#and like kaz and inej had fun stuff going on but the ordering of the plot events in s2 completely messed up their relationship arc

[munadyke]

hmmmm!

[bookishdream]

Kaz the Crow

this is a request for @coffeehousedragoness thank you for a message! enjoy xx

kaz brekker x reader

Your hand was full of cookie crumbs, you had a slight smile glowing up your face. Every evening, when the only job you had to do, was making sure everything in the Crow Club worked, you sat in your window and fed the crows. One crow in particular. The bird was black like a pitch, you had problem with distinguishing its eyes and its feathers. That crow was the only one who looked after you, literally.

Once, when you’d been walking around the Ketterdam, buying stuff for Kaz’s new job, two guys from rival gangs had wanted to ambush you. And you’d been oblivious to what had been happening. But you’d heard your crow squawking rapidly, you’d turned around and you’d seen two guys with hands on their pistols. You had been really lucky that you’d made friends with this one, little, black crow. Since then, it was your friend, you fed the bird and the crow was keeping you safe from its distance.

You weren’t even surprised, when you named it Kaz. The crow even looked like him, all angles and sharp edges making it looked dangerous, but in the inside, the bird was trying to keep you safe.

Leaving your thoughts, you reached out to those few crows who were on your roof, Kaz the Crow was sitting on the edge, you thought about making it a small walking stick and a hat, but your crow would probably get upset with you had you done that. You made a little chip chip sound to make this little bastard come closer in order to feed him.

When your hand got empty, you took the next cookie from the box that was laying beside you on the windowsill. You crumbled the cookie and you looked after your crow. You looked down and you noticed how it was right under your nose, waiting for its food. You reached out and placed your hand carefully under its beak. Kaz the Crow looked at you and after that it started eating the crumbs. You gently put your finger onto its feathers, stroking them. The bird was still eating, when the rest of them flew away from your roof. Crumbs on your palm were gone and after that, the crow walked to the edge of the roof.

“Goodnight, Kaz.” You said, smiling. In return, Kaz the Crow squawked loud and clear and flew away as well. You closed your window and got into your bed, you had work the next day.

When you woke up, on your nightstand was a tray, with a plate full of sandwiches and two cups of hot cocoa. Your sleepy eyes didn’t register Inej, sitting where you were the night before, her long, brown hair braided and her brown skin was glowing in the early sun light. You lifted yourself on your elbows and looked at her, puzzled expression on your face.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, reaching out to the cups of cocoa. You took one for yourself and the other one for the Wraith. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Inej chuckled and took the cup from your hands. “Jesper said that Kaz wanted you in his office as soon as you wake up, thought you’d like to have a nice morning before meeting with him.”

You laughed, taking one of the sandwiches. It had a cucumber and paprika on it. You took a bite and chewed while thinking about what Kaz might’ve wanted from you. You looked at Inej and then at the plate, offering her one but she shook her head no and left, sending you a smile. You sighed, weren’t sure if you were ready to start with the day.

As you thought, Kaz’s jobs weren’t easy. Rob the Emerald Palace here, kill a Black Tip there. No boredom and a lot of fun. Your limbs were tired, you’d prepared yourself only for a few hours of some petty thefts and lying, but when Kaz had said he had one more job for his Crows, you groaned.

“I’m in pain, Kaz,” you commented, placing your knife in your thigh belt. “We’ve been here for a whole day.”

“Stop with this bad mood, y/n,” Jesper fell into step with you, he placed his arm around your shoulders. “We’re alive, we’re together. What would one want more?”

“Peace and silence of my own room,” You said, rubbing your sore arm. It got hit while running from one of the clubs you robbed. You hadn’t registered when you hit it, but it hurt as hell. “Kaz will be furious if I don’t feed it.”

You didn’t know why you said that. Perhaps because of your tiredness and numb feel of pain radiating from every inch of your body. But your tongue wasn’t cooperating with your brain that night. You looked up and saw four faces, gazing at you. You felt your face heat up.

“My crow,” you whispered, embarrassed. “Not Kaz Kaz, Kaz the Crow.”

“You have a pet crow?” Nina asked.

“You named a pet crow after me?” Kaz questioned, with a smirk.

“I will not say anything more.”

You remained silent for the rest of the day, you still felt a little bit embarrassed, but you brushed it off. You were too tired to actually think about being ashamed. When eventually, you came back to your own room, you promptly went to your windowsill and sat there, opening your window as wide as you could. The cold breeze got into your nose. Scent of pollution and screams of drunk men came into your senses. You removed hair from your forehead and took one cookie from the box beside you. You crumbled it and threw it out, so the crows could feed. You didn’t notice your favourite crow.

You heard silent knocking, but before you could answer, the person behind them let themselves in. Kaz had taken of his coat and hat, and had left only his black trousers and white button up. His palms without gloves, and he wasn’t holding his cane. Your eyes got wide.

“What are you doing here?” you asked. “And without your gloves?”

“My hands needed some rest,” he answered, smirking. “I came here to meet the crow that is named after me.”

“Don’t be so cocky, Brekker,” you made some room for him on the windowsill, so he could sit. He walked and sat beside you. Both of you were sitting silent and just looking. “He’s not here.”

“Perhaps he knows I’m here and feels intimidated,” he joked, placing his palm on a window frame. His fingers were slim and his hand was pale. “He doesn’t want to make a fool out of himself, when I’m here.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I’m hilarious.”

