I know, I’m late to the party on this one. I’ve technically read every other book this series touches on first. I really don’t know what took me so long, other than I was worried the Netflix series had ruined it for me. Two quick observations are that a) I always forget she’s technically under YA. I refuse to accept this because it doesn’t read like YA. And B) this may be one of the shortest books I’ve seen by Leigh Bardugo. Maybe because my first book by her was Hell Bent, but this seems like a small sampler at first glance.

Now that I’ve finished it, I can say with 100% confidence, I slept on this book. It’s all right there, all the kernels that are dropped for the later stories, the little hints of a larger plot… they are -right- there. Leigh Bardugo is a master storyteller, Shadow and Bone is just that first glimpse of what she has in store for her readers.