Well.... what to say... this story was obviously 'written' by deacon. I like the idea of a fictional character telling us the story of what happened. and the story could of been great, except i couldn't connect with our main character. She's not very bright and annoyingly-stubbornly-naive which constantly makes me wanna bonk this book over her head. After finishing this book I don't think I'm the only one feeling like that, lol. Plus the be amazing at everything gets really old really quickly. Nobody is that good at everything. If she excelled in one thing or another i'd understand but everything? that's just ridiculous.

The other characters where mainly great, some fell flat and felt cliche but others i quite enjoyed, like the dragons and Lain. The magic and secrets within the war were also rather interesting.

all in all while i enjoyed this book i probably wont be reading the next one. I know some people will love and adore these characters, world and all its issues. unfortunately it just isnt for me.... If i got along with the main character more maybe i would have adored this book as well? who knows.

Rating 2.5 stars.
I some what enjoyed it, but not as much as other books i've rated 3 stars.

What a quick easy read. I smashed this book out in a few hours.

I've actually been meaning to read Shadow and Bone for ages. I've seen many excellent reviews raving about this 'spectacular' book and maybe my expectations were to high, because unfortunately this book didn't quite meet them. I think some of the issues i had with Shadow and Bone is that it starts like an epic fantasy, it dumps you into this magical world that you know zero about and you have to try and stay a float in this new knowledge and figure out whats going on or drown under the flood of confusing information. The main character did help with this, while she knew some information, she overall wasn't very knowledgeable. So we both learnt as we went along.
The main character, Alina started off as a major wuss, she was absolutely terrified of everything, Alina was also sick and weak, it was by far an interesting start to a main character introduction, unfortunately something amazing happened and she became pretty much the most powerful person ever and our hero. sigh. it would be nice if our main character for once was more...ordinary. yea odd request i know. lol.

Shadow and Bone while good wasn't what i'd call remarkable. The world was incredible, nothing like I've ever come across before. The darkness was a brilliant idea. Shame the rest of the book let it down. The same old politics, the same old court back-stabbing, the charismatic good-looking ones where the evil guys and the ugly ones slightly less so. The good guy finally realised he loved the ugly duckling once she turned into a swan. The 'swan' is concerned the handsome villain is right, that her 'good-guy' will never fully accept her like he can, only he can fully understand her. never mind the fact he's heartless and utterly evil, a good face and charm is all one needs to draw a nitwit.

So yea, beyond the world its the same old trope. maybe i wouldn't of noticed it so keenly if the start hadn't been more unique. I usually enjoy a good ole cliche now and then, and i suppose i did sort of enjoy this one too... i just have a few complaints as well.

Ahhh well, I suppose all that matters is i found the book good enough to read the next.

here's hoping to new and exciting things.

I just realized I never wrote a review for this book :/ how annoying.

well first thing i recall, is that while this book is great it sadly doesn't meet the standard made by the previous book, Angelfall. Angelfall was mind blowing fantastic, this book was just great...see the difference?

In Angelfall Pyn showed off her strength, what she was willing to over come to save her sister. This book is more about the other characters, and understanding them.
we learn more about Raf, Pretty much why he i the way he is, and how he came about in the situation he's in. Pyn's insane mother and her crippled baby sister, Paige. We learn what happen to Paige throughout the last book while we were off hunting for her, which is depressing in a way, but i suppose it also brings the world hope. Pyn's mother is still just as amusing and fucked up as always, but we realize she might had a reason for her madness, that sometimes it comes in handy. We learn what people will do when they're scared, which is a frightening thing to read about, I feel sorry for that rebel group when they realize Pyn was right and was only trying to help. 

Oh!!! i almost forgot the best bit, we learn what the angels have been up too!!! ohhhhh when god finds out, boy is he going to be PISSED!

I still enjoy Pyn's ability to lie to herself, she such an amazingly strong girl but every now and then there are just some things she refuses to accept, mainly her feelings for raf, but also the possibility he was a major part in the attack on the world. Its rather cute and endearing that she does this on occasion, i know when she has to or when she's ready she'll face it.

and yea...overall a pretty great book, just not Angelfall great......
looking forward to book 3!!!

besides the ending being ridiculously cheerful with an annoying go get them attitude, and the over-whelming amount of crying done by Nya from guilt this book was actually pretty good. it was a quick fun read. I overall enjoyed the main character, Nya and the main side characters. i found them amusing, strong, brave and usually compassionate in a world that has become terrible and war stricken. I wander if all places taken over look like this afterwards? it was truly horrid. These wonderful characters just made it all the more heart wrenching, they werent monster but people having to live with suffering done by others, just because they look different and had useful resources. that alone could of made this an interesting book, add in incredible talents, like taking pain or giving it, plot twists and multiple villains.... well the book was entertaining thats for sure!

We dont really know much about the rest of the world at this time, only vague mentions of other places that have been taken over and a distant country not controlled by the duke, but i believe that we'll learn more about them in future books, sounds like Nya might have some travelling to do. which im pretty excited about.

I smashed through this book in maybe 2 days? and that was with work. at the start i had so much difficulty putting it down i almost missed my stop on the train twice! after that i stopped taking my book with me, lol. So a great start to a new series, hopefully to only get better from here.

Now a little something from inside the pages...


"Done." He stood and offered his hand. I shook it, wiping it on my pants afterwards. He grinned at that and gestured toward the door. "think about my offer, dead. I could make you rich."
He probably could. After all, he'd already made me a monster.'


Recommendations.
If you enjoyed books like, Touch of Power and The Magician's Apprentice, with magical abilities and a life like feeling world then you'll probably enjoy this book, though i dont think its quite up to their standards it isnt far off.

This may not be all that coherent. I'm on my way home from work and it's after 11 at night. I am beyond tired.

First off i would like to say this book had many issues. but we'll start with some positives. The world itself -> with its magic, elite forces and civilizations was quite good, i especially enjoyed the magic and elites.
that pretty much sums up everything enjoyable about this book.
The rest.... well, The characters weren't great, the only one i sort of liked was Commander Alexander, oh and i suppose Tom, he was interesting. The rest were either unremarkable or terrible. I Hated the main character. He was this selfish, cruel, disgusting, childish idiot with some incredible talent. There was only about 10% of the book all up when i thought he might be a decent human being. He's not even an interesting bad guy or one i can sympathize with. Something wouldn't go his way he would loose his temper and purposely hurt or kill someone in an attempt at making himself feel better. He also had this habit of spitting on people after they were injured or dead. I detest that! Its sounnecessaryto spit on someone just to show your disgust or contempt to someone. What happened to a good scowl? plus he didn't care his baby died, not one bit. didn't even try to save him/her.
I have difficulties reading a book from a POV i dislike let alone enjoying it. So yea that sums up our main character, Menar.

Another major issue i had with this book was the ridiculous amount of errors, I'm usually not that fussed over errors but this was a joke. Who ever edited The Heartless did a terrible job. There were repeated sentences, quite a few which didn't make sense and on occasion even the names were mixed up.

Oh and the Heartless? beyond evil. The violence in this book was absolutely brutal. Torture was a fairly frequent occurrence, even from the supposed good guys.

Though the book was a quick read, which was nice. lol.

With A LOT more editing, a few personality changes and some character development this could be a decent read.

Unfortunately at this time The Heartless won't be getting many stars from me.

1 star for potential.