Shadow and Bone: Book Series Review by Jackson Sullivan
Shadow and Bone is a fantasy novel series by Leigh Bardugo. It contains the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which I will be reviewing, as well as some other spinoffs, such as the Six of Crows duology. The trilogy itself contains Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. There is also a Netflix adaptation of the series, but it adds a secondary plot using the characters from Six of Crows.
Shadow and Bone is set in a world where some people, called the Grisha, are born with magical powers such as the ability to control fire, heal others, or manipulate metals with ease to forge powerful weapons. The majority of the story takes place in Ravka, a country that is constantly at war with nearby countries. The country also has another problem as well, a very big one. A long time ago, a powerful Grisha known as the Black Heretic created the Shadow Fold, a large blanket of unnatural darkness that covered a part of the land and infested it with monsters, essentially splitting Ravka in two, since crossing the Fold is very dangerous and there are always lots of casualties. The protagonist of the trilogy is a young cartographer named Alina Starkov, who is crossing the fold with her best friend, Mal, when an incident occurs, and witnesses believe that Alina might be a very powerful Grisha called a Sun Summoner. The leader of the Second Army, the division of the army that contains all of the Grisha, the Darkling, takes Alina to the capital to train. The Darkling is a descendant of the Black Heretic who, like his ancestors, has the unique ability to control darkness. Despite this, he is unable to destroy the fold, even though it was created using the same power that he has. The Darkling has been looking for a way to destroy the fold for years, and he thinks Alina’s powers might be the key to destroying it.
Despite being a fantasy novel, there are tons of hilarious moments in the story. One of my favorite scenes in any book is at the end of Siege and Storm, and it involves a character, Sturmhond, who is hilarious in general. Sturmhond alone has tons of quotable lines, and I remember laughing out loud constantly while reading some parts of the book, primarily the latter two.
The villain of Shadow and Bone is a very interesting character. I have tried to avoid spoilers, but it is almost impossible to read this paragraph without getting some spoilers. I would recommend skipping this part if you dislike spoilers. Considering that Shadow and Bone follows almost all of the typical fantasy tropes, there was not much surprise when the Darkling was revealed to be the Black Heretic. It is also shown that he will do anything for power, and this is very much explored in Siege and Storm. He has a very clear vision of what he wants Ravka’s future to be, and he needs Alina’s power to do it. He also has a very interesting relationship with his mother, although this is explored more in the TV adaptation.
Shadow and Bone is an incredible fantasy trilogy that I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes the genre. I think my only criticism is that it is very similar to your stereotypical fantasy novel. In my personal opinion, Shadow and Bone is, in fact, the stereotypical fantasy novel series. Ignoring all of that, Shadow and Bone is a great novel with tons of hilarious characters, an interesting plot to keep you on your toes with one of the most fascinating villains in any book I have ever read, and it also has a TV adaptation, although it does change some things. I would definitely recommend reading it.
