Few things divide the book community more than book adaptations. The Hating Game is a very popular book in the romance genre because of the popular “enemies to lovers” trope and the situations that steam from it: only one bed, boy obsessed, banter, angst, etc.
I always say that reading The Hating Game felt like a fever dream and seeing the movie yesterday reminded me why I used to say that. There were so many elements that I had forgotten from the book and it was so nice to see them again!
I have finally gathered my thoughts and emotions to write a proper review of the Shadow and Bone tv show! I have been here since they announced the cast and I also fangirled at the teaser trailer. And finally the day was here!!
I had a reread of the book on thursday and then I stayed up until 1am to follow the Premiere online on Facebook and woke up early to kind of finish my cross stitch and take a picture for my Instagram account:
and then I started watching when the show came out at 9am on Netflix. Here’s my twitter thread if you want to see my slightly delirious and giddy live reactions (with spoilers!!)
I cringe every time they call him general Kirigan lol
And miracle of miracles I posted a picture on my IG story that I was about to watch the show when one of my friends in LA, Redgie told me she was watching it at the same time so we decided to watch the show together. It made my watching experience 1000x better because we LAUGHED, CRIED AND FANGIRLED TOGETHER. We pressed pause and replayed the same moments together and teared up at the same time; It was amazing:
She was heaven sent! I could share my excitement and impressions live with someone who understood how much the series meant to me and how surreal it all felt to see my favourite character on screen.
But since Redgie was in LA, we watched the first 4 episodes together and then she went to bed because she had to work the following day and I went and ate lunch and then I resumed and binged the 4 last episodes with popcorn and a 30min nap between episode 7 and 8!
It all feels like a fever dream and this is what I wrote when I finished each episode:
Episode 1: AMAZING. A bit confusing with the back and forth but can’t wait to see what’s next. MALINA STAN RISE
Episode 2 was slower but beautiful Darkling moment + The Cut and Malina
Episode 3: NINA, HELNIK 19:50, Jesper and the goat, Alina and Mal as her true north
Episode 4: MALINA NAITON RISE, HEIST PREPARATION, MILO THE GOAT
Episode 5:DARKLINA MAKEOUT, BIG REVEAL
Episode 6: The dregs and ALINA TOGETHER, MALINA TOGETHER, HELNIK
Episode 7: STAG STAG STAG, NO MOURNERS NO FUNERALS
And I was too overwhelmed to write something after episode 8 haha.
I have no major complaints because I am blinded by my love for the series but I just feel uncomfortable with the added racism in the series; when they cast Jessie Mei Ali, I thought it was going to be a case of blind casting which is the process of casting a role without considering the actor’s ethnecity, but that was not the case at all. I wish it were! It would have been refreshing. It’s not my place to talk about AAPI racism but from the reviews I have seen, this seems to be a widespread sentiment and they really could have handled things better. That’s really the only issue, but still worth mentionning.
Other than that, I think the cast was perfect. As in perfection. I loved every scene. It was nice seeing The Little Palace, the keftas, the Stag or the Cut on screen! I enjoyed every single moment.
They ARE their characters!! They all portrayed the characters so well and my soft heart died with the helnik scenes which were almost as identical as the books.
Look at the dialogue here and then watch episode 5 and 6 and thank me later. Did I mention that it was my favourite ship? I even think this is where my love for the enemies to lovers trope comes from.
Now this is me after watching the show, I have barely been able to read or focus on anything else.
So I’m going to rewatch it again with Redgie on Saturday! If you are craving for more content; head over to twitter where most of us are losing it and sharing interviews, edits and stills form the tv show! And if you haven’t watched the show yet, I hope you enjoy!!
Anotherbookworm 