A Trilogy of Tragic Boredom

The Grisha Trilogy

Titles: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Run Times: 9 hr 21 min, 11 hr 49 min, and 10 hr 57 min

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The story of Alina Starkov, a soldier in the kingdom of Ravka who discovers she possesses magical abilities. Training with the Grisha, her country's magical military elite, Alina falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes she is the only one with the power to defeat the forces threatening the kingdom--forces that will test old alliances and challenge the very limits of magic, one that will forge a leader from a frightened girl.

I had such high hopes going into this series. It has been sitting in my audible library for a few years, ever since I read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. This is, in fact, where my disappointment stems from. I fell in love with every single one of the characters in Six of Crows by the end of their first POV chapter. Even by the end of the final book in this trilogy, I still didn't love the main character. Alina was whiny, self-centered, and overall not a heroine that I wanted to root for. In more instances than one, the reader would find Alina sitting back, watching all the action unfold, and crying about how things weren't going her way. She was supposed to be one of the strongest people of her kind, but for someone so obsessed with power by the end of the series, she rarely experimented with the limits of her's. Even with friends she cherished dying before her, all Alina seemed to be able to provide were tears and anger.

I am not usually one to have a bad opinion of a book. It takes much more than a less than likable main character to deter me. There is only one other book I have read in my entire reading career that I have staunchly disliked, and that one isn't even worth mentioning. Let me be clear, I did not hate reading this series. It provides a great background for the other stories that occur in this universe, but those other stories are 1000 times more engaging and include characters that are 1000 times more likable.

Let me give a little more detail on each book individually, so you get a good sense of where I think this series falls short in ways that the rest of Bardugo’s writing doesn’t.

Book 1: Shadow and Bone

The first book does a wonderful job in its world building, but that is the only aspect that it does a good job in. From the get go, Alina is characterized as less than perfect, as most heroes and heroines are. Where my issue lies is with the manic-pixie-dream-girl-ness of her existence. (For those of you who might not know, a manic pixie dream girl is the character trope where a female character is depicted as appealing quirky, and whose main purpose is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in the male protagonist.) Alina is originally characterized in this role with both Mal and the Darkling. The plot feels predictable while also causing confusion and provides so much information while also dragging in pace. The biggest issue of all stills rests on the characterization of the characters. I can tell Bardugo was trying to keep some mystery as to what side of the war/conflict each character would fall, but instead all she succeeded in was causing confusion about the characters’ motivations and, to an extent, their personalities and morals.

By the end of the first book, I quite literally couldn’t care less about any of our main three characters.

Book 2: Siege and Storm

The second book in a trilogy is always the transition novel where all the b-plot takes place. That isn’t a pass for the glaring lack of conflict and plot occurring for most of this book, which also happens to be the longest one in the trilogy. I almost feel as though if she had tightened up the plot, the whole thing would have flowed better and even, maybe, made the characters slightly more interesting. Instead, the main characters were too busy finding fault in one another and moaning about their relationships to rally around the so-called “evil” taking place. Emotional things kept happening to them, but I couldn’t find any sympathy for their plight. I almost found myself rooting for the “bad guy” at certain moments.

The shining light in this book (if not the entire series as a whole) is Stermhound! Nickoli fucking Lanslov is a king, neh, a GOD among the other characters in the book. He is mysterious, funny, charismatic, easy going yet serious when need be, smart as all hell, and probably the love of my life if I’m being honest. His character has all the depth and intrigue that the main character of a book should have, yet he is somehow only a side character here. Bardugo has just finished her duology where Nickoli is the main character, and I, for one, cannot wait to devour those two books.

Book 3: Ruin and Rising

What an anti-climatic ending. I spent most of this final book just...waiting for something good to happen. It is a beatdown of the reader when bad result after bad result happens with no upswing. Even as the puzzle pieces fell into place, I felt like I was reading this story from the outside. Usually, when I read, I fall into the plot; it plays like a movie in my mind. That never really happened with any of these books, but it didn’t happen once with the last one. The “plot twist” at the end didn’t even have the swing to catch my attention.

My main complaint about Alina from book one carried all the way through to the final battle. She has to be one of the worst heroines ever. Why does she always just stand there watching the bad things happen and never do anything!?!

The ending brought closure to all the strings of this trilogy, but I cannot say I am satisfied. If anything this made me want to reread Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom and dive into King of Scars.

Final Thoughts

One of the reasons I finally read through this series is because Netflix picked up the Grisha Verse as a TV show. I am curious to see if I find the plot and characters any more engaging on the screen than I did on the page. That is going to be my next adventure most likely.

I once again want to reiterate that I did not hate these books, I just didn’t enjoy them as much as I was hoping to. If you were to jump into the Grisha Verse I would highly suggest reading the series in release order. Bardugo’s skill in writing advanced in leaps and bounds from Shadow and Bone to Six of Crows. It’s like she found her own voice instead of trying to imitate the voices of other authors in this genre. She has come into her own as an author and it has turned her stories from merely readable to devourable.

Now I want to hear your opinions! Have you read the Grisha Trilogy? What are your thoughts on Alina and her personality? Were you also wishing for her to just..do..something? Have you watched the Netflix show yet?

Thanks for stopping by and stay peachy!