Miss Phi's Bookshelf

book review

Shadow And Bone

10/24/2015

Title:
Shadow and bone
(The Grisha #1)

Author:
Leigh Bardugo

★★★☆☆

3.5 out of 5 stars

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

This is the first YA I’ve ever read taking place in Russia so it made me consider its world refreshing, even though the world building felt pretty limited since there was no history of the world, just enough information for the reader to understand the story without submerging in it.

I must admit I enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed it a lot, but there are many things I personally disliked about Shadow and Bone: when it comes to the main character, at the beginning I thought Alina’s voice wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, she was gray to me, not white nor black, just gray, and even though she gets better towards the end I had a hard time sympathizing with her and her obsession of constantly comparing her looks to others (how shallow of you, Alina). As for the romance, I disliked Mal, to me he was the typical hot guy that only wants what he cannot have (because no matter what he says, he was a flirt while she was there, once she left, bam! Eternal love, not cool).

Also, I didn’t understand why there were so many pieces of pointless information given, I don’t get what significance does it add to the story Alina playing dress up with her friend (?), instead of keep overly describing what luxuries the grisha have at the little palace, give me more Darkling. Oh Darkling, I appreciated him as the villain, he really knew how to play Alina, taking advantage of her being so naive and that I liked a lot, though he is lacking some serious character development.

Overall, the story was predictable but it is a page turner, and that made me really like this book, flaws and all.

anne bishop

Vision In Silver

10/24/2015

Title:
Vision In Silver
(The Others #3)

Author:
Anne Bishop

★★★★★

5 out of 5 stars

Lorem ipsum dolor.The Others freed the cassandra sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before—both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn’s help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.

Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon’s only hope of ending the conflict.

For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon’s doorstep…

My favorite book of the year so far, and I highly doubt any other book is going to steal its spot on the top. Anne Bishop is just brilliant, the world she has created is pure perfection, the characters are all extraordinary and all of them have a purpose.

This book might not be as action packed as the last two installments, but everything is happening, things are starting to move: the HFL movement is constantly plotting against the Others, spreading rumors, becoming stronger each day, while the terra indigene are taking notice and things won’t stay still for much longer.

Simon, as the progressive leader he is, is looking at things from a different perspective, thinking of new ways of making the Others conscious not all humans are dangerous, and some of them are worth saving. The relationship between Meg and Simon is getting stronger, and even though they are still only friends, you can tell how it is adequately evolving by them spending more time together, this is no insta-love, this is true friendship becoming something more.

We get to meet new characters, some of them deeply annoying (the Lizzy) but they are meant to be like that, they add to the story, also, Bishop is introducing us to characters that will have an important role in the next book, or so it seems. The character development is superb, Meg is finally becoming more conscious about cutting, this is something I deeply appreciate after Murder of Crows being all about the Others being over protective and too soft on her.

With this installment, you can easily tell Bishop is leading us to the inevitable confrontation between humans and terra indigene, and has us all rooting for the Others. Now by the look of things, the question won’t be who is going to win, but how many humans will Simon be able to salvage.

If you haven’t started on The Others series, you need to do it now! Arooo!