grishaverse – wings and fables

Tours

Blog Tour: Shadow and Bone & Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | Netflix Tie-In Editions (+ book-inspired playlists!)

May 12, 2021May 22, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables7 Comments

Hey, everyone! I’m super excited to be a part of this tour hosted by Terminal Tours for the release of the new Netflix Tie-In Edition covers of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. Each of us on the tour has chosen a creative post to celebrate these special cover releases so please check out all of the amazing content here. I’ll be sharing a playlist for each book curated by me with songs I feel fit the vibe of the stories. I hope you enjoy them!

Read the books that started a worldwide phenomenon and inspired the Netflix original series, Shadow and Bone. These paperback editions of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows feature exclusive cover art from the show.

Synopsis: Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold—a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed. Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country’s magical military elite—and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.

Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems.

My Book-Inspired Playlist:

Listen to the full playlist on Spotify here!

Black Sea by Natasha Blume
Flames by Tedy
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing by Set It Off
Pieces by Emily Vaughn
Ordinary Fools by Somme
Safe by Daya
Couple of Kids by Maggie Lindemann
Circus Freak by xoxomayah
Gasoline by Halsey
Dodged a Bullet by Greg Laswell

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Reviews

Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

May 8, 2021May 8, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables8 Comments

“when everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”
leigh bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #1

Release Date: September 29th 2015

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance | Adventure

Page Count: 465

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Rating:

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TBRs

TBR: May 2021

May 1, 2021May 6, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables6 Comments

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re having a great day/night so far. This month I plan to participate in a readathon in the middle of the month from May 16th-21st so my monthly TBR is a little shorter to account for that. I will be posting my TBR for the readathon closer to the date it starts but I will be attempting to complete 3 books during that week. So here are the other 4 books I’m hoping to finish this month!

1-2. Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get through the Six of Crows duology before the Shadow and Bone show dropped on Netflix but I’m even more intrigued to get through them now that I’ve seen some episodes of the show. I’ve heard that many readers prefer the characters or the storyline of Six of Crows to Shadow and Bone so I’m hoping I’ll join their ranks soon! Six of Crows is a spin-off sequel to Shadow and Bone and takes place in a different part of the fantasy world. The books follow a group who are trying to pull off a deadly, unlikely heist.

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Wrap-Ups

Wrap-Up: April 2021

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables11 Comments

Hey, everyone! I had a really productive April so I’m not going to waste much time on an introduction (also because I’m eager to jump back into watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix haha). I read 6 books in April along with 2 novellas and I also made some changes to some social media accounts for this blog. I hope you all had a great month and let’s jump right in to the books I read these past few weeks.

Books I Read in April:

After reading so many fantasy books in March, I decided to take a breather and jumped into a fantasy/paranormal mash-up series that I’d received for review. Of the Blood and Of Fire and Water by Cameo Renae are the first two books in her Heir of Blood and Fire trilogy. The books follow a young girl whose life is turned upside down when she finds out her family is part of a generations’ old grudge. She is turned into a vampire by a well-meaning vampire prince in order to save her life, but things get even more complicated when Calla finds out her heritage runs so much deeper than she ever anticipated. And that she might have to fight her own blood in order to save herself. The final book is meant to be released around late June of this year. I have a post with my thoughts on both books already up on the blog, so if you’re curious, you can find it here, but overall I found the premise to be really interesting with some great unique worldbuilding, but disliked some aspects like the way every man fell for the main character instantaneously. If I get a chance to review the third book however, I will definitely read it. Especially because there is now a curse to be dealt with and I’m eager to see what happens with it.

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Reviews

Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

April 21, 2021April 24, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables9 Comments

“why won’t you leave me alone?” i whispered one night as he hovered behind me while i tried to work at my desk….”because i’d be alone, too,” he said.
leigh bardugo

Series: Shadow and Bone #2

Release Date: June 4th 2013

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance | Adventure

Page Count: 432

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Darkness never dies. Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long. The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her–or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Rating:

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Reviews

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

March 30, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables7 Comments

“the problem with wanting,” he whispered, his mouth trailing along my jaw until it hovered over my lips, “is that it makes us weak.”
leigh bardugo

Series: Shadow and Bone #1

Release Date: June 5th 2012

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance | Adventure

Page Count: 358

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Alina Starkov doesn’t expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, she is sure of only one thing: her best friend, Mal–and her inconvenient crush on him. Until the day their army regiment enters the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. When their convoy is attacked and Mal 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 led by the mysterious 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 Mal 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 will uncover a secret that could tear her heart–and her country–in two.

Rating:

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TBRs

March TBR 2021

March 6, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables2 Comments

A few days (or a week) late but better late than never, right? I completely forgot to make both a wrap-up post and a TBR post because I was too busy reading, no joke. I plan to merge my February and March wrap-ups but I decided to make a TBR post for this month still. Here are the books I’m hoping to get through this month:

1. A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

Goodreads Summary: Find the heir, win the crown. The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers. Win the crown, save the kingdom. Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen–until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?

At the tail of last month and beginning of this month, I picked up and finished A Curse So Dark and Lonely, the first book in the Cursebreakers series. I fell in complete and utter love and will soon have a full review posted on here. It’s been such a long time since I’ve fallen so hard for a book and its characters. Grey was perhaps my favorite character from the series so far so I’m excited to dig in and see where the second book takes him.

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