I briefly mentioned that I'm doing a reading marathon of Shadow and Bone trilogy + the duology books called Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom before the netflix adaption tv shows comes out at some point during mid April. Yep I know, I don't totally know what I have chosen to embark on and so on, but I've already finished the first trilogy book and read about 1/3 of the second. I'm doing pretty well for myself basically.
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 feasts on human flesh. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything in her life but when her regiment is attacked on the fold and her best friend brutally injured she reveals a dormant power that saves his life, making her realise that the power could be the key to setting her war raged country free.
⭐⭐⭐
This is the first fantasy book that I have read in 10+ years or so and yep I have been away from this genre for a long time now. On the plus side I am doing well on my promise to read more fantasy this year and when I've finished this reading marathon I will have read 5 fantasy books, not bad for a gal who don't venture into made up worlds no more.
So, while this book is so abundantly YA at times it's almost a little grating, I did still find myself getting drawn into the world of Ravka, the magic and the politics reigning inside of it. It's definitely the best part of the first book and I really did wish it spent much more time on that part of it and less on Alina's relationship with Mal or the Darkling because those are just way less interesting.
But one can't have everything in this world so I had to make due with this.
Once I started to get the hang of everything, the map, the eastern European/Russian inspired cities and the goddamn Grisha orders and groups it was actually a really easy and quick book to get through. I admire that despite the characters sometimes feeling a little paper thin or not fleshed out enough, particularly in relation to each other, the story is very easy to get drawn into and I do enjoy spending time with it.
That's the strongest part of the book, the world. I am actually deeply fascinated by it and the magic. I want to know more about the magic.
Spoilers/Speculation:
✪ My issue with Alina as a main character is that I feel deeply disconnected to her, it's very annoying and I find that the main characters of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse in the trilogy at least toe the line of having to please everyone and be perfect all the time. It's annoying because it barely gives the characters any depth and makes it hard to know them. It's particularly problematic following Alina as a main character for three books and feeling that she is so fragmented.
✪ Because of this divide between main characters and side characters, the side characters become way more fascinating and interesting to read about. The first one had some good ones, I feel the second one has even better ones and I am very pleased to be following their journey alongside Alina's.
✪ I don't want to spend my time hating on the Darkling. I could probably write an essay about how problematic he is. God. But he is trash and I wish him a quick death. I can't believe I'm going to have to read about him for two more books....
✪ For the second and third book I am hoping for more war and politics, it's what I was missing from the first one, because a big part of that book was spent on things I really didn't care about. So, please war and politics that is nuanced, please.
✪ I'm mostly excited about reading the duolgy books, I've heard good things and yes I am excited. So I'm going to stop blogging now and run off to read some more so I can finally join the hype about the found family of criminals doing sneaky shit!
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