Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone Trilogy is a YA staple for many, introducing the fantastical world of the Grisha, the small science, and the Darkling to its many readers. My recent reread of the trilogy has changed my opinion of the books, so here I will discuss the overall impact of the trilogy and my rough ranking.
I found myself left wanting with the first book, an opposite reaction to my first read-through of Shadow and Bone. It fell short of a few key markers for my tastes, but the foundations for the trilogy were pretty firmly set and the significant details and plot points were well executed. I couldn’t connect with Alina; her narrative voice felt too limited for the story’s scope. I won’t go into huge detail as I have linked my review above, but Shadow and Bone left me unsatisfied and I didn’t get that same sparking curiosity for the world I remembered.
Siege and Storm set me back on track for enjoying this trilogy, something I was surprised about because I originally felt that Siege and Storm dropped the ball. I felt engaged while reading, I could pick out some solid character development and the pieces of the puzzle shifting into place, and the introduction of Nikolai and his crew reignited that curiosity and excitement for the book. The pacing felt right with this one, balancing the world-building and new relationships with the political shifts and conflicts arising, and the ending was so well-plotted that I remember getting goosebumps at the revelation. Siege and Storm is by far my favourite book in the trilogy and the scales certainly tipped in favour of keeping the series upon finishing the book.
Ruin and Rising and I have our differences, and it was after my reread that I finally respected it. I loved the first half of the book, and the middle was incredibly satisfying to read, but the ending dropped the ball in my eyes. This blunder wasn’t enough to dislike the book or the series as a whole, if anything it got me thinking about how I would have written it which is a great exercise in writing conclusions and epic final battles. The character arcs reach a rewarding end point – at least for this trilogy – and the threads left untied make for great jumping-off points for the King of Scars duology, which you can read my reviews of here and here.
Overall, the Shadow and Bone trilogy has great foundations and characters to withstand the curse of being the first series in the chronicle. This trilogy isn’t the only one I’ve seen where the other spinoffs have more oomph and finer tuning than the original. The Mortal Instruments series carries the same shame (shame might be an exaggeration, but you get what I mean). I would still recommend this trilogy to young readers wanting to get into YA Fantasy, but I feel Shadow and Bone sits in a comfortable position on the simpler, introductory rungs of the Fantasy ladder. There is nothing wrong with that as we all read differently and prefer different elements within our books.
We will see at the end of the year if I still have my copies of the trilogy. As I have eluded to, my reread did function as a test to see if i was going to keep the books or give them away. My reread of Six of Crows has already secured a spot on my shleves for the duology, and I am not opposed to the idea of only having the Six of Crows duology as the story functions fine on its own.
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