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I finished all books in the “Grishaverse” by Leigh Bardugo. There’s seven books in total, same as the Glass Throne series, so I thought it would warrant a write-up as well.

The setting is fantasy, circa 18th century. The main focus is on the kingdom of Ravka, analogous of Tsarist Russia, with the same kind of problems. But the extra element are the Grisha: people with supernatural powers. Grisha are born, and in Ravka each child is tested for Grisha-abilities. Those that test positive are taken to the “small palace” in the capital to be trained to harness their powers, after which they are put in the Second Army to defend Ravka against its enemies (mainly the Fjerd, equivalent to the Fins; and the Shu Han, the China-equivalent) under the command of The Darkling — the only Grisha with powers over darkness.

The series consists of a trilogy and two duologies. The first trilogy, which starts with “Shadow and Bone”, follows Alina who discovers she is a Lightbringer. The Darkling immediately takes her under his wing — ostensibly to get her help in “curing” the dark land that splits Ravka in two. Of course there is more going on, and Alina has to forge some unlikely alliances and assemble a ragtag band of rebels to save Ravka.

I think this is the strongest part of the series. It all has a certain medieval fairy-tale quality, even though flying machines enter the picture at some point. The story has a certain “quest-like” feel to it, with a set of companions traveling towards certain goals all across the world (though mostly in Ravka), an excellent way to showcase the characters. (A bit like how “The Lord of the Rings” uses travel to showcase the characters, come to think of it.) Because characterisation is where Bardugo shines: we get these little pieces of backstory to all the characters which explains how they got to be the way they are, and it all makes sense. In two pages she can explain how someone has been reacting the way they did, all without info-dumping. The characters are really what elevates the story to greatness.

The second part is a duology, which starts with “Six of Crows”. A gang of scoundrels, living in the equivalent of Amsterdam, get hired to retrieve a prisoner from the Fjerds who knows the formula for a drug that makes Grisha very powerful, but that is also very addictive. Having this information out in the open is a danger to all Grisha, as it can (and has been!) used to control them. And the Fjerds, who burn Grisha at the stake for being “witches” are of course intent in doing as much damage as they can with this knowledge.

This is actually the first book in the series that I read, and while there were some things that made less sense to me, it was perfectly OK to start with. Though if you have the ambition to read the whole series, I would strongly recommend you start out with “Shadow and Bone”. The depiction of Ketterdam was really believable: the mercenary pursuit of profit at all costs, with those with the biggest pockets able to shape policy to their own advantage… Yup, sounds like the Dutch!

This has a much more “modern” feel than the first trilogy, because the technology has made a jump forward — mainly military technology, like it always happens. I had to check when it was written, because it could have been published as a setting for the Blades in the Dark RPG! The similarity is really uncanny, but this seems to have been a case of parallel development and neither influenced the other. If you like a good heist story (and who doesn’t?), then this is definitely for you.

The last duology starts with “King of Scars” and sees the young king of Ravka try to stabilise his country while fending off his enemies. I think it’s the weakest part of the series, but it has some nice twists and turns. I appreciated the increased depth of the “Grisha-lore” and the narrow escapes are very tense and well-written. It’s fun to see cameos of some of the characters of the previous books, though that’s more of a gimmick than actually driving the story forward. Most of the characters get a decent ending, and while there is an opening left for another book, I don’t think we’ll ever see a continuation — maybe that’s for the best, because the story has been told. And by now it has drifted from the fairy tale-like feel of the first trilogy that it’s not quite the same anymore.

It’s Young Adult fantasy, so it’s an easy read — though some of the themes and events are pretty heavy, so I wouldn’t recommend it for very young YAs. And it’s incredibly chaste: holding hands and kissing is the worst that happens. There is literally only one instance where people have sex, but that’s very much given the “fade to black” treatment. I don’t know how we are supposed to believe that a hedonist like Nina (my favourite character in the series, she’s so unapologetically herself!) is content with a few kisses even though she has ample opportunity for much more?

I highly recommend the series, especially the first trilogy. And I already have another, non-Grisha, book by Bardugo lined up, I really like her writing.

Crossposted from my blog. Comment here or at the original post.