Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.
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I wanted to like this book.  I really did.  The blurb was promising, but it just didn't do well with me.  Now I did like the book it just wasn't one of my all time favorites.  I got a little confused here and there.
Now let's talk about Alina.  Oh boy she just got on my nerves half the time.  She wasn't a very strong character in my opinion and she was kind of a little whiny.  Buck up sister we all have shit we have to deal with.  Half the time you wanted to just be like Edna in The Incredibles.  

Then there was the Darkling.  I was like, "Okay I ship him and Alina, this could pick the story up a little bit."  Nope.  He's evil people.  Like I mean destroy the world evil.  And when Alina finds out she runs away.  Mal, AKA her bestfriend, is sent to track her.  When he finds her they go on a quest to get her away from the Darkling.  Does this plan work you may ask?  Well I'm not telling because that would ruin the book for you.  But....

Let's talk about Mal.  I liked Mal he was probably one of the only characters in the book that I actually like and didn't want to repeatedly smack with a newspaper like Edna in the gif above.  After I stopped shipping the Darkling and Alina, I started shipping Mal and Alina.  I'm hoping that Alina becomes a stronger character in the next book if not Imma be like:

Sooo yeah.  I mean it was a good book and I'm most likely going to read the next book just because I want to see how the series ends.
Here's an overview in case you really didn't feel like reading the actual review of the book.
Stars: Three and a half
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series Book: Yes
Will I Read The Next One: Yes
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