I should probably work on my title game huh?

Okay so tomorrow the Euros 2021 starts (well it would have been last year but we all know how that global disease ruins everything for everyone so it was pushed to this year) and it's something about the competition to the backdrop of summer that just makes me feel giddy as hell! It's so much fun that's what I love about it. This year I'm also betting, that's fun, not like seriously because don't play with money kids that's bad. Just with some friends for fun by using an excel sheet and including some impossible questions like how many goals will be scored in the whole tournament etc. It's going to be so fun, well probably. I do look forward to that a lot and there's nothing brining together a country quite like football. 

Some Loki thoughts

So I saw the first episode yesterday and I must say I looooveee this. I read some spoilerfree reviews that said that the first episode was dragging a little bit and mostly focused on worldbuilding and maybe they have a point in saying that but I must say just being able to inhabit this world with Loki as the driving narrative force was amazing and made up for all it was lacking. It might have been a little bit clunky, the humour not always working 100%, but Loki uses humour as a deflecting tactic to avoid conversations and having to deal with what's simmering underneath so I don't mind it as much. Hiddles is on form as Loki and his scenes with Owen Wilson are a joy to watch. That relationship is interesting, a little bit of a push and pull going on there and not knowing which one of them to trust. That's a great way to introduce their relationship and how it might or might now grow as the season progresses. 

Though the pain in this first episode I really wasn't expecting, damnit. It hurt me! A lot! I loved it, because I love angst eheh, angst leads to growth. I feel these smaller shows for Disney have really tapped into that which was kind of missing from the big films, trauma, pain, tears and growth. All the good stuff. There really isn't anyone quite like Loki in the mcu, and I'm so happy he's gotten his own show to lead and I have no clue where this is going but I feel it's just going to be absolutely great. Especially if they actually include Loki's canonically queerness into the show, that would be absolutely incredible! 

I've seen the first episode of Feel Good too and I haven't really had the time to binge it but the first episode was really solid. Mae Martin is just so good and I love the mixture of humour that's awkward as hell at times but also how it talks about some really serious issues too and how trauma and healing isn't linear and not having your shit together at 30 man, relatable, that's probably going to be me at that age...

I'm excited for Friday, Love Victor! I also just found out that Duncan Lawrence has written a song for it! Ah that's super exciting.

OH, also Shadow and Bone has gotten reviewed for a season 2!!!!!!! More crows in my life, YES!

Yes I don't think anyone has escaped the fact that I embarked onto a reading venture where I decided to read all the Grisha books before the show aired because I wanted to understand the hype over them. I talk about it here and here are my reviews of the duology. I reviewed the books in more detail on my instagram if you want to read those there .

Anyways, last Friday the show dropped and I was ready to hit the play button the first thing I did in the morning. Sadly my reality isn't that I can drop everything I know and binge tv, something I only ever really want to do when I am extremely into something, which isn't often. I watched 6 episodes on Friday and the last two on Saturday and it was an extremely enjoyable ride I must say. 

Now if you're not familiar with the show or the books here is a little summary I copied off imdb because I am too lazy to write one up myself.

"Dark forces conspire against orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov when she unleashes an extraordinary power that could change the fate of her war-torn world."

Now admittedly the show is quite different to the books. Particularly Alina's trilogy becomes much better, much more enjoyable and much more in tune with the times we live in, while The Crows dulogy become a totally different thing. That's what the hardest thing to wrap my head around is, that the books and the characters from the duology are very different here than what I imaged them and how they were portrayed in the book. We must start off with Kaz, also if you want to read furthere there will be SPOILERS so don't read any further now if you don't want them. Ok, so Kaz is admittedly one of the most difficult characters ever to adapt onto the screen especially when it had be done this way. This kind of works as a prequel to The Crows in the books as they have been made to fit into Alina's books and what happens in them here on screen. Kaz isn't the bastard of the barrel we know him as in Six of Crows, notorious gang leader, ruthless and uncompromisingly cold in his approach to everything. In Shadow and Bone he is softer much less put together and less in control of everything and not ten steps ahead of everyone like he is in the books. His relationship is very different with both Inej and Jesper and because of that it changes the whole dynamic for all three of them. I don't dislike this, but I've had to sit with it for a while that Show Kaz and Books Kaz are two very different people and get on board with that and move on. I think Freddy Carter is AMAZINGLY cast as Kaz Brekker, the way he looks is very much spot on how I imagined Kaz looking in the books, it is incredible. It is very funny to me though that The Crows really didn't manage to achieve anything on their little quest, other than look cool as hell and fail, that has made me laugh a lot.

I think that Jesper is the absolute highlight of this show though. Kit Young plays him magnificently and seeing Jesper come to life this way is glorious. I can even say that he is even cooler in the show than what he is in the books and I did absolutely love him in the books. He is comedic genius, super badass, queer, cool, funny and he has great chemistry with anyone that is on screen with him and I loved every second we got to see him. The little hints and teases about him being a fabrikator are also laid out throughout the show and I don't think you will pick up on it without knowing, or you will suspect something if you really loved the show and became obsessed with it, then every time he and Ivan clash you'll know something is up.

