Make your main character ugly “She’s an ugly little thing. No child should look like that.”Like realllllllly ugly. Pale and sour, like a glass of milk that’s turned.And she must be skinny, but in the malnourished-and-kinda-hot sort of way. The Love Triangle Thanks for being my best friend and making my life bearable. Oh, and sorry I fell in love with you for a while there.So. Now that she's an ugly, unlovable orphan, what does she need in her life? A LOVE TRIANGLE! SO many people recommended it, and I honestly feel a bit awful with the low rating - but ehhh, what's the point of goodreads if I can't rant? I thought the plot was very well done and I got so caught up in the story that the plot twists just blew me away. I was so engrossed that by the time the climax hit I felt an intake of breath and couldn't tear myself away from the book for the duration of the read!

Another negative - sorry - is the rather silly obsession with looks in the novel. For one, I couldn't give a damn about the various vanities of the Grisha women; for another, it annoyed me how Alina seemed to equate her worth with her looks from the very beginning. She denies her power can possibly exist because she isn't a luminous ball of hotness like the others. But, as with good old plain Bella Swan, everyone falls in love with her anyway. To be honest, that is an unfair comparison because Alina - even with her faults - is a far more interesting character than Bella. But still, get a grip on yourself. And douse yourself with some badassery so you can stop being such a wimp because so far this world is looking awfully like the disappointing one of Grave Mercy. Excellent character. I loved her from the first moment she entered the book. She seems to be realistic. No, that's not exactly the right word- but the right word doesn't come to my mind right now, so you'll probably have to settle with that. She has an existing world around her, and although she doesn't like her place, she accepts it and survives. I also liked the fact that she is beautiful and aware of it. I'm tired of pretty characters who are unaware of this fact, although clearly everyone tells her so. of getting so many Russian things wrong. Well, first of all, why do we even care? Well, the reasons are twofold and both stem from the fact that Russia is the biggest country on the planet, which means that: You know, I've wondered ever since Shadow and Bone was released last year whether I would fall into the camp of gushing, never-ending love for it... or find myself sat sipping kvas with the other sceptics and laughing over the preposterous idea that we could ever get drunk on it. I was prepared for it to go either way. However, I find myself uselessly sitting somewhere in the middle, lonesomely twiddling my thumbs and pondering all the different things I liked but didn't love and disliked but didn't hate. How very annoying of me. I'm sat here going through my mental list of the book's faults whilst simultaneously trying to figure out what organs and/or limbs I can get away with exchanging for an ARC of Siege and Storm.

When Alina comes too, she finds herself in the Grisha tent. Confused, she tries to play off what happened on the ship. There was no way she could be Grisha. She had been tested as a child and wasn't. There was simply no way. But the Darkling has other views on the situation. The Darkling is the leader of the Grisha. He is the ruler of the Little Palace and corresponds with the King himself. He has dark gray eyes and a handsome smile that everyone seems to fancy. Seeing a lot of traffic here, even though this review is almost 10 years old. Like everyone, I've watched the show, and I think it's twice better than this sad, mediocre book. Mixing up Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows was a stroke of genius to be sure. The cast was all marvelous (especially Jesper), Mal was surprisingly attractive, as was Darkling. Color me surprised. Read from the beginning with this beautiful deluxe collector’s edition of the first novel in the worldwide-bestselling Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. This edition features brand-new artwork, a hardcover slipcase with exclusive design, a ribbon pull, and more.

Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country's magical military elite--and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift. The Darkling is also an amplifier. Meaning he can increase the power in a Grisha significantly. Items can also be amplifiers, and this comes into play a little bit later. The Darkling takes Alina into his grasp, and again, she lights up like the sun. The word choice and imagery that Bardugo uses in this part of the story is incredible. Having a girl light up brightly may seem a little odd, but the way that the author beautifully explains it makes is magical. The Darkling pronounces Alina as the Sun Summoner. She is destined to team up with the Darkling and eradicate the Shadow Fold entirely. She is taken away from camp, away from Mal, and to the Little Palace, to live her life as a Grisha And, to make it even spicier (and less racist), let's go with Light Vs Shadows. Fabulous. Much more PC.

