Hello everyone!
Well, alright, not publication time, but I AM on time in terms of the fact that the Netflix show hasn't exactly been out for too long yet (which I still need to watch, actually) and I'm actually on point with the first book.
That's what I call a win!
Mostly. LOL.
I've read a book or two by Leigh Bardugo before, I think, and while I was okay with her writing style I was never into the whole Grishaverse thing that everyone else was raving about until I figured I might as well read the book before watching the show, as it made more sense to me.
And at that moment I also figured out some very important points, but I'll get to them later on in the review.
For the time being, let me just stop babbling and get straight into Shadow and Bone, alright?
Now I'm going to point out that this is my very first venture into the Grishaverse, so I have no clue about anything else other than Shadow and Bone; I do plan on finishing the trilogy at least, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll be reading anything else ... we'll see.
You'll see why I say it soon enough.
Shadow and Bone begins with little orphaned Alina and Mal who live in the war-torn country of Ravka and have just been deposited on a Duke's estate which the man had dedicated to an orphanage and helps as much as he humanly can.
Now, children in Ravka get tested at a young age to see whether or not they might be Grisha - that is to say, humans who practice what's called the Small Science, or what we'd probably call magic, though in the book it's explained more along the lines of working with and within the smallest particles of the known to create something new.
Neither one of them pass the test and so when we clock in with them again years later, they are both serving in the army and just about to cross the Unsea, which is a dead strip of midnight black land down the middle of Ravka which has been there for generations, years and years, and is almost impossible to cross if you don't have luck, skill, and some fire casters on your side, because it's populated by eyeless, bat-like monsters.
This Unsea prevents Ravka from being whole and the Grisha have been trying to figure out a way to solve it, but they haven't by the point Alina and Mal make for the crossing, get attacked, and Alina ... well, there's a whole bunch of light, is what it is.
Said light brings her to the attention of the Darkling, aka the commander of the second, Grisha army and someone who is probably the most powerful person in all of Ravka. And in a country that bases a lot of its beliefs and caste system on colour, only he is permitted to wear all black (my sister would LOVE this dude).
Anyway, he figures out that the light came from INSIDE Alina, that she can summon it, which basically makes her the legendary Sun Summoner (even though she vehemently denies this while getting a cut on her wrist that basically spills light everywhere), so he whisks her away to the Small Palace at the capital where she can be protected, as the nations at war with Ravka will want her either captive or dead since this gives Ravka an advantage.
Surviving an assassination attack, Alina is put into the school for Grisha where they attempt to teach her to use her powers so they can then see about the Unsea.
She isn't making any progress though, not even with a special old lady that works with her at the Darkling's request - not until she realizes that Mal isn't going to answer her letters and that the reason she'd suppressed this power inside her (which she's known about since that test back at the orphanage) was because she didn't want to be separated from him.
Well, now she is, and she's alone, so why not be badass and alone?
Unleashing the light inside her also warrants a presentation at court to the King and Queen (or, I think the dude is a Tsar to be honest), and a shock that the Darkling wants to dress her in his own black colour, which Alina declines and opts for blue instead (but it has golden accents I think, either way a combination of colour no one else wears).
She makes some friends at court, including a Grisha who can alter someone's appearance (not in major ways, but she can definitely work on blemishes and such) who the Darkling presented to the Queen as a gift a while ago.
Alina continues training, though she seems strongest when the Darkling is there as he's a natural amplifier, so he decides to hunt down the stag of Morozova, a legendary animal whose antlers might be the most powerful amplifier of all.
At this point, Mal reappears at a party the Grisha put on for the rulers every year, where Alina and the Darkling ALMOST do it in a dark room, but don't worry, we're still safe - sort of. Because as soon as she's in her room again, the old woman who's been training her whisks her off and explains that the Darkling almost has the stag, which will mean doom for Alina (oh and by the way she's his mom).
See, it's not all as it seems: the Darkling himself is actually the Dark Heretic, who centuries ago created the Unsea (and the monsters inside are a by-product of the magic, all the families that used to live on that swath of land), and if he kills Morozova's stag, he won't just have the world's strongest amplifier, but he'll have control over whoever wears it because he's killed the stag to begin with, which will make him Alina's master, and her his slave.
