I appreciate that after forcing the entire Grishaverse fandom to wait on an official renewal of Shadow And Bone for over a month, Netflix finally dropped the hotly-anticipated announcement into the opening minutes of their Geeked Week fandom event as a sweet surprise for fans. Well, I say “surprise”, but let’s be honest, this was pretty much the worst kept secret at the streaming service. As Netflix confirmed today alongside the renewal, Shadow And Bone‘s first season was viewed by more than 55 million households in its first 28 days, making it a huge hit for the studio. Obviously, all those times I left the show playing in the background so it would boost streaming numbers actually worked.
Shadow And Bone | geekgirlauthority.com
There’s not much official information about Shadow And Bone‘s second season just yet, apart from confirmation that it will be eight episodes in length like the first (still too short, if you ask me, but whatever), and that the writer’s room has wrapped, with showrunner Eric Heisserer presiding (hurrah, I guess). Grishaverse author Leigh Bardugo will continue to be involved in her capacity as consultant and executive producer. And all of the main cast will return, including Jessie Mei Li, Freddy Carter, Ben Barnes, Amita Suman, Archie Renaux, and Kit Young, while Danielle Galligan and Calahan Skogman have been upgraded to series regulars in preparation for their greatly expanded roles next season. All good stuff.
But the reason Shadow And Bone exploded into the trending section of Twitter after the official announcement was because fans of Bardugo’s novels (including myself) are hyped for a bunch of new characters who will be joining the second season, if the show follows the books: Wylan Van Eck, the surprisingly formidable wayward son of a wealthy merchant who specializes in demolition while sustaining an adorable romance with the series’ resident bicon, Jesper Fahey; Nikolai Lantsov, the charismatic younger prince of Ravka who has his eyes set on the crown and an alliance with the Sun Summoner herself; and Tolya and Tamar, secretive twin mercenaries from Shu Han in league with a pirate. All of these characters come with their own fans, and Wylan in particular is extremely popular: as evidenced by the fact that he is still trending on Twitter as of this writing.
Shadow And Bone | hitc.com
Obviously, these and other major casting announcements can be expected in the near future – given that Geeked Week will continue for a few more days, and that day three is devoted specifically to fantasy, we might even get some new information then. But this reveal on its own is very exciting, and allows me to continue wildly theorizing and speculating about season two, with the assurance that season two is actually happening. There’s no word yet on when season two will begin filming or potentially debut on Netflix, although there’s no reason why, with the scripts already completed, it couldn’t go into production soon and be ready for release by the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023.
But while we wait, you can expect me to keep covering the show extensively (I may or may not be in the process of writing an entire breakdown of the top ten Six Of Crows scenes in Shadow And Bone‘s first season…), as well as pushing the show’s production team to address and fix mistakes made on the first season. I haven’t forgotten that someone behind-the-scenes (most likely the show’s stunt coordinator, based on what I’ve learned about the casting process) signed off on a white stunt double being hired for Amita Suman and then painted brown to match the Desi actress’ skin color. Eric Heisserer, who claims he was completely unaware of this, apologized on a Reddit forum to fans and to Suman: whether you accept his apology or not is up to you, but there’s clearly much more work to be done making sure the show’s inclusive messages are applied behind-the-scenes as well.
Kaz Brekker and Milo | nerdist.com
But what are you most excited to see when Shadow And Bone returns? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!
It’s a good year to be a fantasy nerd. Shadow And Bone just dropped on Netflix, a second season of The Witcher is deep into post-production, The House Of The Dragon is dropping set photos left and right, and Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings series is…well, it’s coming, it’s just taking its sweet time. Despite being literally the most expensive TV show ever filmed, and capitalizing on a built-in fanbase of millions around the world, The Lord Of The Rings hasn’t quite captured the attention of mainstream media just yet, or gotten people chattering outside of the Tolkienverse fandom.
Charlotte Brandstrom | m.imdb.com
That’s going to change soon, though. The first season is set to wrap post-production in early August, and before then we’ll likely see an official still from the set, maybe even a brief teaser. At this point, a title reveal would be nice. But until then, we have the exciting news that Charlotte Brändström has indeed joined the series’ production team as a director on two episodes of the first season, becoming the first woman to helm a piece of official Tolkienverse media (an important distinction from Fran Walsh directing key scenes in Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, something for which she does not get enough credit).
