the reason tht ppl hating on shadow and bone books or even the fandom ticks me off is bcuz, shadow and bone is a perfectly great book, with good world and character building showing themes different from books released at the time, but the reason ppl dont like it is bcuz the book tried to sell to an audience tht wantedthe villain to get the girl and the bad guy to ultimately win. Neither the author nor the fandom is at fault here.
“My name is Nikolai Lantsov, Major of the Twenty-Second Regiment, Soldier of the King’s Army, Grand Duke of Udova, and second son to His Most Royal Majesty, King Alexander the Third, Ruler of the Double Eagle Throne, may his life and reign be long.”
Portrait of Patrick Gibson as Nikolai Lantsov, from the Grishaverse books written by Leigh Bardugo and the Netflix series “Shadow and Bone”.
Pencil drawing and digital collage.
Nikolai Lantsov, Paulina Sieczkowska, 2022.
Portret księcia Nikołaja Lancova z książek Leigh Bardugo (”Oblężenie i Nawałnica” Trylogia Griszy tom 2, Uniwersum Griszów) i serialu “Cień i kość” na Netflixie.
I consumed Six of Crows and I’m forcing myself to wait to read the second book until I write this review.
The audiobook for this book is amazing. I appreciated the casting and the acting was phenomenal. I’m picky with my audiobooks and this one was really well done.
Most important aspect of this book, the characters. Each member in the gang has specific skill sets to perform the the heist. Kaz, the leader of the gang was the most developed character but all members had intriguing and unique backstories that explains how they got into this situation.
These people aren’t fairy tale teenagers who do bad things because it’s fun–they are criminals, some by choice and others were forced into it by crippling debt or enslavement. The balance of hardened criminal and young teenage energy was well done and understandable. The dialogue and banter between the characters felt natural.
This book deals with some heavy trauma and I thought it was cleverly used, especially within Kaz. The horrifying flashbacks of feeling his dead brothers body has made him overly sensitive to touch of any kind. The constant wearing of gloves has created myths about the secret he hides and it becomes a trademark of his. I don’t know if this kind of thing exists in the real world but it makes sense within the story.
The characters were the focal point of the story, then the heist. This story takes place in two cities. The world building isn’t very expansive but for the story that was being told, it suited the book. The personal growth of each character and getting through the heist is what makes this story good. Each character had a satisfying arc and none got left behind by other characters.
I’m not usually a fan of heist movies or books so I wasn’t totally enthralled by the plot but I stayed for the characters. One thing I did appreciate was the fact that the entire plan went to shit. Literally every step failed or didn’t go as expected. Even at the very end the entire premise of the book falls apart.
This book is good YA heist story with enjoyable characters. I enjoyed it and now I will go read Crooked Kingdom.
“He would not beg Zoya to stay. It was not in his nature to plead with anyone, and that was not the pact they shared. They did not look to each other for comfort. They kept each other marching. They kept each other strong”
Here’s my piece based on the amazing fic by @nazyalenskyism also check out the artwork by @cosmicjiver I loved working with both of you, thanks for such a great experience :)
What an honor to create this piece for the beautiful fic by @nuclearnik don’t forget to check out the other amazing artworks by these fine people @blursed-caw@deudly@elle-bo-illustrationand@zapeta12 and of course a huge thank you to our corporalki @simplifiedemotions it’s been so great being a “holy heartrender” for the 2021gvbb❤️
I had such a blast working on this piece for the amazing fic Sunspark by @destiniesfic where a young Alina Starkov is discovered as Grisha at a young age and brought to the Little Palace, where she must keep her powers a secret. Check out the other awesome artwork done by @proporgo @blursed-caw@llysaan and thank you to our corporalki @elviriel
I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly Zeke meant by “brainwashing” since the chapter was released, and now have another idea what he may have actually meant. Despite this being a story in which memory manipulation is an actual thing, I’m basing this speculation on a more figurative meaning.
I’ve seen many fans assume that Zeke implied Eren had been brainwashed in the sense that Grisha had misled him into believing he should be fighting for humanity, or something along those lines. And that’s a fair assumption, it sounds plausible. But then, this just now popped into my mind:
Keith:Special. Chosen. It was the first time anyone had ever called me that.
Carla looks so unimpressed with all that “special” talk.
Consider what Grisha called Keith and the rest of the Survey Corps members: Special. Chosen. He tells Keith they are wiser and braver than anyone else within the walls…which is quite a compliment, though a bit much. Keith let this idea get to his head, and in the end only caused him grief. Then, the night the walls were breached and Grisha takes Eren into the woods, we have this exchange:
Keith worries about Grisha “cursing” another person, suffering the same fate as he did. Eren, self-admittedly, also let the notion of being special get the better of him (although there were other important factors involved, such having others put him up on a pedestal).
The fallout of that belief suddenly crumbling away was ugly, to say the least.
And then Eren, after hearing what Keith has to say, has this realization that he may have only been given the titan powers in the first place because he was just the son of someone who was special.
The way he reacts here breaks my heart y’know.
Jury’s out on whether or not there’s more to Grisha’s reasoning, here’s hoping we get a better explanation soon. Probably something bloodline related, but why he couldn’t use the power and take the burden himself remains a mystery. Hopefully not for much longer.
So I just wonder if maybe the “brainwashing” Zeke refers to is actually about Grisha – in Keith’s words – “cursing” others by convincing them they are oh so special. Although Eren is a more extreme case, what with having a terrible burden placed on his shoulders. What’s even more interesting is that when Zeke is talking to Eren, the impression I got was that both of them were victimized in the exact same way (brainwashing), and that’s why Zeke understands Eren – they suffered through similar experiences.
If that’s the case, then by what means did Grisha place improbably high expectations on Zeke, only to have things take a turn for the worse? Could this relate to how he became a shifter along with his coordinate-like abilities? I have seen a few half-baked theories floating around suggesting Zeke is a failed coordinate created by Grisha. Interesting.
Well, spoiler week is upon us, by this time next week we may very well have a better idea of what exactly Zeke was talking about…and just how true it is.
