Hello Rad Readers!
It has been a long time coming, but I have just finished the Grisha Trilogy and boy oh boy, what an experience. After reading the Six of Crows duology and loving it with every fiber in my being (it is truly Harry Potter level excellence), of course, I had to read the rest of Leigh Bardugo's work! Rad Readers, if there is one thing I have to say, it is that I was not let down! I have seen lots of hot takes in the bookish community on which series is better, and although I think Six of Crows was far better (as it is an absolute masterpiece) I still think The Grisha Trilogy is dope in its own right!
I read these books back to back, so I decided to review them with one another as well, since I think the way I read it effected my thoughts on it, as well as (obviously) the reading experience itself. I think it is completely reasonable to say that if you read them more spaced out you wouldn't feel the same way I did; for example, the things I found to be repetitive, the plot points I got tired of, and the characters I'd begun to detest.
Not to fear! Due to the complicated format of this review there will be no spoilers!!
Book 1: Shadow & Bone (4/5 stars)
Grisha are people with strange and unexplainable powers. Not everyone in Ravka has them, so those that do are either praised or discriminated against (there doesn't seem to be any gray area...). We follow Alina who is an orphan, raised in Ravka. Ravka was once a bustling city that has been torn apart by the Fold, a physical and evil darkness that crawls with monsters. When Alina's best friend Mal is injured by the Fold, in her panic and confusion, she finds that she is in fact a Grisha herself, and that her powers had been lying dormant all her life. Her powers are not common either, and they could be just what is needed to stop the wars and the powers in the Fold. She is taken to the royal court where she is trained, and is right under the nose of the Darkling, the country's magical monarch. While in the clutches of the castle, she comes across a few things that she wasn't supposed to, forcing her to confront the secrets of the Grisha, as well as some secrets of her own.
I know that probably seems like a lot of information, but trust me... this isn't even the half of it.
I found this story to be extremely entertaining, not quiet as sophisticated as I felt Six of Crows to be, but this series is not meant to be like Six of Crows. They merely take place in the same universe. I say this, only because I found myself continuously wanting to compare the two for literally no reason! Anyways, what I am trying to say is that the entertainment factor was certainly there.
I did have a bit of a tough time understanding the world that we were put in. Since it is such a unique plot and idea there were a lot of terms that were just kind of thrown in there that I felt were either not explained at all, poorly explained, or that we only got a very surface level understanding of. For example, I really only truly understood what the Fold was when I was in the middle of book 2.
The characters were fantastically developed. I would certainly say that they were my favorite part of the story, and you will hardly ever hear me say that I am a fan of character driven novels. I prefer action and event. However, there was just something about this cast that made me want to see more and know more and just follow them around! I swear, I have said these exact same words about Leigh Bardugo's other work, and that just says so much about her writing! SWEET!
I appreciate how things started fast. There is nothing in this whole entire world that is worse than a slow build novel in my most humble opinion. It is like a bad first impression, because no matter how good you get from then on, it is tough to make up for the past. Perhaps that was a bit dramatic..? Well, anyways, things started fast, stayed fast in the middle, towards the last 100 pages slowed down, and then the last 30 pages were the ride of a lifetime. I was concerned, sad, excited, and angry.
There were a lot of really great specific moments that kept you interested in where this was all going. In terms of where the characters would end up and where the story as a whole was leading. The twist at the end, was predictable to a degree but the entirety of it still caught me by surprise, so if you are into twisty novels I would say that this is certainly a series for you!
In terms of character analysis, I won't go too in depth about it because they changes A TON as the story went on, but for the first impressions: Alina was both great and very VERY annoying at times. She pulled the classic (that I hate so so so much) "everything that happens is my fault and I am responsible for all death and I can't go on because I am so sad" move. That was what was going on for a good chunk of the book. The other parts were some genuine development, but then again we had the "ugh, I wish things would go back to normal" trope... which is like... probably the worst ever. Alina, though she is the main character, is certainly just not the reason why I kept reading which is... odd for sure. I found Mal to be complicated. In the very beginning I thought he was funny and was going to add a lot to the story and then he disappeared for 70% of the book and then when he came back he just wasn't cool anymore, but then in the end he proved himself to be this really awesome dude who just cared a lot about the good of his friends and the world. That is not a good way of explaining it, but you get what I'm saying hahaha! He was boring but in a responsible way that made sense. Still boring though. The Darkling is 11/10 why I kept on reading. He is so fascinating and that is really all I can say without spoiling the story, but guys... THE TWIST... Okay, that is all I will say!
Book 2: Siege and Storm (3.5/5 stars)
Okay, if you are reading this review then I am assuming you have read Shadow and Bone, so there WILL BE Shadow and Bone spoilers, but NOT Siege and Storm spoilers! Be warned!
