Nataliya's Reviews > Shadow and Bone
Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1)
by
by
![3672777](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p2/3672777.jpg)
The biggest issue with this book is actually NOT the utter fail at correctly incorporating the Russian elements into the story.
It's that I'd never be able to pick this book out of a generic YA book lineup.
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049359.jpg)
It's like a ninja, perfectly blending into its surroundings, into that painfully generic landscape that plagues YA literature recently, the lackluster background against which few gems truly stand out. And gem this one is not.
I think at this point there is a formula that many YA writers view as foolproof, and that's what we have got working here. First of all, the story has to be told in the first person by a young female protagonist.¹ And so here we have a teenage girl who thinks of herself as unremarkable and plain² but at least she has the three winning S's - she's smart and sarcastic and sassy!³
Sounds pretty generic, doesn't it? Yes, it does. But the attempt at drawing inspiration from Russian culture could have set it apart from the other generic stories for the largely Western-centric crowd.
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049363.jpg)
See, adding some Russianness is supposed to make your story infinitely cooler, right?
But alas, that did not happen. If not for occasionally thrown in exotic-sounding (to a Westerner) Russian names for people and objects (add a samovar to a story and occasionally call your king a tsar for your ethnic flavor!), you would really not be able to tell where this story is supposed to take place. I guess the real country where it's set is the faceless characterless dystopic YA-landia with the traditional settings, stock responses, and common conventions.
============================
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049362.jpg)
But since I read this book for its butchered (and really inconsequential) Russianness¹, I will spend some more time discussing it. (Tatiana, by the way, has written an excellent review touching on this subject.)
................
..............
Grigori Rasputin. His mom probably called him Grisha.
Since Alina is a woman, her last name should be a feminine version of Starkov. Basically, her last name is Starkova.¹
KVAS. OH MY GOD, KVAS. Dear Alina, a boy who groped you while drunk on kvas does not have an excuse of drunkenness, after all. Kvas is a fermented drink containing less than 1% alcohol. You'd have to drink a barrel of it to be drunk, after which you'd be too busy peeing nonstop rather than groping girls. For crying out loud, my mom let me drink it when I was a toddler. Getting drunk on kvas is like suggesting that people get drunk on Seven-Up. Therefore comparing champagne and kvas is like comparing oranges to chalk or monkeys to cactus.
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049361.jpg)
Same kid after 10 years of kvas drinking. Dangerous drink, I say, dangerous!
Now, there were good things about this book, too, don't get me wrong. It was a very easy read in a relatively decent prose. It flowed well (but so did Twilight, after all). The love triangle died in utero. There was an actual plot and not just lovesick gazing. The love interest was actually a rather decent guy who is not tortured by his dark past.
But there was NOTHING about this story that allowed it to stand out even a little bit out of the uniform landscape of similar books. Nothing except the little frustrations with the misused Russian inspiration. I guess you'd like it if you're looking for another book that's "just like" a fantastical book with a young heroine and a love story that you read and loved. If you're looking for any originality, it's not there. Therefore I award it the lackluster 2 stars.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
It's that I'd never be able to pick this book out of a generic YA book lineup.
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049359.jpg)
It's like a ninja, perfectly blending into its surroundings, into that painfully generic landscape that plagues YA literature recently, the lackluster background against which few gems truly stand out. And gem this one is not.
I think at this point there is a formula that many YA writers view as foolproof, and that's what we have got working here. First of all, the story has to be told in the first person by a young female protagonist.¹ And so here we have a teenage girl who thinks of herself as unremarkable and plain² but at least she has the three winning S's - she's smart and sarcastic and sassy!³
¹ Why does it seem that almost every YA story nowadays features the first-person narrative by a teenage girl? Is that a new law?Anyway, then she finds a super-special snowlake-unique power that apparently no one realized she had, and eventually becomes all pretty and desirable and stuff. And lands herself in a boarding school/king's court full of mean girls¹ and even has several makeovers! Along the way, she unexpectedly becomes a fighting badass! And then there are two hot boys² swooning over her!
² We know she is plain because she has the ugliness-defining brown hair, a YA prerequisite for plainness. Also, she is too skinny, which apparently is a common YA flaw.
Skinny brown-haired women, ladies and gentlemen. The ugliness is overpowering, right?
