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YA Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

4/9/2012

18 Comments

 
Shadow & Bone cover
Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publication Date: 6/5/12
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Blurb (GR): Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.

Review:

It is alright, if you are into fantasy lite. I, on the other hand, am a little weary of this lightish, breezy and superficial entertainment. Give me something juicier, something more thoughtful, something more sophisticated.

The Gathering Dark cover
UK cover
Shadow and Bone is a decent book. Bardugo's writing style is easy and engaging. The plot is developed enough to masquerade the fact that the biggest chunk of it is the usual boarding school fare with makeovers, mean girl drama, petty rivalries, balls and a bit of steamy(ish) romance with the hottest guy on the block. Bardugo even succeeds at creating an "exotic" backdrop for her story - an early 20th century Russia-inspired fantasy land of Rivka. Even with my issues concerning the accuracy of everything borrowed from Russian culture, I will still say that the author manages to create a very distinct atmosphere in her novel. And speaking of this atmosphere, Russian "flavor" if you will, Shadow and Bone is a rare book whose covers (both US and UK) reflect the novel's mood well, even though I find UK's tagline to be a bit misleading and melodramatic. This novel is not as romancey as the line "A dark heart. A pure soul. A love that will last forever" would imply.

With that said, the reason I did not enjoy this book the way I had hoped I would is that it is just so uncomplicated and straight-forward. I have no usual complaints about Bardugo's characters and the plot. But they are familiar and well used and not very rich. These characters are very simple, void of complex emotions and motivations. Same goes for the plot and conflicts. There is no complexity to them either. The conflicts are of good/evil variety. The plot is easily predictable. Twists? What twists?

I do not think Shadow and Bone is a good fit for many adult readers, unless they are in a search for going-through-the-motions sort of story with a standard  "kick-ass" protagonist (I am thinking Tris from Divergent or Ismae from Grave Mercy), and they do not expect to be challenged intellectually or emotionally.

Now, to the part of my review that will reflect exclusively my personal problems with this book, which will not bother 99.9% of its potential reader.
 
Shadow and Bone is, as I mentioned earlier, a Russia-inspired fantasy. I took pains to check out Leigh Bardugo's website, to see how exactly she addressed this inspiration. Here are her words: "Ravka and its language were heavily inspired by Russia, but with a few deliberate exceptions, the words and place names in Shadow & Bone are my own invention. My goal was to keep things simple and to make sure that Ravkan words still had resonance for readers. In short, I took a lot of liberties and I hope the purists won’t beat me about the head and shoulders."

Sure, I do not want to be a language nazi or anything. I can skim over Russian-sounding made-up words, even though they linguistically do not make much sense. Not every writer can be like Catherynne Valente, who embraced Russianness so fully in her Deathless, that I had to do some research to find out if she was Russian herself (she is not). But is it too much to ask of an author to at least google the actual Russian words she does use in her work? I swear, it would only take 10 minutes to research the glaring mistakes I found.

For instance, if you want to give your characters Russian names, it is not that hard to find out that men and women in Russia have different variations of the same last name. Let's take the book's main character, Alina Starkov. Starkov is a masculine version of the last name. Correctly, it should be Alina Starkova. In the same way, there is another character, whose name is Ilya Morozova. The problem with this name is that Ilya is actually a male name, while the last name has a female form. In the book, Ilya Morozova is a "she." If you google "Russian last names," this information comes up in the second or third link from the top. How much time would it take to do this research?

Then there is a matter of "kvas," a beverage everyone seems to get drunk on in Shadow and Bone. In reality, you can not actually get drunk consuming it. This is a non-alcoholic beverage (well, almost, it occasionally has alcohol content up to 1%) which is given to children as well as adults, like, let's say, soda. Wiki this word, I am not lying. You want to write about alcohol, use "pivo" or "braga" or "samogon," if researching that is too hard, use "vodka."

And, I swear, the last example (of many on my list). The name of this trilogy - The Grisha (in the book, the Grisha are magic wielding army). Grisha is actually a short form of the male name Grigori. Come on now, no better ideas, no better words to call your magician other than this random personal name? Or "otkazat'sya," which in Bardugo's interpretation means "The Abandoned." In reality "otkazat'sya" is a verb which translates into "to refuse." That is why I am saying that even the words made up by the author make no sense, linguistically.

To be sure, all these things will not bother anyone except select few, but I do not think it is too wrong to expect the author who builds her whole magical universe using Russian culture, to respect this culture enough to do a cursory google search, to give her work some appearance of credibility and care? This sloppy use of a foreign (my) culture affected my enjoyment of the novel.

Shadow and Bone is not an isolated example of a lazy handling of Russian language and culture, and very often I feel very much compelled to offer authors, who choose to base their stories on Russia, my help, to at least check the spelling of the words. But then I see that they do not care to do the most basic of researches, so why should I care?

