spoiler-free shadow & bone book review ~ is it really that bad? ☠

Hallo, hallo, people, elves, demigods, witches, wizards, crows, and all! Hope you’re doin’ well. 🍂
I’m listening to the ten minute version of All Too Well right now, while typing up this post from my notebook [YES!! I’m finally writing some posts in a notebook. I feel ✨p r o d u c t i v e.✨ Especially since I can use write posts even in the car now]. So, of course, I’m great. 😌

so. Shadow and Bone. You’ve probably heard the name. it’s quite popular. Very popular indeed. and so. many. people. hate. this. trilogy. 👀
Me? I hadn’t given a second thought to reading it. But then I read another book by the same author, Six of Crows, which if somehow you don’t know about it, is another very popular series by the same author (Leigh Bardugo). And because SoC was amazing, I wondered why people think S&B is so bad. So there you go. that’s why I decided to read it. You probably weren’t interested in my reason, but oh well. :<

Oh, and this is a review for the first book. I’m only halfway through the second book, so maybe I’ll review that whenever I’m done. 🙃

For a lot of people (dare I say most?), characters are what make a story. Or, y’know, break one. They’re like, the main part, and we enjoy great characters the most out of all the elements a story has. 😌
The characters in S&B? They’re okay. Not the best, but they aren’t bad. ^_^
But I don’t like the protagonist, Alina, all that much. She’s a bit… I don’t know what word to use. Whiny wouldn’t be what I’m trying to say — but that’s the first word that popped into my head, for some reason. Anyway, I don’t know how to explain it, but she’s definitely not my favourite. Which, considering she’s the main character, is sad. /:

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But Mal seems alright! I mean, he was barely there, but I think he’s cool? however, like I mentioned earlier, I’ve started the second book (Seige and Storm), and his whole personality seems to have taken a huge 180? Like, where’d that goofiness go from book one? ?_?
I dunno what to think of Mal, honestly.

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okay….. 0_0
Can we take a moment to appreciate how great that Darkling thing was? I mean, I kind of expected *that*, but I actually starting liking him, before, t h i n g s happened. 😭✌#keepingreviewsspoilerfreeishard
Y’know, I even shipped Darklina. *sharp laughter* but didn’t we all? :^)

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Oh, and Genya’s alright. I think I may like her more than Alina? oof.
So, I think I mentioned everyone worth talking about? the side characters aren’t really memorable. Or maybe it’s just my terrible memory. I dunno, honestly. Is there anyone absolutely amazing I’m forgetting, guys? (don’t say Nikolai, he’s not in the first book.)

I don’t personally care about the plot much~ so if that’s what you like the most, and wanted to read about, welp, sorry for the disappointment, but I’m not going to be writing much about that. 😔
The most I can offer you is: the plot’s alright, I s’pose?
my reviews are just so informative, na? Sorry. I seriously can’t think of anything!

I really liked Leigh’s writing style in SoC (even though it was a tad hard to get into), and it’s definitely better than how she was writing in S&B, but I still like this. There’s a fair bit of humour, which isn’t quite as rich as SoC’s, but I still enjoyed those parts just fine. ✌
Hmm. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare SoC and S&B, especially as much as I’m doing in this post. But is it that bad if they’re by the same author? 🧐 I dunno, mayhaps it is.
Anyway. You can let me know what you think about that^ in the comments. If you bother to leave a comment. 🥀
Oh also, for some reason I was expecting S&B to have a dual POV? Turns out there isn’t. 🐀 I didn’t mind when I found out it doesn’t, though.
So I s’pose that’s all for the writing style section.

Okay, seriously, S&B isn’t terrible, guys. As a whole, Shadow and Bone (well, the first book anyway) is decent. Not great, not awful. Definitely not top-tier level like SoC, but that was expected.
Would I recommend this to anyone?
Hmm. Probably not.
But would I tell someone not to read it? Nah. not that they need my opinion
So yeah, I don’t get all the hate. But maybe I will after reading the other books. wHo knows?

I hope you liked the review! It’s been quite a while since I last did one.
Maybe you noticed, mayhaps you had other things on your mind, but I was trying out a new review style here. Bold text, italic text, different section titles, and well, different sections. I’m not very sure about it. But then, I’m not a very decisive person. Let me know how it is. 🥀
(this wilted rose emoji is so amazing~)

Anyway, before you move onto another post, and completely forget you were here, go check out my new design! on a whim, I decided I’d do blogmas, but not 25 days, or 12, just a week. I’m (unfortunately) not organized enough for more than that. 😔 But back on point, I’ll be doing a week of blogmas, and I also redesigned my blog (just a teeny bit) for christmas! so go check it out. 💙 (that last bit totally isn’t a threat. totally not.)

have a great day, everyone! I’ll see you in the next post (who knows when that’ll be now, my post schedule’s a mess)! 🍂👋