Is there an audiobook of Shadow and Bone?

Yes. Shadow and Bone has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Lauren Fortgang.

How long is the Shadow and Bone audiobook?

The Shadow and Bone audiobook runs 9 hr 21 min.

Is Shadow and Bone on Kindle Unlimited?

No. Shadow and Bone was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on August 13, 2026.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo book cover for the Book of the Day young adult book review

Our score

4.5/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to Shadow and Bone free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDMay 2013

Genres

Fiction Young Adult Fantasy

Themes

Power and the burden of being a symbolTrust and manipulationBelonging after a life of invisibilityLight and darkness, literal and moral

Shadow and Bone

Name: Shadow and Bone
Price: 9.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo's debut takes a war-torn, Russia-inflected kingdom split in two by a sea of living darkness, then hands its salvation to a plain army mapmaker who discovers she's the one Grisha who can hold back the night. It's the foundation of the whole Grishaverse, and it reads like a writer finding a world worth a decade of books.

The Review

Our take

Ravka is a country cut nearly in half by the Shadow Fold, a swath of unnatural blackness teeming with winged monsters that swallow anyone who tries to cross. Alina Starkov is a nobody, an orphaned cartographer in the army, until her regiment is attacked inside the Fold and something erupts out of her, a power that turns the dark to light. Bardugo's opening is brisk and assured: within a few chapters Alina is pulled out of obscurity and into the orbit of the Grisha, the kingdom's magical elite, where she's hailed as the Sun Summoner who might finally heal the country. The fish-out-of-water arc that follows, an ordinary girl thrust into a glittering, dangerous court, is familiar territory, but Bardugo gives it specificity and snap.

The magic system is one of the book's real strengths. The Grisha don't cast spells so much as manipulate matter and the body and the elements, an elegant framework Bardugo calls the Small Science, and it grounds the wonder in something that feels rule-bound and earned. The Russia-inspired setting was a fresh choice for the genre and it pays off in texture: the food, the titles, the cold, the politics of a court that needs Alina as a symbol more than it cares for her as a person. The worldbuilding is efficient rather than exhaustive, sketched in enough to walk through and trusting later books to fill the map.

At the center is the Darkling, the ancient, magnetic leader of the Grisha, and he's the reason the book lingers in readers' heads. Bardugo writes him as genuinely seductive and genuinely dangerous, and the slow reveal of his designs gives the plot its sharpest turns. The romance threads are more divisive: Alina's bond with her childhood friend Mal can feel underdeveloped next to the charge of the Darkling, and readers who want their love interest fully earned may find that thread thinner than the antagonist's pull. It's a first novel, and it occasionally shows in pacing that sprints through some emotional beats it might have lingered on.

What the book does best is momentum and atmosphere. It moves, the court intrigue tightens nicely, and the midpoint revelation reframes everything that came before with a satisfying click. Alina is a likable, self-deprecating narrator whose growing power comes with a believable mix of exhilaration and dread, and the question of who she can trust drives the back half hard. The prose is clean and quick, more interested in propulsion than ornament.

Why you should read

Readers who want a brisk, atmospheric fantasy series opener
Fans of a rule-bound magic system grounded in real logic
Anyone who loves a magnetic, dangerous antagonist
Readers entering the Grishaverse from the ground up

What to expect

A familiar chosen-one arc given fresh, Russia-inspired texture
Efficient worldbuilding that deepens in later books
A standout antagonist and a thinner childhood-friend romance
First-novel pacing that occasionally sprints emotional beats

Taken on its own terms, this is an inviting, fast, atmospheric series opener rather than the most intricate fantasy you'll read this year, and that's a fair trade for how readable it is. Knowing what the Grishaverse becomes, this is also the seed of something much larger, the book that builds the world Six of Crows would later raid. For readers who want a brisk magical court, a knockout antagonist, and a heroine discovering a power that frightens her, it's a generous and addictive starting point.

Reviewed by Rowan · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.5/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to Shadow and Bone free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of Shadow and Bone?: Yes. Shadow and Bone has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Lauren Fortgang.
Listen to Shadow and Bone free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the Shadow and Bone audiobook?: The Shadow and Bone audiobook runs 9 hr 21 min.
Is Shadow and Bone on Kindle Unlimited?: No. Shadow and Bone was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on August 13, 2026.
How much does Shadow and Bone cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $9.99, Hardcover $10.63. Prices as of August 25, 2026 at 3:45 AM EDT and may change.

Filed underYoung Adult Fantasy Browse the archive →

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More by Leigh BardugoSee every Leigh Bardugo book we've reviewed, with our scores.All Leigh Bardugo books →

Common questions

What is Shadow and Bone about?: Ravka is a country cut nearly in half by the Shadow Fold, a swath of unnatural blackness teeming with winged monsters that swallow anyone who tries to cross. Alina Starkov is a nobody, an orphaned cartographer in the army, until her regiment is attacked inside the Fold and something erupts out of…
Is Shadow and Bone worth reading?: We scored Shadow and Bone 4.5 out of 5. Leigh Bardugo's debut takes a war-torn, Russia-inflected kingdom split in two by a sea of living darkness, then hands its salvation to a plain army mapmaker who discovers she's the one Grisha who can hold back the night. It's the foundation of the whole Grishaverse, and it…