Audio Book Review: The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
January 08, 2017
The Grisha Trilogy
Shadow & Bone (2012) Siege & Storm (2013) Ruin & Rising (2014)
written by Leigh Bardugo read by Lauren Fortgang
What is it about?
Let's hear what the author says ...
This series is very close to my heart. I came across Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows on BookTube by the beginning of last year and I absolutely adored it! While waiting for the sequel Crooked Kingdom I thought, why not give her previous trilogy a shot? I had heard it wasn't as good as Six of Crows but I knew it was high fantasy, I knew this woman was a fantastic storyteller, so there wasn't really anything that might go wrong. However, I have to admit that my love for the Grisha Trilogy wasn't love at first sight, but let's go through this step by step.
Why should you listen to the audio books?
As you can see from the title of this blog post, I chose to listen to the Grisha Trilogy on audio book. I made this decision, because I had listened to Six of Crows on audio book as well and that audio book was freaking amazing! The whole Grisha Trilogy is read by Lauren Fortgang who was also involved in the Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom audio book production and she is absolutely brilliant! Having finished listening to Shadow & Bone, Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising, I'd say her vivid interpretation of the Grisha Universe and its characters sparked off my enthusiasm about it. Her voice in beautiful and crystal clear and her interpretation of Leigh Bardugo's characters is marvelous. When she reads the story, its world and characters come to life and I can see the story happening right in front of my inner eye. Listening to these audio books was an experience I overall thoroughly enjoyed!
Shadow & Bone - a not so lucky start ...
Since I downloaded the audio book of Shadow & Bone shortly after I had finished Six of Crows, I found it a little bit hard to get into a completely different story within the Grisha Universe. Shadow & Bone takes place in Ravka which is - as Leigh Bardugo explains above - inspired by Czarist Russia. The world is carefully built, but took a while to get into since it is completely different from anything I've ever read about before. Looking back, I can safely say that the Grisha Universe is one of the most spectacular worlds I've ever encountered in YA fantasy literature. It is completely thought through, every place is given an authentic name and the magic system is great, but I'm getting carried away ...
When I was listening to Shadow & Bone it was pretty obvious to me quite early that this was going to be a story of the chosen one - quite a stereotype. After listening to Six of Crows which is an entirely different story concept, Shadow & Bone didn't really catch my interest as much as I had hoped it would. However, I have to admit that I became quite intrigued with the Darkling who's still one of my favourite characters. Overall, Shadow & Bone is a decent book that is meant to introduce you to the Grisha Universe and it does this masterfully. The unlucky part is that this purpose overshadows the actual story line a little bit and the root conflict of the entire story is only revealed towards the end of book one. Furthermore, it's consequences only become obvious if you continue with the series and you HAVE TO continue with the series! Let me explain why ...
Siege & Storm - Holy cow! Did this just happen? ...
Although the beginning is a little bit slow, in Siege & Storm things go crazy. Of course, it's difficult to talk about a second book in a series without spoilers, but Mal and Alina are getting into serious some trouble. Then, they meet another one of my favourite characters in the Grisha Trilogy - Sturmhund 💗 He is so awesome, I wish he was real ... At that point, he is the most recognizable character that has been introduced to the reader (or listener) and, thankfully, all the other characters begin to get a little more shape as well. In fact, I found the side characters even more intriguing than the protagonists. Alina is a rather simple character. She is predictable and her major purpose is that of an observer - like it is so often the case with the chosen one. Mal really annoyed me in this book, but Sturmhund, Tolya, Tamar, the King, the Darkling, Baghra, Genya and Zoya ... their character development in Siege & Storm is only the beginning of how phenomenal they'll turn out to be Ruin & Rising.
