Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Alina and Mal don’t have much, but at least they have one another. They are raised as soldiers to protect their country Ravka from monsters that rise from the darkness of the Shadow Fold. In their first mission to the Shadow Fold they are attacked and Alina is able to produce a light so powerful it can destroy these monsters. Alina discovers her special abilities unknown even to herself that could overtake this enemy that threatens the world. Alina is whisked away to an opulent land to train with the military elite, the Grisha. There the Darkling orders training to harness her new power. While this place of abundance, extravagance and intrigue seem like a dream, Alina discovers secrets to her past and a new threat under the same roof.
–Kim Luke
–Kim Luke
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
