Shadow and Bone

In April, I saw people going crazy on social media. The series Shadow and Bone had just been released on Netflix, and for weeks my feed was literally flooded with reviews of Leigh Bardugo's novels. People were almost apologetic about it, "Oh yeah, it's my turn..." And the reviews were unanimous: it's good and worthwhile. Against such a non-controversial book, I could do nothing but bow.

Summary

Alina Starkov is an orphan. She grew up in an orphanage in Ravka, where she spent all her free time with her great friend, Mal. When they reach the age, both friends join the king's army, she as a mapmaker, he as a tracker. They are about to cross the Shadow Fold, a huge barrier of darkness that separates the kingdom in two and where man-eating beasts, the volcras, abound. Historically, crossing the Shadow Fold has never happened without at least a few casualties, and Alina tries to convince herself that it will be okay.

Alina has never had any particular talent for anything, and she has always been skinny and weak. But as they cross the Shadow Fold and the Volcras threaten Mal, she reveals an extraordinary power that has the potential to change Ravka's fate.

Impressions

I was already pretty convinced that this was going to be an effective book, and that's exactly what it is. It's such an easy read, the fantasy world is both beautiful and horrific, the geopolitical setting is interesting, and there's even a little romance. Every night I couldn't wait to get back into it.

There's nothing groundbreaking about the story structure or the writing, and often (but not all the time) you can predict what's coming next. But it's really exciting to have another never-ending series like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Ringswhich we know will entertain us for a very long time and which will not disappoint us. It seems that the Netflix series is based not only on the trilogy Shadow and Bonebut also on the dilogy Six of Crowsby the same author, of course, and set in the same universe. So I have four more novels in front of me, and I'm very excited about that.

Only negative point: I read the first volume on my e-reader, and the number of pages is completely misleading. Out of 600 pages, only 300 are dedicated to the story. The rest is composed of endless extracts from the next novels (a principle I don't understand). I would have been even happier if each volume had been a big brick.

I ordered the box set of Shadow and Bone. I will tell you more about it. In the meantime, if you haven't already done so, go and discover this great success.