Recommendation - Shadow and Bone (Netflix Adaptation)

 Shadow and Bone 

When I heard that an adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone was coming to the small screen I was so excited and then struck by worry. I'd been excited for an adaptation before; I was raving about Shadowhunters until the first episode came out. And then it did and my heart had never sunk so hard in my life. 

Obviously, if you liked the series, that's cool - but for someone who loved those books passionately I didn't feel they did the books justice and I was let down by the choices made for the characters and the set. It felt like someone had looked at the blurb and nothing else. I can assure you that it was not the fact that Clary's hair was the colour of Fanta (though that didn't help). Nothing against the cast, of course, I think Malec's casting was impressive enough for me to stick around for a bit. 

But this was not the case for Shadow and Bone. Someone did their research and holy heck it paid off. Okay, the Crows were not in the S&B series at all so seeing them knocking about was a bit bewildering But they were actually my favourite aspect of the show. I am not a book purist in the least and I get things to have to be adapted or lost in order to fit this new media; but the casting; the sets; hell and even the design, were flawless. 

I devoured that series in a couple of days and have now shot myself in the foot for the next season that will probably be years before it comes to fruition. But I have no doubt I will be watching it again. The dialogue was brilliant - some of it was even straight out of the book. It had captured Bardugo's world wonderfully and I have no doubt she will have inspired yet another generation of individuals to read her Grisha series. 

If you love high fantasy with a twist of pseudo-Russian inspired lore - you don't want to miss it. P.S definitely watch it at night as some of the scenes are a little dark. 

Jesper and Milo forever. 

Picture Courtesy of Netflix - Shadow and Bone (2021).