³ Or, actually, that's what we're *supposed* to think. What she comes across is the OTHER S's: sullen, sulky and self-absorbed. She is also a bit stupid¹. Oh, and also specially-equipped-to-see-negatives-in-every-situation-including-perfectly-happy-times. Seriously, coming from poverty and harsh military life, she still finds the will to complain about a horrible horrible day in what amounts to the Dreamland of this kingdom because people were soooooo meeeeeeeeeaaaaaaan to her, woe!¹ Case in point for stupidity - you don't mouth off to the second most powerful person in the kingdom who you believe is capable of evil. You just don't. It does not come across as sassy but as stupid.
¹ Why is it that most pretty girls in books like these always have to be evil to the plain-Jane protagonist? Why do women writing about women tend to vilify women? (Yes, I loved writing the word 'women' three times in that short sentence.) I know, I know, there is Genya who is nice, but all other pretty women are eeeeevillll or stupid.At some point, she inevitably makes a requisite decision about self-sacrifice for a noble cause, if needed. There are declarations of undying love. She also makes big and stupid decisions for the sake of loooooovvvvvvvveeeeeeeee.
² Well, in all honesty, one of them could make centenarians look like children. (view spoiler)
Sounds pretty generic, doesn't it? Yes, it does. But the attempt at drawing inspiration from Russian culture could have set it apart from the other generic stories for the largely Western-centric crowd.
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049363.jpg)
See, adding some Russianness is supposed to make your story infinitely cooler, right?
But alas, that did not happen. If not for occasionally thrown in exotic-sounding (to a Westerner) Russian names for people and objects (add a samovar to a story and occasionally call your king a tsar for your ethnic flavor!), you would really not be able to tell where this story is supposed to take place. I guess the real country where it's set is the faceless characterless dystopic YA-landia with the traditional settings, stock responses, and common conventions.
============================
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049362.jpg)
But since I read this book for its butchered (and really inconsequential) Russianness¹, I will spend some more time discussing it. (Tatiana, by the way, has written an excellent review touching on this subject.)
¹Speaking of getting so many Russian things wrong. Well, first of all, why do we even care? Well, the reasons are twofold and both stem from the fact that Russia is the biggest country on the planet, which means that:The titular 'Grisha' is still what makes me cringe. Every. Single. Time. It is a diminutive of a Russian name Grigori, and roughly equivalent to English 'Greg'. Just imagine you reading a story where the elite yielding mysterious powers is collectively known as 'Mike' or 'Bob' or 'Billy'. Do I need to say more?
(a) It should be pretty easy to find information about its culture and language, including a native Russian speaker beta-reader, perhaps.
(b) There are quite a few people in this world that will be easily able to spot out what you did wrong.
Also, don't give me BS about the country of Ravka not being Russia but simply being inspired by it. Bullshit. You use Russian names and Russian words in your book - therefore I will assume that Russian is indeed the language you are using. End of story.
................
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049364.jpg)
Grigori Rasputin. His mom probably called him Grisha.
Since Alina is a woman, her last name should be a feminine version of Starkov. Basically, her last name is Starkova.¹
¹My original thought that maybe in this world Russians just stopped distinguishing between feminine and masculine last names was proven wrong when there was a mention of the character who does possess a feminine name - Morozova². Therefore I must conclude that the distinction is preserved in Ravka.'Otkazat'sya' really does NOT mean 'abandoned'. It means 'to refuse'. It's a verb and should not be used as a noun. A 5-second Google translate search gives me a better version than Bardugo came up with.
²Interestingly, the character with the feminine last name Morozova has a masculine first name - Ilya. So either this world is flip-flopped in that way, or Bardugo could not bring herself to do a simple google search of name Ilya to see where it was a boy or a girl. It is NEVER a female name, despite ending in a vowel (just like Nikita is only a male name, by the way). It's particularly annoying because a 10-second google search could have spared this mistake; no knowledge of Russian culture is even necessary here!
KVAS. OH MY GOD, KVAS. Dear Alina, a boy who groped you while drunk on kvas does not have an excuse of drunkenness, after all. Kvas is a fermented drink containing less than 1% alcohol. You'd have to drink a barrel of it to be drunk, after which you'd be too busy peeing nonstop rather than groping girls. For crying out loud, my mom let me drink it when I was a toddler. Getting drunk on kvas is like suggesting that people get drunk on Seven-Up. Therefore comparing champagne and kvas is like comparing oranges to chalk or monkeys to cactus.
![](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1679076496i/34049361.jpg)
Same kid after 10 years of kvas drinking. Dangerous drink, I say, dangerous!