When you wanted to say something, you heard loud squawking, and you saw Kaz the Crow. His deep black wings were moving fast and steady. When it landed, it ran straight to you. The bird looked at Kaz, curious. His black, hardly noticeable eyes were looking alert, judging if Brekker was dangerous.

“Do you want to feed it?” you offered, reaching out the cookie to Kaz. He nodded his head and carefully crumbled the biscuit. He was cautiously looking at the bird like it was going to do something to him. “It won’t bite you.”

“Are you sure?” he doubted, reaching out his hand.

“Positive.”

When you saw Kaz the Crow eating from real Kaz’s palm, gloveless, palm you got up from the windowsill and made your way to your closet. When you were changing your pants, you heard a small, surprised yell.

“You said it wouldn’t bite me!”

[incorrectquotesconaisseur]

SO GUYSSSS I JUST FINISHED READING RULE OF WOLVES AND WHAT THE HELL???? I am a MESS

(so here are my thoughts that I had while reading it)

❗❗RULE OF WOLVES SPOILERS❗❗

• Lol Nikolai has a horse named Punchline, I love him so much

• Sankta Zoya Y E S

• Nina is sooo badass I love her - Brum needs to die btw

• Fjerda is a little shit

• "If not for Nina, their blessed termite eating at the heart of Fjerda’s government" - did I mention I love Nina?????

• Nikolai is a freaking mastermind and I love him

• OMG THEY HAVE AN ANTIDOTE FOR PAREM NOW???? HELL YEAH take THAT Fjerda!!!!

• Nina adopting Kaz's mindset when back at the Ice Court is what I live for

• UGH THE APPARAT

• Nikolai is soooo in love with Zoya I AM GOING CRAZY

• Zoya's "you forget that in Kerch greed is a virtue" gave me MAJOR Kaz vibes... I miss my crow babies

• Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't really like Ehri

• ZOYALAI NATION, HOW ARE WE??? ARE WE CRYING?

• I just REALLY love the found family trope and seeing everyone gathered in Zoya's rooms and Zoya curled up on the couch next to Genya I just AAAAAAAAA

• I absolutely adore the whole concept of the Darkling's prison and the CONSTANT sunlight he has to face HA - Alina vibes

• OMG "bring me Alina Starkov" WHAT THE FUCK I have literal chills ESPECIALLY after seeing the S&B trailer:)

• Nina being so confident in everything she learned from the Crows gives me so much serotonin I WANT MY BABIESSS

• Oh my god... I like prince Rasmus, he gives me major Nikolai vibes

• I draw immense satisfaction from Kaz and Zoya using "podge" as their preferred curse word :))))

• NIKOLAI CAN SEPARATE HIMSELF FROM HIS DEMON???? King behavior

• HOLY SHIT ALINA AGREED TO THE MEETING here we go again, fam

• I'm seeing Nikolai talking a lot about accepting his death and being undisturbed by the prospect of it and it feeaks me out - if he dies, I die with him

• Random, but: they need to get the thorn stuff from the Order of Sankt Feliks or whatever, right??? Maybe they have to steal it... and they would require expertise... MAYBE SOME CROWS PLS???????? (I am such a clown)

• Okay wait... so the letters that prove Nikolai is a bastard are in the druskelle sector... PLEASE TELL ME NINA HAS TO BREAK IN THE ICE COURT the fact that she is back there ALONE makes my heart clench so hard... I MISS MY CROWS

• FUCK ALINA SHOWED UP (also Oncat apparently and now I want to cry about Harshaw again)... AND MAL I can't take this I AM HYPERVENTILATING

• I AM LEGIT ON THE FLOOR Yuri is still there FINALLY understanding that the Darkling is evil AND NOW MY MAIN MAN GOT HIS POWERS BACK oh, I love the chaos

• NIKOLAI FUCKING CARRIES ZOYA'S RIBBON IN HIS POCKET nobody fucking touch me

• THE WEDDING IS FOR GENYA AND DAVID????? I AM SOOO CONFUSED what the heck

• Nikoali is the most fucking badass amazing cunning freakishly intelligent idiot I have ever seen in my entire life, my love for him is immesurable, I cannot put into words just how awesome his awesomeness is TAKE THAT MAKHI YOU BITCH

• OH HELL NO the demon is trying to escape SMACK THAT BITCH NIKOLAI BABY

• Oh wow, Rasmus is crazyyyy af he isn't anything like Nikolai my perfect boi SORRY

• OMG Nikolai's dad us a good guy??? I feel so sorry for him... SO NIKOLAI WAS RIGHT TO BE A ROMANTIC huh

• FUCKING HELL again with the nichevo’ya???? Darkling bby, what the HECK

• Nononononooo NO NOOOO NOT DAVID WHAT THE FUCK LEIGH

• "This is what love does" one of the most powerful quotes tbh

• Wait... they want to???? STEAL??? titanium from the Kerch??? .... DOES THIS MEAN.... C R O W S?????

