There are a lot of reasons readers have fallen in love with Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse since Shadow and Bone kicked off the franchise in 2012. One of the biggest is that Bardugo's books are incredibly difficult to put down thanks to their tight plotting, easy-to-love characters and compelling Eastern European-inspired fantasy world. However, as poorly executed adaptations of young adult series have proven in the past, it's incredibly easy to end up with a lifeless approximation of the source material. Luckily, Netflix's Shadow and Bone nails the best parts of the Grishaverse while still standing on its own.
Created by Eric Heisserer (who also executive produces the series alongside Bardugo), Netflix's Shadow and Bone is fundamentally divided into three main plots, each of which explores the theme of finding the people with whom one belongs. The first follows Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) as she learns how to harness her power as the sun summoner at the Grisha sanctuary known as the Little Palace. Throughout this story, Alina wrestling with her feelings for childhood friend Mal Oretsev (Archie Renaux) as well as the mysterious and powerful General Kirigan (Ben Barnes).
While Alina's plotline still follows the patternings and tropes of YA stories, there end up being a fair number of pretty major changes from the Shadow and Bone book. And with the exception of one rushed plotline at the Little Palace, almost all of those changes are for the better. Archie Renaux's Mal, for example, is significantly less of a playboy and much more of a good-natured himbo, which may be the result of moving from Alina's first-person perspective in the books to a more objective camera in the adaptation. This ends up making it a lot easier to root for the TV show's Mal than the one in the books, who often vacillates between uncaring and possessive.
One of the biggest and best changes, though, is that Alina is explicitly identified as having Shu-Han ancestry. This opens up a lot of storytelling opportunities that allow the show to explore the hero's feelings of dislocation and isolation, which is further underscored by an outstanding performance from Jessie Mei Li. At every turn, Li nails playing a person learning to come into herself despite immense hardship and a desire to fit in rather than shine bright.
The second main story follows Six of Crows protagonists Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman) and Jesper Fahey (Kit Young), who are members of a gang known as the Dregs. Although they don't appear in Bardugo's original novel, the Dregs are an absolute highlight of Shadow and Bone. Everything about the Dregs' segments make them feel like a party of blundering Dungeons & Dragons adventurers trying to get through an encounter without dying. Overall, it's hard to single out any particular member of the trio in terms of acting since they're all outstanding, but Kit Young's Jesper has a charm and physicality that makes him immediately loveable.
Although those two plotlines end up being pretty great throughout, the third is probably the weakest. Providing any details about the plot is, inherently, pretty spoilery, so suffice to say it's focused primarily on a Grisha named Nina Zenik (Danielle Galligan) and a Grisha hunter named Matthias Helvar (Calahan Skogman). Actors Danielle Galligan and Calahan Skogman are both incredibly charismatic and have fantastic chemistry, but they're stuck in a plot that doesn't mesh that well with the other two stories, which ends up being a bit disappointing.
Still, even the weakest of these stories paints Shadow and Bone's world as rich with lore and history, aided in large part by uncharacteristically noteworthy costuming. While fantasy shows often have a somewhat awkward relationship with costuming and choose to go with generic furs and leathers in brown or -- sometimes -- a tasteful black, Shadow and Bone's attention to detail really comes through in its diverse array of costumes. There are so many different styles, and they're executed in ways that build the world and make it feel authentic and unlike pretty much anything in fantasy TV.
After the first season, it's undeniable: Shadow and Bone is the start of something big for Netflix. Just where the streaming service plans to take the series from here isn't totally clear, but it's a safe bet that the Grishaverse is the future of fantasy TV on Netflix.
A Netflix production from Shawn Levy's 21 Laps Entertainment, Eric Heisserer, Leigh Bardugo, Pouya Shahbazian and Lee Toland Krieger, Shadow and Bone stars Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Archie Renaux (Malyen Oretsev), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), Ben Barnes (General Kirigan), Sujaya Dasgupta (Zoya Nazyalensky), Danielle Galligan (Nina Zenik), Daisy Head (Genya Safin), Simon Sears (Ivan), Calahan Skogman (Matthias Helvar), Zoë Wanamaker (Baghra), Kevin Eldon (The Apparat), Julian Kostov (Fedyor), Luke Pasqualino (David), Jasmine Blackborow (Marie) nad Gabrielle Brooks (Nadia). The series premieres April 23 on Netflix.