Regina Raz

I'll be honest - I wasn't expecting much from this show when I started it, likely because many book-to-TV adaptations lose a lot of what makes them interesting in the process of fitting book plots into a TV show format, especially with fantasy novels. But I was pleasantly surprised with this show! I read the Shadow and Bone series a long time ago as well as the first book in the Six of Crow series, so I can't really speak to the accuracy of the plots as well I could have a few years ago, but I really like the way it was all laid out in the show. For diehard fans of both series, it may be a bit disappointing to see the stories changed (because even though I don't remember much from the books, I do think that the show is quite different than them, although they keep the most important parts of them). But I think they manage to get away with changing the stories because the show itself is well done. The flip between Alina's narrative and Kaz and co's narrative is manageable, the special effects aren't too overdone, the acting is solid (and the actors themselves really remind me of the characters in the books), and the show overall doesn't come off as tacky like many fantasy shows based on novels often do. I will say that it took me a couple episodes to fully convince me to keep watching; it has a bit of a slow start in my opinion and sometimes the script can be a little uninspiring. I have yet to finish it so I'm interested to see how it ends, but overall, it's a pretty good show!