SHADOW AND BONE by LEIGH BARDUGO

Shadow and Bone
by Leigh Bardugo
Published: June 2012
Publisher: Indigo
Genre: YA, Fantasy

"The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom's magical elite - the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free? The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfil her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him. But what of Mal, Alina's childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can't she ever quite forget him? " -taken from goodreads

At first I was unsure about this book. The Russian names of objects and places were confusing and there wasn't any explanation about the Grisha or what Alina was actually doing in the Army, you were kind of just thrown into the story without any ground, but at about 50 pages onwards the explanations came and so did my interest with the story.

Alina is interesting, she is certainly not a perfect character, she has flaws and is a little whiney. However, she has a power that she never even knew she had and is thrown into a world that she has always been secluded from and expected to thrive, so really given the situation I can't really blame her. My biggest issue was how quickly she fell towards the Darkling, but then it is explained that the Darkling has abilities to draw you in. Alina's friendship with Genya was fun and light although I was confused about what happened to her in the end. 

The Darkling and The Apparat were some what of a mystery and the Apparat is still a question mark, but I do have a feeling that he is going to be important to the story in the later books. Obviously the Darkling's intentions are clear, I am really interested in what he's going to do next. 

I do feel as though this book gave a lot of information dumps but some didn't even explain anything and I still have questions about the world, not knowing everything about the characters is not something I am worried about as for a first book I know enough but I feel like I need more from the world. The world is interesting but I don't feel as if I can really picture it in my mind and to be able to connect completely I need to have more, but that being said it is a first in a trilogy so maybe that will come soon enough!

4/5 STARS