I want to give a shoutout to Fellowship Of Fans, a YouTube channel specializing in frequent and reliable updates on Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings series, including exclusive reporting based on admirable sleuth work. Fellowship Of Fans broke the news that Brändström was probably involved in the Amazon series some time ago, and their reporting has once again been proven accurate. With the prevailing trend in Tolkien fandom these days being to wildly exaggerate and hyperbolize any potential scoop (I’m not naming names, but…you know), Fellowship Of Fans’ high quality of reporting is extremely important.
But today, it’s been made official by Amazon themselves. Brändström is working on two episodes of The Lord Of The Rings, and multiple cast members – including Nazanin Boniadi and Ismael Cruz Córdova – have already congratulated her on social media. She joins J.A. Bayona and Wayne Che Yip as confirmed directors on the series, although we still don’t know for sure which episodes she’s directing.
The Witcher | pinterest.co.uk
Brändström, a Swedish-French director with an International Emmy Award nomination to her name, has had a long career in the TV industry, spanning multiple studios – but she’s probably best known for directing two episodes of The Witcher, something that bodes well for her work on The Lord Of The Rings. She has also directed episodes of The Man In The High Castle and Counterpart for Amazon, Outlander, Grey’s Anatomy, Arrow, and, most recently, Jupiter’s Legacy for Netflix (which I am very slowly making my way through, by the way. It’s not a very good show, but since I haven’t gotten up to either of Brändström’s episodes yet, I don’t really have anything to say about it that has any impact on the conversation at hand. But at this point, I’m continuing solely because I want to get a broader idea of her work.
The significance of a woman working to bring this new iteration of Middle-earth to life can’t be understated. The backbone of the Tolkien fandom has always been women, and it’s been kept alive this long by women, by people of color (particularly women of color), and by LGBTQ+ people – but that makes it all the more important that we acknowledge that this is only a small step in the right direction. A certain group of people will wring their hands about how a white cisgender woman directing two episodes of a Lord Of The Rings series is proof that “wokeness” is ruining Tolkien, but the truth is there’s not enough diversity behind the scenes yet, and I will continue to push Amazon to do better, especially when it comes to hiring Black people and people of color for leadership positions where their input can’t be ignored or sidelined.
Beyond that, there’s not much else to say. The announcement of Brändström’s involvement was accompanied by a photo of her standing in a mountainous environment in New Zealand, but it’d be pretty cool to see something substantial at this point – like a title logo, maybe? Please, Amazon? Anything so that I don’t have to keep calling it The Lord Of The Rings and then backtracking every five seconds to explain that it’s not actually The Lord Of The Rings!
The Lord Of The Rings | denofgeek.com
So what do you think? Where have you experienced Brändström’s work before, and what qualities do you foresee her bringing to the series? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!
SPOILERS FOR SHADOW AND BONE AND THE GRISHAVERSE NOVELS AHEAD!
One week since the premiere of Netflix’s Shadow And Bone, and my series of individual episode reviews is finally complete…but I’m the type of person who becomes hooked on a single show for a lot longer than just one week, and I know a lot of you out there are the same way. And I know – from personal experience, because this is how Netflix is – that there’s nothing more agonizing than binge-watching a show in a single day and then having to wait for another season, sometimes for years.
Alina and Mal | tvinsider.com
In the meantime, obviously we’re going to have to speculate about Shadow And Bone season two – which Netflix is waiting to officially confirm, although What’s On Netflix, a site with a very strong track record specializing in exclusive information about the streaming service, reports that a second season was renewed behind-the-scenes back in March. And with the first season trending very well in its first week and word-of-mouth strong, it doesn’t seem at all unlikely that season two is coming. It’s just a matter of when – and of course, where we’ll pick up with our beloved cast of characters.
Now, most of my big elaborate theories about things tend to miss the mark by a couple hundred miles (i.e. the Grim Reaper hint in WandaVision means that Ultron is returning!), so this post is going to take each main character in Shadow And Bone one-by-one and just sort of…sketch out their potential paths forward, drawing on information given in the books but taking into account the sorts of changes that Shadow And Bone has already made to the source material.
