Shadow and Bone (2012)
Shadow and Bone is a 2012 magic book written by Leigh Bardugo.
Alina Starkov is a plain, unremarkable orphan mapping the war-torn edges of Ravka, a country split by the Fold, a wound of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. She has one friend, Mal, and no expectations for herself. Then, under attack, a power she never knew she carried erupts out of her, and the kingdom's magical elite come calling. The enigmatic Darkling names her the Sun Summoner, the one who might finally heal the Fold, and draws her into a court of privilege, danger, and secrets. Leigh Bardugo builds a Tsarist-flavored fantasy of longing, ambition, and power.
Quick answers
What is Shadow and Bone about?
Alina Starkov is a plain, unremarkable orphan mapping the war-torn edges of Ravka, a country split by the Fold, a wound of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. She has one friend, Mal, and no expectations for herself. Then, under attack, a power she never knew she carried erupts out of her, and the kingdom's magical elite come calling. The enigmatic Darkling names her the Sun Summoner, the one who might finally heal the Fold, and draws her into a court of privilege, danger, and secrets. Leigh Bardugo builds a Tsarist-flavored fantasy of longing, ambition, and power.
When was Shadow and Bone published?
Shadow and Bone was published in 2012.
Who made Shadow and Bone?
Shadow and Bone was written by Leigh Bardugo.
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A few thoughts on Shadow and Bone
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt shares Ravka's Slavic bones: folk monsters, blood-price magic, and a morally grey world of war and politics. For court intrigue and dynastic danger scaled up, House of the Dragon fits. The obvious next stop is the Netflix Shadow and Bone series, which adapts this very story.
War-torn fantasy kingdoms where power decides who survives
Shadow and Bone opens with Ravka gutted by war and a nobody cartographer who turns out to carry the power to maybe save it. Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon both run on that same collapsing, war-hungry world; The Witcher 3 drops you into a continent already broken by conflict; Gardens of the Moon opens an empire mid-war, with soldiers and gods both fighting for control.
More stories set in worlds built on dangerous, costly magic
Alina's Grisha powers in Shadow and Bone come from a magic system that spreads across an entire fictional world, and these follow other people caught inside it. Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom send a crew of thieves through the underworld of that same world; King of Scars keeps a young king's throne under constant threat; The Young Elites hands its heroine a dark gift with real consequences.
Magic that marks you as either a weapon or a target
The moment Alina's power surfaces in Shadow and Bone, she stops being ordinary and becomes something everyone wants to use, and these heroines share that exact turn. Fire is feared and hunted for a gift she never chose; Daughter of Smoke and Bone follows a girl caught between two peoples for what she can do; Graceling and Children of Blood and Bone both follow women whose abilities make kings nervous.