Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo

Published as an audiobook by Audible Studios and released 30-11-2012.
Originally published by Macmillan Publishers, 2012.
Narrated by Lauren Fortgang.

I recently got an offer of 2 months of Audible for 99c a month, so will have access to a few more audiobooks for a little while (though I'm still pacing myself with them better than in the past). Shadow and Bone was actually free to listen to for the month of June, so it seemed like a good excuse to check out a series I've only vaguely heard of until now.

This is a Young Adult novel through and through. It is the most Young Adulty of any fantasy book I've ever read. The main character, Alina Starkov, is a typical Young Adult female protagonist: spunky, learning slowly about her special talents (in this case, 'sun-summoning') that will lead her to eventually be recognised as the book's 'chosen one', no real family connections (she is, in fact, an orphan), and, of course, becoming attracted to two different potential suitors that she must have suitable amounts of angst over. In Alina's case it is the choice between Mal, her life-long friend who has up-until-now failed to see her in any romantic light, and the slightly edgy, scary, powerful, Darkling, whom we never learn the name of in this entry, but seems to believe that Alina might be able to rid the world of the 'Shadow Fold' with her developing powers (cough, chosen one, cough). Who will she pick??!!

So yeah, this isn't an amazingly original book by any means, and yet it is a fun read for what it is. Author Leigh Bardugo does manage to keep us guessing as to the motivations of certain characters, and even changes our opinions on some figures as Alina gets to know them - one prime example is Genya, who seems to be introduced as an antagonist of sorts to Alina to begin with, but becomes a close friend later on.

Or maybe it was the narration?

Lauren Fortgang does a fairly good job as the narrator. At times she is quite quiet, but is still able to give enough variety to give each of the main characters distinctive voices. An interesting choice is that Alina is given an American accent (like, I assume, Lauren herself) and yet many of the minor characters are given Russian accents - inspired, no doubt, by the Russian-sounding names for both characters and places throughout the book.

Mostly straightforward, but I can also see why it is popular, and particularly why teen girls may like it.

Completed 1 July 2022.

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