#shadow and bone review

[howtostandinsilence]

Leigh Bardugo employs ‘tell don’t show’ in her writing so much that the series eventually becomes a reoccurrence of telling with no meaningful showing. This is because Leigh Bardugo is so bad at writing that the only way she can get people to understand what she wanted to convey in what she showed is by telling them later on in the books - usually in a fashion that is both out of character and ham-fisted in it’s insertion into the story. 

Unfortunately at this point the telling doesn’t match the previous showing, because Leigh Bardugo is incapable of maintaining consistency. Overall, Shadow and Bone is one of the worst written series’ I’ve ever read. Simply because the author cannot maintain her own consistent world state, and because she so badly understands how the real world works that she cannot properly convey the messages she wants to. Even worse, she will change her mind about the message she wants to impart halfway through and ‘tell’ the readers misinformation about what was ‘shown’ before in a blatant attempt at gaslighting them and retconning the story.

The reason this works for some readers aside from some people’s clear lack of literary analysis skills is because anybody who questions the sudden shift the novels take into ‘critiquing abusive men’ is subject to cult like tactics of isolation, shaming, harassment, and abuse from within the fandom, ending in the ultimate revoking of their ‘woke’ card, which it appears they must maintain on the regular by posting factually incorrect cross-tagged anti darkling hate with the most amount of ‘woke’ buzzwords and morally catholic beliefs possible.

#shadow and bone #sab critical #sab discourse #sab salt #the grisha trilogy #anti leigh bardugo #leigh bardugo critical #sab review #shadow and bone review #anti darklina bs #anti darkling bs

[sparks-muse]

Okay so let me say a few words about Alina Starkov.

*clears throat*

SHE'S THE MOST ABSURD CHARACTER I'VE EVER KNOWN IN MY WHOLE LIFE

You barely know yourself as a Grisha and then when you finally did, you're being so cocky and have this discreet hoe behavior. Girl, you good???

I'm watching the show just to see the crows. I want more Kaz & Inej and Nina & Matthias. I mean, literally, JUSTICE FOR MATTHIAS HELVAR!! GIVE THE MAN MORE SCREENTIME PLEASE AND THANK YOU 😤😤😤

#shadow and bone #six of crows #shadow and bone review #alina starkov #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #nina zenik #matthias helvar

[corvuserpens]

Okay. I’ve given it some thought, so here’s my two cents for the fandom:

Overall, I enjoyed season 2. I did. I binged the whole thing in less than two days, it was THAT good. And I’m rewatching it while I still can bc I won’t have Netflix anymore at the end of the month (thanks for ending the password sharing bullshit Netflix, y’all are losing five clients in a single go, congratulations). So just listen.

I had so much fun watching this, through and through. I laughed, I mourned, I aww’d, I nearly ripped my hair out at the character shenanigans (looking at you, Kaz). It was GOOD, it was cool. The changes, though... I’m not entirely sure I’m all about them. I’ll speak for the Six of Crows and King of Scars duologies because I’ve read those, I haven’t picked up the Shadow & Bone trilogy so I won’t touch up on those plots much because I have nothing to compare them to. I thought they were fine, it was fun watching it all play out and how it ended.

The good stuff first, then. The characters are all PERFECT. In fact, I think what held this show together so well was the characters themselves and seeing them all interact. WhiCH MEANS I NEED MORE TOLYA AND NINA BONDING OVER FOOD AND NIKOLAI AND KAZ TRYING TO OUTSMART EACH OTHER AND INEJ AND JESPER DYNAMICS AND-- You get it. 

I guess I’m just... disappointed that it was all so rushed. Like, when I realized we were watching basically the whole plotline for Crooked Kingdom BEFORE Six of Crows, my whole heart dropped to my feet. It was like “woah, what?” What does this mean for the Crows’ future, then? And the reason why I’m disappointed is because I was expecting it all to come MUCH LATER when we have Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom as it’s own show, just like the books.

