Between the Darkling being an old magical superpower, Nikolai being a rich genius and David being just an average grisha genius they could rule the whole continent without a sun summoner. But of course, why communicate like the mature men you're supposed to be when you can put it all on the shoulders of an untrained teenage girl.
You can really tell when you read these books that these were written by a novice author, they’re so full of tropes like love triangles, op villain, list goes on and on. It’s so crazy to me that the same person that wrote these wrote the six of crows duology, which by comparison are handled so expertly between the top notch character development and all the little details that make the heist believable. As an aspiring writer It’s almost reassuring, to know that an authors first book series isn’t always gonna be their best; that sometimes experience really does make a big difference.
@@tuqaridha4821 I mean, based on the quality of S & B, she’s far from an incapable writer, I mean she went to Harvard and all that so I think it was in her the whole time, but yhe potential was untapped at first.
This basically confirms everything I suspected about the trilogy and why I never read it. But hey, the Six of Crows Duology is bomb and the Netflix show is good. But the crows are the best part of that as well so....
It's so weird seeing how so many people have polarizing views on which is better. Some claim SoC plotting sucked while others say SaB sucked. I think SaB sucked hard.....Mal is so bland
Tbh I read shadow and bone and I really loved it, I would definitely suggest reading it. Personally I didn’t find it ‘crusty’ but I would recommend reading it because it was actually really good
I didnt like SaB very much bc its pretty much just a basic YA fasntasy, a GOOD basic YA fantasy, yes, but im just kinda tired of that genre. Wheras SoC actually brought smthn relatively fresh to the table. Also S1 of the show was good, it almost improved the SaB storyline and it added story to the SoC storyline that didnt bother me.... But S2.... No. Just No. They rushed everything that happenned in the books while adding unneccessary stuff to the story.
yyyeapp, I will never forget in the 2nd book how Alina told Nikolai to give her the 2nd army and then spend the rest of the book stressed about the responsability of the army like ???? gurl you were the one who asked!!!
I think the trilogy is truly a product of its time and the result of Leigh being a newer writer. I'm excited to see where the show goes bc it's possible that Leigh herself changes things.
The show seems to doesn't want to make the necessary changes. In fact it knows its flaws and tries to gloss them over and pretend they have a good story.
bestie i thought i was the only one that didn't care for alina being with any of the 3 guys the points u outlined were so right i also don't get why people want alina to be with the darkling, idc if he's seggsy he manipulated her, took away her bodily autonomy, and murdered hundreds of people??
Alina was dumb n I never cared about her at all. Believe me I was so frustrated with her that I wanted Darkling to kill her and Mal at some point 🤣🤣. Mal was still better and useful than Alina though . I would say Darkling and Mal deserved better not Alina. I liked Darkling but never wanted to end her with Alina.
my main problem with s&b was the introduction of "women gets literally any power and immediately starts goin a bit mad/evil" trope. like, it made no sense for alina to suddenly enjoy hurting people/wanting to hurt ppl using the cut. like i read seige and storm 2 days ago and i still don't understand why those moments were there, they don't fit her personality established in s&b
I might be a little biased but I don't think it was her power that made her like that. It was her greed. Her need to find all of the amplifiers. Hence the whole 'What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men'. Her initial goals and motivations were pure but being manipulated by the darkling, constantly confused with mal and even sometimes used by nikolai, she ended up believing that she was exactly what she was viewed as; a very powerful weapon. So, in my point of view, it wasn't really the power that messed her up. By the end of the series, she still considers it a valuable part of herself that she would never have changed. But what she went through was serious trauma, dude.
