by Thinus Ferreira
9 TVs
A new immersive, and richly developed fantasy world awaits in the well-done TV adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's fantasy series, with Shadow & Bone on Netflix that is a new bright light in a dark world.
The 8-episode first season, like the books, is a pastiche - but in the best way possible - of well-worn tropes from Star Wars, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games to The Lord of the Rings and even Mills & Boon romance novels.
The new girl, in a damaged land, who is secretly important and has powers to save the world, gets whisked away on an adventure all the way to become part of the high-and-mighty where she doesn't really fit in and away from her true love and where she is trained to fight the big evil, while simultaneously a ragtag team of wonderful scoundrels, each with their own skills, band together to go and get her.
In-between there's literally a shipping romance, a sumptuous ball at a palace, Zoe Wanamaker who was a witch teaching flying at Hogwarts who appears as a new magic teacher, a white stag, an excellent assassin, an ominous darkness nobody can cross, friendship betrayal, and a warning over how absolute power corrupts.
Like Star Wars, the producers of Shadow & Bone cast a group of largely unknown actors who will surely become very famous soon. Like Harry Potter you'll see young people with different magical skills using those powers for good and evil.
So what is Shadow & Bone about? Well, to do a spoiler-free review, it's impossible to give too much backstory, but the very binge-worthy new fantasy series - filled to the brim with "pick your favourite character" people - revolves around a fictional, Russian, Soviet-era inspired land, Ravka.
Like LotR and Star Wars, we meet the story and the characters in media res - don't worry, keep breathing and keep watching - everything will be explained and "unfold" eventually as the world-building continues.
Don't worry about all of the new words like "Grisha" and the "Fold" and others - eventually the lexicon will become as instantly understandable as muggles and Endor and hobbit and tributes.
In Ravka there is a magical Fold - a seemingly unpassable black void, but legend speaks of a "Chosen One" who will one day save the world. Hi there, Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) - the Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen, Harry-under-the-stairs orphan.
No spoiler here that you can guess that she will be the main hero character taking on the corrupt world order, but what she is and her backstory, romantic entanglements, power development, and meeting General Kirigan (Ben Barnes) you'll have to watch yourself.
The first book, or film, or season of a series, has a tricky balancing act since it must do the heavy-lifting of world-building and introducing the characters as it slowly starts to flesh out their backstory, whilst telling a "first chapter" overall story, and teasing upcoming plot threads.
Shadow & Bone's first season on Netflix does a more than admirable job with it all, introducing a credible world, richly embroidered with not just beautiful Kefta, made with Materialki corecloth that can withstand bullets, but an interwoven collection of really interesting and diverse characters, all with their own motivations and agency, within a very fascinating, realistically-magical world.
Often the hobbit and Han Solo "side-missions" are even more fun than the "main" story and viewers will surely fall in love with the crime caper adventures of the cynical (but does he have a heart?) crime boss Kaz (Freddy Carter), sharpshooter-joker Jesper (Kit Young) and acrobatic spy-assassin Inej (Amita Suman).
What the first season could have had more of but can't since it's setting up the second season entanglements as you'll see in the season finale, is the shipping of Nina (Danielle Galligan) - we can't tell you who she is, you'll have to see - and her hunky captor Matthias (Calahan Skogman) - and yes, we can't tell you who he is. Could their tempestuous Barbara Cartland romance be one for the ages?
The humour to lighten the tone, the ominous foreshadowing, the special effects, the acting, the unexpected deaths and set design in Shadow & Bone all contribute to make the 8 episodes fly by - you want to see and discover more.
Like the successful ones before it, Shadow & Bone's narrative effectiveness comes from pacing, holding back and starting off by telling small, personal stories against the backdrop of a sprawling world in trouble.
You need to care about the "little people" first, before you'll ever care about the "bigger world".
With our real world of 2021 in so much turmoil, Shadow & Bone's excellent first season has crafted a very effective mirror of people looking for answers and solutions against the backdrop of a geopolitically unstable world.
The protagonists in Shadow & Bone are all looking for a way through, for friendship, real love, and hoping for redemption.
In the process, they start the journey of realising that even if you've lost family you can create a new one, that the secret to realising individual goals is often centred in teamwork, and that lighting the way for yourself also helps to illuminate the road ahead for others.
Shadow & Bone premieres on Netflix on Friday 23 April and this review is based on the first season's 8 episodes.