This feels like... ew, it feels like fanservice. Like they didn’t know what to do with the Crows until they became relevant for the Shadow & Bone plot so they shoe-horned CK into it to play for time, and it made all those delicious scenes that were carefully built up in the story fall flat due to lack of context. Examples:

They killed Heleen off-screen so Inej won’t get to screw her over and get much deserved payback for being trafficked into sexual slavery; 

We don’t get ANY Helnik development that culminates into that heartbreaking last scene, and in fact we don’t even get to see Nina and Matthias interact except for a couple of scenes from a distance and Matthias’ horny daydreaming;

We don’t get to see how Wylan not being able to read affected HIS ENTIRE LIFE until he ends up with the Crows;

We get a snippet of Jesper’s backstory but THAT’S IT; 

Wesper was CUTE AS HELL I LOVE MY TWO LITTLE GAYS SO MUCH AAAAAA but again, I was looking forward to the slow burn;

Matthias allying with Pekka Rowlins in prison is kinda cool actually, I’m interested to see where that’s going plus the fact we’re not done with Rowlins yet, but I swear if they butcher Matthias’ arch for something more action packed and exciting, I am going to physically vomit;

Kaz breaking into the Slat to beat up Per Haskell’s gang as a one man army running on THE POWER OF TEENAGE HORNINESS, one of my most favorite scenes in the book that I was looking forward to, makes no sense because we never see the Dregs in the show again (that I remember, we’ll get back on that after a rewatch) so what was the point?? 

We got Kaz’s backstory, but it was spedrun through so it ends up not having much of an impact. I know if I had gone in blind without all I know from reading the Six of Crows duology, it wouldn’t have mattered much to me no matter how much I loved the character. We don’t even get to know Jordie much, and knowing a little about him is what makes his demise and Kaz’s story so crushing and compelling. This is one of the core rules of character writing, for fuck’s sake! I’m no professional but even I know this! If you don’t get to know the character, you can’t connect with that character and so anything that happens to them is just “oh that’s sad. ANYWAY.” Without having read the books, the whole thing falls apart! Can you tell how much I detest fanservice? I went into this show knowing basically nothing about it and I loved it because the story’s pace and the character moments and the twists were SO WELL CRAFTED AND PUT TOGETHER. Hell, this show is what got me running to the store to buy Six of Crows and devouring it all the way to Rule of Wolves, so again, and I cannot stress this enough, what the fuck is going on here??

Individually, the scenes related to Crooked Kingdom were great. Pretty decently adapted, and like I said, perfect character emulation. The only one I didn’t enjoy as much was Kaz helping Inej with her arm because the baggage that was supposed to build it up is missing, so it got watered down to him just cleaning that cut instead of battling through his touch aversion and winning just long enough for him to actually bandage her and treat her wounds and even managing to kiss her neck! It feels like such a victory in the book before it all comes crashing down because we got A BOOK AND A HALF worth of mutual pinning and learning how crippling it is for Kaz to even think about skin-to-skin contact. The scene I read over and over again for days, cut down to a couple of minutes of basically not much. Sad.

Also they’re setting up for Tolya to fall in love with Inej (which I can’t blame him for, I mean, it’s Inej) and I’m like “uh, NO?” Not just because Kanej is THE SHIP for me, but because... Okay, no, I admit it’s just because Kanej is THE SHIP for me, but that’s my fault. Who knows, maybe they’ll make something interesting with this. I mean, they wouldn’t permanently break up one of the most iconic couples in literature just for the giggles or (dreaded) subversion of expectations, right?... Right..........?

For the rest of it, because I read the King of Scars duology, I’m kinda mad at some of the things they changed because I was expecting Alina and Mal to have a happily ever after taking care of their 500 orphans in Keramzin? I was expecting Genya to have SOME happiness before David is killed, just cut this girl some slack, would ya??? And Mal becoming Sturmhond?? Where did THAT come from??????? WHAT ABOUT INEJ GETTING HER OWN SHIP FROM KAZ AND FOLLOWING HER NEW-FOUND DREAM OF BECOMING THE SCURGE OF ALL SLAVERS?? Sure, she’s gotta find her brother first and then they gotta find their family and all, that’s fine I guess?? At least were giving THAT some room to breathe!!

*Sigh* Look. I got a couple of theories for why this is happening.

One: as previously mentioned, Leigh Bardugo and the rest of the team didn’t know what to do with the Crows so they put in the plot of Crooked Kingdom to buy time for them. I believe it’s well understood within fandom that Shadow & Bone couldn’t have gotten as big of a deal as it did if it weren’t for the Crows, but the Crows would have stood on their own easily enough without Shadow & Bone, so they needed to give them screen time from episode one forward to keep the audience, like they did with season 1. 