Customer reviews

With that said, the reason I did not enjoy this book the way I had hoped I would is that it is just so uncomplicated and straight-forward. I have no usual complaints about Bardugo's characters and the plot. But they are familiar and well used and not very rich. These characters are simple, void of complex emotions and motivations. Same goes for the plot and conflicts. There is no complexity to them either. The conflicts are of good/evil variety. The plot is easily predictable. Twists? What twists?

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? If only the story was as intriguing and interesting as the premise would suggest. There's nothing new here. That isn't always necessarily a bad thing; common tropes can still be very successful when executed well, but that isn't the case with "Shadow and Bone." The plot boils down to the same tired story we've seen again and again in YA novels: a normal, plain (or so she thinks) girl finds out she has an incredible power and gets to play dress up while training to use her special ability, all while trying to decide who she really loves: her best friend or the supernatural bad boy that has just walked into her life. Many other clichés can also be found: Alina's parents are dead; Alina has no female friends...in fact, she automatically hates every girl or woman she sees; everyone sees Alina as desirable or enviable; and the list just goes on. If you've read much YA, you'll likely be able to predict most of the events before they happen, as there are very few (read: no) surprising twists. This story has been done before, and it's been done better. I loved their strong friendship and I lived for their easy banter. They knew each other inside out and it was refreshing to see that the “handsome childhood bestie” trope worked out nicely for once. In all the other YA books the childhood friend always ends up being scorned, not in this one! Leigh actually managed to pull it off to give them a good and solid basis for a strong relationship. =) Which is a first! I never read a YA book in which the best friend actually ended up being the main love interest. So, Queen Leigh, you have all my respect!! *bows* I’m not sure if it will stay that way and if they’ll still be together at the end of the last book, but I have hope for them and this is more than I had for other YA bestie couples. XD Alina runs. She escapes the Little Palace and heads toward the mountains-the last place she heard the Stag being mentioned. The Darkling's plot has a lot of terrifying aspects. For one, he is planning on killing the Stag himself and forcing the horns on Alina. By doing this, he will have complete control of her powers, and can use the light to escape the Volcra, and use his own power to extend the Fold and seize power. AND REMEMBER - she can never be so ugly that the Generic Love Interest(s) aren't attracted to her! I'm sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now. Your Main Character must be ugly enough so that all the little children reading your novels can relate, but not so ugly that Hollywood casts a troll to play her in the movie adaption.

Now I've come to the part where I am supposed to describe to you the awesomeness that is Shadow and Bone and I'm finding that rather difficult to do. Why is that? Is it because while reading a book you love your get so swept away with the story that you can't be bothered to take notes? Or perhaps it's the fact that you don't want to give away too much of the story? You want other potential readers to go into the book blind, expecting little and gaining everything the story has to offer? I suspect it is a little of both for me and with that, I offer my sincerest apologies if you do not find this review helpful. It is my hope, however, that my inability to do this book justice in my review speaks volumes in and of itself. There’s a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo’s original epic fantasy that sets it apart.”— Vanity Fair Now I'll talk about the plot itself. Well, It’s interesting. True, the plot reminds me of some books I have read in the past, but I do not judge it because there are quite a few people who are drawn to similar ideas. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the plot is copied or unoriginal. This series… is definitely not as good as Six of Crows. They’re on entirely different planes and that is okay and valid. But it’s actually hilarious how many SoC vibes this had. Genya is literally early-version-Nina and the Darkling is early-version-Kaz, except I don’t like either of them as much. [okay, fine, I do like Genya.] Mal is kind of bland. [Somewhat bland love interest who possibly might be working through prejudice… hm I feel like that sounds familiar] Alina had the greatest antihero moment at the end of this book after being sort of boring for half the book.