Title: Shadow and Bone

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Media: eBook

Pages: 235

Overall Rating:       4.5 flames 

Synopsis:

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.

Recently a friend of mine RAVED about a book called Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. She told me it was the best book she had read all year and that she had to force herself not to reread it immediately. That is some high praise coming from her so of course I ordered it right away. As I was waiting for it to arrive I found out that Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy was written first and set in the same world, and while they are written independently of each other, you’ll get more out of Six of Crows if you read the Grisha Trilogy first.

I was going on a business trip to Phoenix last week for which I bought a Nook GlowLight Plus and decided that would be the perfect first book to purchase on my new ereader. Sometimes I’m a bit wary of fantasy novels (especially the first one in a series) because there’s usually a lot of world-building up front and to be honest, I tend to get bored of them rather quickly.

Boy was I not disappointed with this one! This book is such a quick, exhilarating read. Bardugo throws you right in but brings you along with her. There was not a moment where I felt lost and I didn’t feel like she spent too much time describing the world. It all felt incredibly natural.

I started Shadow and Bone in the airport while waiting for my plane and finished it that afternoon. The pacing is perfect and the romance had me swooning. I really enjoyed the folklore woven in and I found myself getting irritated if I was interrupted while reading.

The page count on my Nook said there were 384 pages total so imagine my surprise when it ended at page 236! After that there was a sneak peek of Siege and Storm (Grisha #2) and a sneak peek of the aforementioned Six of Crows. I was so glad that I bought this book on my Nook (lol) because it meant I could purchase the second one while in the hotel in Phoenix. I would’ve been so upset to not have it immediately!

If you haven’t read this one yet, I would certainly recommend it. I can’t wait to finish the second so I can rave about that one too.