Two: Leigh Bardugo and the rest of the team don’t trust Netflix to renew the show to conclusion OR green-light the Six of Crows show (which, y’know, fair), and their faith is so shaky they decided it was best to have Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising put into a single season (heard book readers say this is what happened), plus bring in the Crooked Kingdom plot to at least give the book fans a consolation treat while still leaving enough loose ends to continue the story IF they do in fact get good news. And since I trust Leigh Bardugo to write a good story because she can, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt and willing to believe the second case is true, because that at least makes SOME sense. If the show gets cancelled and Six of Crows never comes to life, I can live with that.

All in all, it was a hell of a ride and I enjoyed myself. It’s not what I wanted, but I had fun and that’s all that matters in the end. I give Shadow & Bone season 2 a solid 7/10. Yup.

Crow out, or... something.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone season 2 #shadow and bone review #spoilers #a Crow's rants

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

Shadow & Bone 2x03 - “Like Calls to Like”: Review

It was so nice to watch the unfolding of the relationship between Alina and Nikolai. I will always remember when Nikolai proposed to Alina. 

In the books, right after the darkling I saw myself wishing of Nikolai for Alina. 

As for Kaz and his crew, it’s a pleasure to see the plan for Pekka Rollins to go down taking some major development. 

And it’s always a pleasure for the eyes to see Ben Barnes on screen.

So far, I really like this new season.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone 2 #shadow and bone season 2 #like calls to like #shadow and bone review #nikolai lantsov #alina x nikolai

[sunshine-singer]

Shadow & Bone Season 2 Rant/Review

Disclaimer: Not my first post on here being a rant, but here we go... I’ve only seen the first two seasons and only read Six of Crows, so forgive me if I don’t understand certain plot points... Also, these are my own opinions, so please be kind, and I’m sorry if I remembered some things wrong - so much happened this season! Spoilers ahead for the show and very slight ones for Six of Crows duology, so read at your own risk* 

So much has happened this season that I’ve had to get my Netflix up to remind myself what’s happened... anyways here we go:

Did I think the season was all bad? No. Will I still be watching season 2 again like I did with the first one? Yes. The acting was great, costumes were amazing, and I generally did enjoy the season. No issues with the actors at all - thought the portrayals were fantastic! Defo a big upgrade to last season! However, there were a few things I didn’t like:

So we start off with The Crows getting back to Ketterdam and Mal and Alina on the run. Was a great start, but the plots between the two started off feeling very disjointed, which I felt wasn’t an issue in the previous season. I also thought that they’d delve way more into Six of Crows and I’m a little disappointed that so much of The Crows’ storyline was Crooked Kingdom based... as I hadn’t got round to reading it yet. That’s fully on me though, as I made the decision to watch the second season without reading it first. However, I’m still confused plot wise about The Crows as it’s so different to the first book already - especially regarding Matthias and Nina. I just had a hard time wrapping my head around it, but maybe that is because I haven’t read Crooked Kingdom yet. I do feel like the fast pace ruined a lot of the build up for the relationships between all The Crows for me, and yet somehow Nina and Matthias didn’t move fast enough? Idk. 

While I do think the conversations towards the middle of the season regarding both Alina’s and Genya’s respective traumas were well handled, I can’t help but feel really disappointed by their storylines: 

Genya suffers under both the King and Kirigan, and then David comes into the picture and becomes her support. Then we see David sacrifice himself for Genya (or its heavily implied), and then we don’t come back to them for ages. No one even asks after her or asks where she is, and we don’t see her again until Adrik finds her. It just seems so unfulfilling to me that she doesn’t get a happy ending. I get it, it’s wartime, the stakes are real and not everyone is going to get one. It just seems so disappointing to me that Genya is characterised by so much trauma like that (like most the characters are to be fair, so this might be harsh) and then she has a bitter end to her story this season. Just very unsatisfying. Daisy Head is such a great actress though, and she did such a great job.

Alina’s conversation with Baghra about her time with Kirigan was a great watch. I did feel that her character was just sort of meh this season, but I’m not as into the Shadow and Bone plot as much as I am into The Crows, so maybe that plays a part in it. I felt that that particular scene was the only time I really connected with her character this season, but again, her storyline so far just seems so unsatisfying to me. She goes from not wanting to be the Sun Summoner; to then being manipulated by Kirigan; to then suffering from the after effects of his lies and deceit; to then having to kill Mal who is the man she loves; to bring him back and have him reject what they have (which I fully understood from his POV, just sucked for her); and then has seemingly corrupted herself with Merzost ... so resulting in her becoming the next ‘monster’ the Darkling said she would be? From the looks of it anyways. Again, not everyone is going to get a happy ending but it just feels so unfulfilling. I’m also a bit tired of the trope that entails the female hero choosing a guy over the greater good or corrupting themselves in the process. Again, understand why she did it, it’s just something I don’t enjoy.

