Shadow and Bone (Spoiler Free Review)

 

Netflix has this weird tendency to make TV shows and movies based on popular books and this young adult novel adaptation is yet another entry to Netflix's many attempts at trying to adapt such stories to bring in a wider audience to not only the streaming service itself but also towards the worlds that have been built by the authors of this obviously large fictional world. Netflix also has a thing for stories that include the excuse to feature British actors, which really shows how well Netflix is doing in the UK but that's not important. Let's get into my review of the all new Netflix original. 

Shadow and Bone's epic fantasy-like story would be a competitor towards shows like The Witcher and Game of Thrones but one should know that this show is nothing like them and brings yet another cliché but surprisingly enjoyable adventure in the long run, especially when it comes to binging the first season in a day. The show tells the story of Alina Starkov, an orphan/ cartographer for the First Army who gets reunited with her best friend, Mal to go over the Shadow Fold where Alina learns that she is a Sun Summoner, a rare kind of Grisha that is destined to 'save the world'. For those who don't know what the hell the Grisha is, they are people who were born with powers, segregated between people who manipulate elements, manipulate matter itself, etc. Due to this new revelation, everyone including the leader of the Grisha, General Kirigan is intrigued and grateful for the rise of a myth coming true but with that comes the consequences of what that might be for Alina and the rest of the world, no matter the possibility of her saving the world. 

The show not only adapts the Shadow and Bone trilogy but also adds elements from the Six of Crows duology, an excuse to provide the show more characters to explore as well as a reliable way to make the episodes last for at least 50 minutes. When I read the books, (I did write a review for the main trilogy last year so, you can check that out) I unfortunately made it clear that the books was indeed introducing a rich Grishaverse but it did not manage to compel me into praising it's well-worn plotlines due to myself spending most of my teenage years reading books that have made this 'savior trope' the only trope most YA novels in the 2010's featured and guaranteed a place in bookstores all around the world eventually becoming best sellers, no matter how the stories turned out. 

The show however, did properly adapt the first book almost accurately which was both something I was happy and worried about. Fortunately, the writers of this show made me quite ecstatic towards the end result considering it not only adapted and included elements from the trilogy and duology but also made the show relevant to current issues as well as providing more well-deserved backstories to one of my favorite characters in the Grishaverse. However, I could not suppress myself from yawning by the time I had reached the last episode but that was probably because I did the same thing reading the final chapters of the, honestly, the better book in the trilogy. 

To add to that, the best part about this show is the way they spent their time telling the story and introducing it's many great characters which would make viewers to end up considering that this show is extremely slow paced with its lack of hard-hitting action scenes - which I am guessing is what most people who had watched the trailer alone would expect - but it seemed like a good direction to make it seem as dark and gothic as it could possibly be even if the material it was based on didn't completely show off those particular themes. 

To conclude, fans of the book series will definitely be satisfied with the final product with the show being somewhat great and it will gain interest towards others who are familiar with stories that involve 'chosen ones'. Netflix definitely has another hit under their obviously huge roster of successful binge-worthy shows and with no confirmation needed, this show no doubt, will likely gain a much larger fanbase while also gaining renewal for a lot more seasons or at least just a few more to be able to finally finish up the story they started here.