Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone follows our main character Alina whose best friend is brutally injured. She then uses her powers; a special kind that could possibly save her country filled with war, free, to save her best friend. Alina is whisked to the royal court where she is trained to be a member of the Grisha. There, Alina will have to confront all the secrets locked around Grisha. 

I absolutely love Leigh Bardugo's duology Six of Crows which is based in this same world as Shadow and Bone so I thought I would love this book as well.

Personally, I liked Shadow and Bone, but it wasn't my favourite.

I found it really hard to grasp on and overall, the plot wasn't really what I expected.

The beginning of this novel really caught my eye. I really enjoyed the beginning until about 40-50 pages in. That is where I started losing interest. The book picks up again near the end for me, but I didn't feel as "in love" as I did with other series and/or books, including Six of Crows.

I think what made me not like the book so much is how disconnected I was with the characters. Characters is one of the main parts of a novel that draws me into the book. If I don't feel connected to the characters, the book suddenly leaves my interests.

And it's not like the characters weren't well-written because they were. I just felt an obsolete connection to the characters.

Unlike other series or even standalone novels with prominent characters, I feel like characters in Shadow and Bone didn't really stick to me. I didn't really care for them, and at most parts, I couldn't remember which character was which because I was so disinterested.

Honestly, if you come up to me at any time and mention any of the characters in this book, I can admit I probably won't remember who they are. Thats how big of an affect they have made on me.

I do love the Grisha World so much though. I love this world that Leigh Bardugo has created full of magic and what not. I really want to love this series as much as I do with Six of Crows and I might re-read it when I feel fully dedicated and hopefully by then I'll be in love with it.

Regardless of how disconnected I am with these characters, I absolutely love Leigh Bardugo's writing. If I'm honest, she is probably one of my favourite fantasy writers in YA at the moment. No matter what she writes about, I seem to be incredibly mesmerized by her writing regardless.

I do really want to love this book so much because I do quite enjoy the world; maybe one time later on in the future, I'll re-read it and hopefully love it.

I definitely want to hear your thoughts though! Did you love this book? The characters? Let me know in the comments or on my Instagram!