Again, the Shadow and Bone plot is less interesting to me anyway, but I was so tired of Kirigan by the end. Very glad he died. I’m not sure if it was the actual character or his dialogue just sort of being cringe to me, but I just did not vibe with his character for the majority of the season. This was especially apparent to me in the last scene we got with him after the fold was destroyed. Again, props to the acting as Ben Barnes is great but the character just ended up not being for me.

I was looking forward to seeing Zoya again and was happy to see her this season. I do wish that she had properly apologised to Alina for how she behaved last season, I think I would’ve appreciated her more if they had a real heart to heart. Their conversation when they reunited was good but I still felt it was a bit lacking.

I’ve probably missed some things but this is already a long rant so thank you for sticking to the end! I might do a review for each episode as I watch the season again. Like I said before, still enjoyed it and all the new characters that came along this season were really likeable. So overall I’d still give the season a 7/10.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone spoilers #shadow and bone spoiler #mal oretsev #the crows #alina starkov #the darkling #general kirigan #genya safin #david kostyk #zoya nazyanelsky #shadow and bone review #shadow and bone rant #s&b #s&b show #s&b spoilers #s&b season 2 #shadow and bone season 2 #shadow and bone show #shadow and bone series #shadow and bone netflix #review #rant post #rant #s&b netflix #s&b s2

[haritube]

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #shadow and bone season 2 #shadow and bone trailer #shadow and bone cast #shadow and bone interview #shadow and bone season 1 #shadow and bone review #shadow and bone teaser #shadow and bone reaction #shadow and bone cast interview #kaz and inej #shadow and bone season 3 #shadow and bone season 2 review #shadow and bone season 2 trailer #shadow and bone season 3 release date #netflix shadow and bone #shadow and bone premiere #Youtube

[savethegrishaverse]

Just a reminder our fandom is large and trending on Tumblr- we aren't invisible! And no matter what happens, we aren't going anywhere!

#tumblr year in review #grishaverse #shadow and bone #six of crows #netflix shadow and bone #netflix #sab #soc #soc and ck #save the grishaverse #saveshadowandbone #save shadow and bone #six of crows spin off #six of crows fandom #sixofcrowsspinoff #no mourners no funerals #kaz dirtyhands brekker #kazzle dazzle #amita suman #kit young #jack wolfe #freddy carter #found family #leigh bargudo #leigh bardugo

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Wylan:

—

Inej:

—

Jesper:

—

Kaz:

—

Nina:

—

Matthias:

#soz yall #hurt my own feelings with this one #i was 👌🏻 this close to putting i could have been someone who lived for mattias #but it fit kaz better #what I went with for Matthias hurt my feelings more for him #i just reviewed it before posting and ow #im taking myself to jail for this #ok kaz gets two #my crows #my bubs #soc #six of crows #soc incorrect quotes #shadow and bone #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #inej gafha #kaz brekker #nina zenik #matthias helvar

[galaxydefenders03]

I love how 1 star book reviews are either like a whole analysis of the book and how the plot is bad and the characters are unrealistic and how the author is problematic etc or just "this book sucked lol"

#goodreads #goodreads reviews #1 star #bookstagram #bookblr #book memes #ya book memes #funny book memes #readblr #reader memes #the mortal instruments #simon snow series #harry potter #shadow and bone #the infernal devices #daisy jones and the six #the atlas six #a good girls guide to murder #reading memes #reader problems #book review #red white and royal blue #heartstopper

[ismahanescorner]

Six of Crows | Book Review

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

Release Date: 29/09/2015

Rating: 4.5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Synopsis:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . . A convict with a thirst for revenge A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager A runaway with a privileged past A spy known as the Wraith A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Review:

tw//: murder, mental illness, bad coping mechanisms, panic attacks.

so if you don’t already know, this novel is about a heist! Kaz Brekker gets a job worth millions of krugers to break someone outta the ice court. thus, he brings together a group of six misfits (the crows) to carry out this “impossible” mission! chaos ensues!

it’s been a few years since i read this book, yet i love it the same! i was a bit hesitant going in due to the overwhelming hype, cuz i had already read bardugo’s shadow and bone, and while it was good, it wasn’t a literary masterpiece! six of crows isn’t either; however, it lives up to the hype! i was throughly entertained and intrigued all throughout. additionally, i read this for my phd thesis and it provided me with valuable insights and data for conference papers!!

definitely recommend it, as well as the audiobook (it’s a full cast!!)!

