I finished Shadow & Bone trilogy in a day! | Book Review
6.29.2019
DISCLAIMER: This review is a bit spoilery so if you haven't and are planning to read it, you might want to skip this post.
You might think it's an exaggeration but I assure you, I absolutely did not. It is a very rare occasion but I did the same thing finishing The Raven Cycle a long time ago. It happens when I get too invested in a story. I just finished my foundation, I have a lot of time to spare and I don't feel like getting out of bed very much. It sounds like a perfect time to binge-read some series for me.
I had been wanting to read this series for a long time, I borrowed Shadow and Bone from my local library twice; once in 2017 and the other time in 2018. Both times I ended up only finishing two chapters and I couldn't get into it. I'm glad I tried to start reading it again because this time I actually finished Shadow and Bone and not just the first book but the whole trilogy! Actually, I just wanted to finish this book quickly so that I could start reading the Six of Crows duology because people are still talking about it until now, the hype is real!
Goodreads rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Pages: 358
Publication: June 5th 2012 by Henry Holt and Company
Source: Sabah State Library
Reading Format: Paperback
Goodreads rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Pages: 435
Publication: June 4th 2013 by Henry Holt and Company
Source: Sabah State Library
Reading Format: Paperback
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pages: 422
Publication: June 17th 2014 by Henry Holt and Company
Source: Sabah State Library
Reading Format: Paperback
review
After watching many people hyping this series up, I gotta admit that the series as a whole was a little bit underwhelming for me. If I had read this during my The Hunger Games phase, I probably would like it but since my standard for good fantasy book has risen up in quite a significant amount ever since I started reading YA, I was expecting to be absolutely mind-blown but this book was a bit less from what I expected.
 |
| My personal rating for each book is based on plot, writing style, world-building and characters |
highlights of the whole series✨
1. Alina's character development. She went from this average girl with very low leadership quality, bad combatting skill to a good leader, a very good fighter and a powerful opponent for a 120-year-old villain who had been using his power for basically his whole life when she just knew she had her power for a few months. She grew up so much in the span of a few months and I really loved that.
I don't care if you think I'm a Saint or a fool or the Darkling's whore. If you want to remain at Little Palace, you will follow me. And if you don't like it, you will be gone by tonight, or I will have you in chains. I am a soldier. I am the Sun Summoner. I am the only chance you have.
2. Malyen's character development. Even in the first book, I got this unfondness feeling towards him and in the second book, I hated him so much. I knew that he loved Alina and I understood that it was hard for him to cope with Alina's changes; her character really developed during the months they were separated and when they finally met again, suddenly, she wasn't really the girl he knew anymore. I got that all the stuff that happened in their country and whatever happened to both him and Alina really took a toll on him but I thought he was holding Alina back from becoming who she really is. Alina did play a huge role in him becoming more and more annoying in the second book but even if I try to reason myself that he was just going through a hard time because of Alina, he was still a big jerk to Alina even when he knew that she did what she did to protect him as well as the country they both belong to.
“I wasn't afraid of you, Alina. I was afraid of losing you. That girl you were becoming didn't need me anymore, but she's who you were always meant to be."
"Power-hungry? Ruthless?"
"Strong." He looked away.
"Luminous. And maybe a little ruthless too. That's what it takes to rule. Ravka is broken, Alina. I think it always has been. The girl I saw in the chapel could change that.”
In the third book, however, he became this guy that just wanted to help Alina in finishing her mission and would do anything to help her, whether they'll get together or not. Instead of being the one who held Alina back, he supported her, he helped her and most of all, he believed in Alina. He grew even stronger than how he usually was and I love that he redeemed himself, considering he was Alina's one and true love.
3. The Darkling, basically his whole existence. Out of all the characters in the book, The Darkling had the most depth. His backstory was the most interesting out of all the characters and I think this is the reason The Darkling was everyone's favourite despite all the massacres he had done. His presence in every scene that he was in and wasn't was really huge, he had this kind of irresistible essence to him. This is probably coming from my obsession with bad boys haha. Despite that, everything he had done is unquestionably wrong and shouldn't be justified at all.
4. 7 letters, start with 'N' and ends with 'I', NIKOLAI. Is there even a reason to explain? He was literally my dream guy. Welcome to my life, my new book boyfriend. He was charming even more than the Prince Charming himself. Although he was a prince and that should give him a huge privilege, that didn't stop him from trying to improve himself in many aspects.
I did apprentice with a Fjerdan shipbuilder. And a Zemeni gunsmith. And a civil engineer from the Han Province of Bolh. Tried my hand at poetry for a while.
He has the best leadership quality, intelligence, had a strategic mind, basically all that it takes to be a good king.
I was impressed, and also unnerved. Being around Nikolai was always like this, watching him shift and change, revealing secrets as he went. He reminded me of the wooden nesting dolls I'd played with as a child. Except instead of getting smaller, he just kept getting grander and more mysterious. Tomorrow, he'd probably tell me he'd built a pleasure palace on the moon. Tough to get to, but quite a view.
5. The unique magic system. I'm still very lacking in the experience of reading fantasy books so this whole elemental magic thing is still very new to me. It was a bit hard to understand at first; the whole world-building really confused me because there were a lot of terms that I couldn't understand and it felt like I jumped right into the world, the fight and the drama without any knowledge and why and how or what. Once I started to understand the system, I could see that all their powers were really cool and I really enjoyed discovering more things about the potential of the characters' powers and the world itself.
All in all, this trilogy was really great. I'm really looking forward to reading more Grishaverse books, especially Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom which everyone is still raving about after years of being published. The characters were all lovable and would stay in your mind for quite some time. The author managed to make me finish the trilogy in one day, so I think that says a lot about this book and her writing; it was pretty addictive. If you love a story with good character development, a world with a unique magic system, a well-thought plot, an entertaining read and making a good escape, I totally recommend you to read this book.
