Book 1 in the Grisha Trilogy
AUTHOR: Leigh Bardugo
PUBLISHED: June 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Alina learns she has a strong power and gets whisked from her life as a lowly apprentice and ignored best friend to the palace to train in magic.
MY REVIEW: So I've noticed a slight increase in epic fantasy these past few months and more are coming next year and all I can say is yes please. Fantasy will always be my favorite genre (hence my handle) and I'm glad it's starting to make a comeback.
This is great debut. Yes, a few flaws are present. Alina was off and on as a character for me personally and I spotted several familiar fantasy tropes so sorry but I don't think it's as original as people claim. It's original if you don't read a lot of fantasy, particularly if you've never picked up Tamora Pierce. However, the world building is great, the plot is interesting and it's got that court intrigue thing going on and I have a weakness for court intrigue plots. I also give Bardugo many points for writing. I honestly couldn't tell that this was her first book, the writing was that good.
So while this does have a few flaws it is one of the stronger debuts of the year and more of what I hope is a continueing trend of epic fantasy. This one is definitely worth a look if you're looking for fantasy that doesn't have vampires, faeries, or werewolves.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tamora pierce fans, fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five court conspiracies
No comments:
Post a Comment