Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Well hello my dear readers,
long time no see. School has officially started for me again and already I'm drowning in work. Still, I made sure I at least have some time to read, so today I have my review of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo for you guys. It's been a while since I finished it but it was such a fantastic book, which is why I want to spread the word about it. Let me start off by saying that I rated it 5/5 stars.
★★★★★ 

Plot: Our main character is Alina Starkov, an orphan, whose only friend is another orphan named Mal. She lives in a country called Ravka where there is an elite, the Grisha, that consists of people with special abilities (they can manipulate the elements). Every child is tested for these abilities and so was Alina - without positive results. Now she is a teenager and serves in the King's First Army, which is basically your usual army with soldiers, as a cartographer. Therefore she and the others are sent on a mission to cross the Shadowfold, which is a vast strip of land that divides the country in two halves and is home to strange creatures that feast on human flesh. Also, this strip of land is completely dark. Needless to say this is a very dangerous journey they have to go on and while they cross the Fold, they need to be accompanied by some members of the Grisha, who try to protect them from these beasts with the help of their abilities. However, when the cross they get attacked and Alina's abilities are revealed that no even she knew of. Now she is sent off to train with the Grisha led by the Darkling, who seems to take special interest in Alina. He believes that Alina has the power to destroy the Shadowfold once and for all. As the books progresses, Alina uncovers a big secret and she realizes that only she can save the country.

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

New Words? Yes, there are quite some new words, all Russian sounding, so you might get a bit confused at first. However, Leigh Bardugo has included a map of the country with all the cities' names and a structure of the Grisha in the beginning of the book, so it's a lot easier to understand everything. And after a while you get used to these new words.

Getting into it? Medium, because of said new words and the whole structure of this universe.

Pros:

• The world building.Wow, just wow. Leigh Bardugo did a brilliant job of building this elaborate, very interesting yet scary futuristic country that somewhat resembles Russia. 
• The setting. This is also a very strong point for me. Most of the books in the Young Adult genre are set in the United States and even though I absolutely love this country, it was refreshing to read about something different. The whole atmosphere was amazing and the descriptions of the country were perfect. I would want to live there, honestly. 
• Also, I personally love the fact that the Grisha's powers were explained scientifically and were not just labelled magic. You can tell that the author put a lot of thought into it.
• The plot twist. There are a couple of plot twists in this and some of them I did not expect at all. Nope, didn't see 'em coming. And that's something you want out of a good book, right?
• The Darkling. I know a lot of people say this, but it's true: the Darkling is such an interesting character and you never know what he's up to and whether he's this or that (don't want to spoil you guys, so go ahead and read the book!). He's pretty unpredictable, I think. Which is fantastic. I loved reading about him.
• This is going to be rather hard to put into words, but it's amazing how convincing and manipulative Leigh Bardugo can write. What do I mean by that? Well, there is sort of a love triangle going on. But it's not what you think! Alina has had a crush on her best friend Mal for quite some time as we find out in the beginning. But she is also drawn towards the Darkling. So at first I completely shipped Alina and the Darkling with all my heart and I honestly couldn't care less about Mal, he even annoyed me because I thought he was getting in the way of Alina and the Darkling. However, later on as we find out more about Mal and the Darkling, I started shipping Alina and Mal and I hated the Darkling. See what I mean? I had a complete change of heart all due to the brilliant Leigh Bardugo who can manipulate you with her writing - but in a good way.
• Mal. Even though I just said I couldn't stand him at first, I absolutely fell in love with him. Please just turn to page 298. He is such a lovable character.
• The plot. It has plot twists, it's quite elaborate and you can tell that Leigh Bardugo spent some time thinking everything through and let's just say: it turned out brilliant! 

Cons: 

• New words. To me the words were sort of confusing and I mixed them up at first, but after some time you can manage. It's just a bit more difficult to get used to this new world, but once you do, it's awesome.
• Alina, the protagonist, is a great character without doubt, but I didn't love her. Don't get me wrong, she's still fantastic, but not my favorite.

Other: 

• This is the first book in a trilogy; all three of them have been released already.

This is it for my review, I hope you liked it. Please tell me if you've read the book in the comments and if so, what you think of it. I am currently reading The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmersky, which I plan on doing a review on soon, so stay tuned for that. Have a great day, you guys.