Shadow & Bone is an interesting story. Mixing fantasy and magic into a very Eastern European/Industrial Revolution era where magic reigns supreme but is distrusted and often prejudiced against in some parts of the world. Though, from the non-magical people’s point of view, the magic users did create a tear through the world which has left a void full of monsters, splitting a country in half and crippling it’s security as other countries rage war with it. The amount of political intrigue in this story surprised me because I honestly wasn’t expecting it when I put it on. The world sucked me in as it introduced me to political unrest, war and rebellion behind closed doors, all of which is laid on a foundation where there is an element of magic which in some places of the world is the norm while in others it is invasive and frowned upon. The characters were complex and I loved that the story jumped to different groups of characters who all had their own agenda, often conflicting with another group’s plans which left me torn on who to root for because I liked them all. But my favourite character was Ben Barnes’ character. But that is, in part, because I love Ben Barnes as an actor. He always brings a cool and layers approach to his characters. And he is the most badass character in the show since he can control shadow and he has a ‘take no nonsense attitude which normally leads to him cutting someone in half.
So as with all Netflix series, people are weary about getting invested due to shows being cancelled after one season but Shadow & Bone season two is slated to release this month so we at least got two seasons to binge to our hearts content. Let’s hope we get a season 3 as well!
