The new Netflix series is based on Leigh Bardugo's books and Imperial Russia, albeit with a magical twist.
Last Friday came the long-awaited trailer for fans of the Grishaverse books, written by Leigh Bardugo. Netflix is in charge of giving life to the protagonists of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, better known in Spanish as Sombra y Hueso (Editorial Hidra, 2013). But is it the adaptation that Bardugo's characters deserve? What can readers expect after seeing the first trailer?
There is already a second season confirmed, but although that is good news, it is better not to anticipate. This first season will have eight chapters of about an hour each. Every reader fears and wishes for the moment when the adaptation of their favorite book series is announced and the big question that Bardugo fans are asking themselves right now is whether this will be the adaptation that their favorite characters deserve. And what can readers expect after seeing the first trailer?
This new series is being compared with Geralt de Rivia ( The Witcher ), also from Netflix, but the only thing they have in common is that they are both fantastic and based on book sagas. While in Geralt de Rivia we meet the famous monster hunter from a place we do not know; In Shadow and Bone, we follow Alina Starkov, a young Ravkana who discovers that she is a Grisha and is forced to go to court to be trained.
The fight to end the Shadow
The Grisha are part of the army of Ravka, a fictional country with much of the Russia of the Tsars. But what is the Grisha? To put it simply: people with the ability to do magic. But it is quite a specific magic. Broadly speaking, some can kill or heal other people -and themselves-; others control air, fire, or water; and others can damage matter. However, Alina, like General Kirigan, does not fit into either of these categories. She can summon the light; he the darkness.
In the trilogy, Alina and her allies will have to figure out how to end the Shadow, the veil - or scar, according to the trailer - that divides Ravka's kingdom in two. The problem is that not everyone wants to make the Shadow disappear; so it will not be easy: a war is coming within the country itself.
Can the ravkans, already battered enough, with a war? What will happen to the Grisha? Who will this Army of Wizards ally with: Alina or the enemy? The first Shadow and Bone book leaves many unsolved doubts, so it is very likely that something very similar will happen with the first season of the Netflix series. Luckily, the second is already confirmed, which means that the streaming platform bets on this adaptation and, with a bit of luck, we will see Bardugo's seven books on the small screen.
Shadow and Bone's special effects
The trailer shows us a lot of the history that we already know. Alina and Mal, his best friend, in the Shadow; the volkra, the incident that leads them to separate; the preparations for the presentation of Alina in the court of Ravka and Genya.
But what is most striking about these almost three minutes of video are the special effects. And is that a story like Shadow and Bone can not be told without them. This is one of the main ingredients of the series and that is seen in the trailer. Shadow, volkra, and magic wouldn't be the same without special effects. Luckily, it seems that Netflix has spared no expense to make this series, which features Leigh Bardugo herself among the series' producers. And that shows.
More from the Grishaverse : the Ravens
We already knew when the cast was presented and it is that in this first season we will be able to see the Ravens: Kaz, Inej and Jesper appear in this first trailer. The three characters star in the Six of Crows biology (Editorial Hidra, 2016), in which Kaz and his family will have to face the most difficult theft of their lives. And in these first minutes shown by Netflix, we can see three of them coming to life: a murderer; a gambling gunman and the boss of the gang, the brain.
The three barely appear for a few seconds at the end of the trailer and we know that they will have little weight in the plot; but they will be to the delight of all fans of the Grishaverse. We can only know that, for sure, they will appear in the eighth chapter entitled No Mourners, which is part of the motto of the gang of crows ("No tears, no funerals", in Spanish).
However, we still know absolutely nothing about two other important characters: Nina and Matthias. The grisha and the fjierda will not come out, but chronologically we cannot know for the moment where they are. And it must be remembered that this biology occurs a couple of years after the events of Shadow and Bone, but the creators of the series wanted to incorporate these characters. Can we get to see everything that happens in this biology? And what will happen to the other two books that come after focusing on Nikolai Lantsov?
We must remember that until the second season Nikolai Lantsov will not appear, but we also do not know the actor who will play him. But his biology formed by El Rey Marcado (Editorial Hidra, 2019) and Rule of Wolves, which will be published at the end of this month of March, is very important to conclude part of the story that began in Shadow and Bone. Therefore, if the series is successful, not only will we have the robbery of the Ravens but we will also see the true end of the story and Nikolai, one of the most beloved characters among fans.
A good adaptation?
But that is getting ahead a lot, first you have to see how good the adaptation they have made from Netflix is. Readers of juvenile literature already have experience with poor adaptations. Eragon or the recently canceled Netflix Memories of Idhún, a trilogy by the Spanish Laura Gallego, quickly come to mind. Others like the Percy Jackson saga already have their second chance, and that is that Disney Plus is preparing a new series about this demigod.
We do not know how good the Netflix series Shadow and Bone will be, but from the trailer, we can guess that it does not look very bad. Contrary to what happened with the adaptation of Gallego's books, social networks have already shown their approval of these almost three minutes. Will the Grishaverse series be as good as it sounds? Until April 23 we will not be able to know.
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