#SHADOW AND BONE NETFLIX IMDB SERIES#
Their ignorant, reflexive disdain is just another obstacle in her path - one that is all too familiarly real, and devoid of any mystical high-fantasy provenance.īut what really distinguishes the series is its smart storytelling choices, which prioritize a crisp, propulsive narrative over the kind of stately, ruminative world-building for world-building's sake that bogs down so many would-be epic fantasy series. (The Shu, in the series, are the people of Shu Han, an alt-China realm far to the south.) It doesn't matter to them that Alina was born in Ravka, and is indeed serving as a cartographer in its army as the series begins. Instead, citizens of the alt-Russia kingdom of Ravka resent and distrust our main character Alina (Jessie Mei Li) because her features reflect her "half-Shu" status. This means that when the series chooses to address the subject of racial tension, it's not couched in the usual high-fantasy coding (elves hate dwarves, humans hate orcs, etc.). PG-13: Risky Reads Reading 'Dune,' My Junior-High Survival GuideĪnother novelty: The realm in which Shadow and Bone is set is peopled entirely by humans. It's stuffed with characters, locations, plot twists and - it must be said - very, very familiar fantasy elements including, but not limited to: characters who possess the ability to control various elements (wind, water, fire, sure, but also: machines, and even bodies) a Big Dark Thing (in this case, a monster-haunted wall of shadow known as The Fold) that is Prophesied to be Be Defeated by A Chosen One (a Sun-Summoner, who controls light) the fact that the aforementioned Chosen One is not noble-born, but a Reluctant Commoner Who Must Be Trained by Stern Teachers Until She Accepts And Masters Her Gift, etc., etc., etc. Shadow and Bone is a new 8-episode fantasy series based on a successful book trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. Ok, good, that's out of our systems, lets move on. Shadow and Bone does not, in this instance, refer to the two things James Bond does in every movie. Let's get the cheap joke out of the way right at the top, just so we don't have it hanging over our heads for the entire review:ĭo not be misled by its title.
Cartographer Alina (Jessie Mei Li) maps her own fate in Netflix's fantasy series, Shadow and Bone.
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