Alina Starkov
Alina Starkov | netflix.com
Last time we saw Alina in season one, she and her best friend Mal (platonic soulmates until proven otherwise; sorry, Malina shippers) were headed into the unknown on a ship, but their journeys promise to run parallel to the Crows for at least a little while, and I won’t be surprised if the duo take refuge in Ketterdam now that they need a place to lay low while Alina works on a plan for how to destroy the Shadow-Fold. In Siege And Storm, the second book in the original Grisha trilogy, Alina and Mal hide away in the town of Cofton in Noyvi Zem (where they actually meet a younger Jesper Fahey), but having them stay in Ketterdam declutters the story and requires one less set. In the book, she goes hunting for the second of Morozova’s legendary Amplifiers, a leviathan known as the Sea Whip, crossing paths with the buccaneer Sturmhond (more on him in a minute).
But if Alina and Mal do stay in Ketterdam rather than Cofton, and with Shadow And Bone now caught up to the main events of Six Of Crows, Alina might come into contact with a very different kind of Amplifier without even needing to take her adventure on the high seas. The plot of Six Of Crows revolves around the creation of a mysterious and addictive new drug known as jurda parem, which affects Grisha, enhancing their powers enormously, and often to a dangerous degree. Squallers who take it gain the ability of flight, Durasts turn lead to gold…just imagine what a Sun-Summoner could do. The drug circulates in secret around Ketterdam, but jurda is grown in Noyvi Zem around Cofton, so Alina could come in contact with it there too.
Mal Oretsev
Mal Oretsev | netflixlife.com
In the books, you can usually expect Mal to simply tag along behind Alina wherever she goes, thereby robbing her and himself of much independence. His role as her protector quickly leads to him becoming obsessively overprotective, and it’s…a lot, honestly. Shadow And Bone‘s showrunner Eric Heisserer said he wanted “Malina” to share their first kiss in season one but that others on the creative team objected; and that he plans to get his way in season two (the only thing that could ruin this show for me). I’ve already made it clear that I’d prefer Mal and Alina to grow individually outside of their borderline constricting relationship with each other…but the fact that I can’t hazard a guess as to where Mal could go apart from her shows that they haven’t done enough even on the show to distinguish their arcs.
The Crows (As A Team)
The Crows | polygon.com
Although some fans have been pushing for the Crows to spinoff into their own series (and I’d love for that to happen), I suspect their story and Alina’s will continue to run side-by-side in Shadow And Bone. And while I do think there’s a good chance we’ll see them embark on their infamous Ice Court heist in season two, their first order of business upon returning to Ketterdam will be taking care of their current client, Dreesen, and Pekka Rollins – so far, all we know of Kaz’s plan for that is that he needs a Heartrender neither man would recognize. Thankfully, I have a theory about how this might play out. We never learn what Dreesen wants with Alina Starkov, only that he’s a “wealthy merchant”…and Six Of Crows kicks off with the death of a wealthy merchant who’s been taking Grisha captive and testing jurda parem on them.
In the books, this merchant character is named Councilman Hoede, but it would be easy to switch the name to Dreesen. Hoede, it’s later revealed, was working on the jurda parem with a merchant named Jan Van Eck (who needs to be played by Richard E. Grant; this is not up for debate), who sends the Crows on the mission to the Ice Court. My theory is that when the Crows return to Ketterdam in season two, Jan Van Eck will end up taking care of Dreesen for them – not out of the kindness of his heart, but to cover his tracks and erase evidence of the link between the two merchants. Then he’ll track down the Crows with his own offer of five-million kruge to break into the Ice Court and kidnap jurda parem‘s creator, the Shu Han alchemist Bo Yul-Bayur.
Kaz Brekker
Kaz Brekker | geekculture.co
But if my theory is correct, that still doesn’t solve the problem of Pekka Rollins – whose agents will probably be waiting for Kaz Brekker and the Crows as soon as their ship docks in Ketterdam. Fighting Pekka gives Kaz a personal stake in season two, and provides an organic opportunity to peel back layers of his history with Pekka via flashbacks. In the books, this backstory is gradually revealed over the course of Six Of Crows, and I hope Shadow And Bone is similarly patient, rather than dumping it all at once. I also hope to see more of Kaz’s brilliance as a strategist: constructing bigger, more elaborate plans, and collecting information on everybody – including Jan Van Eck’s son, Wylan, whom in the books he lures into his gang as leverage over the merchant.
