Shadow and Bone

Summary from Netflix:

https://www.themarysue.com/netflix-shadow-and-bone-trailer-epic-fantasy/

Netflix's Shadow and Bone Adaptation Has One Major Alteration: Mal Doesn't Suck

Yeah Uh Leigh Badrugo admitted that she did a terrible job their since she was new to writing.

So I'm not surprised they fixed that.

I'm interested in seeing this one; based at least on the trailer, it looks like it could be rather enjoyable!

I'm seeing a lot of positive reviews for this one, including quite a few that says it improves on the source material.

So I'm definitely gonna check it out, since I have been "meaning to read" the Grishaverse for quite a few years now.

That's encouraging, as I've been rather wanting to watch it! ^_^

I also want to check it out.

Although I've only read the Six of Crows duology, so I'll need to read the first trilogy beforehand.

I'm excited even though I've only read the Six of Crows duology. I'm just psyched to see Kaz Brekker and his crew in glorious live action. I've heard Jesper is a glory to behold ^^

Well, it's out. Only watched the first episode right now, but it seems good so far.

I vaguely remember not reading the Six of Crows duology. I was put off by something in the description, I think. Not sure what.

Haven't read the Six of Crows duology, but I borrowed the Shadow and Bone books from my sister's friend way back in the day. The trilogy was fairly cookie-cutter YA, so having just gotten through the first episode, I gotta say that I'm pleasantly surprised by how good the series is. The characters just feel so much livelier compared to the books, the worldbuilding more mature. Production values aren't the highest I've seen, but I'll be looking forward to bingeing the season across the next week.

Shadow and Bone was the authors debut. The shows production worked with her to fix some of the issues it had - Primarily making Mal an actually tolerable love interest.

Six of crows is genuinely agreed to be like a huge improvement over grisha.

Helps that the author was more accustomed to writing

Three episodes in and I really am enjoying it! I can tell which story beats were inherited from the "cookie-cutter YA" thing mentioned above (unnoticed, ordinary girl becomes The Most Important Person, and also she has a smexy mentor) but the scale of the story and the world building dilutes that and makes it feel like a fleshed out narrative.

One thing though, I'm aware that Alina is not half fantasy Asian in the book, and I guess it makes sense within the world of the show that she'd be discriminated against for it, but the Half-Breed Discrimination has started to feel...egregious? Like, we don't need her getting called a mutt every episode, we get it... especially since a lot of the other characters of color seem to just be vibing.

It's different in different nations. Specifically Alina gets shit for literally looking like the enemy her country is fighting. Ketterdam is different. It"s a cosmopolitan den of thieves and not at war with anyone. So Jesper and Inej getting on makes sense. Though Inej does have the trauma of being sex trafficked specifically for her racial exoticism.

Man, I didn't even clock that Ketterdam was in a different country altogether :P

Still, I think it's just unfortunate timing that anti-Asian racism is a hot button topic right now; no one needs to hear Alina get called slurs every episode. Once and then some more tasteful implying would have done the trick.

Other than that I finished it over three days and it was an overall enjoyable experience as someone who hasn't read the books.

I'll second it being entertaining for someone who hasn't read the books. Speaking of which, I think I need to go read the books.

Um just a heads up, the Shadow and Bone Trilogy was Bardugo's first published work and is widely considered to be...kinda only ok. By her fans AND her. a lot of the book fans actually enjoy the changes and there seems to be a fairly strong opinion the show might actually be better. Adding the much better developed Six of Crows characters helped as did not making Mal an unmitigated asshole among other things (I've heard is pretty shitty in the books). Oh and making Alina half Shu. The trilogy was very white and very straight.

Just finished it and I can say that it definitely feels like the books as-they-should've-been, and the production interviews definitely make it look like Leigh Bardugo (in her capacity as writer and executive producer) approached the project with that in mind.

One thing that did bother me a lot more than it probably should've: lynxes are not pack hunters. And the Nina/Matthias subplot can feel a bit weirdly detached from the rest of the story, but I'm still excited to see how things turn out in the next season.

Yeah I don't think there's really anything they could have done to make the Matthias/Nina stuff fit better, but I do think they made the right choice to put it in there. TV is a visual medium so it makes sense to show what was only spoken about in Six of Crows (how Nina and Matthias met prior to the big heist).

Edited by Sisi on Apr 26th 2021 at 2:33:57 PM

Well, that explanation was part of the trick, so who knows?

I definitely liked it. There were a couple parts that felt odd to me, like giving no explanation for Kirigan's magic other than it's dangerous and not the Small Science. But it mostly worked.

I've been reading up on the changes from the books and I'm curious as to where the characters will go from here. As I understand, the Crows' involvement in the plot was created wholesale for the show. Is it possible that the Crows will still be involved in future seasons of Alina's hero's journey, will they be Put on a Bus until it is time to adapt Six of Crows, or will Season 2 go with a more extended Two Lines, No Waiting approach?

^^? I thought Kirrigan's magic WAS small science and he just amplified it with some sketchy ancient stuff?

^ Well the last episode definitely set up the heist from Six Crows so it looks like they might be putting it in for season 2, though that's going to be tricky to pull off whilst also giving time to the main plot.

Edited by Sisi on Apr 27th 2021 at 11:43:00 AM

Think it's simply that six is a duology while Grisha is a trilogy. Assuming they adapt a book a season and keep the crow cast. They would need to either add prequel or sequel material to make it flow.

I thought there was a line that Kirrigan is a human amplifier - maybe that applies to him as well so he's constantly walking around amplified. The "sketchy ancient stuff" was from later when the Apparat was in the library with Alina and talking about the first Grisha who made magical stuff out of his finger bones. As for the Small Science part I'd expect it to be similar, like photons or something.

It was suggested that humans can be amplifiers though it's taboo which is part of the reason why Kirrigan using Alina as one was so shocking. So I guess he could amplify Alina. I just thought he was a normal, albeit extremely rare grisha who did some shady stuff to boost his powers.