Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Pub date: June 5, 2012.

Author website.

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.


Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.


Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.  (netgalley.com)

Potential Spoilers Ahead

I don't think my review is really spoilerish because of elements that I believe are rather obvious from the beginning but just to be safe . . .

OMFGBBQ did I devour this book.  Like whoa, gobbled it right down and it didn't even give me gas.  We're talking Cinda Williams Chima level of love right now.  For anyone that knows me, that's a lot of love.  Not quite on the same exact level but I did add BBQ to my explanation.  That means a lot.

Let's see . . . what can I say about SHADOW & BONE without turning into a total blithering fangirl?

Alina is one hell of a kick ass heroine.  Seriously.  She's got a smart mouth and stands up for herself even in moments when she'd probably be better off keeping her trap shut.  A character flaw but one I like.  Because that's totally me.  Honesty is my best policy.  It just may not be true for others.

Mal?  Yeah, I'm a total fan.  There was a time there where I filed him into the complete toolbox category but with his re-emergence came his redemption.  He fits Alina perfectly.  One personality doesn't overpower the other and they really jive.  It's a relationship I can totally get behind because it feels real.  It's something that was built up over time as opposed to the instant soup kind.  There was substance there, history, a deeper bond than smelling pretty.  It's everything I want to see in a relationship and then some.  That's not to say it's perfect but it's REAL.

The Darkling surprised me.  I kind of knew he was off from the beginning but I found the depth to his offness shocking.  But it was well-built.  His personality ended up being kind of standard villain-ish but I'm okay with that.  There were other elements to the puzzle that ground out that particular aspect of him and made him more realistic.  There's a ruthlessness there and the author's willingness to actually show it that I admire.  Not the evil, sadistic ruthlessness but the author not shying away from it.  It paints Bargudo in a great light for me and it brings added depth to The Darkling's character.

I was pleasantly surprised by a few of things in the book.  One of them is that at the beginning of Alina's stay being a Grisha that her schooling appeared to be a type of boarding school.  Wherein I began to think that it's yet another boarding school story and I've been duped.  Not the case.  Another, where Alina is coming into her powers and they're trying to figure out why she constantly needed an amplifier to bring them out.  I guessed, and was wrong.  Another?  The vulcra.  I was shocked to find out just what they are.  Another testament to Bardugo's authorly twistedness.  I liked it.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the ending, more like a particular element of it, but I'll get over it.  I liked it overall and how it wasn't a total cop-out and everything wrapped up nicely with a little bow at the end. Not so much.  But there was hope there, just enough to wrap up the greater story arc but set the precedent for future books.  And I can't wait.

SHADOW & BONE is an excellent high fantasy addition to the YA category.  The world is lavishly built, with real world elements that keep it firmly within reach, and characters that'll suck you in and have you begging for more.  You'll definitely want to read this.  You'll be disappointed if you don't.

Ban Factor: High - Never mind Alina's swearing or her defiance or her sexy tryst.  It's a world without a Christian god.  BE ALL END ALL!

Not In My School (4)

Not In My School is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly that throws out one YA lit cliche a week for you to compare to your own high school days, current or past. For more information go here.

What are we discussing this week?

Redheads and their fiery shenanigans

Apparently every school has their share of redheaded best friends or that redheaded chick that SO lives up to her redheaded standards.  Well, I think I had all of three gingers in my school with two of them being more strawberry blonde.  None of them were tripping over themselves with friends and none of them are what I would call "fiery."  And there was relatively little, if any, shenanigannery going on with them.  But maybe this is regional.  Maybe there are an abundance of redheads somewhere I don't know about, some magical land where everyone has a redheaded best friend hiding somewhere.  No?

What about you?  What was it like in your school?  Leave your link in the comments!

I have an unhealthy obsession . . .

Beyond my Lost Boys fetish.  Which is heinous.  Like really bad.

This is a slightly different kind of obsession.  It doesn't make me want to visit any foreign lands or adopt Tina Turner hair or fondle crystal balls or anything but the story is so epically awesome that anything even remotely resembling it will make me want to gobble it up with the hopes that I don't release Bog of Eternal Stench-level farts in its wake.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Yup.  That's it.  Totally epic.  If you haven't seen Labyrinth yet I blame your parents, for they have failed you.  It leads me to squeal with delight when I come across websites like this with things like this -

Seriously???  OMFGBBQ I WANT TO OWN EVERY SINGLE SHIRT!  I don't care if I'll end up paying $75 a shirt between currency conversions and shipping.  I WANT!!!  Labyrinth has also led me to amass a small collection of Labyrinth stuff (that pales in comparison to all of my Lost Boys stuff but that's besides the point, and my Labyrinth site is woefully unfinished, just FYI).

But it's also because of this epic fantasy/epic David Bowie codpiece movie . . . take a minute . . .

It's because of this movie that I have a tendency of seeing Labyrinth in places that it may not exist.  Or it might.  Take, for instance, THE IRON KING by Julie Kagawa -

I had Labyrinth on the brain reading this one.  Between Meghan constantly talking about saving her brother to all of her creaturific companions throughout the story, I couldn't help it -

The Labyrinth undertones? Oh absolutely. Jareth was just dance, magic, dancing in my head through some of those parts. Every time Meghan pleaded with a creature that she had to find her brother, Sarah was right there. Grimalkin? A more valiant Hoggle. The ogre in the club? Ludo. The baby brother? Toby. It was all there. There were sly little insinuations. Nothing drastic or even all that noticeable unless you were a Labyrinth nut like me. But I saw them. Oh I saw them.

