If there is one thing I AM going to do, it’s draw a bunch of pretty women from my silly little comfort series on my silly little day off for the good of my silly mental health, so jot that down
I can’t believe Shadow and Bone comes out tomorrow (!!) I’ve been internally screaming all week. Anyway here are my (finally) finished portraits of Alina, Inej, Genya and Nina. I can’t wait to see these characters and this world come to life on screen.
So! Shadow and Bone came out - og book fans will know it depicts the story of the first instalment of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, along with new unseen prequel content for Six of Crows. Some things are intentionally shifted around, especially in terms of timeline and who meets who, but if I had to quickly summarise my thoughts: THAT WAS SO GOOD! Sorry in advance if this review is absolutely incomprehensible!!!
Part 1: Characters
Alina - making her more assuredly half-Shu seemed to work, though I can’t speak on the topic as I am a pasty bitch. Otherwise, Alina remained largely the same and I’m here for it - she was already a pretty interesting protagonist imo. Nothing but love for Jessie’s performance, I loved seeing Alina’s growing confidence though I wish there were more training scenes.
Mal - they made him so much more interesting. Archie brought a lot to the character, and even though seeing Mal get fucked up every episode was a tad repetitive, I think it made him far more sympathetic and actually showed us that awful suffering he mentioned in the first book. Seeing his close friends die was just an incredibly powerful scene, and Malina feels a lot stronger with Mal being a more rounded character.
The Darkling - just because I dislike Darklina doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the Darkling as a character. While I dislike that he revealed his true name so casually, that he and Alina seemed to fall for each other so quickly (I liked it better in the book because she had more training scenes, indicating more time had passed for their relationship to develop), and that they removed “the problem with wanting is that it makes us weak” line, I do enjoy Ben’s portrayal of the character. He was rendered a little pathetic by the Crows, but I do love the Crows so I’ll excuse it. Where his character really shined is with the flashback scenes and his interactions with Baghra. I’m very interested to see what they do with him next.
Kaz - a lot of people have said Kaz is a lot softer than we’re used to. I agree, but it makes sense. Kaz was that mean but well meaning leader at the start of Six of Crows - he was only made harsher as he was forced to confront his traumas, and go on a difficult heist. Also, I think it gives a bit of context to why he and Inej end up having feelings for each other. We know in the books that they worked closely together for a long time, but actually seeing those moments makes all the difference. Freddy did an amazing job showing Kaz’s rough exterior battling his inner demons.
Inej - amazing, 10/10, can’t applaud Amita enough. I’m not sure about the choice to give Inej a brother? It could cause more grief later but it’s another weirdly jarring difference from the book. However! Inej was done perfectly in the show in my opinion. We see her stealth, knife and acrobatic skills, we see her initial horror at taking her first kill (amazing scene) and her motivations and religious beliefs are not ignored in favour of pairing her off with Kaz immediately. I do wish they kept Kaz gifting her that knife instead of Alina though. I always wanted to see that scene.
Jesper - DID YOU MEAN STAR OF THE GOD DAMN SHOW? Normally a comedic relief character has me rolling my eyes, but it makes all the difference that Jesper actually has troubles and flaws and motivations and HILARIOUS DIALOGUE. I love him. Kit Young did such a good job, he played Jesper perfectly and I also love the foreshadowing of Wylan’s appearance! Love love love Jesper. A+. Also he is bisexual look at him go!!! Representation!!!
Others: NINA AND MATTHIAS ARE AMAZING!!! ENEMIES TO LOVERS A+ EVEN IF THE TIMELINE IS ALL WEIRD. David and Genya. My loves. Perfect. A+ as well. Nadia, amazing. Very gay. Not sure why they killed Marie off like that. Pekka is scary but why did they make him kinda hot? Milo is my hero. I would die for Fedyor. ZOYA?? That is not my Zoya. Why did they make her say something racist to Alina when she herself is mixed race. Zoya would never. But all the actors did a great job even if the characters were a little different.
Part 2: Plot
The rest of these parts should be shorter. So, the plot is mostly the same in terms of Shadow and Bone, but the stuff for the crows is all new and some parts of the story were changed to include them. While the crows on their own were amazing, I think the parts where they interacted with the Shadow and Bone cast felt forced and added some good moments at best, or actively damaged other characters at worst. For instance, Inej witnessing Alina was amazing. But Kaz outsmarting the Darkling, while it made sense, just lessened the Darkling as a threat. Otherwise I think everything was really good! The new Crows stuff was brilliant on its own, even if Nina and Matthias’ story was moved forward I still adored it, and Shadow and Bone stayed loyal enough to the books in terms of plot to remain engaging.
Part 3: Worldbuilding
My main concern about the show was how they would handle the language differences, but they did a great job. Like, they had Fjerdans speak in their own language, they made a new alphabet for Ravkan? I think they know what they’re doing. Seeing the Crows and the Shadow and Bone cast communicate in the same language didn’t really make sense but that’s just a nitpick.
Also, all the settings look amazing. Not much to say, they’re just great.
Part 4: Effects
Music, perfect, visuals, great (the volcras look amazing but Alina’s light power looked a little…fake), costume design and props, best I’ve ever seen. Enough said.
Part 5: Final thoughts
When a book is adapted into a show or film, I usually just assume that it will serve its purpose, maybe be a little frustrating or terrible at worst, and go. Shadow and Bone though, it adapts the books faithfully while still including worthwhile changes. It isn’t perfect, but it comes close. I imagine show-only watchers will like it a lot.
Alternative take: Jesper and Milo carried the whole thing. Goodbye.
The trope where a character has lots of scars and is given the opportunity to heal them but while the healer is doing their thing the character looks at a particular scar and goes “No, not this one.” because it reminds them of something they survived will ALWAYS, ALWAYS SERVE
If there is one thing I AM going to do, it’s draw a bunch of pretty women from my silly little comfort series on my silly little day off for the good of my silly mental health, so jot that down
With the date of release coming closer, I’m a bit scared that our fandom will become mean and toxic so let’s do a pinky promise!
Let us all be always kind to each others. No matters what your favorite ship is, your favorite part is, if you read the books first, read it because of the adaptation or not read them at all. It doesn’t matter.
What matter is that we all love this universe, we all vibed with it for differents reasons, we all found characters to love, hate, support, laugh about, laugh with.
We are all here because one amazing woman, create a universe that brought us together, and we had the chance to have it adapted onscreen, to have the fandom expanded.
So let’s pinky swear to do no gatekeeping, no attacking the cast, or the ships, or the different tastes and opinion. Let’s pinky swear to never act unkindly. Let’s pinky swear to never disrespect Leigh Bardugo and her work that brought us here.
don’t you dare, she said roughly, tears welling again. you never looked at me twice before i was like this, before i was broken. now i’m just something for you to fix.
“Be safe,” Zoya whispered. Be safe. As if those words could cast some kind of spell. – She drew back, and Zoya was both horrified and touched to see tears in Genya’s amber eye.
