Shadow and Bone by Leigh BardugoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This Russian-inspired Leviathan-esque steampunk-fantasy is a fast read all the way. Although it's not until the last hundred pages that the pacing dials up into the stratosphere - I mean, wow. What a way to end it! - the earlier parts are loaded for bear (pun not intended) with plenty of world-class world-building on Bardugo's part.
Though I still prefer the Six of Crows duology because I feel like that series has better characters (and more diversity too), it's here, the first installment of Bardugo's Grishaverse, where the world-building and establishment of the Grisha magic system truly shines brightest. I'm pretty sure if I were to find a "which type of Grisha are you?" quiz online, I'd get a Corporalki result. Hopefully not a Darkling result - and while I came to utterly despise the Darkling the first time I read the trilogy, now I get a better sense of why he's so popular with the fans. (Though I still don't like him because reasons, reasons which are much more relevant now than five years ago.)
Soon I'll be reading the remaining two books of this series and better able to recommend them to customers at the Stanford Bookstore! :D
(Oh, and according to the official Grishaverse website personality quiz, yes, I'm a Corporalnik. I thought so.)
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