Shadow and Bone

Hmm, I'm not sure what to make of this one.

I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first half, which felt a bit generic. It's a fairly short book so a lot seems to happen in not much time but then we find out later it was about 5-6 months that have passed.

The Darkling is a terrible name and I think it would go a long way to making me take his character more seriously. As it stands every time he's mentioned or in a scene I can't help but think of some shoddy romance novel that's trying to hard to have a “mysterious” and “intriguing” character without doing any of the work. Alina so far has been fairly bland, but towards the second half she got some more character about her. Hopefully the next two books continue developing her. Mal is a bit better but I don't think we spent enough time with him to know - but again we do see more of him in the second half. There's a few leaps of logic (?) that propel him from best friend status (more like they grew up together and he often forgets about Alina) to being deeply in love and willing to die for her. It's plausible, but there needed to be more there before they make that leap. I think by the end of the second book is roughly when their lover status is more realistic. I liked and enjoyed it but I'm glad the book wasn't too long and drawn out. Not sure if I'll continue the series.

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flaws: -generic characters -basic good v bad story -pacing is a bit wonky (at times) pros: +interesting world +potential for improvement +good writing +story peripheries boost the basic structure

> Bardugo is so far much better in Six of Crows / Crooked Kingdom (which I read first) so it's interesting so her development - because it is a significant level of growth she made. I am unsure of what score to give to be honest. 3-stars feels too low, but 4 seems to high and 3.5 doesn't sound quite right either. I think the major flaw is her generic characters (so far, at least) and the other more minor flaws aren't so bad, but keep it from being a proper 4-star book. Strong 3- to light 4-stars.