To wrap this up, I do not recommend against reading this book. It is a light and engaging enough entertainment. In fact, after reading a few Goodreads reviews, it looks like many people found it to be utterly enchanting. I am glad they do. I, however, will not be back for more.

3/5 stars

Readventurer T Signature
18 Comments
Catie (The Readventurer) link
4/9/2012 12:05:48 am

I am feeling the same way about fantasy - probably because I've read so much of it. I am really appreciating authors like Catherynne Valente or China Mieville, who write fantasy with more depth and distinctiveness. Reading your insights about the Russian language and culture used in this book was also really interesting! Great review today!

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/9/2012 12:34:02 am

So true, Catie. I have no heart to bash this book, because it is not bad. But you get sick of the same story and the same characters, after, IDK, reading it over 5 times?

Glad you liked my patriotic rant, I wasn't sure anyone would care:)

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Leanne link
4/9/2012 12:29:28 am

Brilliant review, Tatiana. I understand your qualms with this novel (even if certain things didn't bother me as they did you) though I do agree that the author took creative liberties that went too far. I'm a bit frusturated that she couldn't have done better research, even the simplest things like "kvas" instead of "vodka". Even I know that one, ha.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/9/2012 12:35:22 am

Leanne, kvas was a huge deal-breaker for me:)

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Sam link
4/9/2012 08:43:42 am

It's really interesting to hear your thoughts. I'm one of the readers who thoroughly enjoyed this book but it's always interesting to hear a different opinion. I can understand why the lack of research would have bothered you - I definitely would have felt the same way had it been my culture. If I'm being quite honest, I'm not an expert on the culture, so I didn't realise the names hadn't been used properly. It's good to find out about that though. Thanks for the great review! :)

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Maja link
4/9/2012 03:47:31 pm

Lack of research always drives me crazy, especially when all the information you need is easily accessible. How hard it is to google 'Eastern Slavic naming customs'? It's not the first time I've come across this exact problem. Don't even get me started on Italian! There's an author out there who insist on having her Italian character use horribly incorrect words and sentences all the time. Apparently she has someone checking, or so she says, but that someone isn't doing her any favors. I guess speed is more important than quality these days. So sad.
Great review, Tatiana.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/9/2012 08:51:38 pm

Same here, Maja. In her acknowledgement the author thanked a person who translated Russian and Mongolian for her over FB. IDK about Mongolian, but she definitely needs someone else to do the Russian parts.

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VeganYANerds link
4/9/2012 07:09:34 pm

Great review, Tatiana. I was neither here nor there in regards to this book, I've read some great reviews but it still didn't grab me even though I love reading about Russian history (I've added Deathless to my to-read list, thanks!)

It sounds like a little bit of effort could have gone a long way in making this legitimate. And I think the covers look so different that I wouldn't have assumed they were for the same book!

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/9/2012 08:54:38 pm

Deathless is a rather challenging fantasy inspired by Russian folklore. It is not everyone's cup of tea for sure, but it has Russian soul, even though it was written by an American.

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Jasprit link
4/9/2012 07:36:36 pm

Nice review Tatiana, it's great to see differing opinions on this book, the majority of the reviews I'd read were positive, so thank you again for another insightful honest review. I also completely understand how the lack of research in the book would have affected your reading experience.

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Heidi link
4/11/2012 04:45:03 am

I am SO happy to read your review, and to know that it is not just me who was not immediately enchanted by everything about this book. I've been waiting for reviews to come out because I honestly couldn't grasp what was so great about this book. The disregard for remaining true and accurate to the culture you are trying to portray is to me inexcusable. It drives me nuts, to the point that I can't look past it, even if the story underneath is good. It comes across as lazy, sloppy, and inconsiderate in my mind. Cat Valente is an excellent example of an author who does this sort of thing right; at the moment I'm reading Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriot and have been similarly impressed at her ability to capture Japanese language and culture. Great review!

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LS
6/18/2012 11:01:02 am

I understand the issues you raise. But I think authenticity is a red herring, especially in fantasy fiction. Also, the author acknowledges that all of the words highlighted above were part of a set of choices she deliberately made, to create a world that evoked Tsarist Russia but that would not too closely resemble a historical Russia.

For instance, in a recent interview, she writes this about the choice to use "kvas" as opposed to "vodka":

"Kvas is, in fact, a semi-fermented beverage popular in Russia, but in Shadow and Bone it's an obvious stand-in for vodka. For me, "vodka" places us instantly in our world and time. It's simply too common. Kvas, however, maintains immersion in the world, but has the advantage of visually evoking the word "vodka"--there's no real leap for the reader to make. (Also, this is YA. I suspect a lot more flags would have been raised if I'd had a bunch of teenagers sitting around drinking Stoli.)"

See this interview, to hear more about her linguistic choices:

http://claire-legrand.com/2012/04/16/author-interview-and-arc-giveaway-leigh-bardugo-shadow-bone/

You can choose to be offended by her invocation of Russian history and culture, but it's a disservice to the author to imply that she doesn't know what "vodka" is. It also diminishes the significance and strength of your own critique.

