Alina Starkov and Malyen Oretsev have been practically inseparable since growing up together in an orphanage in Ravka. Now teens, Mal is an expert tracker with the army and Alina an apprentice cartographer (mapmaker). They live in a world inhabited by normal folk like themselves and Grisha – people with extraordinary talents. Grisha can mold metal with their minds, or stop a heart beating in an instant. Others can manipulate the look of things or air, fire and water.

A King and Queen reign their lands, but the true power belongs to The Darkling – a man ruling the Grisha and having even more powers himself. They don’t call it magic – they call it the Small Science. (Manipulating matter around them).

Ravka is cut off from the sea by a strip of all encompassing black fog called The Fold or The Unsea. Travelling across it one day to reach the port on the other side, Alina & Mal are attacked by hideous creatures that inhabit the darkness. Alina wakes to be deemed a hero, but can’t remember anything except Mal being a target and a bright light.

She is Grisha. Shocked, frightened and longing to be back with Mal, she slowly accepts her new life and the possibility she might be the only thing that can defeat The Fold. The Darkling has her trained in all things Grisha and she is falling for the powerful, dark and handsome lord.

Just as she feels like she has found her place in the Grisha world, she must flee. Her future is an elaborate lie. Not knowing who to trust, she is now on her own in the wilderness, away from the luxury of her new home. Her only hope is to find a mythical stag who will enable her to fight back. Only the tracking skills of her friend Mal can help her, but other forces are tracking them.

I loved Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom so much, I’ve read them twice. I decided to go back to the beginning and read the Grisha Trilogy. This is my new favourite place – The Grishaverse.

I quickly felt immersed in this world with the first in this fantasy series Shadow and Bone, enjoying not only the story but the worldbuilding itself. Alina is a likeable character, and I too was enamoured with The Darkness, until I learned the truth along with Alina.

Looking forward to the Netflix series starring Ben Barnes, who played Prince Caspian in my first favourite fantasy world – Narnia. Hoping the Netflix series does the original book series justice.

Author – Leigh Bardugo

Age – 13+

Read the rest of the series reviews here

No.2                                                             No.3

(Fantasy, Love, Romance, Darkness, Good vs Evil, Orphan, Friendship, Stag, Series, Action, Betrayal, Grishaverse, Sun Summoner)