Everything to know about 'Shadow and Bone' before it airs
Over the past few years, Netflix has established a strong track record in original fantasy adaptations including The Witcher, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and The Umbrella Academy. The streaming service is adding to their magical roster with Shadow and Bone, premiering on April 23rd, but those who haven't read the books might not know exactly where this elaborately costumed, fantastical world is coming from. If you have questions about Shadow and Bone before it airs, here's where you'll find answers. If you have no idea what's going on right now, let's start with the trailer.
What is Shadow and Bone?
Shadow and Bone is an upcoming Netflix series adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's bestselling "Grishaverse" collection of books. Even though the show bears the title of the first book in Bardugo's Grisha trilogy, Shadow and Bone is more than a direct adaptation of one novel. It pulls storylines from Shadow and Bone the book and combines them with elements and characters from Bardugo's other works in the same universe — notably the Six of Crows duology.
You keep saying "grisha" like I'm supposed to know what that means.
Right. Grisha is a word used in Bardugo's universe to refer to people who have magic powers. It's kind of a group noun i.e. "those grisha over there" and also a way to identify someone like "look out, she's grisha." There are three main kinds of grisha in Shadow and Bone: Summoners, who control elements like water, wind and fire; Corporalki, who can manipulate the human body; and Fabrikators, who work with chemicals or solid matter to invent magical items.
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Being grisha is a rare, inborn talent in the world of Shadow and Bone, and some types of magic are rarer than others. There is only one known grisha who can summon Darkness and a mythical, never-before-seen type of grisha called a Sun Summoner. That hypothetical grisha can summon Light.
What do grisha do with all that magic?
War, mostly. The world of Shadow and Bone is a vaguely 19th century fantasy-Eurasian analogue that, like Europe and Asia in the 19th century, can't stop doing war. The main setting is Ravka, a not-Russia where grisha are revered as powerful members of the king's magical army. Other countries in the universe deal with grisha differently. They're reviled in Fjerda to the north, tolerated in Kerch to the west, and exterminated in Shu Han to the south.
Ravka is geographically cut in half by the Fold, a region of pure darkness inhabited by monsters, which makes traveling back and forth between east and west Ravka very dangerous. The non-magical population of Ravka depend on the grisha to cross the Fold for supplies and to give them an edge on the battlefield. This is all important, I promise. The human geography of Shadow and Bone is half the fun.
Who are the main players in Shadow and Bone?
There are quite a few. In Shadow and Bone the book, our main characters are:
Alina Starkov
Alina Starkov is an army cartographer who discovers her grisha powers years after most people come into theirs.
Mal Oretsev
Mal Oretsev is a skilled tracker and Alina's normie best friend. They grew up together in an orphanage.
General Kirigan
General Kirigan is a character who does not go by that name in the books but is very obviously a unique grisha who can control Darkness.
As for Six of Crows, we've got:
Kaz Brekker
Kaz Brekker is the leader of a Kerch gang called the Crows. a gangster from Kerch who...likes money and always wears gloves (I'm trying to keep this vague here).
Jesper Fahey
Jesper Fahey is a Crow and sharpshooter with a very smart mouth.
Inej Ghafa
Inej Ghafa is a Crow, a spy, an acrobat, and an all-around useful lady who isn't as ruthless as Kaz or Jesper.
Nina Zenik
Nina Zenik is a Ravkan grisha who is in the wrong place at the wrong time very often.
Matthias Helvar
Matthias Helvar is a Fjerdan witch hunter who is frankly enormous.
You don't have to remember all of them now. It's just best to know there are a lot of characters coming this season. Not quite Game of Thrones level, but close.
How is Shadow and Bone combining books from two different series?
Well, that's an interesting question. The characters in the disparate Grishaverse series don't cross over in the books, but from the looks of the trailers Season 1 will more or less faithfully adapt Shadow and Bone while providing a new, prequel-type plot for the characters from Six of Crows. Whether or not Alina and Mal will meet up with Kaz, Jesper, and Inej remains to be seen.
Is there anything else I need to know?
Not really, go forth and enjoy the imperial drama and fantasy stylings of Shadow and Bone! Maybe take notes if you get lost.
Shadow and Bone premieres on Netflix April 23.
Topics Netflix
Alexis Nedd is a senior entertainment reporter at Mashable. A self-named "fanthropologist," she's a fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero nerd with a penchant for pop cultural analysis. Her work has previously appeared in BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Esquire.
