#yes this is about people complaining about the casting for nikolai in shadow and bone

[kazz-brekker]

i am in a fandom for a fantasy book series. there is a casting announcement for the tv show adaptation. people complain that the actor for the charismatic prince character “isn’t hot enough.” the tv show comes out and everyone loves him. i am in a fandom for a fantasy book series. there is a casting announcement for the tv show adaptation. people complain that the actor for the charismatic prince character “isn’t hot enough.” apparently my intro to buddhism professor was correct when she said the universe is a cycle that repeats over and over again.

[louryanalarcon]

Thoughts on Shadow and Bone

08 May 2021

I did something. I read an entire book strictly for leisure for the first time ever really! And I fell in love with it! As you recall, I watched Shadow and Bone on Netflix, and it was fantastic, perhaps the best show I’ve watched since The Witcher and Game of Thrones. Can you tell I have a thing for fantasy series? Well in short, I loved the tv show so much I couldn’t wait another year for season 2. I needed to dive head-first into the Grishaverse and see what lies ahead. See, I tried doing the same with Game of Thrones, but those books are so dense I could barely keep my eyes open. It was like reading a bible. In contrast, these Grishaverse books are much more my speed. I know, they’re Young Adult novels, probably meant for teenagers and a younger crowd, but so is Harry Potter, right? Besides, I never was one for reading, but I can read these books like it were a tv show on paper. I swept through the first book in less than a week! I never do that. Reading is different. I see the allure now. It’s patient, slowly building up as you go until you find yourself a hundred pages in and you’re like, “Hmm, this shit alright.”

Anyways, I have some time on my hand and since I finished both book one and season 1 of Shadow and Bone, I want to write my thoughts on the books and the show. Which one do I prefer? Ultimately, I like the show more – if for one reason alone: the casting of Jessie Mei Li and Archie Renaux as Alina Starkov and Malyen Oretsev. The diverse cast is very much appreciated and they’re all incredible, but to cast two Asians in the lead roles… I can’t express my appreciation for that. In fact, I’m thankful for having watched the show first because now as I read the books, I can’t help but see Asian Alina and Mal fall in love. Am I a sucker for a good love story, of course, look who you’re talking to? But the thing is too, the show really breathed some life into Mal’s character, compared to his otherwise dull book counterpart. I love their love story… that’s really all I have to say about that.

Well, I think I’ve found my new addiction for the next couple months. To think I would like reading so much to the point that every day after work, I’m reading for two or three hours? At least, I’ve found something to keep me preoccupied.

30 May 2021

Well, finished the Shadow and Bone Trilogy – all in less than a month. Never was one for reading, (or continuing old entries), but here I am. I don’t know why I never posted, but I’m going to try to be less of a perfectionist and more personal. This is a blog after all.

Anyways, did I like it? Of course, I did. Considering the fact that I pretty much haven’t read an entire book cover to cover since forever, and now here I am trying to give a book review? It’s odd, but I want to try. What I loved the most about the Shadow and Bone Trilogy is the friends-to-lovers romance between Alina and Mal. I fell in love with them on screen, and honestly, their book counterparts aren’t too bad, especially if you imagine Jessie Mei Li and Archie Renaux in their place.

As far as the first book, Shadow and Bone, is concerned, I basically knew everything that was going to happen after having already watched season one on Netflix. So, that kind of took away some immersion and shock from pivotal moments in the story. However, there was some things the show did differently. By the way, I’m diving right into spoilers, so, sorry in advance. Mal never kisses Alina in season one, whereas in the books, he kisses her right before they meet the stag. I can’t help but feel like this was done purposely to heighten anticipation for their eventual onscreen kiss sometime in season two. I was okay with it. I don’t assume the show will follow exactly what goes on in the books, and that’s fine. Perhaps I was too harsh on book Mal because I felt like he kind of fell flat and never really showed more of himself. But as I continued, I grew to like him. Book Alina is much different than her show counterpart. In the books, she is very unconfident, not nearly as brave, and truthfully, not nearly as beautiful. Jessie Mei Li is almost too gorgeous to play the role, but then again, I’m not really complaining. Some might find Alina as pretentious, and yes, sometimes her constant doubt and jealousy can be, but it really does show what goes on in a young woman’s mind, particularly one who is not typically beautiful or sought after. And incredibly enough, she finds herself in a love-rectangle?

Book two, Siege and Storm, is my favorite. The introduction of Sturmond, Tolya and Tamar, and Zoya’s greater role in the story was what made me love it. First off, Sturmond’s surprise true identity reveal of him being Nikolai was maybe the biggest surprise of the entire series for me. Nikolai is great; his wit and charisma is charming and an appreciated change from the doom and gloom that sometimes characterizes Alina. Also, Tolya and Tamar, being Shu made me relate to them even more. I loved the fact that he’s huge and she’s small and wiry. It was nice. Zoya Nazyalensky. What more can I say? She is my favorite character in the series. The raven-haired Squaller – I’m in love with her. Maybe it’s because Sujaya Dasgupta is gorgeous, or maybe it’s because I love the “mean-girl to nice-girl” trope. She is great, but honestly, I wish we got to learn more about her outside of her incredible beauty. Maybe I’ll find out in the King of Scars duology, which I am currently on right now.

