Book Review: The Grisha Series
"Like calls to like."
Remember how I was going to update all of my blog series that one week? Well, let's just say that that did not happen. January was an absolutely crazy month for me. It included concussions, conferences, and PhD interviews. Oh, by the way...I got in. But that's neither here nor there. The focus today is YA literature. And who needs PhDs when teen lit is to be found?
Today, I have some literature that was loosely recommended to me by many people. I had heard a lot of good things about the Grisha series. But, to be honest, the descriptions that people were giving weren't actually grabbing me. I dragged my feet for a little bit longer, and then I just decided to give it a try. It couldn't be any worse than the Chemical Garden series, right?
I am very glad that I gave it a try.
The best way to describe these books is that they are a fantasy that is roughly inspired by Russian folk tale patterns. The characters live in a roughly Russian-cultured society named Ravka. They are surrounded by a nomadic, war-like, Asian society (Hun/Mongol); a Scandinavian-ish society (Fjerda), they have a Tzar, they have Dacha-like things, their names are Russian-ish. And the structure of the story is Russian-ish, and there's some themes in the story that I recognize as having been kind of Russian-philosophy-like from my one semester of Russian literature. The goodreads summary of the world-building: Set primarily in the fictional country of Ravka, there is a form of magic that exists known as The Small Science. Those who can wield it are called Grisha, powerful practitioners considered to be a part of an exclusive class. Those who do not possess this power are called Otkazat'sya, and function normally as shopkeepers, laborers and soldiers.
The first one, Shadow and Bone, to be honest, wasn't anything special. It felt like a teen girl fantasy novel. Love triangle being set up, all of the hallmarks--she's a slightly annoying girl who isn't very pretty, who finds out that she has immense powers, blah, blah, blah--the nice guy boy, etc. But it was fairly well-written, and I do have to say that the world building was new and inventive. Something I'd never seen before.
I decided to read the second, because I always read the sequel (it's a compulsion--it will happen). The second one, Siege and Storm, was amazing! The characters had really flourished, and I was starting to see the depth of the main character, Alina. She had struggles, but also likeability (which is a rare find in YA heroines!) In the first, you hadn't gotten to know the boy-next-door love interest very well, and you kind of wondered why she was so smitten by him. After the second, Malyen Oretsev is wonderfully swoon-worthy, but also deliciously fascinating in how his personality plays into the question of their romance. The story had themes and direction. I think in some ways, the author, Leigh Bardugo, needed the first to get her stride going. If I'm not mistaken, it was her first novel.
The third, Ruin and Rising, though not quite as good as the second, was still a very good read, and finished out the majority of the story quite nicely. It really got a Russian folk-tale flair in the third, and even though I feel like there were a few unresolved plot lines, I still thought it did well.
Be aware of some mild violence, bodily mutilation, and some sexual innuendo. Also, the ending of the third (not the very ending...I guess the climax) could be emotionally distressing to some sensitive readers.
Overall, I was really quite impressed, and I wasn't actually expecting to be. 4 Stars for the series, just because the 1st book didn't quite have it all together.
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