Shadow and Bone

4.5 stars

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did, since I was only reading it for the worldbuilding as set up for reading Six of Crows which I was more interested in reading. However, I was surprised by how invested I became in the story as I kept reading it. The characters are okay, I generally liked side characters more than the main character or the main antagonist. I got lots of the worldbuilding that I wanted, including a magic school which was unexpected but not unwelcome. And while I'm not super invested in the future adventures of Alina and Mal, I care enough about the world that I will continue to read this series to see what happens and how the world changes in response.