Now, there were good things about this book, too, don't get me wrong. It was a very easy read in a relatively decent prose. It flowed well (but so did Twilight, after all). The love triangle died in utero. There was an actual plot and not just lovesick gazing. The love interest was actually a rather decent guy who is not tortured by his dark past.
But there was NOTHING about this story that allowed it to stand out even a little bit out of the uniform landscape of similar books. Nothing except the little frustrations with the misused Russian inspiration. I guess you'd like it if you're looking for another book that's "just like" a fantastical book with a young heroine and a love story that you read and loved. If you're looking for any originality, it's not there. Therefore I award it the lackluster 2 stars.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
2182 likes · Like
∙
flag
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Shadow and Bone.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
October 8, 2012
–
Started Reading
October 8, 2012
– Shelved
October 8, 2012
–
0.0%
"The only reason I'm reading this is because it's supposed to be inspired by Russian culture - but apparently the author did not do that much research. So my inner masochist wants to get to the part where people manage to get drunk on a non-alcoholic drink. Plus, I want to see the world where Grisha means something else than just Russian version of the name 'Greg'."
October 8, 2012
–
50.28%
"Okay, seriously? Ilya is a man's name, not a woman's. That's enough that Nikita has somehow become a woman's name in the Western perception, but now Ilya, too?
On this note, if Bardugo can use a feminine version of the last name 'Morozov' for this supposedly female character, what in the world stopped her from doing the same thing (and this time appropriately) for Alina Starkov(a)?
Also, this book is not good."
page
180
On this note, if Bardugo can use a feminine version of the last name 'Morozov' for this supposedly female character, what in the world stopped her from doing the same thing (and this time appropriately) for Alina Starkov(a)?
Also, this book is not good."
October 8, 2012
–
58.66%
"It started as an attempt at a dystopian tale - and by now has hopelessly devolved into a boarding-school teenage story complete with makeovers and mean classmates and a mysterious dark and handsome boy (who actually is a hot centenarian) and pretty dresses and all that stuff that makes me wonder what the point of this story is. Oh, and the established future love triangle will come into play eventually, I think."
page
210
October 9, 2012
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 383 (383 new)
message 1:
by
Chris
(new)
Oct 08, 2012 03:21PM
![Chris](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1665978126p1/4041033.jpg)
reply
|
flag
![Megan](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1641008322p1/3807932.jpg)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
It's like a literary Mad Libs, I swear.
This is actually decent compared to some sheer YA awfulness that has been released in the last few years, but compared to good books it is quite blah.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Spaseeba bal'shoye!"
To phonetically reply - pazhaloosta (you're welcome ;)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Yes. Unfortunately. I need to read something good - and stat! Oh wait, I'm reading Moby-Dick now, and that's turning out quite well.
![Ceecee](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1722398592p1/10394610.jpg)
Also, I'd like to see what you would make of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". :)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Oh, that is one ... ummmm... interesting title. Does that book live up to its name? ;)
![Richard Derus](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1624978086p1/3920693.jpg)
Yes. Unfortunately. I need to read something good - and stat! Oh wait, I'm reading Moby-Dick now, and that's turning..."
I'm amazed afresh, every time I read bits and patches of it, that Moby-Dick was published in EIGHTEEN FIFTY-ONE. Wow. What a mind Melville had.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Melville is awesome.
![shanghao](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619773023p1/8606081.jpg)
Great analysis on the YA formula, now I can write one! Haha. Sigh, I like YA but I admit reading many overhyped but generic books in a row saps you of good cheer and then some. So am now reading one with a male lead for a change.
![Richard Derus](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1624978086p1/3920693.jpg)
Melville is awesome."
If you haven't yet, add Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life to your life-list. Melville got famous on this one, Omoo, and Mardi. All waaaay ahead of their time. He was a man out of time, a literary Tesla, and just as isolated because of it.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Great analysis on the YA formula, now I can write one! Haha. Sigh, I like YA but I admit reading many ov..."
I'm stepping away from formulaic YA for a change. That's why I love genre-hopping - you can always experience something new, especially after a previous genre left a sour taste in your mouth. I think I'll try a bit more classics and sci-fi and nonfiction before coming back to YA, and quality YA is the plan!
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
I haven't read this one yet, and I definitely will. I need more Melville!
I think it's sad how his works are underappreciated, likely because people read them because they have to, before they are old enough to really understand them.
