Shadow and Bone

Highly overrated but still worth reading. Lacks details and depth and throughout all 3 books. Mediocre writing. The russian names and phrases of some things are incredibly offputting for me as it grounds u to earth, where this is a fantasy world. I keep wanting her to expand on this or go into more detail on that. Lots of missed opportunities and I dont fell like I really know the main characters or even like them. I didnt like the ending much either, in either 3 books. It felt rushed and just la done.

Highly overrated but still worth reading. Lacks details and depth and throughout all 3 books. Mediocre writing. The russian names and phrases of some things are incredibly offputting for me as it grounds u to earth, where this is a fantasy world. I keep wanting her to expand on this or go into more detail on that. Lots of missed opportunities and I dont fell like I really know the main characters or even like them. I didnt like the ending much either, in either 3 books. It felt rushed and just la done.

Fast-paced from the start while still world-building, the book was hard to put down. The characters were complex and well-developed.

Meh. A little self-congratulatory in places, like when one of the little 'lines' the author is proud of get repeated in italics.

A little weak, especially for the grand conclusion of what was trying to be world-building. Maybe just not my cup of tea. I'm not the target audience, after all.

Read this because of the netflix series. This is one of those times where the series is waaaay better than the books. I love that the series incoropates Six of Crows (that's why I read that series first).
This.... is meh. It's alright, I guess. I don't like the utterly wrong use of Russian and Russian culture. That's grating.

Nach vielen anderen Genres dieses Jahr hatte ich mal wieder richtig Lust auf Fantasy. Diese Reihe bot sich da an, da ich mittelfristig der Serie auf Netflix eine Chance geben will - und tatsächlich wurde ich nicht enttäuscht.

Dieses erste Buch aus der Reihe entpuppte sich als solide Coming of Age Geschichte, in der die Welt der beiden Fantasyreihen dieser Autorin eingeführt wird. Die Welt enthält einige interessante Elemente, wie zum Beispiel die Ödsee und das Magiesystem, allerdings finde ich die Art, wie russische Elemente eingebaut sind, eher schwach. Da hätte ich mir mehr erhofft. Auch einige der Figuren bleiben mir ein wenig zu blass und klischeebehaftet.

In Summe habe ich mich trotzdem gut unterhalten gefühlt, Band 2 liegt schon bereit und die Krähensaga werde ich auch eine Chance geben.

So help me, I really enjoyed this. I mean Anna Karenina it ain't, but it's light & engaging.

The Russian flavour is just chefkiss. The formula is solid. The baddie is a baddie & the beige protagonist blossoms into the beautiful, powerful, chosen one. Twue wuv is lost & found, action, heartbreak, sweeping scenery etc. etc.

Having enjoyed the Netflix adaptation I was surprised that it was singular first person narrative from Alina Starkovs POV. Where is my favourite BAMF Inej? Where's that charming fuckup Jesper? Even Mal doesn't get much of a look-in & he's like, so dreamy or whatever. They were all such fleshed-out characters with their own stories, did Netflix just make 'em up? Turns out they're from a different series in the 'Grishaverse', starting with Six of Crows, which I now must read.

I'm going to be unhelpful:
That was fine I guess

Just like the other books I quite enjoyed this third and last of the trilogy. The very end is a bit too much kitsch but all in all some interesting twists in turns throughout the book.
Looking forward to reading more bits and bobs playing in the Grishaverse.

(not the full review) was expecting the book to be slightly boring and perhaps even with lack of action but i genuinely enjoyed reading chapter after chapter of descriptions about how Alina rose to power, all the military meetings, all the religious research and studying, every documentation of the movement of troops seemed so real and enticing like i was in the same warfare room as the characters.
It’s usual for me to self insert into fictional universes but this situation is different, maybe it’s my inner medieval warfare and political philosophy fangirl talking but the escapism from those chapters was so unreal and detached from what i’m used to yet embracing at the same time that i couldn’t tell i haven’t even left my room for hours.

Like with the first book it was very hard to put this one down. It only gets slightly "boring" in the middle when there's almost no progress but still makes you wonder what is gonna happen and invent stories of your own.
In general a really good book with expected and unexpected twists and turns and I cannot wait to start the 3rd book.

Each Grishavrse book is a masterpiece and this one is not exception

one of the best fantasy books I ever read. everything about this book is good. from the political ideas and to 'sturmhound' crazy adventure.