• Okay but... the Darkling's POV? POWER MOVE I love it!!! And the fact that he uses Aleksander as his name with zero reticence now is just *chef's kiss*

• I'm sorry but... I don't like Mayu's chapters I AM SO SORRY I DON'T

• Nina is my badass queen STEP ASIDE PEASANTS

• All these SoC Easter Eggs and mentions are driving me insane

• Idk why but imagining the Darkling drinking beer is sooo funny to me

• I AM LOSING MY SHIT they are in Ketterdam KETTERDAM does that mean ....DOES THAT MEAN ....I better see my Crows or I am throwing hands

• The Zoyalai conversations in this book are KILLING me

• OH MY FUCKING GOD so Kaz took the Emerald Palace over and renamed it THE SILVER SIX???? LIKE???? I AM LEGIT CRYING???

• Ummm...Zoya, honey, WHY do you want to VOLUNTARILY stay away from Nikolai, HUH?????

• THE ONLY REASON HE AGREED TO HELP NIKOLAI WAS BECAUSE HE GUARANTEES INEJ'S PROTECTION if that's not L O V E idk what is YAAASSS KANEJ

• FUCKING SHIT JESPER!!!! IT'S JESPER!!!! WYLAN!!!! I AM FAINTING MY BABIESS

• The Crows' banter is WHAT I LIVE FOR

• Kaz is the most cold, badass and calculating motherfucker on the planet, I love him soooo much

• No NO NOO JORAN IS THE ONE WHO KILLED MATTHIAS????? HOLY SHIT I am sooo scared LEIGH WHYYYY

• Kaz's reaction to Nikolai's demon is legit the funniest shit ever

• Kaz and Nikolai are bffs - THIS IS HEADCANON LEAVE ME BE

• Queen Leyti has severely disappointed me

• I am having waayyyyy too much fun reading about the Darkling among blindly faithful monks - this is the stuff of sitcoms

• (I know the Crows only had a cameo and they won't pop up again, but I can't help desperation wanting to see Nina reunite with them and PLEASE GIVE ME INEJ!!!)

• Honestly, it's pretty cool getting to have a look in the Darkling's head - it's SUPER fucked up

• OOOOO the blight vs the Darkling = the only confrontation I want to see

• FATHER AND SON REUNION

• I don't care much for Hanne x Nina, but I have to admit that they make a very cute couple

• FUCK THEY BROKE STURMHOND'S BLOCADE FUUUUCK

• WAIT NO it was their plan all along HOLY SHIT electricity RULEZZZZ who knew physics would prove THIS useful???

• UUUGHH FUCK THE APPARAT I am so sick of this guy - Zoya was right, they should have killed him

• I am really pissed at the Darkling- YOU FUCKING ACKNOWLEDGE HOW MUCH RAVKA NEEDS YOUR HELP, YOU SEE NIKOLAI'S BRAVERY, YOU KNOW YOU CAM HELP, AND YOU DO NOTHING??? BRO WHAT THE FUCK

• HELL YEAH ZOYA IS A DRAGOOON fuck some shit up sweety Y E S

• MY SKIN IS CLEARED AND MY CROPS ARE WATERED BY THE DARKLING RAISING A MOB TO CALL ZOYA "SANKTA"

• Also... the Darkling winking at Nikolai? FLERT

• WHAT THE FUCK???? HANNE DIED??? holy shit, why???? WHY CAN'T NINA BE HAPPY???????

• Nikolai is an absolute SAVAGE in a debate

• Idk what to think abt Rasmus... he was kinda badass for standing up against Brum

• SOLDIER. SUMMONER. SAINT. slap me and call me a hoe I SCREAMED WHEN I READ THAT

• ZOYA AS QUEEN, SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

• Okay I stan the Darkling again

• ZOYALAI IS CANON I REPEAT ZOYALAI IS CANONNNNN

• OKAY WOW HANNE IS A FULL-ON BADASS yep, I stan

• I really???? LOVE??? this ending for the Darkling??? Idk but it is VERY fitting

• ALINA!!!! AT ZOYA'S!!!! CORONATION!!!! my life is complete

• FUCKING SHIT INEJ!!! INEEEEEJJJJ my queen my love AAAAAA

• The conversation at the end between Alina, Zoya and Genya DESTROYED ME

• STEALING THE HEART OF SANKT FELIKS yes please BRING THE CROWS BACK!!!!! I NEED ANOTHER CROWS SEQUEL!!!!

• I fainted, I ascended, I DIED at the last page

• NOW I NEED A SEQUEL!!!

• Leigh, you ARE goig to write what happens next, right? RIGHT? RIGHT????

[whynotcherries]

ooh this is fun! what are the crows' starbucks orders?

it is fun, i literally love these SO MUCH, please continue to ask for them lmao <3

kaz - something fancy but plain. like something with cold brew or espresso in the name. because even plain coffee is overpriced at starbucks, and if he’s about to get coffee, he’s going to get something that’s worth it. (and if he’s alone, he’ll get something sweeter.) (and if he wants a frappucino, he asks inej to order it because nobody can see him order that.)

inej - i can’t see her as a frequent coffee drinker. i think she’d be a fan of the teas, especially the honey citrus mint tea. but i think if she had to get coffee, it would be a vanilla bean frappuccino.

jesper - americano. something with so much caffeine that it makes him feel like the saints have come to retrieve him.

wylan - anything with a lot of caramel. my mind goes right to caramel macchiato with extra caramel, but i think he’d SUPER appreciate the caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino.

nina - she gets the fanciest, sweetest, absolute mess of a drink that she can order. apologizes profusely for the excessive directions, tips extra, and it’s worth it for the truly beautiful drink she comes up with.

matthias - if he’s on his own, either something “healthy” like a refresher or the plainest non-plain coffee he can get. if he’s with nina, it’s whatever she tells him to get. (which was a problem at first because i can’t see him loving sweet stuff, but she learned his tastes quickly.)

jordie - if we’re discussing jordie from my modern au, a green tea or something like that. anything good for the stomach. if not, something somewhat sweet. i can see him getting white chocolate mochas.

