Review Detail

There's so much to love about SHADOW AND BONE. My favorite, though, has to be the world building. It's exceptional. The reader is instantly immersed in the alternate-Russia world of Ravka, with its wars, its customs, and its magic-wielding Grisha. There isn't one false note in the entire book. It's like reading a thoroughly researched, gorgeous historical. It's a world I want to revisit again and again.

The characters are interesting, and each is distinct on the page. I would've liked a bit more of Mal before Alina is taken to the Little Palace so that I could feel connected to him and not just know I was "supposed" to feel connected to him because Alina did. But that was a minor thing, because every single character came off the page in vivid, brilliant life.

The plot is fascinating and goes hand in hand with the world building. The only small drawbacks for me were that I wanted more showing of emotions rather than telling and there were two pivotal moments (once where she listens to what sounds like lunacy from a secondary character and very quickly accepts the words as truth and once where during the climax she suddenly understands something that changes the entire outcome of the story) where I felt we missed a bit of lead up so that the reader could more fully accept these sudden decisions/changes from Alina. However, I can honestly say that I remained captivated throughout the entire story, I thought about it after I put the book down, and I can't wait to read book two.