Honestly? I read SoC first too (got around to the og trilogy back in February in preparation for the show) so I spent the entire trilogy being CONVINCED that Alina was going to die at the end. She started doing her “Pokémon, gotta catch them all” thing with the amplifiers and I thought “that’s it, she’s gonna go supernova, go out in a blaze of glory” which I actually thought was pretty baller of her, SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN SHE LIVED I’d literally never been disappointed that a character survived until then, I genuinely think I projected the Alina I wanted onto the story and it genuinely skewed my view of who she was 😭😂
Something similar: my friend described six of crows as ‘sugar scam’ so I read Shadow and Bone waiting and waiting for this sugar scam. I was so disappointed by the lack of sugar scam 💀
shadow and bone trilogy is a proof of how much leigh bardugo improved through the years, so i don't really mind that it seemed "bland" compared to her other works
@@fidato_ I feel like she keeps revisiting the grishaverse because it is a pretty good world but it hurts her writing because the characters themselves are bad. Can’t give them depth and a good plot if they’re based on tropes and had writing
@@itsdivyag i haven’t read king of scars, but I’ve heard that it was like Leigh was trying to recreate how good Six of crows was, but she was returning to characters that wwren’t as fleshed out, or as ‘good’. Idk though
Ya but one need to understand why people are doing this. The big problem is with the books itself. This is the first time I am myself seeing a book where a villian is having more intense chemistry with main protagonist despite of being toxic while her lover is having zero🤣🤣 I hated Mal and Alina in the books. They were🤮🤮🤮 specially Alina. She was so silly and annoying. I never gave a damn about her n who the fuck she chooses. Darkling was the one who was having amazing lines and carried this Grisha trilogy for me otherwise it was boring. But still I was disappointed by the books bcz I wanted him to be more brutal and cunning which he wasn't. Soc was only good work of Leigh. Books needs alot of changes if they want to make Alina n Mal praise worthy. Darkling as a hot villian was amazing not best as compared to my other favorite villians but still he was good as he was having potential to be one of the most remarkable villian but Leigh destroyed it. How the hell people can compare Kaz and Darkling 😂 and why ? Comparing Kaz and Darkling is stupidity. One is a villian and other one is meant to be a hero. Ofcourse there would be difference between their actions. Main protagonists of the books were boring and but I liked Zoya.
I couldn't even finish the trilogy. I tapped out after the second one. It was so boring and nonsensical. Also, Mal was unbelievably bland as a love interest. I mean, he had nothing to add to the story. I just couldn't understand why Alina was so crazy about him. He was literally that high school bestie-kind-crush you're supposed to grow out once you leave school and actually get to see that there's a big ass world out there to explore.
Just only read S&B (no plans on reading the other two cause of how cringe it was, but will check out Six of Crows), and my gosh, your review gave my brain cells back! xD Also the show I found to be so much better lmao.
don’t check out six of crows (or at least just borrow it from a library). i personally couldn’t stand leigh bardugo’s style of writing so if you don’t like her other books i doubt you’ll like it.
@@remib1199 True, I found her style very simplistic and off in a lot of ways. Though having heard how Bardugo improved with her later books, I'm gonna give it a second chance. Also have used my local library to get S&B anyway so I'm good. 😆👍
@@remib1199 as someone who hates sab with passion I loved SoC. Maybe it's only you who hates SoC. Let others have the chance to check it out and decide for themselves.
lets not forget that the shadow and bone trilogy was leigh's first ever novels! She has very clearly matured much more as a writer since then, and it makes sense that six of crows was a "better" written book than shadow and bone. Even if the shadow and bone trilogy wasn't the best to some people, leigh still managed to create a very unique universe and characters for her first ever book. not even some experienced authors can ever create a world like that. i wish you guys would cut leigh some slack honestly it's kind of sad that you put her first ever books on this super high pedestal but get upset when they aren't written like Shakespeare.
i just adore your editing lol i haven't read the trilogy, but i've seen the show and i enjoyed it! dont really have strong opinions on it but it made me want to read six of crows also im so excited for your video with nadia
I just realized this (like a couple of days ago) Alina Starkov’s name has the word Star in it. And as you know Stars are the brightest things against the darkness of space. Woah 😦
I only read the S&B trilogy as research for the show and I’m glad I read it so I could notice details that are clearly setting up for future seasons but I didn’t particularly enjoy the trilogy at all. I’m amazed the show turned out as well as it did. Making Alina Asian gave her material depth and nuance she never had for me as a reader. 😆🤷🏻♀️
I listened to the audiobooks of the trilogy and although I didn’t love it, I enjoyed it and my main motive to listen to them was to accustom myself to the grishaverse and the tv show (which I loved so much!)
First episode in, was confused why they designed the skiff as it is, like why not design a protected or covered skiff to cross the fold 🙃 Does anyone know if it was explained in the book?
Even that can't stop volcras from attacking. You will see that In the next few episodes. Plus they needed an open space so squallers can drive it. They were manipulating wind to drive the ship forward. They could have made a separate covered area for the passengers but I mean they still would have died so.. 🤷♂️
I loved the trilogy. SoC duology was definitely on another level though. I liked the ending for Alina. After everything she went through she deserves some peace in her life although I am upset she can't summon anymore.