I READ 18 BOOKS IN MAY | May Reads
6.24.2019
Of course, I'm posting this when June is coming to an end. After I finished my foundation more than a month ago, I didn't really feel like blogging. I wrote some things but they are not the things that I think I want to post. I was on Twitter a lot, watched a lot of Youtube videos, finished a k-drama (Her Private Life), a TV show (The Society), rewatched a bunch of movies and read some books. I tracked my reading on Goodreads but I never counted how many books I read until June 1st. I was really shocked when I saw that I read 18 books in May.
1. REREAD: Saints and Misfits - S.K. Ali ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Since this book was a reread, I didn't really have a new opinion on it. This book still amazes me the way it did the first time I read it. Janna was an easily likeable character and I could relate a lot to her. The side characters were all loveable and said a lot of wise things. Quoting some reviews I read on it, the book portrays Islam in a really good way and the author tried to tell stories about Islam without shoving it to the readers' faces. I loved this book and forever will.
2. Eliza and Her Monsters - Francesca Zappia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
THIS BOOK MADE ME CRY BIG TEARS. I put off reading this for too long and honestly, I read this at the perfect time. I don't even know what to say about this book apart from I love it. The talk about fandoms, Eliza's conflict with her family, her conflict with you-know-who, the reason she wrote, her friends, the way she dealt with her problems; these things affected me on a whole another level I never knew a book could ever do.
3. The Witch Doesn't Burn In This One - Amanda Lovelace ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I don't really know how to have an opinion on poetry books so here's my favourite poem from this book:
if
you can't
root for
yourself
you don't
just
cut down
your tree
in order
to spite
the ground.
no-
you breathe,
step back,
& give yourself
the
necessary
room
to flourish.
4. The Shadow & Bone trilogy + The Tailor - Leigh Bardugo ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (overall rating)
I had been wanting to read this trilogy for so long, ever since Six of Crows came out and was hyped up everywhere. I have a lot of opinions on this so I will make another post of my opinion on the trilogy.
5. The first four books of The Mortal Instruments series - Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (overall rating)
I will make another separate post on my experience reading Cassandra Clare books but what I can say about this series particularly is it does get better. The series gets better. Her writing style, the characters, everything gets better and by the end of the series, I loved all of the characters I never thought I would.
6. Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I felt like I was watching a documentary when I read this (maybe because it is). By the end of this book, all I wanted was for the band to be real just so I could join the fandom. I'm a huge fan of character-driven books so it's no surprise that the thing that I love the most about this book was the character development of all the characters especially the main characters. I cried a lot reading this book (apparently I cried a lot in May) seeing the characters grew to be the best versions of themselves. I cried reading the love stories, cried again when the main character was struggling and cried when it ended.
7. My Plain Jane - Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I liked this book but not as much as I loved My Lady Jane... I was kind of disappointed because I was really looking forward to reading this book even before it was published. Maybe I had too much expectation for this book or maybe it was because I didn't really like Jane Eyre, to begin with. The authors communicated with the readers lesser than they did in the first book and the communication was one of the things I really loved in the first book. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading Jane Eyre's adventure here and I loved that it was not just another plain love story.
8. The Secret History of Us - Jessi Kirby ⭐⭐⭐
I read this because I was intrigued by the synopsis of the book: A story about a girl who lost her memory because of a car accident and she only had the memory up until four years before the accident. Everything changed and it was hard for her to believe that this new girl was her. It was about rediscovering herself. I always thought about what would happen if I ever lose my memory and that was why I was intrigued by this book in the first place. The story was going really well but it was too fast-paced and ended so abruptly. I enjoyed the book but it would be nice if it was longer.
9. Signature Jalanan by Teme Abdullah ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book reminded me a lot of my high school years. The everyday routine was so similar to my high school daily routine, the characters reminded me of people I had met at high school and when I read this, I couldn't help but imagine that the story sets in my high school. The story Teme wrote this time was a light one and even the messages that were relayed weren't really heavy. Most of the messages that he tried to send were familiar and this book served as a good reminder to me.
10. Save The Date - Morgan Matson ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I enjoyed movies like Cheaper by the Dozen and Father of the Bride so much and since this book reminded me a lot of these movies, I really enjoyed this book too. It was a chaotic story and a very good distraction for me from the chaos that was happening in my own life. It's weird that the chaos in this book amused me a lot because chaos shouldn't amuse anyone but strangely, this book did that to me.
11. And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I paused reading this for a few months to focus on my study so by the time I picked it up again, I forgot 30% of what I read. I forgot about how much I enjoyed it but I did remember vividly that I cried reading this book a few months ago. I totally need to reread this again. However, even when I forgot some things that happened in this book, it didn't affect my enjoyment of reading it. Just like Khaled Hosseini's other books, this book was a bittersweet read that gets me to think about the ending at random times.
12. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book was my first Cassandra Clare's 5-star book. When I started reading this, I didn't believe Cassandra Clare could write a book like this. I loved it so much. This was the book that made me love the Shadow World so much that I can't help but want to read all The Shadowhunter Chronicles books. The love triangle in this book was so perfect, it's the only love triangle I didn't hate. My further opinion on this book will also be included in my experience of reading Cassandra Clare's books post.
Phew, that was a long post. I posted a lot of my book rants on social media so if you want to know my opinions on book unfiltered, you can follow me on Instagram (@nerdbilla) and Twitter (@nvrdbilla). This is the end of my May Reads post, what was your favourite book of May?
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