Given that the Grishaverse is getting a Netflix series this year I thought I should finally make myself read The Grisha Trilogy. I read it so quick I figured I’d just review them all together and maybe even start fantasy wrap-ups at some point the way I do with romance but more on blog housekeeping another time, when I’ve actually had a chance to plan.
So I won’t lie I wasn’t too pumped to pick this trilogy up. Don’t get me wrong I adored Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom to the point of near obsession, they are excellent books and Leigh Bardugo is an excellent writer who pretty much redefined YA for me and probably a lot of people. But I’d always heard that the Six of Crows duology was her best work and that the trilogy that came before it wasn’t quite as good. Sadly, after reading them all, I sort of have to agree.
Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate the Grisha Trilogy not even a little bit, in fact I loved it. It follows the story of Alina Starkov who becomes the first Sun Summoner, a type of Grisha (magician, witch, magic user in the Grishaverse) who can summon and manipulate light, who ends up being trained by the Darkling, a Grisha with the exact opposite of her power, someone who can summon darkness. That in itself is a little heavy handed but, I won’t lie, I live for light magic/phosphoromancy/shadow summoning etc. in any kind of fantasy so I was pretty thrilled. But after the first book, Shadow and Bone, it still didn’t reach the glorious heights of Six of Crows. Still, I carried on, because, as with most trilogies, I figured it would get better as I went.
However, I forgot that, in my opinion anyway, most trilogies dip a little in the middle and the second book Siege and Storm felt pretty slow and awkward to me. The ending of Siege and Storm drew me back in though, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone wanting to read the series before the adaptation, but the second book brings Alina very low and I found myself needing to know what happened so I persisted.
Ruin and Rising is where it paid off though, finally I got a taste of the SoC Bardugo I had come to love and respect. The writing picked up, the plot pacing was spot on, and my investment in the story just skyrocketed. It was absolutely fascinating to read through what was essentially a writer learning how to become the best they can be. It was also really inspiring, the improvements seem sort of minimal in hindsight but they made such a difference to the reading experience. There’s no way for me to tell if a casual read would evoke the same feelings in the reader, I read them all pretty much in a two week period and have the added curse of always judging the writing in what I read because of how I was taught (don’t do creative writing courses if you want to enjoy things folks) but I actually did really appreciate seeing Bardugo grow as a writer.
This comes across as a pretty negative review but believe me I really did enjoy the trilogy. I was dreaming in the Grishaverse for a couple weeks, it became that much a part of my life. It’s made me want to read more YA again and has renewed my love for Leigh Bardugo and her work. If you haven’t yet read Six of Crows read this first, and if you have and are just excited for the Netflix adaptation and fancy an enjoyable YA experience then this is for you!
Let Us Look At Goblin Men 