Shadow and Bone Trilogy:
Alina Starkov and Mal(yen) Oretsev, two orphans. They grew up in an orphanage run by Duke Keramsov. Now both old enough to be sent into the army, they have to cross the Shadow Fold. The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, created by a powerful Gisha known as the Black Heretic, that is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina never fitted in only with her best friend Malyen, she never felt special, she just drew maps, that all she ever wanted, to draw. But then something irreversible happened. When trying to cross the Shadow Fold their ship was attacked by hundreds of Volcra, – the dark creatures that live in and off the darkness of the Shadow Fold-. Mal is badly wounded, and Alina is afraid he is going to die. As she closes her eyes and is ready to die in another attack, a sudden light appears, and she falls, hitting her head in the progress and falling unconscious. When she wakes up her world is torn apart, she is told that she is the Sun Summoner, – a god believed to save Ravka from the Shadow Fold-, the Darkling takes her with him to the little Palace, the place where the Grisha live and train. The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, is the leader of the Grisha army and answers only to the king or so it seems. If Alina is to fulfill her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous, but intriguing attraction to him. But what about Mal, and is she really doing the right thing, should she accept her destiny and save Ravka? Alina is trained as a member of the magical elite, the Grisha, alongside the Corporalki, Etherealki, and Materialki. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on what Alina’s untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha but also the secrets of her heart.
Six of Crows Duology:
A story set in the same world as Shadow and Bone, but completely different. This story takes place in Ketterdam the capital of Kerch, Kerch being a remote island off the coast of Shu Han. Kerch is a place for everyone it is not ruled by any particular person or any particular people. Kerch is mutual and is known for its international trade where anything can be had for the right price- and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is the second hand of the leader of the Dregs a criminal organization running Ketterdam. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he cannot pull it off alone. Kaz a thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Kaz being a manipulative thief, mastermind and knows exactly the people who are desperate enough to take on this job, all of which have a secret agenda. Starting with a spy known as the Wraith, Inej is a member of the Dregs. She works as the Dregs’ spy but only until her debt is paid. She is Suli and she worked as an acrobat which is why she is so skilled at being a spy. Then a convict with a thirst for revenge called Matthias, that revenge being against another member of the team, a heartrender using her magic to survive the slums called Nina, who is in love with someone how absolutely hates her kind. A sharpshooter who cannot walk away from a wager called Jesper, and a runaway with a privileged past called Wylan. Six extremely dangerous outcasts, all of which are essential for the team. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world an destruction if they do not kill each other first. The story is told from a third person point of view and that just made this story more interesting. It allows us to view all these characters equally and also allows us to be constantly surprised.
How:
How did she come up with this world? She says she absolutely has no idea, she said she did it bit by bit and described it like falling into place like puzzle pieces. She did lots and lots of research into the fantasy used in medieval Europe, this way she had something to start from. If you would compare the Grishaverse with our world the story would be closest to the time period of the early 1800s. In terms of military technology, because you read about sabers, muskets and most importantly a rifle. But because Grisha power, the Small Science, is essentially a magical version of molecular chemistry, you will read throughout the series that they find new ways to combine traditional engineering and Grisha power. In most fantasy, darkness is a metaphor, it is just a way of talking about evil for example when darkness falls across the land or a dark age it coming, and all that other stuff. Leigh Bardugo wanted something figurative and make it literal. So she asked herself what if darkness became a place? What if the lurking monsters under you bed were real and more terrifying than anything you’d ever imagined beneath your bed or behind the closet door? What if you had to fight them on their own territory, blind an helpless in the dark? These questions eventually led her to the Shadow Fold. She wanted to take readers someplace a little different and original which is why she chose Russia as a kind of cultural touchstone, especially in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. In the Six of Crow Duology she also influences the story with cultural aspects of the Netherlands. Each nation in the Grishaverse is influenced by different cultural aspects of the World. Ravka is based on Russia and the world she imagined just fitted together in her mind. According to her there is tremendous power in the images we associate with Russian culture and history, these things of beauty and brutality that we can use for fantasy. The power dynamics that had already emerged in the story, the failure of Russia to industrialize, an army that is basically useless and full with kids without a choice, the extremely big gap between rich and poor, it just felt right. One of the questions she asked herself was, What happens when you bring a gun to a magic fight? If there are no limitations on the magic of the world, then the answer is not a whole lot. So she created the world, and the magic system with tight constraints around it. The idea of the Small Science came to her years ago, she was at a friend’s house one night and she thought something was waiting for her at the other end of a dark hallway. After that she went to bed and then she just asked herself all these questions like, what actually happens, physically, when you wave a wand or mutter a curs? What if magic is just the manipulation of matter at its most basic/fundamental levels? Those questions are what led her to the Small Science, a kind of magical version of molecular chemistry, and that is what dictated the limitations on Grisha power. When creating this world she also had a small message for all of society in there somewhere. She wanted to let people know that you always need to ask yourselves what kind of power we are giving up, to the people we love, to the government. That is a question that is definitely at play in the book and she wanted to make people aware that it should be asked in real life as well. When writing the first draft of Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo had the magical system in place and understood the basic way that power, political and magical, operated in the world. When it came to creating a sense of place, she decided to step away from the classic medieval European fantasy setting, but she still wanted a cultural touchstone to keep the world consistent and tangible. She actually stumbled upon an Imperial Russian atlas in a bookstore , and she just thought ‘of course’. Russia was always a beginning rather than an ending. All in all, the Grishaverse was a long time coming and when she finally wrote it down it was something that turned into extremely popular books.