Television series

Shadow and Bone

Name: Shadow and Bone
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Released: 2021
Cast: Jessie Mei Li, Ben Barnes, Freddy Carter, Archie Renaux, Amita Suman

Shadow and Bone turns Leigh Bardugo's YA fantasy novels into glossy, propulsive Netflix adventure: an orphan mapmaker discovers she can summon light in a world split by a wall of living darkness, while a separate crew of teenage criminals pulls off heists in a smog-choked port city. It's plot-hungry, richly designed, built for binging — big feelings, bigger set pieces, and a genuine ache when it ended too soon.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love scheming crews, sprawling fantasy worlds and the kind of story that takes its time laying out who wants what before the payoff arrives.

Skip it if you find big fantasy worlds with lots of exposition tiresome, since the early hours spend a lot of time setting up factions, rules and who owes whom.

What it asks of you: Roughly sixteen episodes of nearly an hour each, so it wants a steady commitment of attention rather than a casual background watch, with slow-building plotting across two seasons.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Witcher2019

Same Netflix engine — sweeping fantasy war, monster-plagued kingdoms, a reluctant figure with world-altering power — but with more grit and mythology to chew on, and Henry Cavill giving the genre real weight.

But Its timelines fracture and double back in ways that frustrated even patient viewers, especially in season one.

His Dark Materials2019

Another beautifully mounted YA fantasy about a young girl whose fate could tip a war between worlds, with the same sense of wonder and danger braided together.

But It's more contemplative and philosophical, with less action and more theology than the pace here suggests you'd want.

Carnival Row2019

Fantasy noir with a similarly oppressed magical population and a forbidden romance across factional lines, wrapped in gorgeous, grimy steampunk atmosphere.

But The tone leans heavier and more political, and the pacing can feel sludgy compared to Shadow and Bone's zip.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Shadow and Bone

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sadko1953

Long before the Grishaverse, Soviet fantasy epics like this one were mining the exact same Slavic folklore — living seas, magic birds, a young hero granted a gift that could save or doom his people — with practical effects that still astonish.

A gorgeous, genuinely strange fairy-tale adventure — one of its era's great special-effects showcases, and the folkloric bedrock underneath a lot of modern Slavic-flavoured fantasy.

But It's a dubbed 1950s Soviet film with a slow, episodic structure; nothing about its pace resembles Netflix binge television.

The Wheel of Time2021

Epic-scale chosen-one fantasy with a found family fleeing dark forces, built from a doorstopper book series much like Bardugo's world.

But It demands more patience for world-building and lore than this show ever asked of you.

Warrior Nun2020

A scrappy young woman gains supernatural power and gets pulled into a secret war — same underdog energy, same painfully abrupt cancellation after real momentum built.

But The budget and polish are noticeably smaller, and the ending is even more frustratingly unresolved.

Locke & Key2020

Teens discover magic that reshapes their reality while a dangerous figure hunts them for it — same coming-of-age-under-threat structure, cosier tone.

But It's more horror-adjacent family drama than war epic, with lower stakes and a younger emotional register.

The Magicians2015

Takes the chosen-one-at-magic-school premise and turns it cynical, funny, and genuinely dark — great if you want the trope interrogated rather than played straight.

But It's aimed at an older, more jaded audience and can feel bleak and sardonic where this show stays earnest.

Cursed2020

Another Netflix YA fantasy remixing myth — this time Arthurian legend — with a young woman wielding a dangerous power everyone wants to control.

But It's thinner in both writing and world-building, and was cancelled after one uneven season.

Vampire Academy2022

Boarding-school political fantasy with two young women navigating court intrigue and monstrous threats — same appetite for teen power struggles inside an ornate world.

But It's smaller in scale and more soap opera than war epic, and was cancelled before it built momentum.

Attack on Titan2013

Strip away the ballgowns and it's the same machine: a teenager discovers a terrifying power, gets conscripted by a military that wants to weaponise her, and a charismatic commander turns out to be playing a much longer, darker game.

If you wanted Kirigan's manipulations and the war-machine politics turned up to a screaming pitch, this delivers — one of the great anime tragedies about power and complicity.

But It's considerably more violent and despairing, with a body count and moral bleakness this show never approaches.

The Last Czars2019

Ravka's aesthetic is borrowed wholesale from Tsarist Russia, and this docudrama tells the real story behind that world: a court obsessed with a mystic claiming supernatural power, and an empire that collapsed under its own myth-making.

Same lavish palaces, furs and gilded corruption, but the plot twists here actually happened — a strange, sobering companion piece to the show's fictional empire.

But It's a real historical tragedy, not an adventure — slower, sadder, and without any heroic power to root for.