[lunaajade]

Everything You Need to Know about “Shadow and Bone” on Netflix (*UPDATED: POSSIBLE LANGUAGE OF THORNS ADAPTATION INFO)

 Since it’s recently been confirmed that we’d be getting S&B content in a few days (finally!), I thought I’d compile and summarize as much info as I could to refresh everyone’s memories! Please spread the word/share this post to those who aren’t up to date! (I’ve seen some people online who are worried about how it’s going to turn out, and I’d like to be able to hopefully reassure those people)

Now, there’s a LOT of stuff, so there’s always the chance I missed/forgot something. This post will be split up into categories based on type of info, so here we go! I went back and listened to/watched both of the big live streams (NYCC and the S&B Charity Competition), went on the Grishaverse Reddit, etc. to find as much (extra/bonus) stuff as I could. (If I missed anything/got something wrong, please feel free to leave a comment!)

Update: A lot of people have been asking where it was confirmed we were getting content soon. I found out from one of the update accounts I follow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

General/Key Info About the Show

-This first season will be adapting both “Shadow and Bone” and what has been dubbed a “Book 0″ (most likely meaning prequel/backstory/set-up) for “Six of Crows” -In relation to the above point, the timelines are being brought together for the show. (Normally in the books, the two series are set two years apart)(We don’t know how exactly or what this means for the story, but I have a really interesting theory that I thought up in relation to this, message me if you’d like to hear it.) -Leigh acknowledges and understands that some of us have doubts and are worried about the show, but she has publicly assured us (numerous times) of how much she loves the show and cast, how well she thinks the crew/writers did in bringing the Grishaverse to life, etc. See a later point below in the Facts/Tidbits section -The first season will have 8, one-hour long episodes -Alina has been made half Shu (half Asian) for the show! Leigh stated that was decided on after she and Eric had a lengthy discussion on Alina’s character. -The main cast (as in confirmed to be in all episodes) is comprised of Jessie Mei Li (as Alina), Archie Renaux (as Mal), Ben Barnes (as the Darkling), Freddy Carter (as Kaz), Amita Suman (as Inej), and Kit Young (as Jesper) -Wylan and Nikolai are NOT in the first season. (Nikolai didn’t appear until the second book, and Leigh confirmed that at this point in the story, the Crows had not met Wylan yet.) -Other cast members include Danielle Galligan (as Nina), Calahan Skogman (as Matthias), Daisy Head (as Genya), Sujaya Dasgupta (as Zoya), Luke Pasqualino (as David), Julian Kostov (as Fedyor), Simon Sears (as Ivan), Zoe Wanamaker (as Baghra), and more! -The Darkling will also be called “General Kirigan” in the show. From what we know, The Darkling will be the “enemy” to Ravka (so in essence, General Kirigan is his alias/fake persona (what he’ll most likely be referred to for most of the show), and no one knows that he’s actually their enemy. (Meaning it’ll most likely a super big moment when they learn their general was actually the Darkling in disguise)). -The show was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary. (And additional filming took place this past fall in Vancouver) -In order, the 8 episodes are titled the following: “A Searing Burst of Light”, “We’re All Someone’s Monster”, “The Making at the Heart of the World”, “Otkazat’sya”, “Show Me Who You Are”, “The Heart is An Arrow”, “The Unsea”, & “No Mourners”.

