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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSAlina Starkov is a scrawny orphan and a junior cartographer's assistant in the army of Ravka, a kingdom cut in two by the Shadow Fold, a band of unnatural darkness full of flesh-eating winged monsters called volcra. Her best friend is Mal, the tracker she grew up with at the Keramzin orphanage. When their sandskiff is attacked inside the Fold and Mal is badly wounded, a blaze of light bursts out of Alina and scatters the monsters. The Darkling, who commands the Grisha, Ravka's soldiers with extraordinary powers, presents her to the King as the Sun Summoner, the one person who might destroy the Fold. Sent to the Little Palace to train, Alina struggles to call her power, misses Mal, and feels drawn to the Darkling as he searches for a legendary white stag.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Shadow and Bone
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Shadow and Bone. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do servants call two tiny orphans malenchki, or little ghosts?
✓ Answer
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
In the opening frame, the servants on Duke Keramsov's estate give Alina and Mal this nickname because they are the youngest orphans and haunt the house like giggling phantoms, hiding in cupboards and stealing the last summer peaches. It shows how inseparable the two have been since they were small.
- First half
In what book does a friend get secret palace pastries by clearing up a cook's daughter's spots?
✓ Answer
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
While the other Grisha eat herring and rye, Genya secretly enjoys the same pastries made for the Grand Palace, sent by a grateful cook whose daughter's skin she fixed. She asks Alina to keep quiet, since the Darkling wants the Grisha to eat hearty peasant fare.
- First half
In what book is a girl scolded for letting the heat out of a windowless stone hut?
✓ Answer
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Genya leaves Alina at a round stone hut in the woods by the lake, and the heat inside hits her like a blast. Baghra, her fierce new teacher, orders her to shut the door and then grabs her wrist to see what she can do.
- Second half
In what book does a gruff combat teacher tap the scar on his throat and say, "Steel is earned"?
✓ Answer
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
After Alina finally lands a blow in training, Botkin hands her a heavy knife made of Grisha steel. When she thanks him, the old mercenary taps his scar and tells her that steel is earned, a lesson Alina later repeats to the Darkling by the lake.
- Second half
In what book does a tracker scorn his best friend for wearing another man's black color and golden symbol?
✓ Answer
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
When Mal turns up at the Little Palace after Alina leaves the fete early, he sees her in the Darkling's black kefta with the sun in eclipse charm at her neckline. Her joy at their reunion turns into a bitter fight, and Mal insists the Darkling will never own him before he walks out.
- Near the end
In what book does a Fabrikator fuse an antler collar onto a girl's neck, leaving "No clasp, no hinge"?
✓ Answer
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
After the Darkling has an oprichnik cut a piece from each of the stag's antlers, David, his best Fabrikator, melts them together around Alina's throat. With no clasp and no hinge, the collar is meant to stay on forever and give the Darkling command of her power.
