Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, Book 1)
Siege and Storm (Shadow and Bone, Book 2)
Ruin and Rising (Shadow and Bone, Book 3)
By: Leigh Bardugo
My Rating: Three out of Five Stars
Best for: 14 and up

Everyone loves a good love quadrilateral, right?

I figured it was time to give Shadow and Bone a go–I’ve had all three books + their audio sitting buried in my Mt. TBR for years. I heard Brandon Sanderson say Leigh Bardugo outsold him, so I figured if anyone could beat the great Sando they were worth my time. Plus, I’d read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom a while back, and those books were pretty cool, so this felt like as close to a sure thing as I could get.

And…

Meh. I thought the world and it’s Grisha magic was a whole lot of fun. I enjoyed the nods to old Russian culture. I enjoyed one of the characters. Well, maybe two. The bad guy was pretty broken, and a broken bad guy always makes for a strong story. So I enjoyed two characters.

But everything else?

The rest of everything was built around the agonizingly drawn out, will-they/won’t-they love story between main characters who can’t make up their minds. And there’s not a love triangle in this this series–it’s a love SQUARE? No, that’s boring. A love PYRAMID? No, that’s too many points. A love QUADRILATERAL? That’s it. This series has a love quadrilateral.

One girl. Three boys. Drawn out over three books.

Oh dear.

The ending of Ruin and Rising was surprisingly strong, and it wasn’t all horrible. I just found myself rolling my eyes really hard more than I found myself actually enjoying the story. If you enjoy love quadrilaterals, this series is for you!

Discerning readers will want to know there is non-gory violence, no language, a bit of kissing, and lots of heart wrenching longing for star-crossed lovers…oh, not their not…yes, they are…nope, definitely star-crossed…never mind, green light…wait, spoke to soon…

Best for 14 and up–I know some teen girls (and some moms) who will love it!

Get your copy here

Happy Reading!