Other (Fun) Facts/Tidbits About the Show

-Upon seeing Jessie’s audition, Leigh loved her audition/portrayal of Alina so much that she apparently stated that she wanted her to play Alina or she’d be out of the project. She was sent five auditions to watch, Jessie’s was the third, and she said she didn’t bother watching the rest of them. -Leigh stated that she and Eric Heisserer (the creator of the show) said they were on the same page from the first meeting. All other past meetings with producers and companies about possible adaptations had left her with a bad feeling, but she said they’d had the same ideas about inclusion, story, staff, etc. She said she’s loved the respect he’s shown towards the work (and, in a way, to us the fans) -Netflix apparently also has the rights to adapt “The Language of Thorns” , though we’ve gotten no info on that adaptation yet. (UPDATE: I just watched a Leigh Bardugo event from Feb 2019 (a few weeks after the show was first announced, I think): As of  that day, she said that she thought that they were going to use LoT more for "texture” (IMO that might mean worldbuilding?) in the show. And I don’t know if she was talking about LoT specifically because she was very vague, but she said that there were certain things in the show that she thinks readers will be really excited about. Again, this was over a year ago, back when they were still in pre-production and stuff, so don’t take my word for it. Besides this, I couldn’t find anything else relating to a possible LoT adaptation. Maybe they’ll have the stories from LoT appear as actual folk tales told in the show, and that’s the “adaptation”? IDK. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHnw8Ygw5c&t=1906s)) -Leigh is an exec. producer on the show! I’m no expert, so I don’t know how much say/power she had in the process, but she definitely had some. -There is a RAVKAN edition of the “Shadow and Bone” book that Leigh says makes a cameo in the show! -Jesper’s guns had custom etchings done on them by a Hungarian antique gunsmith! (And they were so good that Leigh and Eric said that it looked like it belonged in a museum--they were also described to be quite heavy!) -Eric Heisserer is the creator of the show, he is an award-winning writer, well known for “Arrival”, “Bird Box”, and more. (If I remember correctly, Leigh said that he’d reached out to her about making the show!) -A DeKappel painting (maybe the one owned by Van Eck?) was confirmed to be in the pilot episode. -Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen have been confirmed to be in the first season, but their casting has (up to this point) not yet been revealed. -Bo Yul-Bayur is confirmed to be in the show! (Though Kuwei has not) -Leigh will have  a cameo in (I think) Episode 5! She will be wearing a Materialki kefta and will be opening a door, if I remember correctly. -A lot of the crew was also extremely passionate about the project and fans of the books -The “Lives of Saints” book that was published in October is an actual book/prop that is appearing in the show! -I’m personally fine with Mal, but Leigh says that Archie is going to change everyone’s minds with his portrayal! -The costume designer for the show is Wendy Partridge, known for her work on “Thor: The Dark World”, “Pompeii”, and more!  -The composer for the show is Joe Trapanese, known for composing for “The Greatest Showman”, “Straight Outta Compton”, “Lady and the Tramp”, and more! At the NYCC Grishaverse panel, they revealed a little bit of the score (”Grisha Theme”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxIEbsHKJA 

Fun Cast/On Set Stories/Facts

-The cast all loves each other, and are all extremely passionate about this show, which is great! (Leigh said that on her second visit to the set, she heard them singing together) -Leigh says that Ben Barnes once snuck up behind her on her first day on set and scared her by whispering “Fine, make me your villain” -Freddy’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows”, but most specifically the first line of chapter 2 (”Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.”) -Jessie would apparently come to set on some of her days off to support the cast and crew! -Sujaya has stated that her favorite Grishaverse character is Nikolai! (#Zoyalai) -Freddy has become famous/popular with the fandom, one of the reasons being because he often comments on posts/live streams asking something along the lines of “What was it like working with Freddy Carter? xoxo” -Danielle loves Nina and her journey in “King of Scars” -According to a Tweet, Freddy and Leigh said that there had been a scene with “a very pesky gate”--Freddy said that it “wouldn’t be proper to tweet the expletives [he] used that day” and that he thinks he “scarred” Amita and Eric. -Amita’s favorite thing about Inej is her silence, and her favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows” (as of May, where we learned this during a live-stream, she said she’s read it three times and listened to the audiobook twice.) -There was a waffle truck on set on the last day of shooting! -Calahan says that if he could play any other Grishaverse character, he’d want to play Nikolai! -While she did work with the trainer to get more physically fit, Amita learned most of her knife techniques by herself! -Leigh said she cried a lot while on set! (She said there was one scene they were shooting that she has a very clear, vivid memory of writing many years back--based on the context of which she was talking about it, if I had to guess, I’d guess she’s describing the Winter Fete.) -Leigh also said that on one of her first days on set, it was funny/weird to see all the extras in First Army uniforms chilling on their phones, drinking coffee, etc. -One of Calahan’s favorite character dynamics in the books is the dynamic between Kaz and Matthias -There was a moment where Amita was fully in costume and doing amazing, graceful knife work, only to trip and fall when she’d finished. -Amita and Jessie and Sujaya were best friends on set. -Sujaya loved everything about playing Zoya. (Especially her confidence) -Leigh says one of her favorite props was Kaz’s cane, especially because of what it meant to her and the story. -If he could be any Grisha order, Calahan says he’d want to be a Corporalki -Calahan loves Matthias’s journey/arc. -Kit’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Crooked Kingdom”!

Links

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65iI1YXrbU (NYCC Grishaverse Panel) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHou5rVs6o0 (S&B Talent Show Charity Live Stream ft. the S&B Cast!--the IG video got taken down because Archie deleted his IG account and switched to a new one) -https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 (”Shadow and Bone” on Netflix!) -https://twitter.com/shadowandbone_ (Official “Shadow and Bone” Twitter!) -https://www.instagram.com/shadowandbone/?hl=en (Official “Shadow and Bone” Instagram!) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRh-Pmbynww (Annoucement made by cast when filming wrapped! (can be found on the social media accounts, but here’s a link to YT)) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpY8uLtyB4 (A S&B Cast Crack video by HeartPhantom--it highlights a lot of the inside jokes and memes that we’ve gotten to witness among the cast, and also just generally shows off how hilariously chaotic everyone is (this cast is the definition of chaotic good, lol))

[claudiarya]

Hello I’ve written this short fic. based on the clip we’ve got from Shadow and Bone of Jesper and Inej performing, but with a twist!

