The novel follows Alina Starkov, a teenage orphan who grows up in the Russia-inspired land of Ravka when, one day, she unexpectedly harnesses a power she never knew she had, becoming a target of intrigue and violence.

The story begins as they march through the Shadow Fold (also called the Unsea), a perpetually dark, barren strip of land cutting most of Ravka off from the sea.

Periodic expeditions sent across the Fold to transport goods and bring back imports are often plagued by monsters called volcra that inhabit the Unsea.

The leader of the Grisha, the Darkling, rushes Alina to the capital Os Alta, saying her power is unique and valuable which makes her an assassination target by the enemies of Ravka.

She explains that the Darkling is hundreds of years old, intentionally created the Unsea, and intends to enslave Alina in order to use her Grisha power to conquer the world.

The Darkling kills the stag and forces the antler collar on Alina, making her his absolute slave, unable to disobey him in the slightest.

In desperation, Alina finally realizes that her act of mercy, sparing the stag, gives her the possibility to break free of the Darkling's enslavement.

[3] When asked why she chose this particular setting, Bardugo explained, "I think there’s tremendous power in the images we associate with Russian culture and history, these extremes of beauty and brutality that lend themselves to fantasy.

[9] Also set in the same world as the trilogy[10] are the Six of Crows (2015) and Crooked Kingdom (2016) duology; the standalone short story collection The Language of Thorns, the in-universe hagiography The Lives of Saints, and the writer's introspective journal The Severed Moon; and the King of Scars (2019) and Rule of Wolves (2021) duology, which features characters from both the original trilogy and Six of Crows.

[11] In September 2012, Holly Bario, president of DreamWorks’ production, announced that she had picked up the movie rights to Shadow and Bone.

[13] In January 2019, Netflix ordered an eight-episode series based on the Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology with Eric Heisserer as showrunner.

[14] Production began in October 2019 with Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov, Ben Barnes as General Kirigan (The Darkling), Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev, Sujaya Dasgupta as Zoya Nazyalensky, Daisy Head as Genya Safin, and Simon Sears as Ivan.