You may have heard of Leigh Bardugo – from the international bestseller company of delightful, action-packed and risky fantasy novels that take place in a connected universe. To date, the prolific Bardugo has published three full-length series (one trilogy and two duologies) as well as a collection of other short and fleeting stories from the world of the Grishabers. Then Netflix arrives, and in collaboration with Leigh Bardugo, creates a fantasy TV show of Grishaverse that looks Absolutely amazing.
In the language of youth I am here for it.
Eric Heiserer, the show host of Netflix and Leigh Bardugo have been impressively secretive about the show since it was announced, but over the last few months we’ve learned some pretty cool things. First, Bardugo recognized the problem of diversity in her early books, and tried to correct them with the casting of the show – I, for one, am thrilled by this more inclusive approach to Grishaverse characters. I like that Jesse Mei Lee – a semi-Asian bi-racial actress – was cast as Alina, and that her bi-racial background was written in the character of Alina (who is now explicitly half-Shu Han).
Similarly, Sujaya Desgupta who plays Alina’s fresh Zoya is also involved (explicitly revealed by Bardugo in 2019). King of Scars), And both Eng and Jasper are also colorful actors. (Also, if you are a reader of this site, you probably know that I have a huge thing for Engie and I can not wait to see it on screen.)
Which brings me to my next point: Shocking, to me, was the discovery that Shadow and bone Will feature characters from the original trilogy named Just like Characters from the Dulogy of the Six Crows. How these two series will be related to each other because they are quite on different timelines is not yet known, but I say again: I am here for it.
So to prepare for the show, I’ll reread and review the books in Shadow and Bone and the original six crows this month! Reading begins this week with Shadow and bone and Siege and storm– Stay around for another Grishaverse (including a gift and surprise) ahead of the show’s release on April 23.
Until then, I will watch this trailer again a few more times.
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