If you are very excited about Netflix season 2 shadow and bone series and have never read the Leigh Bardugo books it’s based on, you might be thinking of giving the main trilogy the show is adapting a try.
Here’s some unsolicited advice: don’t start with the first novel, shadow and bone. Or even the first trilogy.
But wait, you might be wondering, isn’t that the book the show is based on? Isn’t this the first book in the series? The one that sets the stage for everything else? The one featuring Grisha, Sun Summoner Alina Starkov, and the sentient darkness that splits Ravka in half? Won’t season 2 adapt the second book?
OK, yes. But you know how some Star Wars fans recommend a non-intuitive order to watch the movies? I’m about to propose a similar strategy for diving into the Grishaverse books. It’s not a particularly controversial method, by any means, but for those unfamiliar with the books, I’m here to be your Grisha guide.
And with that: Start with Six of Crows.
But why?
Photo: Netflix
six of crows it is the first book of the duology derived from Bardugo. It centers on a gang of criminals led by the wily Kaz Brekker as they pull off a grand heist. The duology takes place two years after the events of the first trilogy, but the first book doesn’t really contain any spoilers about what happens to. shadow and boneThey are Alina, the Darkling, and the rest of Ravka’s crew. I don’t have hard empirical data on this, but I would hazard a guess six of crows it is more popular than the main trilogy. Why else would the Ravens characters be involved in the show, even though they don’t appear canonically in the early books?
Newcomers with whom to start reading the series six of crows after watching the show you won’t get lost, because of the six “Eggs”, five of them: Kaz, his spy Inej with a knife in his right hand, the sniper Jesper, the spy Ravkan Nina and the soldier Fjerdan (and hunter). de Grisha) Matthias – Appeared in Season 1 of the TV series. His characters will make more sense in the show with the background of the book, and the opportunity to see his future adventures in the existing books makes his story on the series more interesting. moreover, six of crows goes into the world beyond Ravka. shadow and bone he’s mainly concerned with Ravkan politics and what it means to be Grisha, which is interesting in its own right, but six of crows expands into the universe, and Bardugo’s world-building gets a chance to shine.
but starting with six of crows it also makes sense because the Crows duology is simply objectively better writing. shadow and bone it has all the trappings of a debut novel. The first-person perspective hurts the other characters, and it follows a typical Chosen set-up. Even Bardugo admits that there are things he wishes he had done differently, such as including more character diversity and developing Mal’s character. The main trilogy gets better with each subsequent book, as Bardugo grows into the potential of his own world. But if you want to be attracted from the first moment, six of crows is the way to go.
Photo: Attila Szvacsek/Netflix
My recommended order, even if you haven’t seen the show, is to start six of crowswhich rightly draws readers into a new world and has a cast of lively and dynamic characters. six of crows True, it ends on a cliffhanger, but the stakes will make the conflict in the main series even richer.
If you are curious enough, then you should switch to the main trilogy (shadow and bone, siege and stormand fall and get up), from the second book of Ravens, crooked kingdom, contains some spoilers for the great central plot of the Grishaverse and some aspects of characters that appear in the first trilogy. Then go to crooked kingdom. After that, you can dive into the sequel series (king of scars and wolves rule), which draws Nina, Squaller Zoya Nazialensky, and Prince Nikolai Lantsov (my favorite character from the franchise) as they deal with the aftermath of the riot in Ravka.
Wait, I just finished the second season and there is a plot I don’t recognize.
[Ed. note: This section onwards contains some big spoilers for season 2 of Shadow and Bone]
Photo: David Lukacs/Netflix
The recently released second season of shadow and bone fits not one but two books, completing the original trilogy. As a result, some of the plots are toned down to maintain momentum. Also, the second season draws a story from Six of Crows crooked kingdom and then sends the Ravens on a quest to Shu Han to find a legendary sword capable of piercing the shadows, the perfect weapon for Alina to use against Kirigan.
It’s that last plot that doesn’t seem to have priority in any book. For the most part, except for a few flashbacks, the Ravens books keep the Ravens in their hometown of Ketterdam. But they’ve already made their way to Ravka, so what’s one more trip?
While the theft itself does not come from a book, the story behind the sword appears in Bardugo’s collection of short stories set in the so-called Grishaverse. The lives of the saints. It is a fully illustrated companion to the main books, detailing the stories behind some of the legendary Grisha who basically became mythical figures. The sword, known as neshyenyeroriginates from the tale of Saint Kho and Saint Neyar. Neyar, Durast, forged a sword to fight against the mechanical soldiers created by Kho. It’s not more Crows, but it expands on that story.
The lives of the saints is not the only companion book in the Grishaverse. The language of thorns is another collection of fairy tales set in the Grishaverse. There is also a prequel graphic novel to Darkling called a demon in the forest.
The Grishaverse books are an exciting fantasy series that ushered in a whole wave of YA high fantasy that departs from the typical setting of medieval England. If you haven’t paid much attention to the teen genre since it stopped dominating the culture with series like the Twilight novels and The Hunger Games, you may not realize the impact Bardugo’s series has had on the genre since then. The world is rich, but the dynamic characters are what capture the hearts of fans. And judging by season 2, the Netflix series is no longer based solely on the main books: it quickly expands the story, changes the order of events and dives into the larger Grishaverse.
Both seasons of shadow and bone are streaming on Netflix.