In a nutshell, Siege & Storm didn't fall into that typical second book slump. On the contrary! It's a lot better than Shadow & Bone and finishes off with a much more spectacular ending. Overall, Siege & Storm is a book for Sturmhund. He's at the heart of this book and he supports Alina who's trying to position herself as a worthy opponent to the Darkling. Even though the world building in Shadow & Bone was great, I found it much easier to imagine Ravka and Os Alta while listening to the second book on audio book. You approach it from a different point of view and I loved that. And the ending ? Well, ... it took me only a day to download Ruin & Rising and then I was hooked!
Ruin & Rising - Yes! Yes! Yes!
I can safely say that I loved everything about this book and it's characters, characters, characters ... !!! There's fantastic character development in Ruin & Rising. Zoya Nazyalensky! How I love her! She's loyal AND badass and I loved that we got to know the other side characters so much better as well. Harshaw - hilarious 😂 Leigh Bardugo did an amazing job on this book - seriously 💗 Neither of the first two books is so full of plot twists, character depth and heartbreaking moments as this one. Of course it's the finale, but I find Ruin & Rising to be strong from the start. We find Alina in an enclosed space that she will only escape by the help from a bunch of people that form a strong alliance throughout the book. If you weren't in love with Leigh Bardugo's world and her characters after finishing Siege & Storm, you'll definitely be after reading the final installment in this fantastic series that is one of my favorites of all time.
Overall ...
While I found it difficult to get into Shadow & Bone, this series grew on me with each book and I am convinced that a great deal of this goes to Lauren Fortgang and her excellent interpretation of the Grisha trilogy on audio book. Furthermore, the writing got better and better throughout the series and even though Leigh Bardugo could have been a little bit braver at the end she brought Alina's storyline to an overall satisfying conclusion. And - no spoilers! - I love how the relationship between Alina and the Darkling comes to a close. In a nutshell, if you haven't read or listened to the Grisha Trilogy already, you certainly deprived yourself of a wonderful journey and a highly enjoyable experience. I recommend this series to anyone who loves good storytelling, fantasy and historical fiction.
Moreover, I have to say that although the Grisha Trilogy is high fantasy, I personally think that people who usually don't read fantasy will like it as well since the (fantastic!) world building and magic system are quite rational and everything makes sense. So, if you like a good story about a girl who turns out to be the chosen one, evil soldiers and recognizable characters, these will be the books for you 💚 I hope you liked my little review of this series. Have you read the Grisha trilogy yet? If so, let me know in the comments down below and we can chat about it 😉
Love, Sarah
Why should you listen to the audio books?
As you can see from the title of this blog post, I chose to listen to the Grisha Trilogy on audio book. I made this decision, because I had listened to Six of Crows on audio book as well and that audio book was freaking amazing! The whole Grisha Trilogy is read by Lauren Fortgang who was also involved in the Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom audio book production and she is absolutely brilliant! Having finished listening to Shadow & Bone, Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising, I'd say her vivid interpretation of the Grisha Universe and its characters sparked off my enthusiasm about it. Her voice in beautiful and crystal clear and her interpretation of Leigh Bardugo's characters is marvelous. When she reads the story, its world and characters come to life and I can see the story happening right in front of my inner eye. Listening to these audio books was an experience I overall thoroughly enjoyed!
Shadow & Bone - a not so lucky start ...
Since I downloaded the audio book of Shadow & Bone shortly after I had finished Six of Crows, I found it a little bit hard to get into a completely different story within the Grisha Universe. Shadow & Bone takes place in Ravka which is - as Leigh Bardugo explains above - inspired by Czarist Russia. The world is carefully built, but took a while to get into since it is completely different from anything I've ever read about before. Looking back, I can safely say that the Grisha Universe is one of the most spectacular worlds I've ever encountered in YA fantasy literature. It is completely thought through, every place is given an authentic name and the magic system is great, but I'm getting carried away ...