Kagawa never openly admitted to a Labyrinth influence and it may very well had been my Bowie brain making the connection.  But I saw it.

So imagine you're me coming across this book cover on a few book bloggers' blogs -

Oh hey!  What?  I can haz?  What is this Goblin King-ish fantasy and does he wear tights?  Does he carry a riding crop?  Are there pseudo-sexual undertones that may or may not be inappropriate for the forefront context?

While trying to save her brother four years ago, Greta was thrown into the witch’s fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon.

To survive, seventeen-year-old Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back.  (goodreads.com)

OH MY GOD!!!  I can read that!  There's something there!  I may be reaching but I can still see it!  DON'T RUIN MY DREAMS!  CODPIECE!

I added this book to my want list on Goodreads so fast the damn page hadn't even loaded yet.

Do I have an obsession?  Maybe.  Am I slightly insane?  Possibly.  But can you count it against me to try and relive the MOST EPIC FANTASY EVER in the things I read?  Codpiece?  Have you READ the Labyrinth smut?  Shit, have you READ the Labyrinth novelization???  This is supposed to be a kids' movie!  Totally not.  Codpiece.


So while I wait for GRETA AND THE GOBLIN KING to be released, you'll know where to find me.

My bouts of random capitalization get credited to Laura at A Jane of All Reads.  Crediting credit to creditors owed also goes to Laura.

Year of the Beasts by Cecil Castellucci

Pub date: May 22, 2012.

Author website.

Every summer the trucks roll in, bringing the carnival and its infinite possibilities to town. This year Tessa and her younger sister Lulu are un-chaperoned and want to be first in line to experience the rides, the food . . . and the boys. Except this summer, jealousy will invade their relationship for the first time, setting in motion a course of events that can only end in tragedy, putting everyone's love and friendship to the test.   Alternating chapters of prose and comics are interwoven in this extraordinary novel that will break your heart and crack it wide open at the same time.  (netgalley.com)

Now I'm kinda torn on YEAR OF THE BEASTS.  On one hand I liked the voice and the storytelling, along with the set-up of the story itself, how it alternated between prose and comic.  On the other hand I just wasn't all that thrilled with the story and ended up thinking is was a bit melodramatic.

The whole carnival aspect that the blurb emphasized is really minimal.  It happened at the very beginning of the story and while it was the catalyst for the story to move forward the way it did that's the end of its relevance.  Ultimately this story, based on the comic portion, is far more rooted in Greek myth than anything fanciful like a carnival.  Not that there's anything wrong with that but it makes the blurb slightly misleading.

In the prose portion Tessa ends up making herself a rival to her sister, who ends up getting the guy she has a crush on.  And it begins to develop as your standard sibling rivalry except it's a little more one-sided.  Tessa finds herself inferior to Lulu in looks and personality and whatnot.  But Tessa ultimately finds her own boy.  He just turns out to be someone that "isn't acceptable" to the crowd she hangs out with so she hides him.  And he kind of wants to stay hidden, refusing to hang out with her while with her friends.  A bit of a douche.  He redeems his douchiness towards the end of the story but ultimately he's a pretty big dick, saying that he just CAN'T go out with them as a group, blah, blah, emo, blah.

The comic portion runs along side the prose, telling it in a fashion that was so over the top melodramatic that I had a hard time getting over it.  Tessa's Medusa and has to wear a scarf over her hair in order to keep from turning people into stone while Lulu, the beautiful mermaid, gets adored and praised to the point of suffocation.  It was just a little much for me.  Trust me.  I had, and still have, body image issues, but Medusa?  Seriously?  It seemed a little too much for me to swallow.  Great art and everything but it elevated the story to a point just left of ridiculous in my eyes.

The ending had me crying.  Without a doubt it was pretty heart-wrenching.  I did like the way Tessa recovered from it though.  The event at the end changes a lot of people's lives and it opened up their eyes to a greater world.  The ending, really, was spot on.  I couldn't have asked for a better one.  If there was less melodrama leading up to it I probably would have liked it better.

Tessa and Lulu were sort of flowy characters, swirling around each other pretty seamlessly as the story progressed.  They fed off each other, each being strong when the other was weak, providing a homeostasis within the story itself.  But it does get thrown off and people have to adjust.  It's all in how they adjust to that wrench that reinstates that kind of nirvana.  Leading into the ending again it all fit.  Homeostasis was rebalanced, tenuously and for the time being.  But I'll take it.

See what I mean about torn?  I liked it but I kinda didn't like it.  The voice was phenomenal.  I loved how the story was told when it was in prose.  In comic it was a bit much but the art was fantastic.  The plot itself was kind of dull, nothing that hasn't really been done before but the ending blew me away a bit.  Not expected at all.  So can I recommend YEAR OF THE BEASTS?  Probably.  The only way to know if you'll like it is to read it.  I obviously can't tell you one way or another.

Ban Factor: Low - I really don't know what would get banner panties in a twist in this one.  The characters talk about kissing but that's the extent of the sexuality.  Medusa turning people into stone?  Can be horrifying.  Not much by the way of swearing though.  A little bit but you'd need to dig to find it.

Random Acts of Kindness BLITZ!

A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community. 

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!

Nicole at WORD for Teens is my blitz recipient.  I've known her pretty much since I started blogging and she's been an absolute gem the entire time.  Constantly supportive, super kind and insanely intelligent, Nicole is passionate about books and is more than willing to give authors a helping hand to promote their novels.  She's dedicated to her blog, the YA genre and stirring thought in others.  She deserves it!  So to her I'm giving a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card so she can keep reading and spreading the love.  Thank you for being you, Nicole!

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round. :)

Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness?  Let me know in the comments!