Inej Ghafa
Inej Ghafa | asiaone.com
While Inej will always be a major part of the Crows’ storyline, she also has her own character arc apart from the team – and the end of season one hints at that, with Inej suggesting to Kaz that she’s not committed to staying in Ketterdam. This is true to the books, where Inej has a lifelong dream to explore the world on her very own ship, but Shadow And Bone gives Inej an opportunity to pursue that dream much earlier than the books – especially since the buccaneer named Sturmhond might be rolling into town any day now. Another storyline worth exploring (and one that could tie into Sturmhond’s arc) is one from Crooked Kingdom, where Inej is hunted by an assassin named Dunyasha Lazareva, who claims to be an heiress to Ravka’s royal family – and whom Inej believes to be her “Shadow”.
Jesper Fahey
Jesper Fahey | elitedaily.com
Shadow And Bone‘s first season dropped numerous hints to the fact that Jesper is a Grisha Fabrikator – specifically a Durast capable of manipulating metals and other solid materials, something that possibly contributes to his skills as a sharpshooter. Ivan the Heartrender senses his power during one of their duels, but Jesper later shoots him dead, thus protecting his secret; which he’s kept hidden since watching his mother – herself a Durast – die while using her power to absorb poison into her own body. This could be explored through flashbacks in season two, but a major element of Jesper’s story going forward will be his relationship with Wylan Van Eck; the Six Of Crows duology’s most prominent LGBTQ+ romance.
Nina Zenik
Nina Zenik | elitedaily.com
With Nina’s backstory having already been adequately explored in Shadow And Bone‘s first season, she can only go forward from here. As in the books, she’ll be entering Ketterdam on the same ship as Matthias Helvar, but whereas the Fjerdan will be shipped off to Hellgate prison, Nina will be in need of work to survive – and in the show, she’s just made the acquaintance of Kaz Brekker, who’s looking for a Heartrender. In the books, it’s mentioned that Nina was forced to choose between working for Kaz or Pekka Rollins when she arrived in Ketterdam, ultimately choosing Kaz after Inej hand-delivered his business-proposal by scaling a six-story building in the pouring rain (a scene I’d love to see reenacted). I think the same will hold true in Shadow And Bone, but Nina’s previous service for The Darkling might be a cause for conflict if it ever comes up again.
Matthias Helvar
Matthias Helvar | elitedaily.com
While Nina gets deluged with opportunities, Matthias will be rotting in Hellgate next time we see him – and blaming the Heartrender for his troubles. In Six Of Crows, he spends months imprisoned, but the physical and emotional toll it takes on him is apparent thanks to two things that won’t work in the show: firstly, his long golden locks are shaved off (whereas in the show, he’s only had short hair); and secondly, he’s forced to kill wolves, sacred animals to the Fjerdans, in prison cage-fights. Shadow And Bone worked some wolf-imagery into the Fjerdan costume design, but never touched on the significance of that choice, unfortunately. Regardless, it won’t be long before Kaz has a reason to break Matthias out of Hellgate, whether for his first-hand knowledge of the Ice-Court or something else.
The Darkling
The Darkling | tvline.com
After staggering from the Shadow-Fold with Volcra scars lacing his beautiful face and his fabulous black kefta irreparably shredded, The Darkling is going to be on a war-path in season two – and in Shadow And Bone‘s closing moments, he displays the ability to command an army of shadow warriors called nichevo’ya, who will become his greatest weapon in the ongoing battle for Ravka. In the books, he hunts down Alina, and forces her to join him on a quest for the second Amplifier, employing the privateer named Sturmhond to guide them through the frigid northern seas. In the show, if Alina remains in Ketterdam, that means The Darkling may have another chance to match wits with Kaz Brekker when he comes for her…but directly tying him into the Ice Court heist will be difficult.
Honorable Mentions:
Nikolai Lantsov
There are few characters who pop up more frequently throughout the Grishaverse than Nikolai Lantsov, the illegitimate prince of Ravka who first appears while disguised as a privateer named Sturmhond and pretending to work with The Darkling. Nikolai’s charisma wins him many fans among the general population, but he suffers the constant disdain of his older brother Vasily – an incompetent elitist who gets exactly what he deserves in the end. In Shadow And Bone, the Ravkan royal family hasn’t been very well-established yet, nor has any mention been made of the young prince and his flying ship, but Nikolai is coming in season two; and we can expect his casting to be a big deal.
