Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1) (Grishaverse, #1)

by Leigh Bardugo

I really could not stand Alina. She was obsessed with her appearance because she was 'oh so ugly'. It is common in YA books that the main character does not realize her beauty and thinks of herself as a plain girl, but Alina was a whole different level. It was all she could think about.

As in every YA book, our main character is unaware of how special she is and which powers she possesses. When she is attacked, her powers are discovered and she is rushed into her new life of a Grisha. She accepts it and after a while, she even embraces it. However, we do not have any time to dive deeper into the friendships she develops. When there is nothing special happening to the plot with Alina and the Darkling, we just skip that time period. Which would not be a problem normally, except if it happens so often that it feels as if the author herself did not care for any of these characters.
When there is sexual abuse of power, we only have one phrase that shrugs it off. Alina just does not care enough. When Mal tells her he never got her letters, she doubts him, she starts arguing with him, because he is clearly lying about something so insignificant. When she gets one (very strange) kiss from the Darkling, that is all she can think about, even though she always had feelings for Mal. Even though 'she had often kissed boys'. Yeah, like every seventeen-year-old who thinks of herself as ugly and has a life long crush on her best friend, has kissed many boys. Very convincing.
The main problem I had with this book, besides the main character, was the way Alina got her powers. She failed at controlling them herself, she always needed an amplifier. Until she suddenly realized that she did not need it, and suddenly, she could do everything and she was completely in control! Unfortunately, the same happened at the end, when she could not fight the Darkling but wait, she realized she was actually stronger and suddenly she was! What a beautiful way to ruin every plot.

I will be continuing this series in the hope it gets better, or in the hope that Mal becomes the main character instead of Alina. I do not understand why everyone hates Mal so much, sure his romance for Alina did not seem genuine, but he was a really nice guy and did not do anything wrong. The books are fast-paced and not a long read, but I really hope Six of Crows has a better start than this trilogy.