#booknerd #bookworm #booklover #books #book review #ya #fantasy #six of crows #leigh bardugo #ya fantasy #ya mental health #shadow and bone #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #nina zenik #mathias helvar #helnik #jesper fahey #soc #book blogger #book tumblr #tumblr

[artemisiatridentata]

I just finished reading Fourth Wing after picking it up because of all the hype, and because I love dragons, and... I have to say it's the worst book I've read in quite a while lmao. the dragons were its only redeeming quality

#seriously not worth it y'all sorry #not tagging the title bc i don't want to rain on other peoples' parade #it just was notttt my cup of tea at all #if you like a court of thorns and roses you might like fourth wing. personally I hated ACOTAR for a lot of the same reasons #mainly: language and writing style that clashed painfully with the supposed genre #(fantasy characters saying shit like 'Holy. Fucking. Hot' and 'looking respectfully' and 'vibes' is just NOT believable lmao) #plus the characters and plot were very shallow! nothing was fleshed out! nothing made me *care* abt the characters! #the worldbuilding had sooo much potential but nothing was really explored and it felt so slapdash! #idk it just felt like a YA smut/romance remix of ACOTAR/Shadow & Bone/Divergent wearing a fantasy trenchcoat #it did have a lot of potential but i'm sorry to say the author did not manage to pull it off. :/ #oh well. at least the dragons were cool as hell #books #anti fourth wing #if you want to read my more coherent review just message me and i'll give you my goodreads info

[stromuprisahat]

Shadow and Bone season 2 review*

When the good guys kill people, it's Cool™. When the baddies kill people, it's EVIL! You can tell who is who by what the creators say in interviews…

This is what it looks like when incompetent screenwriters get their hands on an average book. Eight hours of action and embarrassing speeches, which - according to many reactions - successfully diverts attention from the psychopathically one-dimensional characters and primitive plot, possessing the naiveté of the first grade of elementary school. (You can recognize the good guys by the fact that they all know each other and like each other terribly.)

While the worldbuilding was only touched upon in the previous season, now they simply don't give a fuck about any of that. You learn all the necessary information five minutes before use, usually by lucky chance. Which, of course, doesn't matter, because the viewer is not expected to remember any of it, or perhaps to draw their own conclusions, not pre-chewed by one of the "heroes".

The book!Grishaverse introduced a caste of wizards physically dependent on their abilities, hated worldwide and persecuted for their "unnaturalness". The creators of the series dropped practically everything that distinguishes Grisha from dime a dozen fantasy mages, including the socio-political situation. They are left with a few random mentions, usually by the villain, who seems to live in a completely different reality than the one presented to the viewer.

If in the book fandom I encountered the observation that the world of Grisha is presented in a surprisingly anti-Grisha way, the second season of the show seems like pure propaganda of the ruling regime.

Are you different? Then cease being so… or perish!

#aleksander was completely right #the darkling was a general and acting like one #the darkling for the main character movement

* Yes, it took me over half a year only to translate this, why do you ask?!

#Shadow and Bone #season 2 #grishanalyticritical #The Righteous Gang™ #The Darkling #aleksander was completely right #the darkling was a general and acting like one #the darkling for the main character movement #The Cult of the Starless Saint #Cult of the Starless Saint #anti S&B writers #Written for a personal review on Czech movie database.

