Then there is Zoya, played by Indian actor Sujaya Dasgupta Zoya is Alina’s rival a Suman shines in this role, and often a scene-stealer making her one to watch for the years to come. Playing Inej Ghafa, the spy for the Dregs (a gand of thieves in the district of Ketterdam) is the talented Nepali actor Amita Suman. As she gives an illuminating performance from start to finish, she is supported by a talented cast. I rarely am able to empathise with a lot of protagonists in such roles, but Li managed to sell vulnerability and strength when playing Starkhov.

Shadow and Bone thinking it was yet another fantasy world with the very typical tropes, but I was pleased that the stories offered up served originality in droves, as mentioned several times over by a friend who is a Bardugo superfan. Along the way, Alina meets friends and foes who either help or harm her journey.

But as knowledge of her powers spread across the lands, malicious forces plot to take her down. A sudden turn of events sees Alina realising she has extraordinary powers that could be the key to setting her homeland free from a dark entity called The Fold filled with monstrous creatures called volcra. Shadow and Bone follows a war-torn world in which a cartographer Alina Starkhov (Jessie Mei Li) resides. But I wanted to know how this works for those just tapping into this world of spells and war.Īlso Read | Get ‘First Day First Show’, our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. Thankfully, fans of Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy novels will not be disappointed with the series that takes typical fantasy tropes and augments the experience for the modern-day binge-watcher that has been sitting in the top 10 for the past week. After all, television adaptations have often run across the spectrum from bland and disappointing to outlandish and disloyal in regards to the books.

Those who could not put the Grisha trilogy down may understandably be hesitant to dip into Netflix’s

Shadow and bone series