From Russia with love

MANILA, Philippines - Meeting writers is always so interesting, because they often seem nothing like their stories. For a second, I thought Leigh Bardugo would prove me right. She was lovely and funny: none of that darkness her books were full of. But she wore all-black with mysterious symbols, with crescent moon earrings and bright plum lipstick — mystical, almost. Not far from the fantastical world she created in her bestselling “Grisha” trilogy. I would not be surprised if she had magical powers of her own.

It’s easy to imagine how Leigh could create a high-fantasy alternate universe in her books Shadow and Bone, Seige and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. Having grown up with a strong fascination with Russia and its pseudo-mythological history, Leigh was inspired to create the world of Alina. A young orphan in fictional Ravka, she gets embroiled in a war against the Shadow Fold, a dark valley filled with monstrous creatures. Throughout the trilogy, loyalties are tested while love is lost and found. It’s also full of really cute boys with magical powers.

Of course, I would jump at the chance to ask her all about it. So during her trip to Manila, I took a moment with Leigh to talk about glamorous oppressors, Hogwarts letters, and which of her characters she’d totally have a drink with.

YOUNG STAR: Hi, Leigh! I really wanna talk about your book, first of all. I really like it.

LEIGH BARDUGO: Thank you very much.

The story has very strong Russian elements. Why Russia in particular?

Well, some of my very favorite fantasies take their cue from medieval Europe, and particularly medieval England. But I really wanted to take my readers someplace a little bit different. And, you know, I’m Russian and Lithuanian on one side, but I’m Jewish, and so Russia was the place we fled from. It kind of occupied the role of the glamorous oppressor. And I think that for me growing up, it always had a kind of mythological, fantastical quality to it.

I understand that you’re also a musician. What kind of music were you listening to while you were writing the book?

Well, Florence + The Machine was a really big one for me. I feel like she and probably Stevie Nicks are the two big people who were kind of influences...

I see that — I get the Stevie Nicks vibe.

Yeah, for sure. (Laughs). Actually, there’s a line in all three books that was inspired by Stevie Nicks lyrics — I’m a little bit of a superfan. There’s also a song by Placebo — it’s a cover of a Kate Bush called Running Up That Hill that was sort of The Darkling’s theme in my head.

You’ve mentioned in many interviews that you really enjoyed creating your characters. Which of them would you wanna have a drink with?
Well, I wanna have a drink with Nikolai because, I mean, come on. First of all, you’d know you’d only be drinking the best. And I think he’d be a lot of fun. That said, I think he’d always have to be the life of the party, and I don’t like a lot of attention, so I don’t know if I could deal with that.

So what’s next for you? What are you writing?

I’m writing the sequel to Six of Crows now, and I’m excited about that. But I’m gonna take a break from the Grisha world for a while. Somewhere down the road, I might write a book for Nikolai. I have a short story coming out in Slasher Girls and Monster Boys. It’s coming out in August, it’s an anthology of horror stories. And I also have a short story coming out in Stephanie Perkins’ new anthology next year.

Really? I love Stephanie Perkins.

Who doesn’t love Stephanie Perkins? She’s the best. She’s doing a summer one called Summer Days and Summer Nights. It’s another departure. You know, it’s set in our world, it’s not set in a fantasy world, so that was really fun to write.

Was it a cutesy sort of love story or…?

I hope that it has some elements of cuteness. It’s definitely a love story, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write something if it doesn’t have some fantastical element in it. It’s just not the way I see the world. I’m still waiting to walk through the wardrobe and get to Narnia, so… Where’s my letter to Hogwarts?

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Leigh Bardugo’s books are available at National Book Store branches nationwide.