I know 3.5 stars makes it seem like I thought this book was bad, but I didn't! Not entirely, at least. After the crazy ending in book 1 when Alina fought the Darkling and has the amplifier, I thought that was only going to be the beginning of an even bigger journey, but that just didn't turn out to be the case. The book starts very slowly, in the middle of basically nothing going on in Alina and Mal's life. The lack of presence of the Darkling certainly took a tole on the intrigue and excitement of the book as a whole. I think it is kind of a red flag when a book seriously suffers with the absence of a character. A good chunk of the time that I was reading about Alina and Mal, I couldn't stop thinking, "I wonder what the Darkling's deal is right now." He is just a fascinatingly evil and entertaining dude. The fact that he wasn't in this addition to the story a lot, was a major let down in my opinion.
I think that the majority of what went on was filler and that it was all leading us up to what is to happen in the last book. That isn't to say that it was bad, it just wasn't important. I expected there to be a lot more going on and a lot more action, but this was definitely centered more around character growth. I think that was perhaps the case because what is going on in terms of their growth will be very important in the final big show down in book three.
There was a lot of just chilling out and talking which can be entertaining or just boring. I personally found it to be boring. In Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone however, I found those parts to be entertaining. I don't know, maybe it is because I cared about what was going on with the characters more in those books? It isn't that I don't care anymore, it's just like I said, without the Darkling in the mix with the other characters, I care less about them and more about where the plot is going. I think I was really only disappointed because I was blown away by every part of Shadow and Bone, so when the plot got less exciting and it certainly began to shift into more of a strictly character driven novel... I was bummed out.
In the absence of the Darkling, however, we do get a new character, Nikolai who is now my absolute favorite. He is funny! Leigh Bardugo actually had me laughing out loud with Nikolai's character! The comedic relief was definitely what the story needed, because Alina and Mal were just too brooding and dramatic for my liking. I seriously don't like Alina at all. She complains and is sorry for herself and kind of just ruins a lot just because of her feelings which is just not the type of thing you should do when you are leading a revolution. I have said it before, Mal just isn't exciting or fun or interesting to read about. He is just plain boring and predictable now. He is too proud for my liking, and frankly he reminds me of my least favorite character from the Throne of Glass novels, Chaol Westfall. Not really a fan at all of him.
I don't have much else to say because... well, not much else happened.
Book 3: Ruin and Rising (5/5 stars)
Ruin and Rising was dope. It was insane, it was exciting, it was gnarly. Where Siege and Storm was lacking, Ruin and Rising is strong. Way more plot, and way more action! Siege and Storm was simply just a build up to an absolutely radical finale.
I will say, I was not entirely convinced at first that it was going to be that great. I felt like we were stuck in the same pattern that we were in during Siege and Storm. The Darkling pulls up on Alina, she is absolute toast for maybe 10-20 pages, and then she is suddenly able to do some magical miracle thing (for the sake of the plot... ugh) that buys them more time to run away. They run away and then they just prepare for the next time he finds them. At a certain point I was like why do they keep running away from him if every time they do they just prepare for the next time they see him. Like dog, just get it over with on sight, ya know? That's how my feels were for the entirety of Siege and Storm, so when that started happening again in this book, I was annoyed. That was my only main qualm. The beginning was a little too slow build for me. However, of course because Leigh Bardugo is a genius, my qualms were swiftly addressed and things started to get good! And before we really get into it, the way this book is written is absolutely amazing. It is so beautiful, and authentic, and you can really just see the story in your mind. Ugh, Leigh Bardugo is such an excellent writer, and you can really see her development from the first book in this series to the last!
The characters are still entertaining as ever. I would say even more so now that we aren't just reading about them hanging around on a boat, and we see them actually getting things done; it has gotten a lot better in that regard. Alina got a little better in my opinion. Though I still don't totally like her, we certainly see some growth in her. Nikolai is still my favorite ever. He is still hilarious and quick witted. He really just makes the story, I think.
And ladies and gentleman... Arguably one of the biggest areas of growth I saw... Mal? Not as boring as he usually is, I must say. Homie finally has more to say than just some boring nonsense about his loyalty to his kingdom and blah blah blah. Big homie Mal finally has a personality and I am here for it! I think that perhaps I found him to be boring because for the majority of his story line he is really just there to progress Alina's story line. He is kind of just there to do a little something to her character development, and so the entire time he just felt very shallow, and I couldn't care about him because we had such a surface level understanding of him. That certainly changed though towards the conclusion, and by the end of it, I liked him (and even Alina) WAY more!
It all ended in such an unexpected way, and I absolutely loved it. My favorite part of the book was actually the epilogue. It just ended everything so completely. I felt like no stone was left unturned and that we got complete closure on their story.
Overall, I feel like I have written enough for you all to understand that this series is extremely well written and developed. It is quite the journey, but certainly worth the read!
Nikolai is the G.O.A.T.,
- C8 ;)