So Alina runs, almost gets found, and is rescued by Mal who was sent to track her down (and actually, to track down the stag, too, after Alina told the Darkling he has exceptional skills, so I suspect the boy was called in just for that reason). They finally admit their love for each other and the stag appears to Alina after they almost give up hope ... but she decides to spare its life, because to kill something so majestic just for power isn't in her blood.
Too bad it's in the Darkling's who does end up killing the stag in that moment and putting the collar around Alina, even though she'd begged earlier to make Mal promise he would kill her before this ever happened.
They return "triumphant" and it becomes clear to the girl that the Darkling has basically orchestrated a coup d'etat at this point, with the army behind him hopeful for an end to all the bloodshed and war. He will also kill Mal, because for some reason he doesn't believe Alina won't obey him if he does that and he wants to get rid of his most important hostage.
The whole group with ambassadors from different realms travels into the Unsea and Alina does the Darkling's bidding, unable to resist, making a path of light right down the middle ... until he unleashes HIS power and spreads the darkness further towards the west side of Ravka, to the horror of every one of his guests (and none of his army, because killing their own people is A-okay for some reason), to show his reach.
But it's when he leaves Mal to die in the darkness that Alina figures out what her dreams have been trying to tell her: there's a loophole to her situation, because she spared the stag. Life and death both count as equal - the Darkling has control because he killed for the power, but SHE ALSO HAS CONTROL because she SPARED FOR THE POWER.
So she rips off his yoke and escapes the ship after it becomes clear no one else will help her, going for Mal and crossing the Unsea, leaving the rest behind in darkness. The two of them decide to flee across the ACTUAL sea, but Alina also knows she'll have to come back at some point, to deal with the power she still has, the Unsea, and whatever else remains.
But first, they have to recover.
Which is where we leave them.
The story itself is an interesting and intriguing fantastical retelling set in an imaginary Russia/Ravka with elements of the culture and the land (as well as the names, at that - Tsiberia, anyone?), but I will say that for someone who is Slavic of origin and understands some of the language, it's mostly just skimming over the top layer of what Russia is. Still, it IS a fantasy story so I didn't go too hard on that one, or the names, since people have written about it elsewhere (that Alina Starkov should have been Alina Starkova being the most glaring one).
The story is alright.
The characters could use some work. Because none of them are likeable.
I mean, of the lot, I like the Darkling the most, and he has his issues, too, but at least you can generally see it coming if you pay attention, and he never ACTUALLY acts out of character for him because everything he does is to advance his goal.
Alina and Mal though? Good grief, neither one of them are characters to connect with!
Mal is apparently God's gift to women, a total womanizer who'll run after anything pretty in a skirt, and who thinks that he owns his best friend because they've grown up together, and she's 'his' - but this realization only happens when he sees her happy with someone else. Plus he has this little nugget of a sentence: that she was easier to feed when she didn't have an appetite (this because she was too busy suppressing her powers at the time).
Excuse me, you did not just say she was easier to have around when she was weak and needed caring for. We aren't there in a book about a female protagonist, are we?
And then Alina. Good GOD Alina.
This has to be the most unlikable character I've met in a while in a story that was actually alright otherwise, because I wanted to throttle her right at the very beginning. She's catty, petty, guilty of all the crimes of hypocrisy she accuses others of, and for the life of her she keeps the whole DENY DENY DENY thing going even when it's obviously no longer logical.
And she complains about everything. EVERYTHING. She complains that Mal has girls he sleeps with. She complains that she has powers. She complains about being made pretty. She complains about being given good food. She complains about being put through school. She complains about meeting rich people. She complains about ...
LORD she complains about everything.
At some point I just tuned out and stopped really tracking because she became so annoying. Her problem was that, as an orphan, she wanted something that was inherently HERS - Mal, her position in the army, her clothes - but when she figured out she HAD something of that, aka her powers, she did a 180 and said she didn't want it. Only then it turned out she actually did, but now she's afraid of wanting it too much.
In short, she's just unlikeable. I don't see any redeeming qualities in her (or Mal, for that matter). She just whines and complains and has this awesome power, but for some reason that's just not it for her.
So bottom line: the story was alright, the antagonist I could enjoy, but the protagonists were a bust. I need a mini break before heading into book two, but I WILL PERSEVERE.
I'll see you when I get there. And HOPEFULLY the show is better than the book!
xx
*image not mine
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