I first heard of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo when I was in my lack of time and mental capacity for reading period and the show caught my eye on Netflix. I love a good fantasy world and I binge watched the first season of Shadow and Bone in an embarrassingly short period of time. I loved it and it was so good I actually kept track of when the second season was to come out and did a rewatch of the first season in preparation. Friends. It was not until after I had watched the second season that my eldest child casually mentioned that there were books! I was flabbergasted because usually I am on top of this type of thing but she was right and I became determined to get myself a copy of them.

I added them to my Amazon cart to save for later like usual and then spent a couple of years searching for them at used bookstores because I knew that they were popular enough to be there. Unfortunately I did not find them for so long my daughter finally was like you have made an effort why don’t you just buy them from Amazon. And yes, she was right, they were on sale and I got them super cheap. They are not they type of book that I would read once and be done and they also are right up my middle child’s alley so I ended up breaking down and purchasing them. I have only read the first book and it was amazing! I would have ripped through the whole series but I made myself wait until I had written out this review first to start the second one.

Shadow and Bone follows Alina and Mal on their growing of age adventure during a dark time in their world ruled by The Dark One. In the past this Dark One split the continent in two with a dark entity called TheFold which is host do demons that eat anyone who tries to go through it. The Dark One can only be defeated but a Sun Summoner which nobody has seen in a very long time. Alina and Mal grew up together at an orphanage and somehow missed the testing of their powers at a preteen age and the story follows their journey into discovery and how they plan on defeating The Dark One.

The books and the TV show are both very well written and I became invested in many of the side characters as well as the main ones. The level of the books is similar to and older YA book as a guide for those that were wondering. There is a little bit of adult stuff and the violence is similar to The Hunger Games.

I highly recommend both the show and the books to anyone who loves this type of fantasy. As always, I will not give too much away but know that I bought this series and Six of Crows and plan on reading the rest of them ASAP. It was that good!

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Links:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

We are getting closer to the finish line with our first list of 10 Books I am rereading before giving them away with this week’s book, When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. When I first started this list I had high ambitions about finishing the list right away but as many of you know, my good intentions of productivity tend to take way longer than originally anticipated. I definitely overestimate how much I can get done in a day regularly and I am totally ok with that. Progress is progress and we are nearing the end of our first list! Look out for our second list before the end of the year and some additional book reviews from books I have read this year that are not on this list including our next book review, On the Beach by Nevil Shute.

This site participates in affiliate links and receives a small fee for affiliate recommendations at no cost to you. As always we only recommend products we have tried ourselves. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

When the Emperor Was Divine is about a Japanese family living in America during the internment camps of World War II. This family goes through many struggles while the war is happening and this book is a great inside look into how the camps affected people. It is a shorter book but the story is amazing and should be read by most people since this part of history is often overlooked in our classrooms.

One of the many things that struck me about this book was the way the author used imagery to paint a picture in the reader’s mind about the conditions of the camp. The dry, dusty camp was well described and made the reader feel like they were there with the kids trying to navigate life in camp. The isolation and despair felt by the adults was palpable and very well done.

This book was very well written and I loved reading it again but my decision is to give it away because I have too many books. I don’t think I will read this one again sometime and my hesitation about giving it away is only due to having a child coming into the age where I might recommend that they read it but we can always check this one out at the library so it will go into the give away pile.

Have you read this book? What was your favorite part?

Verdict: Give Away

Our next book: On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Links:

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Rereading Books Before I Give Them Away Part 1

Book Review: the namsake by Jhumpa Lahiri