I really wish I had jumped on the bandwagon sooner. Shadow and Bone is brilliantly written, and it’s the first in a trilogy called Grishaverse! I’m excited to read the other two books next. There’s also a Netflix series about it. I haven’t watched it, so I don’t know how true it stays to the book, but I definitely want to see how they depicted the artistic flare of certain scenes.
For each of my little unprofessional book reviews here, I’ve given a basic description of what the book is, something good about it, something less good, how it relates to this substack, and a related recommendation. Let's dive in!
But Michael, didn’t you say you were going to read Fall of Ruin and Wrath next?
Uh… yeah… about that… I started to read it, but I learned a few chapters in that I am not the target audience. It is marketed as a romantacy (fantasy romance), and had very interesting worldbuilding concepts. But the fantasy elements are very much telling instead of showing, and the “romance” is just hyper-sexuality. In fact, much of the worldbuilding seems specifically designed to make the sex scenes work. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, but it’s definitely not what I was looking for. It doesn’t feel right to write a review for a book which was clearly not intended for people like me to read. (Though a complaint about how it’s marketed is probably warranted.)
So let’s get on with the book that actually does interest me!
What is Shadow and Bone?
Leigh Bardugo tells the story of an orphan girl, Alina Starkov, who discovers to her shock one day that she’s actually a grisha. More specifically, she’s a sun-summoner—the only one in the kingdom. This means she can create light, which makes her the only one who can do something about the unsea, a stretch of land engulfed in permanent darkness with creatures that kill any they come across. In an instant, she goes from being a nobody to being the most important person in the kingdom. And that comes with many complications.
No matter what happens in the story, it always somehow comes back to Alina being an orphan. She has been alone her whole life, aside from her childhood friend, Mal, and suddenly being wanted and adored by so many is overwhelming but deeply satisfying to her. In fact, the story seems to be more about her inward journey than it is about the worldwide events, which I absolutely love.
Throughout the story there are various other grisha with other sets of abilities, none more important than the Darkling, whose authority is second only to the king. And he doesn’t appear to like being under the king, allowing political tension to creep into the story. Speaking of political tension, the neighboring nations seem to want Alina dead. There’s a lot going on for this poor little orphan girl who doesn’t understand her powers, but she’s stronger than she believes herself to be.
Something good about the book
I will admit that working with orphans has me a bit biased, but I absolutely love that the story always comes back to how Alina feels not as a sun-summoner, nor as a soldier, nor as a woman, but as an orphan. An orphan seeking a place to belong. When that is suddenly given to her, what could possibly go wrong?
Well… many things, obviously, or it wouldn’t be a very exciting book. Where does her longing to belong somewhere take her, and how does she finally find her place? The story centers on this more than it does the world events, even though she is the key to saving the world. The book makes Alina into an unwilling hero, but never takes attention away from her deep internal conflict.
Something less good about the book
There were a couple places where the worldbuilding could’ve been more consistent. The example that comes to mind broke my suspension of disbelief for a moment. Alina was wearing clothes that were supposed to be bulletproof, yet after a scuffle on the ground with a knife, those same clothes were described to be torn up. The author wanted to use the description to show how tired and battered Alina was after her journey, but if she wanted to use that description, she should not have given Alina bulletproof armor.
Bardugo put great care into making sure her descriptions aided the story, and I do appreciate prioritizing the storytelling. The world rightfully serves the story, not the other way around. But things like this, if combed over more carefully, have fairly simple fixes.
How it relates to Culture Via Fantasy
Bardugo cleverly uses names and descriptions styled after real world areas to give you a good idea of some cultural tropes without needing to describe it all. The story takes place in Ravka, which uses Russian names, and the neighboring countries are inspired by Nordic regions and Asian regions. I suspect these countries may be more fleshed out in the other books.
This mental autofill gave the author room to get intricate with certain details: the meaning of all the colors on their uniforms, the description of how a grisha’s powers work, etc. If you look closely, many of these details are actually clues foreshadowing the story arc. Here’s my favorite example, from page 86:
It was a strange name, because though it was smaller than the Grand Palace, the “Little” Palace was still huge. It rose from the trees surrounding it like something carved from an enchanted forest, a cluster of dark wood walls and golden domes. As we drew closer, I saw that every inch of it was covered in intricate carvings of birds and flowers, twisting vines, and magical beasts.”
The reason I love this is that the first impression I got from it was the wrong one, and I didn’t really put the pieces together until I stopped to think about it later. My first impression was that the palace was connected to the forest and decorated very intricately with nature-themed art. I figured that this was a culture really in tune with nature, taking great care with how they interacted with it.
… But that mentality was not carried forward in the book. When I thought about it later, I realized what this palace really symbolized. The places where common folk lived did not fit this description at all. This wasn’t about a culture that loved nature, but a king that isolated himself from his people. He walled himself off and did not care how his people fared. This foreshadows some developments later in the book without directly saying anything of the sort.
That, and it’s a beautiful description, which helps it stand out in the mind.
Where should you go if you enjoy this book?
Other than the obvious answers, like the rest of the trilogy and the Netflix series, I don’t have any super close comparisons to give you. But, if you want another story that captures the life and thoughts of an orphan, Leo from Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series comes to mind. I’m sure you already have your thoughts about Riordan’s work, whether you love him or hate him, but Leo always had a special place in my heart. He’s an orphan and an outcast—even an outcast among outcasts—and has a struggle similar to Alina’s with the longing to be somewhere he belongs.
(Picture pulled from Google, watermark says kat-annie.deviantart.com)
What’s next on my reading list?
Uhhh good question. Probably Siege and Storm, the next book in the Grishaverse series. But it may be a little while before I get to it. I’ve already taken so long to read the books on my list because of my business, and now I’m in the final stages of wedding prep, and I have no way of knowing what life as a newlywed husband is going to be like! So it’ll be a while before I next review a book on here.
THAT SAID, I do plan to eventually write a review of Tales of the Empire, which I love, and The Acolyte, which I have less love for (but still think it deserves some positive light amidst the unnecessary hatred it has gathered). Both of those are Star Wars shows on Disney Plus, and I can’t stay away from Star Wars.
Before I go,
a reminder for you. My book, Without a Spark, and my chapbook, A Stream and a Glade, are both available for purchase on Amazon, and everything I gain from these books is going toward Camp Amos’s fundraiser for a new school building for kids who otherwise do not have access to education. Please check it out!
Also, I will not be posting here for about a month because I will be on vacation, which involves my wedding and honeymoon! When I get back, I’m thinking of changing the name of this blog, since I’ve realized I’m not super specific about talking about culture after all. (I was trying too hard to find a specific niche to fill rather than writing because I want to write.) I’m thinking something along the lines of Real Life in Fiction, or maybe even just name it after my startup book series, Cyclic Chain. Have any ideas for me?
Have you read Iracéma, The Honey-Lips?
What did you think about it? What do you agree or disagree with in my review? What do you think about the book’s depiction of indigenous culture? Let me know!
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