I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for ages. I got it entirely because I liked the cover, namely because it doesn’t have any of the things that I dislike about YA covers.1 I was a little iffy on it because it is a first person narrative, which I have been hesitant about, and I’ll get into that in a bit, but first, thoughts on the book!
Shadow and Bone follows Alina in what feels like a fantasy version of Russia2 as she discovers that she’s not just an orphan in the army, but one of the most unique Grisha3 alive. She gets whisked away to a place where she can train her magic while falling into the intrigue of the court and trying to learn as much as she can to help The Darkling, the most powerful of them all. The more she learns about the Darkling, however, the more she realizes that she’s in over her head.
There’s a lot of really interesting world building. A lot of it is done in the language, which just feels Russian somehow. The setting feels like a fantasy universe that’s not too far off from our own, more like what might happen if there was magic out there and it were a couple centuries ago. I’m not entirely sure what the Grisha are since it doesn’t really go into whether they get to choose their specialties or if they are born with them, but I did like how they structured a lot of the universe.
And I do find myself liking Alina, even if I wish she were less… well, less of a YA heroine. Unlike the rest of the court, she doesn’t care about how pretty she is and there’s a weird focus on how pretty other characters are in comparison to her. There was a nice break where she allowed herself to enjoy being pretty and dress up in clothes for fun, but there’s a strange focus she has on the appearance of other people that just rubbed me the wrong way. Other than that she was proactive and had a strong voice in the narrative that I liked, but there’s just a few things about her that bothered me a bit.
I also had trouble taking a few things seriously. The Darkling never gets an actual name, and it’s strange that I’m supposed to feel like this guy is anything but a kid who picked a title for himself. I found myself waiting for someone to try taking him down a peg by using his real name, but it never happened. I’m also about 70% sure the twist with Baghra didn’t actually make sense. Like, why keep her there? Why doesn’t she take a more proactive role given what she knows? Just… why?
But this book helped me figure out what it was about the first person narrative that bothered me so much as a kid. See, in the past I always felt that I was supposed to be that main character. Given that the stories I was reading at the time with a first person narrator were largely bland women that made it easy for the audience to slide into, and that these female heroines had mostly romance arcs, I hated the experience. In this book4 Alina has a personality of her own and it felt like I was being told the story instead of along for the ride and supposed to be part of it.
At some point, I think I will check out the rest of the series. Despite the issues I had, I still want to know what happens next.