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Book Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Title: Shadow and Bone (Grisha Triology Book 1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Published: New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2012
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 368
Total Page Count: 125,358
Text Number: 362
Read Because: recommended (here and elsewhere) by plenilune, purchased as an ebook from Kobo Books
Review: The nation of Ravka is sundered by the Fold, a swathe of impassable, monster-filled darkness. But Alina may have the power to fight it: torn from her childhood friend Mal and pressed into the tutelage of the powerful and inhuman Darkling, she trains as a Sun-Summoner. Shadow and Bone aims to be something a little different, but rarely manages it. It engages a number of young adult tropes which I find particularly tiresome: first person narrative, the outcast skinny/white/attractive protagonist, a love triangle. It handles each trope fairly well, excepting perhaps the narrative, and Alina's story is ultimately one of change from within: she redefines her negative self-perception after acknowledging her own potential, and demands agency in both of her relationships. But no matter how well done, it's all been done before; the book feels tired. The Russian setting is a welcome change from another Medieval Europe fantasy iteration, but the constraints of Alina's narrative never allow the setting to shine: her voice in indecipherable from any other YA protagonist's, and her emotion-laden interior monologue strips anything evocative from the descriptive elements .
Upon occasion, Shadow and Bone tries to escape its limitations: The Darkling, a thousand years old and untouchable, is an inhuman cipher; Alina's journey has moments of intense and sympathetic frustration, as she fights against both herself and her situation for agency and strength. But as the book conforms to genre, bending to need for one more love triangle, something petty creeps into the character interactions and they grow increasingly contrived as the plot unfolds. Like most YA, this is an easy and absorbing read; it has moments of potential, in the setting and characters and Alina's abilities—but ultimately, this is just another YA novel in a line of indistinct YA novels. There's no harm in reading it, but I don't recommend it outright; I don't think I'll continue with the series.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Published: New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2012
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 368
Total Page Count: 125,358
Text Number: 362
Read Because: recommended (here and elsewhere) by plenilune, purchased as an ebook from Kobo Books
Review: The nation of Ravka is sundered by the Fold, a swathe of impassable, monster-filled darkness. But Alina may have the power to fight it: torn from her childhood friend Mal and pressed into the tutelage of the powerful and inhuman Darkling, she trains as a Sun-Summoner. Shadow and Bone aims to be something a little different, but rarely manages it. It engages a number of young adult tropes which I find particularly tiresome: first person narrative, the outcast skinny/white/attractive protagonist, a love triangle. It handles each trope fairly well, excepting perhaps the narrative, and Alina's story is ultimately one of change from within: she redefines her negative self-perception after acknowledging her own potential, and demands agency in both of her relationships. But no matter how well done, it's all been done before; the book feels tired. The Russian setting is a welcome change from another Medieval Europe fantasy iteration, but the constraints of Alina's narrative never allow the setting to shine: her voice in indecipherable from any other YA protagonist's, and her emotion-laden interior monologue strips anything evocative from the descriptive elements .
Upon occasion, Shadow and Bone tries to escape its limitations: The Darkling, a thousand years old and untouchable, is an inhuman cipher; Alina's journey has moments of intense and sympathetic frustration, as she fights against both herself and her situation for agency and strength. But as the book conforms to genre, bending to need for one more love triangle, something petty creeps into the character interactions and they grow increasingly contrived as the plot unfolds. Like most YA, this is an easy and absorbing read; it has moments of potential, in the setting and characters and Alina's abilities—but ultimately, this is just another YA novel in a line of indistinct YA novels. There's no harm in reading it, but I don't recommend it outright; I don't think I'll continue with the series.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.