Full review on wildandwonderfulreads.com

I am ridiculously late to the Grisha train!  This is a series that I purchased as a set years ago then proceeded to let sit on my bookshelves -- unread -- for too long.  I'm kind-of thankful that King of Scars is releasing soon, as the hype for that finally pushed me into reading Shadow and Bone.

I'm going to preface this by saying I am not a stranger to Bardugo's writing -- I adored Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.  With that being said, Shadow and Bone fell a little short for me.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it enough and I plan to continue the series, but it didn't WOW me.

The elements of this book that stood out to me were the world building and the development of the male leads, Mal and The Darkling.

The Grisha Verse is amazing with Russian influences intricately woven throughout.  The magic system and political intrigue are simply fascinating!

I really enjoyed seeing the relationships between Alina and Mal and Alina and The Darkling unfold.  I grew quite fond of both Mal and The Darkling, definitely for different reasons, but I thought Alina was a bit annoying.

The plot as a whole was kind of bland and predictable.  Like I mentioned, though, I enjoyed it enough to continue, but I'm hoping for more from book 2.