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SHADOW AND BONE BY LEIGH BARDUGO (BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)

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Hello dear readers and fellow bloggers! In this post, I shall review Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo ,  the first novel in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Published in 2012, Shadow and Bone is a young adult fantasy novel featuring a young female protagonist Alina Starkov who tries to find her way in a world troubled by war and class divisions. The novel is set in Ravka, a fantasy world inspired by feudal Russia, but still unique in its own way. The world Alina Starkov inhabits has its own mythology and magic, and the worldbuilding is quite interesting. For example, there are Grishas, people who have magical powers, that are partly based on study of science and partly on instinct. While the organization of power is feudal, with a corrupt monarch and nobility, there's mention of higher education and even science.  I actually got introduced to this series through listening to music on Youtube. I'm pretty sure I heard about this fantasy series (especially on  goodreads), but someho

THE WILD GIRLS, A STORY BY URSULA K. LE GUIN (REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION)

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Hello fellow bloggers and/or blog readers! In this post, I'll share my review for Ursula K. Le Guin short story The Wild Girls . Published in 2011, this powerful short story tells a touching tale of slavery , trauma , loss and survival. Sisterly love is at the core of this immensely sad, complex and profound story. If you want to read an intelligent and multifaceted story focused on female characters, and set in a dystopian society, look no further. Don't expect a happy ending, though! This is not that kind of story. I actually listened to this short story (that isn't so short, it sorts of feels like a novella). I planned to listen to it while I do Pilates, but I wasn't aware of how serious and tragic the story truly was. I've read an awful lot of Le Guin's writing, so I know her writing can be ambitious, complex and challenging. Still, I wasn't prepared for the complex sadness of this story.  Needless to say, I didn't finishing my Pilates routine that d