Actual rating - 3.5/5

What I liked about it:

- IF YOU'RE INTO GRISHAVERSE, YOU HAVE TO READ IT
- A VERY FAST READ GIVEN THAT ITS A SHORT STORY
- GIVES US JUST ENOUGH
- EVEN THOUGH IT IS A SHORT STORY, IT MANAGES TO GIVE US THE THRILL AND ADVENTURE THAT WE FEEL THROUGH THE GRISHA TRILOGY


What I did not fancy:

- AGAIN, ITS A VERY SHORT READ
- I WANT MORE
- I AM OVERTHINKING EVERY SCENE THAT TOOK PLACE IN IT
- THERE IS BULLYING, MURDER AND BLOOD, WHICH MAY BE A TRIGGER ( )

2021 Winter (February);

2021 Grishaverse Show Prep Read/Reread in preparation for the tv show dropping in late April 2021. I totally still agree with the little bit I read before, and it was very much retracing steps for someone who rarely does a reread, but I still love meeting The Darkling as a child, and seeing how rare/dangerous his family's gift is.

2016;
This whole series is going to be rated in fives. I hope you are ready.

I am starting to fall in deep love with [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] and I need to read everything she has after reading this one and [b:The Tailor|17997353|The Tailor (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1.5)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369842991l/17997353._SX50_.jpg|25254362] after finished book one and the folktales. I am so moved and so heart wrenched by this inside like at The Darklings' childhood, his mother, the glimpse at where their people were before everything changed (previous to the main story). ( )

Doesn't really help develop the Darkling's character, just gives a glimpse to a moment in his childhood. ( )

★★★½☆

《The Grisha lived as shadows did, passing over the surface of the world, touching nothing, forced to change their shapes and hide in corners, driven by fear as shadows were driven by the sun. No safe place. No haven.
There will be, he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. I will make one.》

Excuse you, I'm doing my best to don't love the Darkling anymore and you give me THESE FEELS?? DAYUUUUUUM! ( )

This was a short and sweet novella about the Darkling’s beginnings as a young boy in Ravka. I just adored this origin tale as he and his mother wandered the Grisha camps, unable to stay in any place for long, unable to reveal their identities for fear they would be hunted. Without giving too much away, it painted the Darkling (while not excusing his later actions) in a sympathetic light for what he endured as a child, and gave some reference for how he could easily have gone to the dark side and had a bit of a mad drive to protect the Grisha at the expense of the rest of the world. Heartbreaking and lovely.
( )