![shanghao](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619773023p1/8606081.jpg)
Great analysis on the YA formula, now I can write one! Haha. Sigh, I like YA but I admit..."
Ditto, thank goodness for variety. Only good quality for me this month, haha.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
P.S. Have my fingers crossed that your review of Moby-Dick will help me relate to that work. Sadly, my brain is classics-challenged."
Nice sibilance, my friend ;)
Today my attending doc and I were a bit bored after draining an abscess on the patient's buttocks, and were killing time by trying to lisp as many words as was humanly possible (or pothible, I thoud thay!). We both have a weird idea of what's funny (and so many things are, after a buttock abscess!) Anyway, this sentence would have been a godsend.
As for Moby-Dick - having originally read it at the tender age of nine I remembered it as being stuffy and a bit boring. It's only now that I appreciate the subtlety of Melville's humor, the loveliness of prose, and his very humanistic messages. I will do my best to reflect my feelings in the review that will eventually come, I promise!
![Katherine Coble](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1424895309p1/295586.jpg)
Indeed. This has become a serious problem in the cascade of YA fiction. The authors seem to think that railing against cliquishness will bond the reader to their books, but it more and more comes off as a vain misogyny.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Indeed. This has become a serious problem in the cascade of YA fiction. The authors seem to think that railing against cliquishness will bond the..."
Yes. Every book seems to feature young women being very mean to other young women, with insane amounts of jealousy. Also, it's often because of a cute boy - because clearly women cannot form lasting friendships and be civil to each other because they are too busy hating each other while vying for male attention.
Kat wrote: "Boring buttock boils? Tho thorry thweetie! (My goodness, even secondhand, it induces lisping.)"
Yeth, lithping ith the unfortunate thide effect of thuch a day.
![Katy](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1405580498p1/5552109.jpg)
Also the "too skinny" is unattractive? Puh-leeze, what world do these people live in? In my high school the most popular girls were the super-skinny ones, or the heavy ones - those of us who fell somewhere in the middle, like me, were completely ignored.
I can see the brown hair thing... if the author grew up in the 80s. In the 80s EVERYONE had to be blonde/blond, and brown hair was a huge no-no if you wanted to be "cool" (but black was okay). I mean, WTF?? Sure, my shade of brown is pretty boring, but when you get people with that gorgeous, glossy brown, or with the golden or red highlights, or even the rich, dark brunette/brunet? What is wrong with that? it's glorious!
Books like this make me froth. A good YA book I recently read was The Hallowed Ones.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Thanks, Michel!
Katy wrote: "And I'm sure lisping could be created by overdrinking kvas... ;-) Hehehe. Seriously, that's so ridiculous - you can buy kvas off the shelf; it's not even considered to be alcoholic! Why on earth..."
I'm assuming that it happened like this: author goes to Wikipedia, author glances through the article, notices that it's a fermented beverage, author stops reading and inserts the drink into her book.
As for brown hair, I noticed that in many many books. The immediate assumption is brown hair = mousy = boring. As a brown-haired woman, I beg to differ! It's quite a lovely color, I think.
![Rakhi Dalal](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1557596257p1/3655942.jpg)
Though I am not into reading YA, but I loved the way you expressed your thoughts on this.
![Ceecee](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1722398592p1/10394610.jpg)
I think it does, but don't go looking for "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" in any part of the book but the cover.
Carson McCullers' prose is something to admire.
![Gloria Mundi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1312494055p1/4600483.jpg)
But anyway, if its supposed to be a name for a group of people, shouldn't it at least be Grishi (plural) rather than Grisha (singular)?
![Lina (From the Verge)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1614738809p1/6347813.jpg)
And you made me
Laugh: Monkeys and cactus are matchless... However, I would really enjoy reading a book about them...
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Hear hear!"
Oh, they will come. Ponies are priceless. Ponies is how I compensate for my tomboy childhood.
Rakhi wrote: "Great review Nataliya! The only thing where I might differ is that I don't think Angelina Jolie is skinny, she seems perfect!!....:)[ I adore her you see].
Though I am not into reading YA, but I l..."
Well, she used to be quite curvy but seemed to be on the quite skinny side at least a little while ago. Having all those kids and chasing them around would do that, I suppose.
