It’s no secret. Ever since the massive success and popularity of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” every other streamer out there has been trying to find its new Fantasy/Action Sci-Fi favorite that will garner the following that GOT did upon its 8-Year run.
Trailer:
Amazon Prime Video is certainly trying to make it happen with its “Lord of the Rings” prequel series and they have invested heavily to ensure its success…almost $500M worth. Starz has made decent work out of “Outlander” and even Netflix saw a large audience for it’s adaptation of “The Witcher” in 2019. What no one has really tapped into yet, is the Young Adult Fantasy audience, at least until now.
“Shadow and Bone” is a YA Novel adapted for Netflix based off of Leigh Bardugo 2012 Novel. The premise is similarly related to the themes of “Hunger Games” and “Divergent” and follows the trope of a young woman living in a dystopian world who becomes the key to the world, or in this case, kingdom’s survival against dark and nefarious forces.
While the above shows more focus on older, adult characters, “Shadow and Bone” follows the lives of teenagers, caught up in a war between the Grisha, magical beings that can alter Earth's elements as weapons and the rest of the world. The key to survival? Alina Starkov (newcomer, Jessie Me Li) who possesses a rare magic that can either free her people or further enslave them under the watchful eye of The Darkling (Ben Barnes).
The fantasy world is a bit confusing and hard to explain, but to put in more understandable terms, essentially there is a dark force called “The Fold” that was created hundreds of years ago separating the land of Ravka into separate sides, East and West. No one knows how “The Fold” was created, but the large, destructive land mass has caused disparity among the lands for hundreds of years. As people search for an effort to destroy “The Fold” they encounter Alina, an orphan with magical powers who possesses the key to bring balance between the two lands.
Unable to use or control her magic, Alina finds help with The Darkling who is the Commander of the Grisha, the magical people who help keep the balance within the lands of Ravka. However, The Darkling seems to have plans of his own. Torn between her growing feelings for The Darkling and her desire to re-unite with her best-friend Mal, Alina begins to find a new place in the world.
The Novel Series is based on the Trilogy of Books and overlaps with the Series’ Spin Off “Six of Crows.” These two series are told in separate timelines in the book, however have been re-written to fall within the same timeline in the TV Series.
If you are thinking about investing in the series, please do. It is being produced by Shawn Levy and his company, 21 Laps Entertainment, who was in charge of “Stranger Things.” The show is action-packed, full of your favorite fantasy tropes like love-triangles, betrayal and … magic. “Shadow and Bone” lives up to the hype and would encourage viewers who enjoy fantasy romances to invest.
Trust me, you’ll thank me for watching.
And that’s the sitch.
Comentários