Amita Suman

Last week, Netflix announced it’d pulled the plug on Shadow & Bone, the YA fantasy show based on Leigh Bardugo’s popular five-book series. Much as fans mourned the show for being unable to tell the full story of the main trilogy, they were also just as devastated (if not more so) to realize this cancellation meant its intended spinoff also wouldn’t see the light of day.Netflix Passwords, ChatGPT Can’t Detect AI, and No More CoTweets | Editor PicksKnown as Six of Crows and named after the first book in the titular…

Image: NetflixThe main plot of the series takes cues from two books, but there are scenes, characters, and winks towards an additional four books, including Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom (which follows the Crows of Ketterdam), and the duology that follows Nikolai Lantsov; King of Scars and Rule of Wolves. To call the series rushed is an understatement. The characters were enough to keep me invested, but if Shadow and Bone had just slimmed down the plot and slowed the pacing,and it would have been a much better…

Netflix hit Shadow and Bone’s second season follows up the heists and twists of season one, offering another glimpse inside the magical world of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse. While the pacing of the series is exceptionally fast and the three main plotlines feel cramped, the show still delivers an exciting-enough plot, successfully renders each of its (many) characters with brilliant and chaotic fury, and remains accessible without losing a sense of style.In this season, after Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) escapes the…

There is a lot of romance in Shadow and Bone. It is based on a YA series, after all. While there are a lot of other epic fantasy shows that have a lot of sexual entanglements, I found the romances in season two—which premieres March 16 on Netflix—to be some of the most compelling character arcs within the series. We have Alina and Mal, Mathias and Nina, Kaz and Inej, and Wylan and Jesper (whose romance changes from the book in ways I found delightful and fun for their characters!). At a recent Shadow and Bone press event…

Kit Young, Amita Suman, and Freddy Carter as the Crows.Image: Netflix | David ApplebyCovering New York Comic Con is not a sprint, but a marathon. And every now and then you get to take a break and really enjoy a panel. Within the crash of cosplay, incredible artists, and a barrage of news, the Shadow and Bone panel with author Leigh Bardugo and Netflix series stars Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), and Ben Barnes (General Kirigan/the Darkling) was a breath of fresh air.This…