Alina Starkov does not expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, time - and her crush on him inconvenient. Until the day her regiment enters the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When Their convoy is attacked and time is brutally injured, Alina Reveals a dormant power not even she knew Existed.
Ripped from everything she knows, Alina is taken to the Royal Court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite lead by the myterious Darkling. With Alina's extraordinary power in his arsenal, he Believes They Can finally destroy the Fold. Now Alina must find a way to master her untamed gift and somehow fit into her new life without time by her side. But nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and her dangerous attraction to the Darkling grows, Alina wants unconver A Secret That Could tear her heart - and the country - in two.
Review
As a fan of Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books and Tamora Pierce's young female Protagonists, who more oft than not have to travel a [literal or figurative] Hard Road towards excellence and true heroism, I was thrilled to discover this book. Alina is a young woman, who has lot's of problems fitting in and who is being content to just live a rather unremarkable life as a mapmaker in the king's army. And When, early in the book, her Hidden Power is discovered [and I love the "hidden power" concept], her life changes totally and her own journey to herself and managing her power starts with a bang.
As is said on the book cover's synopsis: at the Palace and the training grounds, not everything is as It Seems and some revelations about characters, hidden agendas and plans, are discovered late in the book and at times Where They hit Alina [and the reader] the hardest. As she tries to become who she is supposed to be, she discovers things about herself and others did shake her profoundly. Alina is a lonely character. As an orphan, she what kind of lost and did very early in life, with time as her only anchor. When Their past in the orphanage is shown bit by bit, it Explains Their relationship wonderfully and makes is feel very real.
Nevertheless, They are disconnected even before Alina has to join the Grisha, Because growing up, time is the popular, good-looking and well integrated star-tracker in the army, Whereas she is nursing the rather unremarkable girl tagging along. This Increases Alina's feeling of loneliness That is palpable for the reader through Alina's 1st person POV.
When Alina joins the Grisha, sadly her feeling of not belonging does not really vanish: her powers were discovered very late in life and Compared to the others, she is totally ignorant and lacks any significant knowledge. Her loneliness and her craving the feeling of belonging somewhere, anywhere, explain a lot of her decisions very well, Although she knows herself pretty well and tries not to let That motive Determine forth each and every move. What makes it all harder for her Is that the Grisha's palace at times makes the impression of being like a high school in a YA novel: the popular and not so popular people, the pettiness behind falsely smiling faces and Alina at intruder who does not know The rules of the game or what the game is, acutally.
The overall world-building is amazing: high-fantasy not in the usual medieval European-style, but set in a pre-Revoultion-tsaristic-russian / mongolian scenery. And society's problems are Comparable as well: a few really rich, a lot very poor, no industrialization or progress to speak of and a feudal system did hinders changes. But this is where the similarities end, Because there is a well thought-out and shown magical system and Magical Creatures CORRESPONDING. And the concept of the Fold, a kind of breach or rip through the country of Ravka, filled with perpetual darkness and horrible monsters, is just remarkable. Like a place of nightmares coming true and becoming permanent and Defining the lifes of a whole country and it's neighbors.
The end had me hanging my mouth open and I was awed so: I loved watching Alina excel! Since this is a trilogy's first installment, this first "chapter", so to speak, is closed and satisfyingly so, but more challenges and tasks already loom in the future. And this is a fabulous search YA-high-fantasy, with search Wonderfully written world and characters, I sure will follow Alina into her next adventure.
