#the darklin

[my-darling-inej]

shadow and bone + the onion (season 2 edition) pt. 6

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Kaz Edition

Season 1: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Crows Edition

[strwbryfrogs]

A Shadow and Bone review

I decided to read Shadow and Bone first, and I finished it in less than 2 days so uh *laughs awkwardly* here’s my review! I’m enjoying the series so far, and I’m really looking forward to reading Siege and Storm :) WARNING: There will be spoilers in this review, so if you haven’t read S&B yet, or are planning to, don’t read any further!

Things I loved: 

- Alina’s first person POV. I wasn’t expecting the book to be from first person POV, so that was a nice surprise, and I really liked getting to know more about the Grishaverse through Alina’s eyes.

- The Darkling. I already knew he was the main antagonist, but his betrayal still had me FUMING becuase I had grown so fond of him!! Imo, he’s such a complex and interesting character to read about even as a villian.

- Darklina. Did the Darkling manipulate Alina’s feelings and is lowkey a pedophile? Yes. Do I still think Darklina has so much chemistry? YES. 

- Mal and Alina’s friendship. I love their banter, and they were childhood best friends, which is a trope I adore. I might prefer Darklina over Malina, but I still think they’re adorable together. I know Mal gets a lot of hate in the fandom, but I don’t see anything disagreeable with him at the moment...? Must be something that happens in S&S.

Things I didn’t love:

- It is a lot like your average YA fantasy novel with some of the tropes and plot, and I will say SoC is a lot better, but I think it’s because the writing styles are so different, and Leigh had time to improve her writing after S&B.

- It’s a liitle slow in the middle, mostly becuase it focuses more on Alina learning to control her power and world-builiding, but I think it was still interesting toread about (the Grishaverse is one of my favourite fantasy worlds) and it was worth it when the plot picked up a little further in the book.

- Alina is willing to sacrifice a lot for Mal. I mean, I understand they’re best friends, but some of it is just a little too much for me. For example: at the end of S&B, she jumped into the Shadow Fold with Mal to save him, leaving an entire skiff of people behind, and at the beginning of S&S, it’s revealed that only a few people survived on the skiff, which just feels like Alina left an entire skiff of people behind... for Mal. ??????