Bookalicious Book Club discussion

This is the discussion area for one of May's BOTMs: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo!

WARNING: There may be spoilers for those who have not read the book!

I've already read Shadow and Bone, so I can't wait to see what you guys think of it!! :D

Hahaha really excited to read it
I’ve heard so much about it

It's a crazy good fantasy book!!

I am very excited!

Yep 👍
Just went to the library and got a bunch of good reads and now I just have to get through those and start Shadow and Bone 🥴

Same!

Ooh, so excited to be able to talk to you guys about it once you finish!! I've only read Shadow and Bone, I haven't read the rest of the series yet.

haha

I love Alina's name! It just helps make her more unforgettable to me!

Out of curiosity, has anyone read book 2, ?

I have not but it looks really good!

I love all the covers of this series!

I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing! :D

Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing! :D"

Who did you ship?? Mine will forever be: (view spoiler)[ Alina and The Darkling (hide spoiler)] Which is why I'm kinda scared to read book 2!

LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing! :D"

Who did you ship?? Mine will forever be: [spoilers remove..."

I had the same ship as you. I loved, loved, loved their relationship.

Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing! :D"

Who did you ship?? Mine will forever be: [..."

Eek, so glad I'm not the only one! The Darkling will always be my favorite character, how about you?

LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing! :D"

Who did you ship?? Mine w..."

I loved the Darkling, but since I've read the second book (this isn't a spoiler, since I'm not going into context ), I fell deeply in love with Nathaniel. If you haven't read the 2nd book, I'm sure he will be one of your favorites too! (If you have read the 2nd book, and hated Nathaniel, well, oops )

Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing! :D"

Who did yo..."

I haven't read book 2 yet, but now you're making me want to! The only character I really really disliked was Mal. I didn't care for his character or anything really... he was more flat to me :(

LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away from the writing..."

I totally agree with you. I felt like the romance between Mal and Alina was doomed from the start.

Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "LaNona wrote: "Caroline wrote: "I've read all of these, and I thought they were great. MY OG ship didn't sail, but didn't take away f..."

Right?! I wish he hadn't come back- it would've gone great if he just stayed away.
Did you like book 1 or 2 better??

Finished!!

Eek!!! How'd you like it??

I loved Alina’s character and her passion. I also in general love the books about people who find new powers!!

BookNerd wrote: "I loved Alina’s character and her passion. I also in general love the books about people who find new powers!!"

She was very interesting, I liked her. I LOVED the Darkling though <3

Yeah I kinda wanted their romance to last a little more.... and I don’t know about Mal... he didn’t care about her before but now that she’s pretty he actually notices her🙄

I don't really care for Mal overall, in the first chapter/prologue I had really enjoyed him and Alina, but throughout the book he was just rather flat and uncaring... and that was so annoying how he only noticed her later!!

IKR??! What about the Darkling? I kinda liked him. I was hoping it was kinda like A Court of Thorns and Roses and he becomes good because of her or something like that, but...

I LOVED THE DARKLING, even if he's evil I love him and he's my favorite!!! <3
He's my Loki xD

Hahaha same

I JUST FINISHEDDDDDDDD!!!! And I agree that Mal is very flat but i think the romance sparked because they had SO MUCH HISTORY. I see all the time on social media how people long to have a relationship that originates from friendship because you already have a connection that’s so strong but with Mal it was different. He saw how excited Alina (i know someone with that name irl) was to see him and he completely took it for granted. She looked happy (he said it himself) and he felt anger. He should have been happy for her if they were truly best friends and he had been treating her like complete horse dung since chapter 1. He tells us that he started realizing how he felt since he saw her on the stage with someone else which I think is more of a feeling having “ownership” over Alina which I thought was rude. I think it could have been done much better if Mal seemed more caring and had realized his feelings in a different way. I also think we should have spent more time with him since he is so important. In other words, I still don’t exactly ship the Darkling with her. I thought there was a connection between the two and there was chemistry but he is evil and

i usually always root for the good guys. I think/hope, like Booknerd said, that Alina helps change the Darkling and a beautiful relationship blooms between the two but only reading the other books will give us answers. I really enjoyed the book overall. I loved the world and the magic system and I kind of wish I was a Grisha (in the good side of course). Wow, I did not expect that to be so lengthy!

😂so true

hahaha

@Desara lol, I would probably like Mal more if there was more time with him where he wasn't so...well how he was almost the whole book. But glad you liked it so much!! :D

hahaha i agree! lol