The World of Magic: Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

Personal Rating:

A fascinating world of magical element-wielding people, saints, and mythical creatures is what the Shadow and Bone Trilogy is all about. Set on the country of Ravka, we are introduced to a fantastical universe shaped by Leigh Bardugo in her first-ever book series, debuting with “Shadow and Bone” in 2012, followed by “Siege and Storm” (2013), and concluded by “Ruin and Rising” (2014). Eight years since her first book, the much anticipated “Shadow and Bone” Netflix series is coming out this 23rd of April 2021.

It revolves around the country of Ravka, torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a long expanse of darkness filled with enormous flesh-eating monsters called volcra. In this world, people capable of manipulating matter at its most fundamental levels are called Grisha, of which they are Ravka’s magical elite and Second Army. They have their rankings that they follow going from lowest to highest: the Materialki (those who could manipulate matter to create weapons and accessories), Etherealki (those who could summon and control fire, water, and air), Corporalki (those who could manipulate the human body), and lastly the Darkling that can summon darkness and who leads all Grisha. But with the power that they wield is the contempt and distrust they receive from normal humans to the point where they are hunted, persecuted, and experimented upon in other countries.

With Ravka in palpable tension with neighboring countries that are just waiting to strike at the most opportune moment, their last hope to strengthen the nation is to rid of the Shadow Fold. Not many survive crossing it, but cartographer-in-training Alina Starkov becomes a beacon of hope when they realize on an awry expedition through the Shadow Fold that she is not a mere mortal but a one-of-a-kind Grisha that could summon light. From then on, she had to leave the life she had always known to train and harness her power. Along the way, secrets are revealed, maniacal goals loom over, and Alina faces the pressure of being the sun-summoning saint torn between the attentions of her best friend, the one person who understands her power, and the one who could rebuild Ravka back together.

It is not difficult to be captivated by the Grishaverse with its magic, glamor, and premise. The character diversity was appreciable enough, and the tones used in treading through various sensitive topics were commendable. But I have to be blunt when I say that the entire trilogy’s flaws lie in the writing, pacing, protagonists, and plot.

There are plenty of loose ends in this series. Grisha power wasn’t as detailed as I hoped it would be, and the symbolisms weren’t fleshed out enough, even feeling insignificant and pointless at times. Alina Starkov may be able to summon light, but she’s not the star that shone for me. I was more enamored by the side characters introduced throughout the series. Even the villains and traitors were more appealing.

All three books felt like they dragged out longer than they should have, mainly because the focuses were misplaced, the lingering sense of vagueness in everything that happened, and the plot was compacted into each book’s last 60 or so pages. The painstakingly slow build-up was underwhelming, led to nowhere near earth-shattering, and lacked a consistent plot-driven storyline. The erratic pacing that led to unforeseen twists and climaxes were more frustrating than exciting. The ending was predictable, like you knew it was going to happen but still had a sliver of hope that it wouldn’t go down that direction, yet it still did.

This trilogy’s only redemption for me relied on two things alone: the overall concept and the notable side characters. I look forward to reading more books in the Grishaverse because it just has so much potential to be better.

Still, I have high hopes for the Netflix series. Most of us would want live-action adaptations to stay truthful to the books. However, in this case, I won’t mind the series taking a lot of creative liberties from the books to give better justice to introducing the Grishaverse and bridge the narrative gap that the trilogy was not quite able to cross.