Inej was super awesome too. I do feel her arc is much darker in the duology books and I do hope going forward that we might explore that some more. It took me a while to take to her pov in the books but once I did I loved spending time with her calm, wise and beautiful inner voice and her suli wisdom she offered up both to the characters in the world and us readers. Her relationship to her religion and how it ties into Alina is beautiful and I loved how they approached it for the show.

The crows are all great, it's just a very different story than what I expected/wanted it to be. But it is in no terms a bad one.

Ok, so onto Alina' arc and the Shadow and Bone storyline. I'm not he biggest fan of these 3 books. They are fine, they have some cool moments but they are very much your standard YA chosen one fantasy story and it's not my favorite thing. Show-wise it definitely gets better. I absolutely loved Jesse Me Li as Alina, she is so warm and sweet and charming it very much works. People have hated Mal in the books, even I couldn't escape that when I was reading them a while back, and that was a long time after everyone else. I never did dislike him to be fair, I actually quite like him and his arc in the third and last book and I feel Archie Renaux played him super charmingly and compellingly as well. I definitely believed in his and Alina's friendship on screen and he came across as a genuinely good guy. 

Some scenes just like the books are very rushed here too, some relationship scenes and some building or establishing scenes as well. I feel it could have done with one more episode where Alina spent time in the Little Palace, working on her powers, getting to know the people around her and establishing the character more. David and Genya's relationship feels very rushed, I never got the sense like I did in the books, the pressure Alina feels to perform and be able to use her powers and understanding the life around her, that did disappear a bit in the show and that's a shame. I also think the world and the politics might be super confusing because the show does not have a map and it makes it hard to follow if you don't already have previous knowledge from the books.

Ok we have to talk some about Ben Barnes as the Darkling🤤 hahah the emoji sums up what I feel about him. I disliked the Darkling a lot in the books, he is problematic as hell and super toxic and creepy and it set off all the alarms bells in my head. In the second book he is the absolute worst. Now Ben Barnes is one gorgeous man, with his wavy hair, sexy voice and beautiful eyes and all that definitely helps the case of the Darkling in the show. I think they have added some more layers to him, stripped away some things that were just inherently creepy about him and given him a backstory so that you can at least understand some more where he is coming from. Now, I will never want Alina to be with this man but they show at least did a good job of changing some of the more problematic aspects of him and it makes the show a little bit better too. 

It's been compared to Game of Thrones which is just ridiculous, they are two very different shows for sure. But it's been a while since there was a lavish, stylish and beautiful fantasy world on our screens so the comparisons come natural to many I guess. I think this definitely have some things that are actually way better than GOT because GOT is also problematic as fuck.

Oh I haven't even mentioned Nina and Matthias! AH. Ok I loved them in the books, they are the superior enemies to friends to lovers couple and they gave me all the feels in the show. Their love story is definitely the most compelling one to watch out of everyone's, and the actors had some insanely good chemistry between one another and it was lovely to watch it play out.

I hope this show gets a season 2, I want to come back to this world and watch some of my favourite characters grow some more in the screen format.

Some other really good things about this show:

❂ The normalisation of queer relationships and characters that are just there existing. Ah it makes my little heart happy. 

❂ Non english fantasy world because we have seen enough of that for a life time

❂ Diverse and nuanced characters with trauma across the spectrum. It feels very representative for the time we are in now

Ok there are more, but basically just watch this show so we can get to a season 2 where Wylan and Nikolaj can show up. That is what I want!

And so, here we are. About 4 weeks later since I said I was going to embark on a reading marathon after the internet blew up with excitement about the Shadow and Bone trailer. Did I think I was going to make it? I mean yeah probably, but did I doubt it at times? For sure. Yet, here we are and I am done, *queue celebration song*.

Good job me.

So I will direct you to my instagram where I have written in more detail about my reading venture of Shadow and Bone, but my feelings about the whole trilogy is lukewarm at best I would say. I liked some things, was disappointed by some more and found the second one to be a massive snooze fest.

This though, my god, these two books changed me. Lol, okay they didn't, but goddamnit if I didn't have tears pouring down my cheeks the other day when I finished Crooked Kingdom. 

I did find Six of Crows, which is the first book, to be a little slow. I am not going to lie. I took to the world immediately though, I love Ketterdam (Amsterdam really) as the setting for the murky, dirty and unsafe streets, the darkness of the barrel and just the overall tone which is completely different to Shadow and Bone. Shadow and Bone has all that chosen one nonsense, which I find to be a little bit tiresome at times, while this one is about a bunch of kids trying to survive a harsh world instead, no one is 'special' (I mean they are all great), and they do what they need to survive. 

