Shadow and Bone Season 2

Created by: Eric Heisserer and Leigh Bardugo

Rating: that’s hot 🔥

Season two picks up from where we last left our Sun Summoner, Alina Starkov, and her childhood friend/Tracker, Malyen Oretsev, on the run, hunting for more amplifiers to help her bring down the Shadow Fold in Ravka. We also head back to Ketterdam, where Alina's newest allies, The Crows, soon find out that their biggest rival has taken over all of the barrel. Not only will our beloved characters meet new allies along the way, but they have to once again go against the villain of the show, the Darkling, Aleksander. The Darkling survived his supposed "death" in the fold and, thanks to Merzost, has acquired worse creatures than the Volcra, Shadow Monsters, to wreak havoc on Ravka and beyond.

Wow, did Season 2 of Shadow and Bone take me on a whirlwind of emotions, not from the story itself. Let's start from the beginning. I immensely enjoyed season 1 of Shadow and Bone so much that I decided to delve into the Grishaverse (the world created by Leigh Bardugo) by reading all the books as soon as I finished season 1. Now was it clever of me to read the books before the show ended so I didn't go into future seasons with the mindset of a book reader? Probably not, but I digress. What I loved about season 1 is how it mimicked the first book of the Grishaverse trilogy Shadow and Bone (I mean word for word). Now moving on to season 2, I was so hyped, considering how well season 1 was, and closely followed the books. I didn't know that the newest season combined the last two books of the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the second book of the Six of Crows duology (my favorite book series of the Grishaverse). 

Now you can understand then that my reaction to season 2 was, for all intents and purposes, a big clusterfuck of confusion. It does not mean I didn't enjoy moments of season 2, but wow, did they rush through those books in the show way too fast. My initial reaction to watching it the first time around sent me on a downward spiral of "that is not how the book ended," or "this part is being revealed way too soon in the series," or my favorite, "they better not put Inej and Tolya together." With all that in mind, I felt that they crammed way too much in such a short amount of time that it all felt rushed (I mean, they could've strung for more episodes in the season), and had I not read the books I would've been even more confused during some scenes. So yeah, season 2 put me through the wringer on my first watch. That's not to say that there weren't some great moments. I mean, anytime my Crows (a little background: that consists of Kaz Brekker, a ruthless but loyal conman, and his skilled crew Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, and Matthias) are on the screen is going to be amazing and super entertaining. The visuals, music, CGI, and cinematography were still so spectacular, which is what drew me to the first season. However, upon reflection (i.e., reading some interview articles from the creator, rewatching, and not being in the mindset of a book reader), I enjoyed series two a lot more. I won't lie and say that I was entirely over the moon the second watch-through because, as I said, some scenes felt rushed through and introduced too early, but I didn't have a meltdown the second time around. As usual, the actors did a fantastic job, and even the newer cast members did so well playing their characters (they picked the perfect actors to play Wylan, Nikolai, Tamar, and Tolya).

I also still feel that Shadow and Bone are worth the watch. I can understand how the creators of the series want to expand beyond the books and why they chose to go in the direction they did toward the ending, but I do hope they still stick to parts of what made me fall even more in love with the series in the first place (i.e., the books themselves). P.S. I hope Netflix not only picks up Shadow and Bone for a third season but that we finally, finally get our Six of Crows spin-off. Season 2 didn't have enough of the crows, and I felt starved of their appearance on my screen. I want more! The Six of Crows duology and its characters are my absolute favorite thing about the books and the shows, so yeah, I'm looking at you, Netflix. You better give us our Six of Crows spin-off.

Review written by Veena Saco