Wylan Van Eck
Although I’ve never loved Wylan’s character as much as I love some of the other Crows, I’m very interested to see how he’ll be adapted. His backstory certainly lends itself to dramatic adaptation, with his father Jan Van Eck disowning him on account of his dyslexia and attempting to have him murdered to protect the Van Eck family’s reputation in high society. Wylan goes into hiding and changes his name, setting himself up as a “passable” demolitions expert while retaining some of his aristocratic snobbery. Ironically, it’s his connection to Jan that lands him on the Ice Court heist, as Kaz is under the impression that he can be used as leverage over Jan; learning too late that the merchant would happily kill his own son. Eric Heisserer has promised that Wylan will “a hundred percent” be in Shadow And Bone‘s second season.
So which Grishaverse character is your favorite, and where do you want to see them end up in season two? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!
My Shadow And Bone coverage has always made one thing clear: first and foremost, I am here for the Crows. I am here to watch them plan out genius schemes to the most minute detail, mess everything up, and still somehow pull off a miraculous save in the end thanks to quick thinking and a little bit of luck. That’s why Shadow And Bone isn’t my favorite of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse novels, but Six Of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are (Crooked Kingdom actually slightly more so, because it’s got heists but also intrigue) – and that’s why episode five of Netflix’s Shadow And Bone is where the series crosses over from “good” to “great” in my opinion.
Jesper Fahey, Kaz Brekker, and Inej Ghafa | tvguide.com
Because this is the heist episode. I was surprised it happened so early, I’ll be honest: when Shadow And Bone‘s trailers revealed that the Crows would be plotting to abduct Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), I was convinced that a kidnapping attempt of that scale would have to wait until the finale. But weaving the heist story into one of the most iconic and dramatic chapters of Shadow And Bone, the one in which Alina herself is forced to flee from the Little Palace after discovering the truth about The Darkling (Ben Barnes), is so much more brilliant from a storytelling standpoint – and it means we don’t have to wait until season two for interactions between Shadow And Bone characters and Six Of Crows characters, which is a plus.
It also means the writers of Shadow And Bone had to craft an original heist worthy of criminal mastermind Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), and Grishaverse author Leigh Bardugo – no easy feat, I’m sure. There’s a balance that must be achieved in a perfect heist story between coherence and complexity, and it can be hard to find, but I’m firmly of the belief that a heist should never be too simple: especially not when Kaz Brekker is putting together the plan. Some of the best I’ve read, including Bardugo’s, are those that involve many intricate moving parts, which no amount of Fabrikator fine-tuning can prevent from inevitably getting stuck or jamming up the works – resulting in beautiful, uncontrollable, chaos.
That’s why it’s also important that a heist story have characters with distinct strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. That last bit is crucial, because even if a plan is seemingly foolproof, people always have the potential to be unpredictable: to make an error in their calculations because they overlooked something; to get distracted or overwhelmed in the heat of the moment; to feel cocky and think they can outwit the original plan; to make any number of decisions, each one coming with its own risks and consequences. To break the machine, you first have to give it a little push.
The heist in Shadow And Bone‘s fifth episode works precisely because it fails so spectacularly, because Kaz and his crew (and a host of other characters unaware of the Crows’ scheme) don’t, and in some cases can’t, stick to the plan. Multiple subplots converge, people start pushing from all sides, the machinery catches fire (figuratively, of course: though come to think of it, a Grisha Inferni does play a significant role in this episode), and it’s a joy to behold. Another important thing about heist stories: the chaos you cause when the plan goes wrong must be as carefully orchestrated and thrilling as the premise of the original plan.
But anyway, now that I’ve made myself look entirely pretentious with that little writing lecture, let’s break down the heist itself. The premise is at first glance simple: infiltrate the Ravkan winter fête in disguise, find Alina Starkov, and kidnap her. Alina unwittingly makes the Crows’ job easier when she sneaks out of the Little Palace to see the circus, attending an exaggerated theatrical performance of her own exploits in the Shadow-Fold (in which she is portrayed by a blonde white woman) and giving Jesper Fahey (Kit Young) a clear visual of her before she’s hurriedly escorted off by the Grisha Heartrender Fedyor (Julian Kostov).
The plan as relayed to the Crows’ guide, Arken (Howard Charles), is for Arken to sneak into Alina’s room using a lodestone to bypass the Fabrikator locking-device on the door, there to lie in wait for the Sun-Summoner after her own performance at the party. But when Alina does return to the room accompanied by the Tailor Genya Safin (Daisy Head), Arken doesn’t even hesitate before leaping on the Sun-Summoner and slitting her throat: one of the most horrifying and shocking moments in the season.
