Review: Shadow and Bone

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Leigh Bardugo is an author to have been on my radar for quite some time, yet I spent a long time avoiding her books. Prior to reading Shadow and Bone, my feelings towards Leigh Bardugo were much the same as my feelings towards Sarah J. Maas. Both are big names in the young adult fantasy genre, and I feared the hype. In both cases, it was their second series that caught my attention – with Maas it was A Court of Thorns and Roses, with Bardugo it was Six of Crows. With Maas, I was able to jump into the second series without having read the first. With Bardugo, I did not want to do such a thing. With Maas I went back and read Throne of Glass, yet with Bardugo I decided to begin at the start.

Although I have been told Six of Crows can be read without reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy first, many suggested doing so for a better understanding of the world. I did go and purchase Six of Crows first, yet I managed to hold back on the temptation of diving in. I made myself order the Shadow and Bone trilogy first, and jumped straight in.

I’ll be honest – I’m rather annoyed with myself. Shadow and Bone was one seriously addictive read, and I wish I’d jumped on the bandwagon sooner. I wish the first time Shadow and Bone caught my attention, all those years ago, that I had picked up the book and jumped in straight away. I’ll admit it is not my favourite book in the genre, but it certainly left me wanting more.

In many ways, Shadow and Bone is like so many other young adult fantasy books out there. We have a special snowflake of a main character, surprise (to her) powers, and an evil that needs to be taken down. It seems to have worked down the ‘how to make a young adult fantasy novel’ checklist, striking off all the usual elements. Despite this, I was addicted. Even though things are rather black and white, although things are a bit cliched, it had enough in it to keep the attention – there was nothing in this one that would have me screaming from the rooftops regarding originality, but it knew how to keep my attention.

I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the world. I enjoyed the magic. I enjoyed seeing how things developed. I enjoyed the writing. I powered through it, and as soon as I was done I was left wanting more – and that is exactly what we want when reading a young adult fantasy novel.

I know there is some debate out there regarding the Russian inspiration, and I just want to make a quick note on it. I do not know enough to be an expert, but part of me feels as though the debate that I’ve seen around could have been avoided if the inspiration wasn’t so obvious. There were elements that seemed to fall into clichés, things some people may find issue with, and I feel as though a step back to make the parallels less obvious would have lessened the debate. You see, I enjoyed this world – I think it was a bit too obvious where the inspiration come from, as I like my fantasy to be far removed from the real world, but it was enjoyable. I know there is a lot of debate surrounding this, so I’ll leave my statement at that.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this. It wasn’t perfect, but it kept me hooked and excited for more.

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