By:
Leigh Bardugo
Narrator:
Lauren Fortgang
Series: The Grisha Trilogy (
website with extras)
Publisher: Henry Holt/Brilliance Audio
Release Date: June 5, 2012/ September 17, 2013
Source: Purchased
Buy:
amazon |
IndieBound |
iTunes | Barnes and Noble |
Book Depository
Rating:
5 out of 5 Sun Summoner Stars (and boy, are those powerful and bright)
Synopsis of Shadow and Bone:
Alina Starkov doesn't expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, the one thing she could rely on was her best friend and fellow refugee, Mal. And lately not even that seems certain. Drafted into the army of their war-torn homeland, they're sent on a dangerous mission into the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh.
When their convoy is attacked, all seems lost until Alina reveals a dormant power that not even she knew existed. Ripped from everything she knows, she is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. He believes she is the answer the people have been waiting for: the one person with the power to destroy the Fold.
Swept up in a world of luxury and illusion, envied as the Darkling's favorite, Alina struggles to fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But as the threat to the kingdom mounts, Alina discovers a secret that sets her on a collision course with the most powerful forces in the kingdom. Now only her past can save her... and only she can save the future.
So here's the deal, you know that book that people, I mean close friends not just any ol' person, tell you about. And they go on and on and ON about how you should drop everything and read this now. You ignore them because you may be caught up in a Summer of Contemporary Reads, and you just aren't in the mood for fantasy of any kind. You want real stories with real people and you don't care that your friends are declaring themselves Team Whomever because your fangirlsh ways are on overload anyway. Ever been there? Well, that was me when
Shadow and Bone came out.
Then early this summer, I looked at my shelves and thought, hmmm, I wonder if this story is good as an audiobook? I clicked over to iTunes and BAM, I was hooked.