What happens when you take a little YA love/friendship/attraction triangle, sprinkle a bit of "You're a wizard, Harry!", add a heavy dollop of Russian sour cream, and some unfleshed-out court "intrigue"? You get "Shadow and Bone", or "Russian peasant girl cartographer goes to Hogwarts, is strangely attracted to man of mystery and must choose between him and her oldest peasant friend in matters of lurve". 
 The result was fun enough, I suppose, but it wasn't particularly good world building, characters, or plot. I kind of liked it more than it was just "okay", which nudged it from a 2 star to 3 star on the Goodreads scale. 
 Looks like the follow-up books won't arrive at the library for at least a few more weeks or a month or two, so some of my "quick trilogy" hopes are dashed. Will I remember who everyone is in a couple of months? Not sure. And that, plus the fact that I put both on hold, says pretty much all you need to know about this book.