Whenever there is a screen adaptation of a book series, the actual concerns remains that the show/movie wouldn’t be able to do justice to the characters and the world of the original storyline. However, with the author of the series (Leigh Bardugo) being the executive producer of the show, Netflix did a good enough job with articulating the details of the story on the screen. I agree that the show was captivating enough for the fantasy lovers, however, it felt like the initial episodes were a bit dense and they were trying to compress a lot of details in one episode. Although it’s a plus for the existing fanbase, the non-reader viewers might feel a little lost while comprehending all that info at once. However, hopefully you will get the hang of it and on top of that you don’t really have remember everything to enjoy a show!
Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) is a mapmaker and an orphan who has always tried to stay close to her childhood best friend, Mal (Archie Renaux). She soon finds herself at the center of a centuries old prophecy after she discovers light-projection powers that may be the key to destroying the Fold, a large stretch of land shrouded in darkness and haunted by dangerous winged creatures called the Volcra. She is thrust into the world of the Grisha, people who wield a variety of powers, such as manipulating wind, fire, water, metal, skin and bodies. Meanwhile, a set of rogues, led by Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) set off from the other end of the Fold on a job to capture Alina.
The first season of Shadow and Bone is based on the first book of the “Grisha Trilogy”, which is a part of a bigger world known as the “Grishaverse”. This was enough to catch my attention but the producers didn’t stop there. They also incorporated the startling duology of the “Grishaverse” known as the Six of Crows into the show. Originally the events of Six of Crows takes places after a few years after the end of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. The directors did a good job while adopting two different series. Now, how amazing of an idea was that? We will come back to that in a minute. Let’s talk about the characters for now.
One of the great things about this adaptation was the fact that the entire cast was incredible and very true to their characters.
The Grisha trilogy was written from Alina’s aka the Sun Summoner’s perspective but it was great to watch the perspectives of other characters in the show. For instance, I was so mesmerized by the Darkling’s character that I almost wanted Alina to take a step back and let the Black Heretic shine! In the show they also illustrate Mal’s point of view about how he always cared so deeply about Alina and how she was his true North. In addition to this, I was enthralled to see the Crows in action. Kaj, Inej and Jesper do make one hell of a team! I was a little disappointed at the fact the Wylan (Sixth member of the Crows) was not a part of season one and that the scenes that included Nina and Matthias felt like a part of a different show up until the very last episode.
Now coming back to the question about the merger of the two series being an amazing idea, I personally am not a big fan of the merger. I feel like it’s pretty clear from the beginning on which story the focus is going to be on. I am a bigger fan of the Six of Crows duology and it felt like the dexterity, preciseness and the brilliant team coordination of the Crows gets overshadowed by the incredible and effortless power of the Sun Summoner and the Black Heretic. Even though I wholeheartedly enjoyed watching Alina embracing her powers & abilities and Mal finding his way back to Alina, I would have loved it even more if the Crows were at the center of attention. If the show decides to balance these two storylines going forward, it will be interesting seeing how they play off each other.
I personally feel like Netflix doesn’t have enough quality fantasy series. Overall, the show portrayed the world in a very interesting manner. The soundtrack and the costumes were brilliant and so on point. The chemistry between the characters were also amazing. If you are in love with high fantasy like I am, then you should definitely give this a shot! The eight hours in this world will fill your mind with tons of drama, action and magic.