Finally, book three, Ruin and Rising, is probably second on my list. It ended well but took its time to get rolling. I never liked the Apparat, so the beginning of the book was not my favorite. Also, Nikolai wasn’t there to liven things up. It was very gloomy down there underground. But as they ventured up and eventually reunited with Nikolai, then things started rolling. Also, the Apparat kind of just fell off there. Like, we never really learned his true motives. Again, I still have the King of Scars duology to read, so there’s still room. For me, the Apparat’s arc felt unfinished. But oh well, didn’t really care for him. Mal being the third amplifier… I didn’t expect that to be honest. I should listen more carefully. If anything, I guess I didn’t like the final battle. In contrast, Siege and Storm’s final battle felt more climactic and consequential. Alina was left within an inch of her life, her hair turned white, her powers gone, the Darkling’s power gained, a coup, and the crew was forced underground. It was epic. This on the other hand, wasn’t really on that level. There wasn’t much of a battle at all. People get shot and bit, and then Alina kills Mal. It wasn’t so much an epic standoff between Alina and the Darkling so much as it was Alina gaining her third amplifier and winning by default. I went in thinking she had to harness the power of all the amplifiers and defeat the Darkling. Nothing of the sort came about. Perhaps Mal was the true Big Bad since it was his death that rid the Shadow Fold. I’m sort of torn because I’m happy Mal came back alive because he and Alina get their happily ever after, but his “death” didn’t mean much. So, he lived two lives? Also, Alina is left without her powers… I don’t know man, for why?

All in all, I’m happy with Alina and Mal’s ending. Their arc is finished. Orphans of Keramzin bringing up an orphanage of their own, and kissing beneath the stairs while the staff watches from afar? I can dig it. I decided to jump right into King of Scars (mainly for Zoya and Nikolai) rather than start Six of Crows. There are some spoilers unfortunately, so if you really like Nina then don’t do this. Otherwise, I’m mainly concerned with Zoya and Nikolai and the other characters from the original trilogy. So, that’s where I’m at. I’ve gained a newfound hobby and escaped into a new fandom. Reading can be fun sometimes. Give it a try.

[evasjacks]

(Part 1/2) I’ve been noticing a lot of racism in the GV fandom as of late, especially toward biracial and mixed-race characters, and I was wondering what your opinion was. I’m tired of seeing Zoya being white-washed in art, or people saying Kit Young isn’t “black enough” play Jesper and that Alina can’t be part Shu because she’s described as having fair skin.

(Part 2/2) - [ ] And I’m really, really tired of people excusing Nikolai’s racist behavior (he’s not talking about gunsmiths, guys). I used to think that it was just the imperialism getting to him (Novyi Zem is a frontier region, after all), but as I got to know Nikolai, that just didn’t seem quite right. If he’s so concerned with the common people, then why does he call the Zemeni “barbaric little bastards”?

Damn. Okay, let’s go through this bit by bit. First off? I’m sick of it as well, the racism in this fandom just gets worse and worse, and you’re right on this account.

First: whitewashing. This is so far past the realm of acceptable, but I see it happen constantly. With Zoya specifically though, I think timing matters, because before King of Scars, she was a white character as far as everyone knew, and though her skin color was never described, there was never even a hint that she was anything but white. And after kos, tons of artists actually went back and redrew their art with the newfound knowledge that she was half-suli, which was great, but still lots of people have their work on here pre-kos, you get me? I’m not excusing them in any way, I’m just saying Zoya specifically is a tricky character when it comes to this.

Second: the actors for the Shadow and Bone show. I am so so proud of the casting director, and Leigh Bardugo and everyone who came together to deliver such a diverse crew of characters. Alina is half Shu, this wasn’t even in the books but they’ve just given us a main female badass character that is Asian. As well as. I did hear a lot of people complain about Kit Young not being black enough, and while I do see where they are coming from (Jesper is described as dark skinned in the books) I don’t think it’s too big of a deal, so long as he can play the character. I personally don’t consider it whitewashing, simply because the actor is not white, even if he doesn’t match the description exactly. People need to accept (for Alina, Mal, and Jesper as well as many characters to come) that the show, while based off the books, will be different from them, and honestly as long as the actors can play the role, who cares where they’re from? You can start hating an actor when they can’t act, not a second before, and even then, its still your opinion and it doesn’t need to be shared with the world.

Lastly: Nikolai. Obviously, I love Nikolai, and if you couldn’t tell by the url and the theme, I really do love this character. In the books, he was charismatic, and funny, he brought humor to the table as well as a good heap of wisdom for someone just at the start of his twenties. He makes a great king. This is all well and good, but then you come down to that line, and there’s no way around it, Nikolai made a racist comment. In that moment, Nikolai was being racist. Now I know Leigh publicly apologized, and that the line was removed from the newer copies of Siege and Storm, which could always just mean that it was never intended to be racist, but I’m sure ninety percent of the excuses made by racist people are similar. So, yeah, it was racist. It was wrong. It’s inexcusable. If people wanna stay up nights thinking about it, defending it, making excuses, be my guest, but that’s not something I personally want to waste time on. You can love a character and find faults in them, you can love an author and still see their faults. You can love a book and still find faults in it. What’s important is not ignoring these faults, its acknowledging them. Its saying yes, I see this is an issue, I see that this is wrong, and I do not like it. I do not support it. 

Anyways, I don’t think you should spend your time worrying honestly! If people aren’t directly attacking you, then just worry about your own opinion, that’s what matters. See it, acknowledge it, maybe try and explain it to people who care, but otherwise, go soundly to sleep at night and have some cake. Thanks for asking!