But yes, I didn't love Six of Crows until we got to Nina's point of view, or really until we got on the ship to Fjerda, then shit kicked off and the pages started to fill with anticipation and excitement, some worry to and some eyerolling on my end for sure. But yes, after the first 50-70 pages or so, it gets real. My most controversial opinion after reading this one though, and I will use the word was hehe, was that I wasn't a fan of Mr. Kaz Brekker, the internet's favourite problematic criminal. There was something there of course, but to me he just came off as a dick and a bully who was at times unnecessarily cruel and harsh to his crew of people all with their own set of issues and trauma. While they had all managed to form somewhat healthy relationships between one another though, he was cold and distant. And he has his reasons, I get that, but it still bugged the hell out of me, especially when he was a dick towards Nina or Jesper, the two who were my absolute faves of course. 

I gave Six of Crows 4 stars and I think it suffers at times because the chapters are crammed with dialogue and plot, it actually made me forgot whose povs we were in at times because it's so outwardly focused on what is going on rather than internally. Jesper suffers from this, Kaz suffers too in my opinion and their relationship annoyed me so much in this book. Inej too a little bit as well actually and I didn't come to fully appreciate her beautiful, serene and wise take of the world and her life until Crooked Kingdom. All my previous opinions of this changed in the second one where there is a lot more time spent on character development, growth and how the dynamic between them to expand even more. It's why I fell head over heels into the second one and why I won't forget it anytime soon. There is some exceptional moments in this that completely wrecked me, like I can't put into words what they did to me, but UGH how???? How am I meant to recover?

I shall stay free of spoilers I think, I might talk about them when the show comes out and the comparisons ultimately and unwillingly will commence. But I love this bunch of queers criminals, it's a book that says eat the rich and it ticked all my emotional boxes. It's a testament to Leigh's writing and evolvement too that these are so good and that she has created such complex and rich characters all across the board that I cared about ALL of them. Yes you heard that right, all of them. That rarely happens.

Thank you Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Nina, Matthias and Wylan for letting me inhabit your world. I will miss you all.

No mourners, no funerals.

Six Of Crows: ⭐⭐⭐⭐       Crooked Kingdom: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 I briefly mentioned that I'm doing a reading marathon of Shadow and Bone trilogy + the duology books called Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom before the netflix adaption tv shows comes out at some point during mid April. Yep I know, I don't totally know what I have chosen to embark on and so on, but I've already finished the first trilogy book and read about 1/3 of the second. I'm doing pretty well for myself basically.

Surrounded by enemies, the once great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feasts on human flesh. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything in her life but when her regiment is attacked on the fold and her best friend brutally injured she reveals a dormant power that saves his life, making her realise that the power could be the key to setting her war raged country free. 

⭐⭐⭐  

This is the first fantasy book that I have read in 10+ years or so and yep I have been away from this genre for a long time now. On the plus side I am doing well on my promise to read more fantasy this year and when I've finished this reading marathon I will have read 5 fantasy books, not bad for a gal who don't venture into made up worlds no more. 

So, while this book is so abundantly YA at times it's almost a little grating, I did still find myself getting drawn into the world of Ravka, the magic and the politics reigning inside of it. It's definitely the best part of the first book and I really did wish it spent much more time on that part of it and less on Alina's relationship with Mal or the Darkling because those are just way less interesting. 

But one can't have everything in this world so I had to make due with this.

Once I started to get the hang of everything, the map, the eastern European/Russian inspired cities and the goddamn Grisha orders and groups it was actually a really easy and quick book to get through. I admire that despite the characters sometimes feeling a little paper thin or not fleshed out enough, particularly in relation to each other, the story is very easy to get drawn into and I do enjoy spending time with it.

That's the strongest part of the book, the world. I am actually deeply fascinated by it and the magic. I want to know more about the magic.

Spoilers/Speculation:

✪ My issue with Alina as a main character is that I feel deeply disconnected to her, it's very annoying and I find that the main characters of Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse in the trilogy at least toe the line of having to please everyone and be perfect all the time. It's annoying because it barely gives the characters any depth and makes it hard to know them. It's particularly problematic following Alina as a main character for three books and feeling that she is so fragmented. 

✪ Because of this divide between main characters and side characters, the side characters become way more fascinating and interesting to read about. The first one had some good ones, I feel the second one has even better ones and I am very pleased to be following their journey alongside Alina's.

✪ I don't want to spend my time hating on the Darkling. I could probably write an essay about how problematic he is. God. But he is trash and I wish him a quick death. I can't believe I'm going to have to read about him for two more books....

✪ For the second and third book I am hoping for more war and politics, it's what I was missing from the first one, because a big part of that book was spent on things I really didn't care about. So, please war and politics that is nuanced, please. 

✪ I'm mostly excited about reading the duolgy books, I've heard good things and yes I am excited. So I'm going to stop blogging now and run off to read some more so I can finally join the hype about the found family of criminals doing sneaky shit!