The two books follow the Dregs, a gang of teenagers including Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter on the show), Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman), and Jesper Fahey (Kit Young) as they plot a series of incredible heists in the capital city of Kerch (another country in the Grishaverse).

These books are solely focused on Alina’s story and Ravka.īut the show’s subplot, which opens in Ketterdam, follows characters from Bardugo’s second Grishaverse installment, a duology of books titled Six of Crows (2015) and its sequel, Crooked Kingdom (2016).

The series title is taken from the first book in the author’s main Grishaverse trilogy, also titled Shadow and Bone, published in 2011 (the other two books are 2013’s Siege and Stormand 2014’s Ruin and Rising). The TV show is actually based on two Bardugo book series. If you only just discovered this series and have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a breakdown of where the plot points and characters from the first season originated. The same is true for Shadow and Bone: Netflix’s newest fantasy offering is based on the books by Leigh Bardugo, but it’s more complicated than that.

‘Shadow and Bone’ Is Now Filming Season 2Īs any fantasy lover knows, these worlds aren’t usually created solely for the screen they’re often adapted from series that have a huge following.

Jessie Mei Li on Their ‘Shadow and Bone’ S2 Hopes.

I should pause here to quote Vulture’s Maggie Fremont: “If you’re out here calling Grisha people with ‘magic powers,’ you better check yourself, okay? As the novels explain, Grisha powers aren’t really ‘magic’ but more of a mastery of ‘manipulating matter at its most fundamental levels.’” Fremont is right, but the Netflix series definitely positions Grisha as “magic people,” because “manipulating matter” is a little heavy to get into when you just want to chill with a new series and pizza on a Friday night.

She’s a cartographer in the First Army of the kingdom of Ravka who discovers she has magical powers Alina is actually a Grisha, one of the residents of Ravka who can practice magic. My love affair with this Netflix series and the Grishaverse mostly has to do with the fact that the heroine, Alina Starkov ( Jessie Mei Li), is someone you immediately want to champion. Shadow and Bonechanged all of that for me. This is not meant as shade to any fantasy stans reading this-I really respect you! I've just…never felt like one of you. I usually find the worlds too packed with details I can’t follow, the names too long and confusing, and the fan bases so intense they’re intimidating. Let’s make one thing clear: I don’t love fantasy. Mild spoilers for Shadow and Bone season 1 below.

Shadow and bone novel