Review : The Grisha Series

Posted by Kay on October 22, 2015 4:44 pm in 4 stars reads, 5 stars reads | 11 comments

As I sat here waiting for my copy of Six of Crows to arrive, I kept thinking back to the Grisha series, and what an exciting time I had reading it, and how sad I was I had never taken the time to review it.

But it’s not too late is it? I embarked on that fantastic adventure in December of last year, and it’s all still fresh enough in my memory. So let’s do this!

(Since I didn’t review the books individually at the time, I’ll be doing a series review rather than a book by book review.)

Shadow and Bone / Siege and Storm / Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Genre : YA, Fantasy
Series : The Grisha
My Rating : 4/5

About the Books  :

My Thoughts :

The Grisha series mixes fantasy, romance and adventure in a unique setting inspired by Russian history. I have very little knowledge of Russia’s history, but it didn’t matter much : I found the world Leigh Bardugo created to be absolutely new and exciting, and it worked really well for me.

We start in book one with a clueless Alina, who soon discovers she’s not just a regular citizen of her world. Classic story, yes. But where I thought this series excelled, was in illustrating how Alina is constantly torn between who she wants to be and “what” she is. There is a darkness in her that is acknowledged through the story, and it felt good. I quickly tire of the hero who always wants to do the Honorable and Good thing, regardless of consequences; and while Aline also had a bit of that in her, the fact that it was balanced by her constant questioning and troubles made it much more enjoyable (and this sentence makes me sound a little sadistic, but I swear, I’m not!)

There’s a huge cast of characters and as always, I got a little confused. But there were some standouts that I really loved; the Darkling being one of them. He’s by far one of the best villains I’ve seen in YA novels. Even when absent, I could feel his dark presence looming over Alina & friends, menacing. On top of that, his interactions with Alina were fascinating, more and more so through the books.

As for the romance, eh. It was okay, I guess. Honestly, for me, the romance aspect was one of the story’s weaknesses; against the fantastic adventures and the beautiful mythology, it felt a bit weak and unnecessary.

The series moves along very well : it’s packed with twists and actions, with very few boring moments. As soon as I finished one book, I wanted to read the next. The Fold is scary, the Darkling is mesmerizing and haunting at once, and the world is dynamic and dark. We end in Ruin and Rising with febrility, dying to know how things will resolve for Alina (and others). The story concludes with a lot more of twists, some you’ll be cheering, others that will have you angry and heartbroken. Again, I liked that Leigh Bardugo went to a “dark place”, without too many compromises. For me, it worked.

To conclude, I wanted to mention quickly the writing, which I enjoyed. But, how do I say this? Through the book, I could feel the world Leigh Bardugo created had depth; behind the words, in a twist of a sentence, I could tell there was history on those lands, people with stories to tell and an intricacy of politics. But often, I felt we only brushed the surface of it, and I was dying to know more.

Interestingly, I thought the author did a better job of giving her world depth with her short stories, which I absolutely loved. The prose is striking, the tales are dreamy and haunting. I loved, loved, loved them. There are a few that I still have to read, but the 3 I read were 5 stars stories :

The Witch of Duva / The Too-Clever Fox / Little Knife

If you have to read anything of Leigh Bardugo, go read these; not only do you not need to have read the Grisha series to enjoy them (they aren’t part of the story; more like tales from the Grisha world), they are also available for free! So clickety click on the links and enjoy them! 🙂 The Witch of Duva was my favorite, but you can’t go wrong with the others.