You can read it on Ao3 as well

Silks, Guns and All the Things Fun (Not) 

Words count: 2898 

The chattering at the Crow Club was thicker than usual and it ricocheted around the lower floor of the building, bouncing off the draped walls. Kaz Brekker made his way there from where he had been dealing cards on the upper part of the club. It had been quite a profitable night, with many pigeons all too eager to let the rush of the gambling go to their head and lose everything. His cane tapped on the stairs as he descended them, an ominous and irregular melody announcing who was coming down those steps. He stopped just before the las two and scanned the room, his shark eyes checking if everything was in order. Kaz saw at least a couple of people flinching when his eyes had met theirs. Good. It seemed that his infamy was the same unblemished, or rather very blemished, story of terror as ever. He had worked all of his angles to make it that way, and he had every intention to keep it up as long as he lived, his thirst for personal revenge too strong to be sated in any other way.

Kaz threw another glance around the room until he found who he was looking for. He approached her, men and women making themselves scarce as he passed them. Inej was in the corner, intent on untangling something thick, the crimson fabric like a river of blood in her hands. Her long hair was tied up in a coil at the nape of her neck as she usually wore it, a light vest covering her shoulders and arms, and peeking from a sleeve he saw something wrapped around her forearm. She had covered her feather tattoo since she was going to remove the vest and perform in bare arms, something that had stirred not little emotions inside the hollow of his armor.  

“I trust that everything is ready,” Kaz rasped, looking down at her from where he was standing. Not surprised in the slightest, as if she had known all along who was about to speak to her, Inej kept her eyes on her task. “Good evening to you, too Kaz. How are you?” Her tone unbothered if a little bit sarcastic…

This girl. If it had been any other person speaking to him like that, they would have run away with a few broken limbs or without teeth. Or perhaps both. Kaz couldn’t understand why, but his relationship, if that could be called, with her had always felt different. Nobody treated him the way she did, he didn’t allow it, but whatever it was that propelled him to always find excuses to talk to her, be near to her when he could, he didn’t like it.

Liar. A voice in his head reprimanded him. him. You keep lying to yourself, Brekker. He blinked. Usually he would have ignored her, but that night he didn’t know what forced possessed him and he decided to indulge her.

“Yes, hello Inej darling. I’ll be better when all of this is over, and we’ve made our profit.”

When the term of endearment had left his lips, she had looked at him with a sonorous sigh. Inej raised to her feet, not really making a difference since she was so small, the red silks now draped on one shoulder, and her eyes peered straight into his. The amber, low lights of this particular floor of the club reflected into her irises, making it look like she had flames burning behind them.

Kaz thought again to himself that she had never looked more like a painted icon of those Saints she so much adored than in that moment and gripped his cane tighter to try and snap out of his reveries, to try and quiet the raging emotions inside. The ridges of the crow’s head unmistakable even under his gloved hands.

“Everything will go as planned: we’ll perform, and we’ll make sure all of these pigeons are probably plucked. Don’t worry.” She passed him, careful to avoid touching him and went to hang the silks she had been preparing.

Kaz promised not to let his gaze follow her but failed. He saw how with a graceful movement she looped one end of the prop into the hook on the wall. Once again, he forced himself not to let his thoughts wander too much and with a slightly louder voice called after her.

“If you’re so ready, where in Ghezen’s name, is Jesper?”

“He’ll be here,” she shrugged not preoccupied at all.

“He’d better be.” He checked his time piece and looking once again at her he said: “We start in five minutes. Go get yourself prepared.”

He heard Inej exhaling loudly. Again. A habit, he realized, she had acquired in these last months. Was it perhaps because she was starting to feel a little more comfortable with this life he had given her, with his gang… with him?

Inej got closer to him, not intimidated at all to look at him straight in the eye.

“I know what I’m doing, but if I’ll be ever looking for a coach, I’ll know who to turn to. Now, excuse me.”

She brushed past him, one instant she was there and then next gone.

***

Fitting how Kaz had found the darkest part of the room to stand in during Jesper’s and Inej’s little show. The sharpshooter had turned up at the last minute, literally the last, when the audience had already gathered around the little space they had arranged specifically for the two of them, and Kaz had already excogitated a hundred different way to kill him. He had of course given a piece of his mind, seething to the gangly boy, who in returned had just shrugged, winked at him and told him that “People love big entrances, I’m making us a favor,” before scurrying to his designated seat at the center of the makeshift stage.

Kaz had come up with this idea months prior, but Inej and Jesper had actually started performing only a couple of weeks ago. He had had to use all of his most convincing arguments to let Per Haskell see how incredibly fruitful this would all be. That old man and his drunken ass…

After many requests from his lieutenant part he had conceded, and Kaz had made it look so as if the leader of the Dregs had had this brilliant idea himself, a thing that had worked out for the best since he had gone strolling around the Barrel boasting how his club was offering entertainments that no other could. A good publicity indeed, and Dirtyhands had smirked pleased with himself, his plan had worked. As always.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw Inej climbing the silks, her fluid movements made it look so easy, as if she was taking a stroll instead of keeping herself up with only her body strength.

“Ladies ang gentlemen, thugs and thieves,” started Jesper walking the perimeter of the free space and catching the attention of the people there. “Tonight you’ll see something that only few would be brave to attempt. My lovely assistant will perform one of her tricks with a card stuck between her lips,” at that the girl in question removed from thin air a card and showed it to the audience, only one part of her body now supporting her, the silks wrapped around it, as the other half hanged from them. “While I will attempt to shoot at it.”

Many gasps could be heard around the room as well as excited whispers.

