Based on Leigh Bardugo’s best-selling novels, Shadow and Bone TV series follows Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), an orphan mapmaker who suddenly unleashes an extraordinary power that could change the fate of her war-torn world.

• Check out the BOOK REVIEW.

Shadow and Bone is an American fantasy streaming television series developed by Eric Heisserer for Netflix that premiered on April 23, 2021. It is based on the Grisha trilogy, the first of which is Shadow and Bone, and the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. The first season of the series stars Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov, an orphan former assistant cartographer of the Royal Corps of Surveyors in the First Army and the Sun Summoner.

Based on Leigh Bardugo’s worldwide best-selling Grishaverse novels, Shadow and Bone finds its characters in a war-torn world where orphan mapmaker, Alina Starkov, discovers she has an extraordinary power that could be the key to setting her country free from the darkness plaguing it. With the monstrous threat of the Shadow Fold with all its carnivorous winged creatures known as Volcra looming over Ravka (a fantasy kingdom based on the Tsarist Russian Empire), Alina is torn from everything she knows to train as part of an elite army of magical soldiers known as Grisha (hold specific power to manipulate matter). But as she struggles to hone her power, she finds that allies and enemies can be one and the same and that nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. There are dangerous forces at play, including enigmatic General Kirigan, the Shadow Summoner, as well as a crew of charismatic criminals (my favourite Crows), and it will take more than her new powers to survive it…

Shadow and Bone was great. It was certainly as meticulous as its source material, but by folding in unexpected stories, it expanded the novel’s scope to craft an exciting new adventure for fans and newcomers alike. However, I must say that those who were not familiar with the series found it hard at first to get into the story, and understandably so. The beginning was like a hated-by-so-many-people info-dumping full of overly confusing elements…

I personally was quite happy with the adaptation, and really enjoyed the show. The acting, world-building, and visual effects were incredible. Although some fans didn’t like the changes made to certain characters in the origin stories, as well as the general sequence of events, I found them quite smart. After all, it’s not an easy job to mesh two different book series in one despite the fact that all of them are in the same universe.

Now, let’s talk romance, shall we? I must say that Malina were an epitome of childhood-friends-to-lovers. Such an unbelievable bond with so much care and longing. I died… Okay, now that I’m back to living, moving on to everyone’s favourite—Darklina. What can I say? The actors showed some amazing chemistry. And of course, bad boy vibes are always in more demand. But even though Ben Barnes is hot af, I’m team-Mal all the way. What about you?

There are very good and funny reviews to give you a perspective:

• Movie review by Cindy

• Movie review by Alex Meyers

Siege and Storm, a sequel to Shadow and Bone is soon expected to be in production. Once there’s more information, I’ll make a review in a separate post.