BOOK REVIEW – The Demon in the Wood (The Grisha #0.1) by Leigh Bardugo

The Demon in the Wood (The Grisha #0.1)
by Leigh Bardugo
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Limited collector’s edition of the final book features an exclusive Darkling prequel story!

Before he became the Darkling, he was just a lonely boy of extraordinary power. Get a look into the past that forged a brutal and brilliant leader.

{spoilers for Ruin and Rising, I guess, if there are still people who do not know}

This novella was torture for my heart. I REGRET NOTHING.

1) Here’s something I can say for sure : I will always be divided over The Grisha Trilogy.

2) Here’s something I read a lot and that tends to awake my annoyance pretty fast (= that pisses me off, alright) : “people gave the last book a bad rating because they couldn’t cope with the ending, how ridiculous, haha”

You know what? Perhaps some readers did – and that’s their absolute right – but let’s not forget all of those who only wanted for the story to reach a better development and were disappointed. I was definitely one of those.

Indeed I gave both Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm a 3 : a rather good story unfortunately spoiled by a Mary Sue and her knight in (not so) shining armor (let’s not talk about Mal, okay?), an uneven pacing but pretty good writing and dialogues.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t be back on my ranting about Ruin and Rising, so I’ll just say this : the problem isn’t the ending per se, even if, MY HEART. The problem is a story that didn’t live up to its expectations, as far as I’m concerned. The problem is THIS BIG FAIL on character’s development, with MCs who run round and round on circles (the point?!). The problem is, also, and that’s still a sensitive issue for me, the misleading marketing that surrounded its release – to this day, I’m not over the fact that the character who was showcased the most in teasers was MIA for most of the book.

I call this slighly dishonest. But moving on. I’m not one for holding grudges.

Today, I’m giving my highest rating in this series to a 30 PAGES NOVELLA (the kindle version stops at 40%, just so you know), but really, who’s surprised? Certainly not me.

Two Words : THE. DARKLING.

The Darkling was the SOLE reason for my decision to continue this series, and not only because he’s charming and tortured and deliciously evil and fascinating and GAH MY HEART. Above that, FOR ME, he is the only complex and multi-layered character in the entire series. Even here, in a 30 pages novella, he manages to interest me one million times more than Mal & Alina ever did, the little peasants (sorry, I couldn’t help).

I mean, HOW COULD I RESIST? The Demon in the Wood pictures him as a child, back when his power wasn’t his best advantage yet…. but was his downfall already. The suffering. The loneliness.

The yearning for a place to finally, finally be safe.

Evocative and beautiful writing, captivating premise, and of course that’s way too short, and of course I’m partial and absolutely not objective, but EXCUSE ME WHILE I’M CRYING.

STRAIGHT TO MY DYING HEART.
_______________________________

Leigh Bardugo & The Darkling –

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