"Thank you for finding me." "Always. I'll always find you."
-Shadow and Bone Netflix
☆☆☆☆☆
**This will contain some spoilers for the show**
Shadow and Bone is hands down one of the best book to T.V. adaptions I've ever seen. They stayed true to the source but changed it up enough to make it work for a show. As a huge fan of the books, I'm so happy how the show turned out. I'll be going into different parts of the show like casting, plot, changes from the novel so expect minor spoiler from the show and I'll put spoiler warnings for the book.
Casting
The casting for this show was perfect. I loved how they made Alina half Shu Han and half Ravka adding more depth to her story. Jessie Mei Li did a fabulous job of portraying Alina's journey. Each actor made the characters feel real and all had amazing chemistry together. They obviously spent a lot of time working on these characters and did fantastic jobs. They all really embodied the characters and there's not much more to say other than amazing. One of my favourite things was the actor's accents the Grishaverse characters having British accents was something I didn't imagine but really enjoyed.
Plot
The show follows the same plot of Shadow and Bone with changing some minor details and it gives Six of Crows a prequel in the Shadow and Bone universe. The Shadow and Bone plot follows Alina when she discovers that she is the Sun Summoner and capable of destroying the Fold. It also gives us some insight on Mal while he's hunting the Stag. Having these scenes with Mal was a great bonus from the books giving him more personality for the watchers to get to know him.
The Crows' trio, Kaz, Inej and Jesper, plot follows them while on a heist to kidnap the Sun Summoner and bring her to Ketterdam. While Nina and Matthias have their original plot from the books of the shipwreck. In the final episode, all the characters come together for a final battle in the fold.
Book to Screen (Book Spoilers this paragraph only)
They obviously couldn't put every single detail of the books into the show but I still feel they did a good job. I'm going to go through some of the differences and talk about how it changed the experience for me.
One of the big twists of the book was Geyna's betrayal and that she has been a spy for The Darkling all along. For me, this didn't hit as hard as the books because I felt like there just wasn't enough of Alina and Geyna. We got to see their friendship grow but I wished there was just more.
Another thing that was changed was The Darkling. His name was General Kirigan and the reveal of Aleksander happened in the third episode. This was a huge detail in the books having only Alina and Baghra know his true name and now in the show, it's a common thing. In my opinion that hit as a reader and I was confused of why they would make that choice because it is such a huge thing for Alina, that he is just a lost boy. They also toned him down a lot, in the books The Darkling was super manipulative towards Alina at one point kidnapping Mal and threatening to kill him while Alina watched if she didn't cooperate. He still felt evil but they made him less intense and even gave him a backstory for the Fold.
I didn't like how they changed amplifiers. In the books, they were jewelry with the bones of the animals attached but in the show, the bones were infused into the skin and bones of the Grisha. It definitely made it a lot more intense when The Darkling gave Alina the collar but I just like the book's way of doing it better.
The Crows' story was completely made up for the purpose of the show. Kaz, Inej and Jesper had their storyline while Nina and Matthias had their original shipwreck storyline from the books. The trio had a good story and keeping in mind that it is a prequel to the books it gives plenty of room for them to grow more.
I've seen people complain about Kaz and Inej saying that there was too much in the show but I thought it was perfect. In the books were getting to see their thoughts so as a reader we know that Kaz is in love with her but outwardly he is cold and emotionless. Watching the show we don't get that internal dialogue so they have to make up for it by adding some lines to hint at their affection for each other. Shout out to Freddy Carter (Kaz) and Amita Suman (Inej) for an amazing job at showing their relationship without ever touching.
Probably the biggest change is that the Crows and Shadow and Bone crew meet each other. This doesn't really matter unless they get to Crooked Kingdom (SOC 2) where the Crows and the King of Scars crew meet for the first time in the books universe.
Overall for going from book to screen I think they did a good job at making it work and created their own story that both reader and non-readers will enjoy.
Season 2
Things I want to see in season two:
-Sturmhold and crew
-Wylan blowing things up
-Ice Court heist
-More Genya and David
-Kaz and Inej window scene
-Crow's origin stories
-Fewer meadow scenes (The actors did a great job with these scenes but there were just too many of them)
Overall the show is amazing. You can see the cast and crew put a lot of hard work into making the show what we know. As of writing this it's number six on the top ten list and has been on the list for four weeks. This show is great for the fans of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and fans of fantasy T.V. I can't wait to see what else comes out of this show.
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