But like a Russian nesting-doll, it’s all part of a plan within a plan: and Kaz has been playing Arken since the very beginning of their partnership, having long suspected what soon becomes blindingly apparent – that Arken’s lucrative business of smuggling Grisha out of Ravka for a fee depends on the Shadow-Fold existing to keep them trapped and out of options in their homeland. He never wanted to capture Alina: he wanted her dead, and he foolishly believed he could manipulate the Crows into helping him kill her. But Kaz, ruthless mastermind that he is, sent Arken after Alina Starkov’s decoy, a part being played by the young Grisha Inferni Marie (Jasmine Blackborow) – who does die, sadly; but perhaps less horribly than in the books.
The Darkling | inews.co.uk
Kaz and Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman), meanwhile, are more than happy to abandon the treacherous Conductor to the whims of the Grisha, and I love their casual use of the phrase “lynx flush” to describe the trap they set for him – they’re precious cinnamon rolls, yes, but they are also vicious and extraordinarily dangerous, and I love them for it. As they weave their way in and out of various disguises, keeping close to the real Alina, we also get to see more of Kaz’s cynicism (he’s convinced Alina’s lightshow is a trick using mirrors) and Inej’s faith (her reverent use of the term “Sankta Alina” foreshadowing the name she will later give to one of her fourteen knives).
I’m also a big fan of the immediate cut to Jesper whispering “Saints!” (a common Grishaverse exclamatory phrase) no less reverently, but for a very different reason – having just successfully seduced one of the Little Palace’s handsome stable-hands. I was worried Jesper’s canonical bisexuality wouldn’t be addressed in this season, but Shadow And Bone actually improves and increases diversity across the board, with several other supporting characters being either stated or implied as LGBTQ+ – most notably Fedyor and the Grisha Heartrender Ivan (Simon Sears), confirmed by Mei Li to be a couple in an interview where the actress also said Alina herself could be queer. Fingers crossed!
But as Mei Li noted in the interview, Alina’s strongest relationship is probably always going to be with Mal Oretsev (Archie Renaux), who also returns in this episode – throwing Kaz’s plans into disarray despite the two never even crossing paths. Mal is simply answering The Darkling’s call for information about Morozova’s Stag, word of which quickly reaches the ears of Baghra (Zoë Wanamaker) on the other side of the palace grounds. Racing against Joseph Trapanese’s pounding score, Baghra unleashes her loyalists to find and kill Mal before he can speak to The Darkling. They reckon without Mal’s own ingenuity, as the tracker refuses to tell The Darkling where to find the Stag until he’s allowed to see Alina.
And then there’s Alina herself, the most unpredictable cog in the entire machine. She and The Darkling share their first kiss in this episode, and then another, and then one more improvised by Ben Barnes. The Darkling even gifts her a bouquet of blue irises, which he learns from Mal are Alina’s favorite flowers. It’s clear that things are about to get a lot more intimate when Ivan suddenly intrudes on the couple’s rendezvous in the map-room to warn The Darkling of Arken’s assassination attempt, throwing cold water on all the heat and passion. But all of it – the romance, the found family, the sense of belonging – is all part of The Darkling’s plan to keep Alina happily subservient.
Book readers know all too well the pain of first learning the truth about The Darkling – but when Baghra gives Alina the full rundown on his origins and agenda, I hope newcomers to Shadow And Bone will be as shocked as we were once upon a time. The Darkling created the Shadow-Fold centuries ago, and has lived countless lifetimes since, changing his name, faking his death, always returning to help the Grisha increase their power and social status until all of Ravka is reliant on them – but now, with technological progress changing the game, he needs to absorb Alina’s power to expand the Fold, not destroy it.
Shadow And Bone doesn’t force any unnecessary conflict into this revelation – yeah, Alina’s not too happy about discovering her new boyfriend is an ageless genocidal tyrant, but the facts are all laid out in front of her and there’s not much room for her to deny or deflect the accusations. She can’t stay in the Little Palace, so Baghra helps her escape through a system of tunnels built into the Palace walls that eventually lead her to the very same courtyard where, what do you know, Jesper Fahey is waiting with the Crows’ escape-ride.
Alina Starkov | geekgirlauthority.com
Kit Young’s nervous laughter and expressions of relief and disbelief as he watches Alina literally climb into a luggage-trunk on the back of the carriage effortlessly sells the whole scene. As the trio drive off into the night, their heist completed and their mission this close to success, it feels good to be a Crows fan, I’ll tell you that. Could your comfort character have pulled all that off? No, I didn’t think so.