Mal was with other women, and meanwhile was all possessive and judgmental of Alina. Shadow and Bone does that love triangle trope that I hate where one guy is not it, but you kind of have to choose him because the other guy is a literal child murderer. I'd rather be single.
I read the first book of Shadow and Bone and I was like nah not gonna finish the series. But the series is so much better than the books! And six of crows is thousand miles so much better than S&B trilogy.
Thank goodness they decided to add crows to the netflix series. Without them it wouldn't make any sense as Alina's story was so short and boring and illogical... I mean I don't like characters from S&B at all and I'm not going to read the series. Like there was not enough content to even create a movie and they decided to make a tv series? xd
The ending is a true joke like « Hey you know how you’ve heard Alina complain about being too plain yet to powerful and stress about becoming like the Darkling for 1000+ pages ? Yeah ? Well you suffered through her emo ass bullcrap for nothaaaang because she just doesn’t have powers no mo’ and she can « keep house for your little tracker » (The Darkling makes fun of her for ending with a bullshit boring future that’ll make her unhappy in the FIRST BOOK and then at the end she does and I’m expecting to cheer ? Nope)
The best decision I've *ever* made in my entire life was reading soc before sab because if it was the other way around I don't think I'd ever come back to the Grishaverse 🙂
I just finished S&B and am here because I don't think I'm going to go on. I think it was an amazing book hiding inside an okay book and the okayness won. It's was fine 7/10
I'm reading the series rn and my biggest issue was how darklina seems to be a popular ship amongst fans but like in the 2 books I've read theres literally no basis of a relationship. Its all classic evil villain behavior from the darkling and alina literally hates him for a whole lot of the books. Its weird how some fans completely ignore the multiple love declarations for mal. Im not invested in either ship but I just never understood where darklina came from
I felt like the first two books were kinda underwhelming and then somehow enjoyed the last book much more! To me, the ending felt just right. Also, loved the lesbians
To be real though, the climax of the second book to the first half of the 3rd book was the peak of the plot.. From Alina's was against the darkling in the castle, to being stuck underground, to that moment where they get attacked in the mountain fortress. That was IT. Then the other half disappointed me. Very anticlimactic.
OMG YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH NADIA OMG!!!! I LOVE BOTH OF GUYS' CONTENT SO MUCH I ONLY RECENTLY DISCOVERED YOUR CHANBRO AND I'M BINGING!!! The shadow and bone series may not be perfect but it's one of my faves so I can't wait to see your reactions or check them out of it's already posted!!! 😭😭😭💜💜💜💚💚💚💛💛💛💙💙💙💕💕💕
Shadow and Bone kind of has all the tropes you’d expect from YA novels such as these. Main character unlocks secret rare power, main villain is after them because of said power, and love interest is vowing to protect them at all costs. Very generic. Hopefully when I get around to Six of Crows it’ll be much more enthralling.
I clicked thinking I've read it BUT I DONT KNOW WHETHER I READ IT OR NOT.. i remember her name but the story.. idk Maybe there's a spin off or some other book with an Alina I've read
ive read this in like 2016 and tbh i dont remember almost anything from it lol, i know i liked genya, didnt like alina, hated the darkling and basically got into it for the russian/slavic aesthetics (cause me a slav) which i kinda liked. it was not bad, but as many others in the comments said, you can very well see bardugo was a new author. i think its pretty impressive to see how much she improved in soc as hat duology is amazing, 5/5. havent seen the tv show yet (im 5 months behind but also i dont really watch tv shows) but ive heard its good, but esp cause of the dregs, which,,, im not surprised about lmao. but overall i found shadow and bone ok back then, even quite enjoyed it, but now? for half of the stuff you talked about i had only a very vague memory of and if you didnt say it i wouldnt remember haha. lmao i looked into my goodreads and i described the 1st book as a "big cliché". in 2015. and gave it 4 stars. i gave all the books 4 stars with no commentary for 2nd and for 3rd i said i like it. but ok i was 16/17 ill have to cut myself some slack :")
the way you talk about the 1,200 pages reminds me of john mulaney spending $120,000 for college 😭 same vibe man. if you haven't heard his rant about it you should definitely check it out
This is easily the most entertaining vide I have watched in a Loong time and that says a lot for a recluse in lockdown who has nothing better to do than read and binge RU-vid 👀 I just finished Ruin and Rising an hour ago and this was exactly what I needed thank yew ma'am. I'm dead 😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 PS you have yourself a new subscriberrrr😉