Shadow and Bone + Novellas Review! | Why did I wait so looong???? {Yomna's Review}

I've been procrastinating for two years and I don't know why!

Rating: 4/5

Spoiler free!

I have wanted to read this book for the longest time, and I don't know why I've delayed it for so long. Mainly I wanted to read it because there was so much hype surrounding Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom and I really wanted to be part of it (I was feeling so left out it was so sad :(). I also don't like reading series spin offs without reading the original first (I feel like I'd miss a lot of little references that way) so I forced myself to read this. 'Force' makes it sound like torture but it was quite the opposite actually. 

Anyways, this book is a bit darker than the usual YA fantasy. Especially considering the symbolization of darkness as a place and person. So yeah, it's gloomy and dark and it's for the evil inside you (which we all have, admit it). The setting is also roughly based off of imperial Russia which was fantastic. 

Leigh Bardugo is an AMAZING writer. She doesn't pull the punches, and her plot twists are crazy! A prime example of this is in The Witch of Duva. That novella was INSANE. And I mean for realssss. That was incredible and mind-bendingly beautiful. Her writing feels full and poetic, especially in the preludes. It honestly hooked me from the beginning. Her writing is definitely addictive, and the world-building is pretty great and gradual too so it's never too much in too little time. The only reason I'm taking one star off my rating is because I found the story a bit slow paced at times, but honestly I think this is just a personal preference.

Alina Starkov is NOT your typical badass female lead. She's weak, scrawny, gullible, and untrained. However, she grows in the book which is what I'm here for. Okay, she's not Celaena Sardothien for sure, but she's a different kind of awesome and that's okay too. Alina is a character that doesn't walk onto the page fully formed but she's also the kind of character you're willing to work with. 

Overall, I STRONGLY recommend this book, it's great and the novellas are some of the most interesting I've ever read. I feel like novellas are a special thing and should be appropriately nourished, and Leigh Bardugo did that. BRAVO!

Thanks,

Yomna