Keywords: high fantasy, drama, mystery Watch if you like: Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones, The Magicians Length: 45-min runtime, 2 seasons / 16 episodes

Season 1: Jenni’s Rating: C-

This adaptation of a series of novels by Leigh Bardugo is based loosely on the geopolitical landscape of Tsarist Russia. Except this version includes magic and a threatening dark entity called “The Fold” that contains monsters and splits the world in half.

The first season of Shadow and Bone follows a typical Chosen One narrative. Orphan and outcast Alina Starkov works as a mapmaker ****on the front lines of a perpetually war-torn country called Ravka. One day, during an attack while crossing The Fold, she discovers that she belongs to the Grisha — a group of humans with abilities to manipulate the elements. Her particular power could destroy The Fold and bring peace, so, naturally it puts a huge target on her back. Into Alina’s story are woven two main side narratives about a smuggling crew and shipwrecked enemies-to-lovers from opposing sides of the war. If that seems like it could make the plot a bit crowded and hard to follow, you’re not wrong.

I tore through this show mainly because I was sick and had nothing else to do, but it has a similar appeal to Wheel of Time. There’s intrigue, broken alliances, love triangles, and a few characters with charmingly witty one-liners. Not impeccably done TV, but does the job as far as high fantasy goes.

Season 2: Jenni’s Rating: D-

The central story of the show still follows a “chosen one” narrative, flanked by several other plot lines that are, frankly, much more interesting. Season 1 was passable material for your casual fantasy craving. It even left me slightly hopeful and excited for the next installment. Unfortunately, Season 2 squandered any of that potential.

While it may be fun for readers of the books, I do think it was a mistake to incorporate several series from the Grishaverse into one eight-episode-per-season adaptation. There’s just not enough space for all the characters and storylines, despite efforts to make them cross over and interweave in a meaningful way. The frantic attempt to shove in so much plot makes for uneven pacing and an incredibly disjointed through-line. In spite of a lot of heavy handed exposition, it’s still often hard to figure out exactly what’s going on and why we should care.

Finally, I don’t quite know who this show is supposed to be for. It feels somewhat childish — which would make sense for an adaptation of YA books — but there’s some intense material, and all of the characters have been significantly aged up from their book counterparts. It’s one more imbalance in an already uneven, clumsy series.