Review: Shadow and Bone

Title: Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: The Grisha
Volume: 1
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Dystopia

Why I Read It: Somebody blogged about it a while ago, and I had seen it at the library before, so I figured I would give it a go.

A Quick Intro: Alina lives in a country that has been torn in two by the the Shadow Fold, which is full of flesh-eating monsters. In crossing the Fold, the ship she and the rest of her regiment are travelling on are attacked, and suddenly a power flairs out of her that she never realized she had before. She is then whisked away from the life she knows and her only friend, into a world of glamour, magic and intrigue. She struggles to come to grips with her new power, and the role she might play in saving or dooming the country.

What I Thought: It was in engaging read. It seemed very Russian style, similar to back when the tsar ruled, except with magic, and it was a fictional location. Alina was a heroine that was a part of the story, but who I didn't really connect with... She had a really hard life, so naturally she clung onto the only thing that was good in her world. For the first time, she feels needed, and wanted, its an enormous change. She's both strong and weak in a lot of ways, and, while I may not have approved of a lot of her decisions, I could see why she made most of them, and, though she was not my favourite character ever, I didn't dislike her.

Fun Fact: It's one about Russia. And tsars. They believe that they have found the last of the Romonov (Anastatia's) family's remains. For a long time it was debate, but they're pretty sure that all of the remains are present and accounted for now.