Shadow and Bone Review

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

* ARC read via Around the World ARC Tours

3 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes

This story has the feel of some kind of long lost fable.  There is a Russian theme to the book that's interesting though a bit confusing when it comes to pronouncing words and remembering what word means what.

The first snippet of the story was about the childhood of Alina and Mal.  I wish the book had gone into their shared childhood more.  This might have helped show why they're as close as they are.  Also there are still a ton of questions about where and who the two orphan's families are.  Overall I just wanted more background information on these characters.

Alina's the mousy one while Mal is the strong charasmatic one.  This hasn't changed over a lot of years.  Now they're in the army and about to go into the Shadow Fold.  The Shadow Fold is this place of complete darkness where shadowy type monsters lurk.  Any time you take a trip through The Shadow Fold, you're really tempting fate because not many make it to the other side or ever return.

The story does have a love triangle but it's used pretty well.  You have the old friend who doesn't seem to have any feelings for her and the new guy who might be just what she's looking for.  There is a lot of tension about who she will choose and she definitely almost chooses the wrong guy.  It looks like she makes a concrete decision and with the ending of the book it's extremely hared for me to guess how the next book will progress forward.

The magic in this book is great.  Alina is, even though she doesn't know it until a tragic event, very powerful.  Let's just say that it's always going to be a sunshiny kind of day when Alina's around.  She's the woman that this world has been waiting for because she might just be the only one with enough power to beat the darkness and get rid of the Shadow Fold.

The trouble is though that Alina has a hard time even believing in herself and unlike the other grisha aka magic having people, she just found her power.  Like any good story though everything is not as easy as it first seems and she has to pick who to trust.   

The ending was a left a little too wide open, I guess I just wanted more closure and to make more sense of the world.  It's definitely an intriguing series and one that would make a great movie but I'm not sure I'd buy the next book in the series, I'll probably check it out from the library instead.