Hi everyone, my wife and I have just finished Season 1 of Shadow and Bone, and overall, I really enjoyed it! Now before I go any further, I’m going to admit the books are in the backlog reading list I’m trying to get through (I’m casting a guilty eye over the stack of books sitting next to my bed as I write this). I understand there has been some differences between the tv series and the source material, so bear with me if some of what I’m about to say makes more sense in the core texts.
So what worked well for me? The show had some good pacing, and there was never any point that I felt like the story was getting bogged down in the details. All of the main actors did a great job portraying their characters, with Ben Barnes as General Kirigan absolutely dominating every scene he was in. My favorite plotline has to be the Crows, the trio of criminals who sneak through the Fold to try and kidnap the rumored Sun Summoner. Looking at the story as a whole, I think these three had the most clearly defined stakes and urgency in their mission: we knew what they wanted, what was at stake and why they had to keep moving. I understand the books expand upon the seedy town of Ketterdam, but it sounds like exactly the kind of setting I want to hear more stories from! Now, call me a softy, but the Alina-Mal-Kirigan love triangle really wasn’t the one that hooked me – I wanted more of the Heartrender Nina and the Fjerda Matthias, probably because their storyline kept a singular focus on their relationship rather than getting caught up in politics and intrigue.
That said, there were a few things that left me feeling flat. As I’ve already hinted at, Alina’s romances really didn’t grab me. She seemed to have plenty of chemistry with Kirigan, but I’m still scratching my head over why she seems to be so obsessively devoted to Mal at the start of the story. Mal, I’m sorry to say, has all the charisma of a brick, even after he realizes he loves Alina. I was hoping he would get killed off to clear the way for more interesting story development, but his plot armour seems impenetrable. There were also several plot points where everything just fell into place way too easily in order to move the story along, and characters were able to meet up in ways that made my eyes roll (seriously, the ship or castle security forces in this world are the equivalent of Paul Blart: Mall Cop).
That said, there’s a lot in this story that I liked, and plenty more that I want to know about these characters, so excuse me while I get back to my reading backlog so I can get into the original novels!
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