Book reviews
Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo
Shadow and Bone
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo: a soldier discovers that darkness has an owner
Alina Starkov has spent years being ordinary beside Mal, her closest friend, until a crossing through the Shadow Fold reveals that Ravka may have been wrong about her. Her new power makes her valuable to the court, but valuable and free are not the same thing. This is my review of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone, a fantasy about power, belonging and the uncomfortable moment when everyone suddenly has a plan for your life.
October 30, 2026
Leigh Bardugo
Six of Crows
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: an impossible heist and six people who cannot work together without threats
Six thieves, one impossible job and a plan whose first rule is apparently “do not kill your teammates before we get inside.” This is my spoiler-light review of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, a fantasy about criminal skill, complicated loyalties and people who learned to survive by trusting nobody—including the people they need beside them.
October 29, 2026