Shadow and Bone

This was... an interesting one. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it, but I couldn't give it less than three stars. I mean the action was good, I enjoyed it, the setting was something different (I know absolutely nothing about Russia, so don't kill me if the whole thing was off, I don't know better), but it still had the YA marks that will probably never make it my favourite genre.

The atmosphere was really what I like. It had just enough darkness in it without trying to emotionally bully you into feeling sorry for the characters more than necessary. It wasn't trying to be too poetic, just enough to make me enjoy reading and the beginning felt amazing.

I personally am not a fan of books written in first person, mostly because it has the huge risk of failing, simply because I can't stand the main character. In this case this didn't ruin the whole thing completely, but I would have preferred it from a third person view, because honestly, Alina was probably ma least favourite from the characters. She was too much of an emotional roller coaster without me feeling such a huge development in her as a person. One moment she's sickly and boring, the next super strong and tough, one moment she is oh so independent, the next she cries all the time. To me that doesn't make her likeable, just a moody child. (Also, the whole thing with the lame-ish girl who is chased around by a bunch of hilariously charming men is the biggest cliché in the world.)

The worst thing that actually made it lose a star from my original idea of four was the writing of the romance scenes. Somehow those parts made me shudder. It was probably partly the fact that it was written in first person, but they felt cheesy.

Then we have her on again, off again lads... They made it so obvious that you're supposed to root for Mal that I can't help assuming that there will be a twist to redeem the Darkling. He was definitely my favourite, even with his ridiculously suspicious behaviour before him turning out to be evil, but I honestly hope his redemption won't come through his honest love for Alina, but through himself and nothing else. I just want him to be more than really evil, but suddenly sympathetic, because of true love.

I probably sound a bit hard on the book, but all in all, it was pleasant, I'm already reading the second in the series, so it still managed to keep me interested. For some reason I really came to care about the smaller characters, like Baghra, Ivan, Zoya, etc.

All in all, the Darkling and the action scenes carry this whole thing. It's worth a read, especially if you're into YA and you're not bothered by some romance. 6/10