Review Detail

Oh my gosh, what a delightful gem of a book Shadow and Bone was! This book made me have all the feelings. It was intense, dark, and all around just wonderful. I am very excited to see what story Leigh Bardugo will share with us next, as Shadow and Bone was just all around an awesome awesome book.

I suppose I should first start off by telling you that fantasy is pretty much my thing. High fantasy even more. So when I find a high fantasy as good as this one, I kind of freak out. Especially when it's a high fantasy as good as Shadow and Bone AND it is on the darker side. So basically, Shadow and Bone was everything I was hoping for.

Shadow and Bone started out a bit confusing - it took me about 40 pages to completely grasp what was going on. After this, Leigh Bardugo spins a tale that is so enticing and intriguing that doesn't let up until the final page has been turned. The plot of this book was SO GOOD. Even after I finished, I couldn't exactly wrap my head about it. I couldn't decide who I wanted to trust exactly and who had been at fault entirely and who I wanted to completely succeed. Shadow and Bone is storytelling at its finest and I loved every page. There were so many twists and turns throughout the book, and I am really excited to see where Leigh Bardugo will take her characters in the next chapter of their story.

Leigh Bardugo's writing is just gorgeous. This was probably the first thing I noticed about the book and I found myself reading some sentences over, as I just loved her writing so much. Along with this, Leigh Bardugo has created a world so real that I felt like I was walking on the pages alongside the characters. Everything about it was so intriguing and I cannot wait to see more of it in the next books in the trilogy.

There characters were all so delightful. I feel like I am not supposed to love the Darkling. But I totally did. He was so devious and always with his plotting, yet completely attractive. I loved Alina - She grew so much throughout the book and I loved going through that with her. Genya was another really great character. Mal was a character I loved from the first time her walked on the pages and I kept waiting and waiting for him to show up again.

Pretty much this is just a giant lovefest for how much I loved Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. If you only read one book this summer, this is the one to go get your hands on. It's that good.