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Catie (The Readventurer) link
6/18/2012 11:14:17 am

I'm not really sure that I understand the argument about using "kvas" instead of "vodka." Did she not realize how odd that would sound to anyone who has a familiarity with the Russian language and culture? Not everyone who reads this book will be ignorant of the real meaning. Also it's a bit silly to worry so much about the flags that would be raised if she were to use the word vodka, but then have several scenes in her book with teens clearly drinking an intoxicant and getting drunk. Changing the name doesn't really change the potential for that hypothetical "outrage."

All that being said, I think that Tatiana clearly stated above where her opinion was coming from and she also made it incredibly clear that her feelings wouldn't necessarily affect every reader. The points that she made were honest and valid.

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LS
6/18/2012 12:43:45 pm

I am interested in Tatiana's points. I think she does a disservice to those points when she frames the issue in terms of the author's assumed lack of research. What is at stake here is not ignorance, but cultural appropriation. She assumes that Bardugo does not know the meanings of her own word choices. But the interview makes clear that these choices were deliberate and knowing. The "evocative" effect here is aimed at non-Russians, as you point out. If this is a fantasy world, one does not claim to be Russia, at what point do those appropriations feel irresponsible? This is a question worth asking. That is slightly different, I suggest, than scoffing at an author's ignorance of vodka.

Catie (The Readventurer) link
6/18/2012 01:31:15 pm

Yes, that is interesting. I do understand why she would want to replace the word vodka with another word, to visually distance the reader from the real world. But why would she then choose as a replacement another real word - one that has a meaning so different from what is intended? It seems like she is assuming quite a lot about the readers by doing that - like that none of them will have knowledge of the Russian language or culture, or have friends who speak Russian, or have the ability to look up words on the internet. And I can understand why that (along with some of the other apparently intentional misuses of the language that Tatiana mentioned above) would be difficult to deal with for a native Russian speaker.

I do really wonder why the author chose to use that word and the others, even with full knowledge of their meanings. It seems odd at best. Especially since, as Tatiana pointed out, there are a whole host of other, equally foreign-to-English-speakers words that she could have appropriated.

"You want to write about alcohol, use "pivo" or "braga" or "samogon," if researching that is too hard, use "vodka."

I don't really see where she calls the author's knowledge of the word vodka into question there. I think she was just naming it as the most obvious word in a list of words that would make more sense in this scenario.

And honestly, I understand why she would assume that very little research had been done. Knowing that the author did research that word and then chose to use it anyway sort of baffles me. The same goes for the male/female switches on the last names, the name for the magic-users, and "the abandoned."

However, I think in the grand scheme of things these small details will not affect the overall success or failure of this book. My opinion of this book was based completely on its story, world-building, characters, and writing. But I really appreciate that Tatiana was able to provide a perspective that I might not have seen. That's why I read reviews in the first place.

Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
6/18/2012 10:04:37 pm

I have read a few pieces where Bardugo explains her thought process behind her linguistic choices following this review and I think it is her right to be inspired any way she wants - making up completely new words (like"kefta," for instance), etc. - but some of her use of actual Russian words and concepts is puzzling and inelegant. As Catie states below, it doesn't logically make sense that in order to create a more distinct Russia-inspired word that doesn't come off as Russia copy-cat, she needed to substitute wide-known "vodka" with lesser known non-alcoholic "kvas." If the author wanted to separate her word from Russia, she could have invented a new word completely instead of using an existing word incorrectly.

Again, it's ultimately the author's creative choice to write her story this way, but as a consequence, to any native speaker her handling of language would feel sloppy and under- researched (especially where last names and names are concerned).

On the other hand, when I read Valente's Russia-inspired "Deathless," that book never felt fake to me.

Hope it answers your question.

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nat
9/24/2013 07:13:51 am

leigh bardugo has addressed the issues about alina's surname, kvas, etc. numerous times, if you bothered to read about it. basically: ravka is not russia. it definitely has a lot of slavic influences, but they are not the same. and comparing bardugo's work to deathless is completely invalid.

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Monessa
1/16/2014 04:56:25 am

This review is great! It's really give me the other opinion. I wasn't really captured by the book but it wasn't bad and I enjoyed reading it. But with her Russian usage, I googled every word she used and most words that she reused (Tsaritsa, Oprichnik) were pretty good and made sense based on my research. Honestly, I was disappointed Vodka wasn't used but Kvas felt more detached from the real world. The only one that made me really upset was "Otkasat'sya" because it just made no sense! Also, her use of grisha was because-according to her on this-it meant "Watchful" (I'm not certain of that's accurate or not) and also it sounds a lot like "Geisha" as in the beautiful women entertainers from Japan and she hopes that would bring a sense of "beauty and secrecy". I'm not trying to convince you on this matter but no one had really mentioned the Geisha part so I thought id open your thoughts to that. But great review though.

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