Author Leigh Bardugo believes that the best books—whether fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, or any other genre—have a strong sense of place, so much so that the world in that book is as alive as the characters. For Ms. Bardugo, that sense of place includes how power works in that world. In fact, she based part of her Shadow and Bone trilogy on a true story she had read about the relationship between Russian Noblemen and their surfs during the late 1700s.
