and experience now. The story is sweet and the main character is so naive at times that I just want to pat her on the head and say "bless your heart". But still, a good book.