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If you missed the last TGON article on Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh, you can find it here.
Hi guys, I am back with another TGON Reads article, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I am sure loads of you have read it, and probably even more of you have watched it on Netflix. When my sister-in-law and I started reading this, I hadn’t read or watched either one. Yeah, yeah, I know I am late to the game. When am I not? Let’s get into the review.
We meet Alina, a cartographer for the First Army. She grew up an orphan in an orphanage with her best friend Mal. Alina isn’t the strongest of people physically. She is small and does not have much meat on her bones. She doesn’t have the same social prowess as Mal and doesn’t have many friends. Mal is a tracker in the same army and is the best one they have. He is strong and healthy and the complete opposite of Alina. They are set to cross the Shadow Fold, and Alina is grateful they will be doing it together.
The Shadow Fold is a swatch of land that is shrouded in darkness, and the creatures that live in it are terrifying and deadly. The Shadow Fold divides the land, and for trade to continue, people must bravely cross it to ensure goods from the true sea make it all the way inland. It was created accidentally by the Black Heretic, an ancestor of the current Darkling Grisha, of which there is only one at a time.
There is magic in the world, and those magic users are called grishas, and it is an innate ability. You are either born with it, or you aren’t. They are sought after as kids, and I am pretty sure all children go through testing for it. The funny thing is that grishas are looked down upon and mistrusted by non-grishas. I mean, it’s not like grishas can save lives or anything. Grishas (who are color-coded for easy identification) have power over most things: water, fire, wind, healing, beauty, fabrics, and more that I haven’t seen yet. Each set of grishas sticks their own groups: The Corperalki stay with the Coreralki, the Squallers with the Squallers, you get the idea. By and large, they seem to be snobbish to those outside their group and even vicious to those within the group too. The Darkling is singled out, probably because of his power, and he has control over, you guessed it, darkness. The Darkling is desperately seeking the Sun Summoner to end the darkness of the Shadow Fold. The Sun Summoner is his opposite and has the power to negate his.
Back to Alina, she is, as I said, a cartographer in the First Army and is set to cross the Shadow Fold. We also established that she is crossing with Mal. Alina is in love with Mal but is sure he won’t return those feelings, so she hides hers. To cross the Shadow Fold, you must go boat by boat. A boat in the water, right? Nope, a boat that glides across the barren dirt of the fold with Grisha-powered wind. When they cross, the worst happens: they are attacked and are about to die. Alina dives onto Mal when he is about to be killed by a volcra (those monsters I spoke of earlier), and when she does light as bright as the sun, she saves the whole ship and then passes out.
When she comes to, she is shackled and treated as a prisoner when all she did was save her friend, at least in her mind. Once it was explained to her that she burst into light, and that was how they were saved, and that she was going with the grishas, Alina still didn’t understand because she didn’t think she was a grisha. Mal and Alina were tested for power in the orphanage and were found to have none, so Alina was completely confused. She had no idea how much her life would change.
Leigh Bardugo did a fantastic job building this world. I could see the scenes and the people with clarity, which is something I love in a book. So much happened, but it wasn’t crowded or overwhelming. The pacing is just right. I loved the ending as far as there was a bit of closure. I wish the big baddie got his face smashed in more, but I know there are two more books in the series. We are given a breather rather than cutting off in the middle of the action. I very much enjoy books where there is a solution, no matter how temporary it is, to close on. I dig the last part, though, even if it worries me. And a great book should when more is to come.
I am invested in Alina and Mal, even the Darkling. I was outraged for her and was rooting for her when she was lost. I worried for Mal and wanted to smack him, too. I fell for the Darkling. The important side characters were well-written, too. I was irritated and confused by Baghra, and Zoya’s hate for Alina was palpable. It was explained by a couple of the other girls, Marie and Nadia, who smiled at Zoya’s face but claimed to despise her. I would have liked to hear it from Zoya herself, though. Even Ivan was well-written. He was vaguely physically described, but the way he acted filled in the rest very well.
I could picture landscape changes, such as the Fold and the bitterly cold North, and I could see the palace and the meadow, all without being overly descriptive. I do think that is a mark of a good writer. I wasn’t stumbling over unedited mistakes, which was nice.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this book. You can find this book on Kindle Unlimited or purchase it on Amazon and other places where books are sold. My sister-in-law and I are starting the next book tomorrow so I will have a review for you in about a month. You can look for more books from me and my co-workers if you search TGON Reads on our side or follow the link. Have you read Shadow and Bone or anything else by Leigh Bardugo? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
