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Critic Reviews
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That's the real magic trick a show like this has to pull off — creating a universe that feels fresh to newcomers, without alienating them or feeling too confusing. Like so many things in life, the key ingredient turns out to be the people involved. And in the case of both the fictional characters and the cast and crew, the people of Shadow and Bone deliver.
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Shadow and Bone delivers pure escapism with timely social commentary and good old fashioned soapy storytelling. It is the next big fantasy sensation. ... This show is extremely dense. ... For Grishaverse virgins, Shadow and Bone could prove to be overwhelming.
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It lands across the board with its production value, tone, visual effects, and engaging characters, culminating in an exhilarating season finale which all points to a potential large-scale hit. Of particular success is how well Heisserer and his writers set up the required mythology in eight episodes without being exhausting, all the while deftly laying their emotional foundation: the bond between Alina and Mal.
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It is the rich cast of characters and excellent world-building that make Shadow and Bone worth sticking with after a bit of a slow start that's admittedly due to the ambition of the project.
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Though it’s full of worldbuilding lore that might hinder newcomers, Shadow and Bone is the best sort of adaptation for longtime fans: one that might just possibly be better than the source material.
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The success of “Shadow and Bone” Season 1 is that it works so effectively as the first installment of a potential trilogy. By the end, as the show is addressing ideas of hypermilitarization, class stratification, and the fraught nature of prophecy, it’s apparent that there’s more going on inside this season than is readily available on the surface. Here’s hoping there’s a chance for even more to shine through.
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As vaguely sketched as its world remains by the end of this season, its characters leap right off the page—and their stories seem guaranteed to leave viewers, non-readers and Grisha obsessives alike, eager for more.
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The performances are steady, the episodes well-paced, and the dialogue, outside of all the world-building jargon, is sharply composed. Altogether, “Shadow and Bone” maintains a sense of interior place for the characters dealing with plot developments as varied as mean girl dynamics, geopolitical posturing, and body horror, and the well-balanced nature of this first season makes for a promising introduction into this franchise’s fantastical universe.
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Shadow and Bone is good clean fun with a vengeance (with the potential exception of a coyly-shot gay sex scene). Those who watched Game of Thrones for the nudity and cruelty may find it lacking that spicy kick, but this is fantasy with heart, a towering imagination and a genuine new take on the genre. It could be a real phenomenon for Netflix.
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For the most part, though, “Shadow and Bone” doesn’t bite off more than it can chew, focusing its energy on fleshing out its characters and universe in a way that could sustain it beyond any single book. ... Li’s Alina, a heroine as believably vulnerable as she is bold. Should Netflix give its “Shadow and Bone” enough time beyond this installment to unravel its many tangled threads, there’s little doubt that this version of Alina can sustain it.
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Shadow And Bone is an engrossing experience, if not an especially novel one. The series plays a bit with our expectations of the genre, including the makings of a hero and of redemption. But even when we can see the turn, it’s no less riveting. That might be its greatest trick.
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As "Shadow" unfolds, it's frustrating to see the rushed and haphazard way in which the world is built and the characters are introduced. Every bit of exposition feels incomplete. I can see the holes in the plots and characterization, and my knowledge of the books easily fills them in. But summer reading can't be required for a TV show. It's not until midway through the season that things start to fall into place for novice viewers.
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The action and characterisation feels less convincing than it did in the simpler, less sprawling book story, almost like the rush to expand the story left it contracted in the ways that really matter.
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Some elements are overly familiar and others overly confusing, but Shadow And Bone will draw you into the Fold with its absorbing world-building and engaging lead duo.
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For every line intended to clarify how it all works, Shadow and Bone seems to accidentally do the opposite. ... Eventually, when all, or at least most, of the characters come together in various formations late in the series, Shadow and Bone’s design does make some sense. ... Shadow and Bone is at its best when it is small and fun, which is what does eventually happen with the Kaz story, or when it’s big and clear.
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Overall, Shadow and Bone leaves you with the unusual impression that the weaknesses in the TV version might be more to do with the source material than the treatment. Between the silly names and mythology, this is a thorough, detailed production, with crisp special effects and likeable lead performances from a diverse bunch. We get glimpses of several interesting characters, but on the whole, they are relegated in favour of the main tale.
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Complications ensue, super powers are wielded, all as you’d expect. Actors keep straight faces despite the silliness (possibly a real superpower) and the show maintains a young adult sheen. It flows by, which is all it intends to do.
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Add Shadow and Bone to the long list of efforts to establish new fantasy series in the post-"Game of Thrones" era, in this case with a fairly generic tale of a war-riven world and a young woman who learns she has spectacular powers and an epic destiny. As constructed it makes for a moderately watchable binge once you've committed, but no great loss if you don't.
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In the end, the show feels even less ambitious than The Witcher, but like that other Netflix fantasy series, it at least progresses at a fairly brisk pace.
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The eight-episode first season definitely feels like it's a smushing of two not-particularly-synchronous books, resulting in some desired Game of Thrones epic scope at the expense of one story's full emotional momentum and the other's sense of fun.
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After a reasonably strong start, “Shadow and Bone” gets weighed down by so many Netflix Original fantasy show clichés that it sinks into the Fold itself.
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Shadow and Bone fails to deliver any of the charm and emotional engagement of a Game of Thrones (when that show was at its best), or even a Winx Saga (which is objectively terrible, but in an enjoyably ridiculous way). Again and again, Shadow and Bone forces unearned story beats and melodrama. Its character-building is lackluster; its worldbuilding is mostly incoherent, and its script careens from one-liner to one-liner without much substance in between — all while the weak writing torpedos the efforts of its talented cast.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 58 out of 84
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Mixed: 10 out of 84
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Negative: 16 out of 84
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Apr 25, 2021
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Apr 24, 2021Garbage screen writing and direction, not helped by the offensive amount of exposition.
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Apr 25, 2021This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.