Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone is the first book in a trilogy that is part of what is known as the “Grishaverse”. Here we meet Alina Starkov, an orphan who stumbles upon a power she didn’t know she had. Whisked away to the Grisha Palace, their powerful leader will teach her everything she needs to know… But what the Darkling says, and what the Darkling wants, may be two different things.

I loved the world-building in this book… the Russian influences, the magical creatures, the set up of the Grisha and their hierarchy, and the different types of powers that each order of Grisha has. What I didn’t love though, was Alina. Even though she’s the main character, I didn’t get to know that much about her, and she’s just a generic white YA (young adult) female protagonist, and almost everyone around her is more interesting.

Like the Darkling. I actually really liked the Darkling, and I think the story did a good job of showing that he really believed he was doing the right thing, even though his methods were flawed. Overall, Shadow and Bone is a good first step, and will hopefully lead to a bigger and better story in the future.