[that-sweet-thief]

just finished binge-watching season 2 of shadow and bone. my thoughts are mostly in disarray but the cringe is real.

this was an off-paced, haphazard fanfiction. it'd be just fine if the writers weren't paid for it but they actually are, so it's just... wow. I'm at best mediocre when writing in english and i reckon even i would do a better job of writing dialogue.

anyway, here's a list of my thoughts on the show, though it's more of a word vomit than a comprehensive series review:

no ivan or fedyor. immediate downvote for that alone. ivan should've survived so we could have a heartbreaking moment between him and fedyor across the two sides of the battlefield. i guess they thought there were too many characters and couples to juggle already. or maybe the actors weren't available, who knows.

costume design took a surprising turn for the worse: for example, nina's and zoya's dresses were eyesores. how anyone could make these two very attractive women look that frumpy i've no idea but they've managed. i liked sankta neyar's costume, sturmhond's coat aaand that's about it.

the settings were more varied, so glad we've seen a little of bhez ju. the introductory map-to-location shots were very helpful for people who haven't read the books, namely my gf who fell asleep halfway through the show. also, if the music had any tracks that weren't already from the first season i'll be incredibly surprised, it's that repetitive.

they've messed up nikolai as a character mainly because the actor misunderstood his assignment, though i don't know what else he could've done with the mess he was given. while he's still sympathetic, lovely and witty, paddy's nikolai thinks of sturmhond as just another disguise, rather than who he really is, to the point of gifting said disguise to mal. that's irreconcilable with my understanding of nikolai, whose real mask is the bastard prince.

tamar & tolya were better realised than expected. along with the exclusion of the soldat sol cult, their zealotry's scrapped which is a big win for them. i enjoyed their scenes, great casting too. though, as an ardent kanej fan, i cannot in good conscience support the blink-and-you'll-miss-it tolya/inej moment. tamar/nadia had maybe a minute of screen time but better than nothing.

sankta neyar was a pleasant surprise, great idea to show how powerful durasts can also be. people often disregard materialki so this was refreshing. what i liked about her is how formal, collected, old-fashioned she both appeared and acted, as if her manners and speech style were leftover from a few centuries ago, kudos to her actor tuyen do.

the crows' arc was... lacking in some way. maybe it's because pekka rollins' attitude towards kaz and his group is very different than how it was established in the books, here he was way too proactive and less secure in his position in ketterdam for some reason; anyway rollins' framing of the crows felt off to me.

the crows' character dynamics are interesting and the saving grace of the show, all kanej and wesper scenes were great. seriously, the tension of kanej & cuteness of wesper nearly destroyed me.

they did helnik dirty, of course, but that was a given.

freddy carter outperformed everyone this season, i really think out of all of them he's given the best performance, sometimes even better than ben barnes and that's practically heresy coming from me, his devoted fan since ages ago when i first saw narnia.

i kinda dig that they brought in a tidemaker (fruszi) who's practically an early version of zoya for the darkling's side but her death felt cheap. i mean, the crows arriving to help out nikolai and his team at the very last second was already eye roll inducing, but then nikolai shoots her in the neck? cheap. also, if she and zoya came to face off that'd be interesting since they share so many similarities. i personally don't think it will but if the series continued along with the darkling's canon resurrection, i wish she'd lived and replaced elizaveta, she certainly seemed devoted enough.

david and genya made me cry. that's all i have to say on them.

baghra... where do i even start with her? baghra's nonchalance, her one-eighty about deciding to help alina find more amplifiers is stark raving bonkers imho. yet at least most of her scenes weren't as bad as they could've been, her proving to mal he was the firebird and her saving genya as well as alina actually came across better than the ultra passive, constantly berating version in the books. her death felt less dramatic but more spiteful, though aleksander's reaction to her death was appropriately heartbreaking. ben & zoe sold it so well, my eyes actually welled up.

speaking of sasha, his death is soooo badly executed, it's impossible not to be pissed off at the way they filmed it. even the books were more sympathetic to his demise and alina herself showed much more empathy for him at the end. it's genuinely disturbing how they framed it, makes alina seem more like a villain than the reluctant hero she used to be. i guess it fits with the surprise ending: how she kinda becomes what she sought to destroy, poetic irony and all, but still...

aleksander's whole arc this season makes him seem more desperate and pathetic and so, less of a tyrant: he doesn't even take control of the country or more than a small group of grisha let alone become tsar, instead the apparat rules over ravka on behalf of the lantsovs till nikolai is coronated. he and his people constantly lose to some clever last minute thwarting by alina's allies. the only thing scary about him is the nichevo'ya, the shadow monsters, which in the books are entirely under his control and that of course makes it all the more terrifying. here though, sick and tired and dying, he's merely desperate and fearful. the lack of wins on aleksandr's part really defeats the purpose of the writers' continuous attempts at making him simply the most terrible, horrifying and supreme villain of gregverse.

