While we wait on news of a possible season 3, here are the 4 Best Things About Shadow and Bone, Seasons 1 & 2.
Classic Good vs Evil Trope Done Well
The Shadow and Bone show is the classic Good vs Evil trope of fantasy done really well. It has modernised the trope in certain areas, for example having a complex “evil” charcater, but there is no doubt that they are “bad”.
It’s great to see tropes brought back and done well, making things that can seem tired actually quite engaging and exciting. Sometimes, to do something new all you have to do is reinvent something old.
The Characters
One of the best things about Shadow and Bone is the character work. For a series based on YA books, there is quite a large cast of characters. This is partly due to some of the story coming from Bardugo’s other, related duology, but that decision really paid off for the adaptation.
There is enough variety in characterisation to keep us invested in the story, without confusing us too much. We get light relief from some characters and darker scenes with others.
Despite having a lot of characters and not a huge number of episodes, we see a lot of character development across the whole cast. Sure, there are some storylines that aren’t fleshed out much, but mostly it works well.
Expansive & Vivid World
This is an epic fantasy world with a wide variety of cultures, lore, and political systems. We catch a glimpse of all this in season one, and see much more of it in season two. We got a taste of how expansive it is without having to listen to an hour of exposition, which I appreciate!
Fight/Battle Scenes
Finally, some of the best scenes in the series are the fight scenes. Whether it’s Jesper shooting impossible shots, or Grisha fighting soldiers with guns, or one another, there was a huge variety in types of fights and they were very cool to watch.
