Goldene Flammen: Roman (Legenden der Grisha, Band 1) (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 2012; vuoden 2020 painos)

This book just didn't work for me. It wasn't bad, and it seems many people like it. I, however, felt no connection neither with the characters nor the story. It's unlikely I'll continue the series. ( )

Alina Starkov is a loner and an orphan with only one true friend, her fellow orphan Mal. She's a cartographer for the army in a fantasy Slavic country vaguely resembling Russia. Crossing the Fold, a dark area with monsters abounding, Alina discovers she is one of the Grisha with powers beyond all excepting their leader, the Darkling.
I'm torn about this book (and series). I first heard about it because it's going to be a Netflix series and decided to read it first. I love Naomi Novik and Andrzej Sapkowski who write fantasy books set in a Slavic setting. I really like that Ms. Bardugo also utilized the folklore of those countries and she does a nice job of setting up the language, customs, clothing, and architecture.
At the same time, I found this is another fairly typical YA story with the awkward, plain and suddenly powerful girl being fought over by two handsome rivals, one good and one evil. There are some shades of gray, but it's not all that much different from other series by Sarah Maas, etc. It doesn't help that I don't care much for Alina. She's more than prickly and rude to others, maybe justified, but it wears on the reader. She's also a ditherer, one of those annoying heroines who can't make up her mind between the two guys.
Still, it's a good read, one that I'll continue in the next book. One small annoyance: my book ended about 60% through the e-book, leaving almost half filler of preview chapters for other books by the author. It's a personal irritation: if I like the author, I'll buy other books written by him and I don't need those chapters clogging up my story. It feels like I didn't get my monies worth. ( )

3'5/4 sobre 5 (ahí se queda xD)

Es una buena propuesta, pero no me ha acabado de convencer en parte. La razón principal es que a lo mejor me ha faltado más trasfondo (no en las relaciones entre personajes, porque ahí se ha trabajado), pero sí en otras cosillas que he echado en falta (más worldbuilding, a lo mejor). Algunos eventos me han parecido algo precipitados... pero en general, bien. Y Alina convence, pero así-así.

Lo que más me ha chirriado, aparte, han sido pequeñas cosas de la traducción, cositas de nada que se podrían haber corregido con una siempre revisión, con una echada de ojo. Hay algunas erratas tontas que son imperdonables, y que espero no encontrarme en la segunda parte.

Y ahora toca esperar a la segunda parte (traducida). Tampoco me corre prisa. ( )

3.5 ( )

Pandemic read. I'd read another book by this author recently and liked it, so when I heard this has been opted by Netflix, I thought I might give it a try. Interesting story, and promising television watching in the future. I'll go on to read the next in the series. ( )