“Let’s begin!” Jesper said, now with a much more serious tone.

Kaz had to admit it, even if at times Jesper was a total buffoon he knew how to mesmerize an audience, and he had them in the palm of his hands.

The sharpshooter took his position, and removed from the ground a little polished, silver tray. Kaz had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes as Jesper looked at his reflection winked at himself and then kissed his beloved revolver, while exhaling with (fake) preoccupation. Could this boy be more theatrical than that? The Bastard of the Barrel sighed, convinced that there was no end to his second in command’s love for the dramatics. Inej wrapped her limbs expertly in the silks and then with a fearless dive, she let herself fall so that her body was hanging upside-down.

The split second before Jesper could shoot, Kaz’s and Inej’s eye met, and the world seemed to stop for a bit.

He knew damn well that the Zemeni boy was the best shot around, he had never seen him miss. Never. On top of that, he suspected that the little secret he was keeping from everyone, but that Kaz had of course found out about, somehow helped him with his formidable aim. Yet… why in the name of his beloved kruge did he feel nervous for her?

You need to get it together and stop thinking this sentimental stuff. He scolded himself, not for the first time that night.

After a second or perhaps an eternity he moved his gaze away from hers.

Jesper shot and… the bullet struck the card exactly in the middle. The raucous cheering of the audience was what ground him completely again. Inevitably, as if a magnet drawn to the pole, he saw Inej finish her performance with a couple of flips, before landing as effortlessly and elegantly as ever, a big grin on her face. Kaz himself couldn’t help the light movement upward of the corner of his mouth, that died immediately when he noticed how the sharpshooter, now standing, turned around to return the smile, and finally joined her, taking her hand to bow.

That nagging feeling inside him was as demanding as ever. He hated it. He wanted it to stop.

The applause of the people surrounding him turned into a distant sound, as a clear thought struck him then and there. He was never going to have that easy demeanor Jesper had with her, he was never going to be able to take her hand without drowning, he could never tell her that despite all his effort he couldn’t resist the constant pull he felt whenever she was close and that made everything even worse.

Inej’s eyes managed to find his again in his dark corner, the smile she still had lightened her features, but it dropped as soon as she saw what was a very grim expression marking his face.

He wanted to yell. Tell her to keep on smiling, because he felt very much alive whenever she did, like none other things could, but instead he just gripped his cane tighter, and forced himself to look around the room.

When Jesper and Inej approached him after the audience had dispersed a bit, he was still waging his inner war.

“Wasn’t our Wraith amazing?” Jesper asked excitedly, an arm slung around the shorter girl’s shoulders, before adding “Wasn’t I amazing?”

“You just did what you had to. No more no less. And besides, many of these people had already seen this particular performance, so I wouldn’t let all those adoring people get to your head.” He rasped before leaving them standing.

As he made his way to return to the upper level of the Club, he heard the sharpshooter sighing loudly. “You can never win with him, can you?”

“No one can,” was Inej’s curt answer.

He knew her eyes were following him; he could feel it and he never detested more the vindictive and cold creature he had become than now.

***

The Crow Club at that hour of the night, or rather early morning, was deserted. Kaz had ordered the others to go back to the Slat as he stayed behind to make sure everything was in order before close-up. He once again descended the stairs that would bring him to the lower floor, the silks and the other props gone and already been stashed away. As he scanned the room though, he noticed something on the ground, near where the silks were usually hanged. In the dim light he could see it was a piece of dark cloth, and as he got closer, he noticed that it wasn’t just any piece of cloth, but the one Inej had wrapped around her forearm to cover her tattoo. He crouched down, with no little protest from his bad leg, and took it in one gloved hand, the gesture almost reverent.

If someone were to enter the room now, they would have found Kaz Brekker, Bastard of the Barrel, Dirtyhands himself, on his knees cradling a strip of cloth in his hands. He shook his head in disbelief and made to stand up, when CRASH!

Something had fallen and in his fear of having been discovered, Kaz quickly tucked the wrap in his suit pocket as he made leverage on his cane to stand. He saw that what had startled him had been a stool, now on the ground. He passed a hand through his hair in exasperation. He really needed to get a grip.

In the days following Kaz didn’t realize that out of nowhere he would put his hand in his pocket and rub the little piece of fabric between his fingers, a thing that oddly enough always managed to calm him. He didn’t realize it, until he did. It had been a late night in which he had been working for the Dregs and his pathetic excuse of a leader, now scheming, now scribbling and adding numbers. The little thing had been placed on his shambled desk, a trusted companion of his. He had meant to return it, if not to Inej directly, to at least casually leave it where he had found it, but in the end he hadn’t. That night he had sent his Wraith out to gather information regarding a certain mercher’s rich art collection, and he hadn’t almost heard her, almost, entering his attic room from the window. Kaz hadn’t known how he had been able to stash her piece of fabric away before she could see him gently passing it between his fingers.

He only imagined the conversation they would have had if he had taken a second too long to hide it.

You know Inej, I casually found it on the ground but instead of leaving it there I’m keeping your arm wrapping as a stress-relieving token. But it’s not like it may look. I’m not obsessed with you or anything.