As for YA - I used to mostly stay away from it (reading Twilight in horrified shock at this even being published left a sour taste in my mouth as well as unhealthy fascination with seeing how bad literature can actually be!), but the recommendations from my friends on this site have led me to excellent YA books, including actually Catherynne M. Valente who has since become one of my favorite writers and whose adult books I came to enjoy greatly.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
I've known way too many Grishas (Grishi?) in my life. This is why I can't take this book seriously. And yes, it technically would be Grishi, but we have an author who (a) thought it would not be ridiculous to use that name here and (b) the author who could not figure out the proper use of Russian masculine and feminine names. Thus I'm not surprised.
-----------------------------
Scribble wrote: "I love your review. I just don't understand how the book garnered two stars from you."
Well, I did not like it, so it had to be 1-2 stars. It did not live up to the mediocre 3-star category because it was worse than the books that I usually relegate there, but it was quite a bot better than my usual 1-starred reads (for crying out loud, that category has such YA disasters as Twilight, The Host and Hush, Hush, also known as my moments of very poor judgment). This book actually had some nice parts to it, it just did not have enough of them. So it was not good or okay, but not horrifyingly terrible, either. Thus 2 stars.
-----------------------
Lina wrote: "Hello....I think my cat can sucesfully use google translation just by napping on the keyboard!
And you made me
Laugh: Monkeys and cactus are matchless... However, I would really enjoy reading a book about them...
Thanks for making me laugh with your cat line :)
Monkeys and cactus in that case will be the tentative title of my future masterpiece that I will write if I ever contemplate a career change. One thing I know already that this future NYT bestseller will not feature any paranormal romance ;)
![Richard Derus](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1624978086p1/3920693.jpg)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Richard, if you don't mind, I will quickly snatch this as my plot/cover blurb. I promise a share of royalties as well :D
Can Heather Anne has a loving nickname of Honey Boo Boo? Just to capture the widest demographic, you know?
![Katy](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1405580498p1/5552109.jpg)
![Rakhi Dalal](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1557596257p1/3655942.jpg)
I have never tried to read YA, can't bring myself to reading of the likes of Twilight. But seriously, do you think I am missing out something here? I mean if you have found some good YA authors whose work you admire, surely they must be worth reading! Which book would you recommend as a first read, should I try to venture into the genre?
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Ada-Lee - I will feature ponies in this book. Because ponies make everything better.
![Richard Derus](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1624978086p1/3920693.jpg)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
I have never tried to read YA, ..."
I think the trick is staying away from teen paranormal romance. I can't emphasize that enough.
Contemporary YA can be actually quite good - case in point are books by E. Lockhart, and many on this site like Melina Marchetta as well.
The YA books that I would gladly recommend to anyone would be these:
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is lovely, touching and haunting (Death narrating a story of a girl in Nazi Germany is no sparkly vampire love!)
I loved loved loved fantasy YA from typically adult writers - China Mieville's Railsea (Mieville's take on Moby-Dick, actually) and Un Lun Dun, Terry Pratchett's Nation (but you cannot go wrong with Pratchett EVER) and Neil Gaiman's Coraline.
Also Catherynne M. Valente's fairy-tale-like The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and its sequel The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
^ THIS. I almost died laughing."
I laughed so hard when I came across that. Oh, the unintentional hilarity. I don't know how to politely tell my mother that apparently she was grooming me to be an alcoholic since early age...
![Rinn](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1660517013p1/2140832.jpg)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
You're welcome, Rinn. But in all honesty, plenty of trusted GR reviewers adored this one, so maybe it's just not my cup of Earl Grey, who knows? Or maybe everyone else is under a spell of an evil Grisha or something?
![Rinn](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1660517013p1/2140832.jpg)
That's true - it's difficult to decide whether to give a book a shot when reviews are so mixed, especially if you already have loads to read. YA novels tend to be my 'go to' for a quick/easy read, so maybe I'll save it for that =P
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Oh, I agree. And that's coming from a person that actually liked 'The Hunger Games'. But where THG had some actual substance in addition to glossy shiny makeover scenes, here it felt that the glossy shininess was the point, somehow.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
Oh, I know. One minute you are fearing for your life and living in harsh military conditions and the next moment is - the herring on rye bread is not good enough. Well, guess what - it's ROYAL herring, you little brat! Enjoy it as a part of your new pampered life.
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
I've had a brief date with steampunk reading Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding. If this book is good, I'll be happy to read it :)
![Nataliya](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1619377733p1/3672777.jpg)
I've had a brief date with ste..."
Ok then, I'll give it a shot in a few weeks then.