This isn’t a review. It will not end in a rating at any rate. I am still mulling over my final thoughts and finishing the second season. Yes, I made it to the second season of the series.
Shadow and Bone is a Netflix exclusive born from the novel series of the same name that was written by Leigh Bardugo. If the show is indicative of the novel series’s quality, I will not be making a purchase.
On the surface…
From the first few episodes, it is your standard fantasy world with an established magic system, a very definable government structure, and your basic good versus evil plotline. It’s average in this respect.
That is where “average” starts to tumble into rinse and repeat.
What is character development?
It is clear the main protag and the definable evil are basic. The protag is pawned off as reckless yet naive, even though she grew up as an orphan and suffered many trials along the way before her awakening.
The main antagonist seems to have good intentions, but it soon becomes clear his judgment is so clouded he doesn’t even take responsibility for his own mistakes, even after his mother points them out in fine detail.
You can see relationships forming between some of the characters, but something always sets those relationships back leaps and bounds. Just when you think someone is going to finally admit to having feelings, one or the other fucks it up and nothing comes out of it.
The exception is the main protag and her boyfriend who seem to always get separated just to create more turmoil for the protag. She already has an obsessed evil asshole after her, how much more are you going to through at the woman? It’s ridiculous.
Feels like a Shonen without the magazine or brand name.
How is the main character going to defeat the very bad man? She’s going to get stronger and train harder until she can defeat him and the evil he’s wrought upon the world. For those of you that watch anime and read manga, this should sound way too familiar.
In order to get stronger, she must find mystical beasts to boost her power, fuse with them, and learn to control her new power level. I don’t know about you, but it’s like a mix of Naruto and Bleach.
The only personality she has is when she is with her boyfriend or being cold to other people. That’s it really. She has grown a damn bit between the first and second seasons.
There’s a novel series?
All I have to say is if this series is ANYthing like the novels, it won’t be worth it for me to purchase the novels. I read a few of the reviews for the series. None of them were giving it glowing reviews.
Until next time,
Anissa “Maddy” Walker
House of Geek 