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May 03 2021

[review] netflix’s
shadow and bone
a lengthy review of netflix’s newest highly-
anticipated adaptation and why you should
give it a chance

Listen. By no means am I a
professional book/movie
reviewer. I would argue that
most of the time I don’t
actually know what I’m talking
about. But Shadow and Bone
is a book series that I’ve been
holding very dear to my heart
ever since I was in middle
school (I’m in college now), so I
think I owe it to myself to
image source: imdb.com actually talk about this show
and how it has awakened my
long-dormant obsession over
this universe (or should I say Grishaverse? Anyway). This
review is my selfish attempt at persuading you, the readers,
to watch Shadow and Bone on Netflix so that I can get
another season (and so that the creators would have the
chance to right their wrongs in the first season). This review
is also a personal call-out to my dear friend, Jesslyn, who’s
also as big a reader as I am, but for some reason still refuses
to watch it.

(Before I start, I would like to point out that I read the books
before I watched the show, which means most of my
opinions here will be based on the books and this review will
often compare the show with the source material.)

Synopsis

Shadow and Bone is an eight-episode series about the story

of Alina Starkov, an orphaned girl who joins the army to
participate in fighting for the kingdom of Ravka, a country
surrounded by enemies that’s been torn in two by the
Shadow Fold; a swath of near impenetrable darkness
crawling with monsters called volcra who feast on human
flesh. It’s believed that the Shadow Fold can only be
destroyed by a Sun Summoner. Alina’s whole life, she
thought she was ordinary. But one day when crossing the
Fold, her best friend, Mal got injured and Alina uncovered a
dormant power that saved his life. Upon this reveal, she is
then taken away to the royal court to train with the Grisha, a
magical elite of soldiers trained by General Kirigan.

On the west of Ravka, separated by the sea, is Kerch, home

to a criminal underworld centered in Ketterdam where the
Crows (Kaz, Inej, and Jesper) live. They are sent on a mission
to retrieve a certain Sun Summoner from Ketterdam, with a
price worth of one million Kruge.

Plot and World Building

Even though in the books Alina, Mal, and General Kirigan

never actually crossed paths with the Crows, I think the
creators of this show did a really great job on weaving their
story together. It certainly has its disadvantages because
there were times when the story felt hollow, especially in the
Crows’ storyline, but I would say that it’s a pretty strong
prequel for them if there ever is going to be a chance for the
Crows to get their own show and not just as a subplot.

The show did well on introducing the Grishaverse to the

audience. I have watched the show twice now, and I think the
exposition was distributed perfectly across every episode.
They didn’t dump the world-building into one specific time,
which is relieving since it’s usually the case in most fantasy
stories, which would result in the show feeling very
claustrophobic and heavy. It’s also very easy to visually
differentiate the places where the stories take place,
especially Ravka and Ketterdam.

Characters

This is the portion of the show that I have a problem with the
most. I’m not gonna talk about how they portrayed Alina and
Kirigan because I think their characters were on point, but I
have a problem with the way that they brought Zoya to life.
There was one specific scene in the show where the Grisha
welcomed Alina to the palace, and Zoya said, “You stink of
the orphanage, half-breed,” as a jab at Alina because she is
half-Shu. If you’ve read the books, you’d know that yes, Zoya
is mean as hell. But she’s never, and I mean never, racist. This
is very disappointing to me because Leigh Bardugo, the
author of the series itself was one of the executive
producers. I just can’t believe that she would let this
pointless exchange be included in the final cut of the show.
Also, Zoya in the books did try numerous times to get
Kirigan’s attention, but it wasn’t because she was in love
with him; it was because she was power-hungry. The show
portrayed Zoya as just another attention-seeking bitch. It’s
actually very out of character of her to be racist AND also to
have absolutely zero motive. As a Zoya stan, I don’t believe
that Zoya would ever stoop so low.

There’s certainly an advantage that the show isn’t only told

from Alina’s point of view, because that way, we can see
where everyone’s coming from. I especially love the
dynamics between the Crows, and I have to admit that I love
Mal so much more in this show than in the books because I
could understand his struggles on finding his way back to
Alina (in the books, it was only implied because it’s told in
Alina’s point of view). I was never into Darklina or Malina, but
this show made me root for Alina and Mal so much.

The Good, the Bad and the Conclusion

Overall, I think show has a great world-building, and the

creators did well on merging the main storyline with the
Crows’ storyline. I loved the flashback scenes with Alina and
Mal when they were kids. I also think that the casting was
perfect (in the way that they portrayed the characters and
also, literally. They look like angels).

I think this show has the potential to be a very good show,

which is why there needs to be a second season. There’s a
lot that they have to improve, like the dialogue between the
characters (Kirigan had a lot of cheesy lines and I think the
only reason why it worked was because he was played by
Ben Barnes) and how these characters still need to stay true
to how they are in the books.

I would also like to point out the subplot that bothered me

the most in this show, which was the race subplot. In the
show, they made Alina half-Shu (or half-Chinese). This is
supposed to raise questions on the issue of racism and
micro-aggressions directed towards Asians. As an Asian,
this subplot disappointed me greatly because it felt very
pointless. If you want to add a race subplot to a story, you
have to thread it carefully and make it meaningful, especially
if you want the audience to feel represented. All this show
did was make it known to the audience that there was
racism; but there was never a talk about why it’s not
appropriate. There was no confrontation, much less a
resolution. Alina’s ethnicity also didn’t have any impact on
her story. It was very clear to me that the creators were lazy
on doing research for this matter. It seems that they only
wanted to get the kudos for being a “woke” show. I would
really like them to improve this, above all else, because if the
show does great in the future, there is going to be a huge
amount of new, young, international fans who would love to
feel represented.

In conclusion, I would give this show a 7 out of 10, because

this show is a quite solid adaptation and it’s definitely one of
the good ones (especially compared to the mess that was
Shadowhunters. We simply don’t talk about that show) and if
you were willing to spend your time on Bridgerton, you
should definitely give this show a try (please do it I really
want a second season).

**If you’re interested in reading the books, this is the order:

1. Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Trilogy)

2. Siege and Storm (The Grisha Trilogy)
3. Ruin and Rising (The Grisha Trilogy)
4. Six of Crows (Six of Crows Duology)
5. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows Duology)
6. King of Scars (King of Scars Duology)
7. Rule of Wolves (King of Scars Duology)

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May 03 2021

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celia

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