"Shadow and Bone" is a young adult novel by Leigh Bardugo, and is about the journey of Alina Starkov as a Sun Summoner, and her encounters with the evil Darkling.

When the novel begins, Alina is a soldier in a surveying unit, having grown up as an orphan with her best friend, Mal, who works as a military tracker. Alina is on a voyage to West Ravka from Ravka, across the Shadow Fold or a mass of darkness hovering over the land. Monstrous beasts called volcra attack Alina and her fleet. During the fight, Alina is wounded, and she emits blinding white light, scaring away the volcra. She is taken to the Darkling, the second most powerful man in the kingdom, second only to the king, who realizes that she is a Sun Summoner. He has her trained, hoping she will be the one to do away with the Shadow Fold. He then has Mal set out to track down a herd of powerful deer in order to retrieve stag antlers. The Darkling plans on making a necklace from the stag's antlers to amplify Alina's power.

But not all is as it seems. The Darkling actually plans to use Alina's powers to control the Fold and not destroy it, and use it against all enemies - both foreign and domestic. Alina and Mal then attempt to find the herd on their own, so that Alina can have enough power to stand up to the Darkling, but at the last minute, she cannot kill the stag. The Darkling does instead, and is able to control her powers. Just as he assumes full control of the darkness, Alina regains control over her powers, because she realizes she can exercise the power of mercy to save Mal from being thrown overboard into the Fold. She and Mal then escape the Fold, leaving the Darkling to an uncertain fate.