When I was listening to Shadow & Bone it was pretty obvious to me quite early that this was going to be a story of the chosen one - quite a stereotype. After listening to Six of Crows which is an entirely different story concept, Shadow & Bone didn't really catch my interest as much as I had hoped it would. However, I have to admit that I became quite intrigued with the Darkling who's still one of my favourite characters. Overall, Shadow & Bone is a decent book that is meant to introduce you to the Grisha Universe and it does this masterfully. The unlucky part is that this purpose overshadows the actual story line a little bit and the root conflict of the entire story is only revealed towards the end of book one. Furthermore, it's consequences only become obvious if you continue with the series and you HAVE TO continue with the series! Let me explain why ...
Siege & Storm - Holy cow! Did this just happen? ...
Although the beginning is a little bit slow, in Siege & Storm things go crazy. Of course, it's difficult to talk about a second book in a series without spoilers, but Mal and Alina are getting into serious some trouble. Then, they meet another one of my favourite characters in the Grisha Trilogy - Sturmhund 💗 He is so awesome, I wish he was real ... At that point, he is the most recognizable character that has been introduced to the reader (or listener) and, thankfully, all the other characters begin to get a little more shape as well. In fact, I found the side characters even more intriguing than the protagonists. Alina is a rather simple character. She is predictable and her major purpose is that of an observer - like it is so often the case with the chosen one. Mal really annoyed me in this book, but Sturmhund, Tolya, Tamar, the King, the Darkling, Baghra, Genya and Zoya ... their character development in Siege & Storm is only the beginning of how phenomenal they'll turn out to be Ruin & Rising.
In a nutshell, Siege & Storm didn't fall into that typical second book slump. On the contrary! It's a lot better than Shadow & Bone and finishes off with a much more spectacular ending. Overall, Siege & Storm is a book for Sturmhund. He's at the heart of this book and he supports Alina who's trying to position herself as a worthy opponent to the Darkling. Even though the world building in Shadow & Bone was great, I found it much easier to imagine Ravka and Os Alta while listening to the second book on audio book. You approach it from a different point of view and I loved that. And the ending ? Well, ... it took me only a day to download Ruin & Rising and then I was hooked!
Ruin & Rising - Yes! Yes! Yes!
I can safely say that I loved everything about this book and it's characters, characters, characters ... !!! There's fantastic character development in Ruin & Rising. Zoya Nazyalensky! How I love her! She's loyal AND badass and I loved that we got to know the other side characters so much better as well. Harshaw - hilarious 😂 Leigh Bardugo did an amazing job on this book - seriously 💗 Neither of the first two books is so full of plot twists, character depth and heartbreaking moments as this one. Of course it's the finale, but I find Ruin & Rising to be strong from the start. We find Alina in an enclosed space that she will only escape by the help from a bunch of people that form a strong alliance throughout the book. If you weren't in love with Leigh Bardugo's world and her characters after finishing Siege & Storm, you'll definitely be after reading the final installment in this fantastic series that is one of my favorites of all time.
Overall ...
While I found it difficult to get into Shadow & Bone, this series grew on me with each book and I am convinced that a great deal of this goes to Lauren Fortgang and her excellent interpretation of the Grisha trilogy on audio book. Furthermore, the writing got better and better throughout the series and even though Leigh Bardugo could have been a little bit braver at the end she brought Alina's storyline to an overall satisfying conclusion. And - no spoilers! - I love how the relationship between Alina and the Darkling comes to a close. In a nutshell, if you haven't read or listened to the Grisha Trilogy already, you certainly deprived yourself of a wonderful journey and a highly enjoyable experience. I recommend this series to anyone who loves good storytelling, fantasy and historical fiction.
Moreover, I have to say that although the Grisha Trilogy is high fantasy, I personally think that people who usually don't read fantasy will like it as well since the (fantastic!) world building and magic system are quite rational and everything makes sense. So, if you like a good story about a girl who turns out to be the chosen one, evil soldiers and recognizable characters, these will be the books for you 💚 I hope you liked my little review of this series. Have you read the Grisha trilogy yet? If so, let me know in the comments down below and we can chat about it 😉
Love, Sarah
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