Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo was a fantastical and fascinating read about a girl named Alina. Alina is an orphan with her best friend Mal, Mal is handsome and a damn good tracker that people love to hang around with. Alina is the opposite, she has black circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and doesn't think she's all that pretty. Alina is a mapmaker and is set to travel into the fold, a wasteland where the Volera live. Only something happens in the fold which attracts the darlings and the rest of the Grisha (people with awesome powers) attention. Suddenly Ravka is relying onnAlina to save the day but secrets are emerging. 
 The relationship between Alina and the Darkling was truly an interesting development that made me smile in delight and later rant. I loved the Darkling despite everything, he was an amazing character to learn about. Alina as well was awesome since it was an everyday girl becoming miss popularity in a night, she went from being a nobody to the girl everybody wanted to be. She was so real, she wasn't annoying or over powerful, she was a character I would love to hear more about and I can't wait to get the second book. 
 Mal on the other hand I felt I didn't learn enough about him to make an honest decision. I liked him well enough but he was by no means my favourite character so maybe I will learn more about him in the next two books. 
 I would hoemstly recommend this book to any reader, it was an brilliant fantasy book with an amazing new world to learn about and embrace.