nope, can't get over it, aleksander practically died in her arms in the books, here she just looks down at him like she's the villain. i guess she now is. oh and mal's retort to sasha about dying in her arms was somehow a foreshadowing, see, but sasha doesn't get that because he's evil, see? gosh, so patronising.

since they've constantly emphasised this season how it was the fold's and thus sasha's fault that grisha were persecuted (not that this explains the ceaseless mistreatment, endangerment and more often death that grisha face everywhere they go, of course, nor does it explain his backstory) i gathered they'd go for a retcon but i didn't imagine they'd exonerate baghra, the apparat and tie the border wars with shu han and fjerda to the fold's existence entirely. the reason the war broke out in the first place was because those countries' fundamental approach to grisha was to kill them or worse. that is what grisha persecution meant. and now... what, the war is over, just like that? i have no words.

also, the exclusion of the "don't let me be alone" line. now that I think about it, those writers should be fed to nichevo'ya.

alina, alina, alina... sure, she's a self-insert, so her motivations don't make sense anyway, but as sweet as jessie is and how hard she tries, show!alina is now an equally awful mess as book!alina. the two things i liked about her this season were her manipulation attempt through the tether and the ending where she goes a bit darkling. the latter, i really like. i wrote a fragment of a power reversal fic before but never put it up, might just do that now.

i'll admit: it's rather funny how mal dumps alina after losing his amplification because he doesn't feel the same way anymore. he doesn't know if it was him being an amplifier that made them love one another. see how easily he turns away from alina? if i were aleksander, I'd be laughing at her from the grave.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone spoilers #season 2 shadow and bone #season 2 spoilers #the grisha trilogy #book spoilers #siege and storm spoilers #ruin and rising spoilers #kind of a review #kind of a rant #mostly word vomit #grishaverse #pro darkling #anti baghra #make it make sense #at least the ending is better #aside from the way aleksander dies #anti s&b writers

[ch3rryh3arts]

#aesthetic #tumblr #art #soc fanfic #six of crows #leigh bardugo #crooked kingdom #shadow and bone #book review #booktok #neflix #fanart #shadow and bone fanart #tumblr memes

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

Shadow & Bone 2x08 - “No Funerals" : Review

Again, there was a foreshadowing with the Nichevo'ya in front of the Alina's mosaic in the chapel.

Sorry, but Alina and Mal have zero chemistry together.

At least, we got a old kiss of Alina and Aleksander together.

Foreshadowing : when Aleksander clarified that nothing of his should remind.

What an anti-climatic ending with Mal not dying. Who did that? It wasn't Nina for sure. Did Alina used Merzost?

I liked the book reference of the Five Crow.

I felt like a foreshadowing between Aleksander and Kaz's words regarding what's coming for Alina.

While talking about happily after, foreshadowing behind Kaz, with Alina and Nikolai.

Matthias' scenes are useless.

Why a bee fly to Zoya's shoulder? What happened when she was watching Aleksander's body alone?

Is Mal a reminder of Aleksander (has blood parent)?

Tolya being a new love interest for Inej? As he like beautiful poetry like Kaz.

Nina is such a use of character when she is in Ketterdam.

Kaz's stick/cane, he change the crow on its head.

Nikolai is a Nichevo'ya? Do Nikolai has a small part of Aleksander inside him? And just after he discovered it he went straight to Alina, interesting. As Tamar was also touched by the ice spike we can suppose the same.

At the end, the costumes are just speechless, so beautiful.

Alina must return the blade to another saint in Shu Han.

And now, Alina can do the cut with shadow? But what I don't understand Fjerdans hate Grisha.

It's definitive, Alina has better chemistry with Nikolai than Mal.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone 2x08 #shadow and bone review #shadow and bone season 2 #netflix series #alina starkov #nikolai lantsov #aleksander morozova

[klausbrekker]

Is it just me, or is Six Of Crows, like, the book I’ve been looking for my whole fucking life??? It’s just everything I’ve ever wanted.

Queer representation and relationships, good and well rounded female characters with not, totally dog shit/toxic love interests, found family, fantasy, mastermind, dark and angst but also sweet and funny.

I love it to bits and is now taken it’s rightfully place as one of my hyper-fixation next to, LOTR, The Witcher and SALLYFACE. If all these things appeal to you, READ IT!!!!

#booklr #books and reading #book review #bookish #neurodivergent #six of crows #shadow and bone #fanfic #queer books #angst