Could he be more pathetic than that? Since when had he gone this soft? Oh yes, he knew, ever since he had paid her indenture and she had joined the Dregs, that was when. To make things worse that night had ended with Inej casually sitting on his window seat: her head resting on the wall, her eyes closed. Indefinite and unnamed emotions had stirred once again inside of him, as a very precise, but not really polite word echoed in his head… he was so screwed.

From that moment on he had debated whether to just give it to her and telling her that he had found it but that it had just slipped his mind until then, or continuing keeping the damn thing. A constant battle in his mind that complemented the one inside his heart.

He kept it.

If Kaz was never going to have Inej, as he wished he could, he at least could have a part, no matter how small and insignificant, of her.

That day, his feet carried him on their own accord outside her door, a floor exactly below his room. They had encountered some troubles with some too cocky members of the Black Tips and the whole ordeal had left them all pretty shaken – except Kaz of course – and with two dead members of his crew. Kaz didn’t know why he was standing here, on the other side of her closed door. She might not even be here, he had thought trying to find excuses to turn back from where he had come.

But he knew. He somehow sensed that she was inside her little room.

What exactly was he thinking, what was he doing here as a gaping fish out her door? Did he want to make sure she was okay? See if she needed anything?

Oh yes, because you’ve been nothing but an example of emotional support, Brekker.

When he was about to turn and go back to the attic, cursing himself for his stupidity, the door in front of him opened. Inej stood there, and for once her hair was not tied back but loose on her shoulders, cascading in delicate waves around her frames, the result of having kept it tight in a braid.

“Is anything wrong, Kaz? Why are you standing outside my door as if you’d seen a Saint?” she had asked.

I think I wanted to see you, I’m not sure why and I’m going insane. He thought, but of course didn’t say, too cowardly and bitter to do so. Instead, Kaz quickly put his hand in his pocket, and found what he knew would be there. Gripping her piece of fabric, he managed to answer with his usual lack of emotions.

“Go find Jesper. I found us a job. What would you say to one million kruge?”

[summerseachild]

I finished reading Six of Crows last night, and I have thoughts about the book and how the show made adaptation changes. I haven't flailed about a book on social media for a while, so thanks to @ravenya003 for encouraging me to post my thoughts.

So many spoilers for the book and the Shadow and Bone show to follow.

First of all, I loved it. I loved getting to spend more time with these characters, and getting to see their relationships with each other develop, and not just the romantic ones. (For instance, I am HERE for Nina and Inej’s friendship and how they support each other at key moments. So good. Can’t wait to see them interact in the show now.)

Second, I’m kind of glad they aged up the characters for the show just a wee bit. I kept having to remind myself that book!Matthias is the oldest of them at 18, and he’s been in Hellgate prison for a year. They’ve all been through a lot, and for me at least, making them all early 20s instead of mid to late teens for the show made a lot more sense.

So I knew the basics of Kaz’ trauma because I went out and spoiled myself, but actually reading it was rough. I knew that he blamed Pekka Rollins for Jordie’s death, but I didn’t know anything about the depth of the long con. I think I knew there was an illness outbreak involved, and my guess going in was that Pekka’s gang robbed and killed Jordie while he and Kaz were both sick, but what actually happened is so much worse. No wonder Kaz has trust issues. Also, the bit about how he had to get back to shore after being dumped with the rest of the bodies is going to stay with me. So good. So upsetting.

And then there’s Inej… I loved her in the show, and I just… love her more now. I love that she’s brave and capable and wants something more for herself… that’s something that I actually really like about all of the tangled relationships in this book? They all have things that are really important to them outside of being part of the group or having FRUSTRATING FEELINGS THAT MADE ME SCREAM IN SHIPPER. Anyway… that moment where Inej realizes, while climbing up that incinerator shaft because Kaz trusted she could, that what she wants to do with her life and her skills is take down as many slavers as humanly possible was amazing. I loved it.

We got little hints of all of the characters backstory in the show, but Nina and Matthias were just… straight up their flashback scenes from the book, with the timeline adjusted slightly. (Nina was originally out looking for Grisha with Zoya omg want to know more about that.) I like that show!Nina is a spy, what with all of those language capabilities. ANYWAY. Nina is just… vivacious and fun and very very sad at the same time, and reading all of those sweet Nina/Matthias flashbacks with dialogue just… used verbatim in the show because it’s SO CUTE interspersed with the way that she and Matthias interact in the “present” of the book was… devastating. Also I may have screamed FUCK YOU MATTHIAS and scared my dog at one point. If you’ve read it you know where. And then I had to take it back because the straight laced viking block of ice suddenly revealed he could lie like a PRO.

Wylan is adorable. I lost it at his "Who is mark?” question and Jesper’s utter exasperation. One of the things about Wylan I really love is how he shows how this little group of people just… takes you in as you are and really respects you for the skills you have and what you bring to the table. When he started making that tool to cut Fabrikator made glass out of parts lying around the gate house and Jesper’s improvised diamond drill bit, I was impressed. Also, Jesper whining about babysitting all the way to Fjerda was highly amusing. Oh my sweet summer child.

Have I talked about Kaz/Inej yet and how it is destroying my soul right now? Can I talk about how they are both such damaged people who “doesn’t trust easily” is the understatement of the year, but they trust each other and are vulnerable with each other and will do things that step all over their trauma for that trust. (I just about had heart failure when Inej let Nina put the Menagerie tattoo back on her.) And I have so much respect for Inej for realizing what she wants and not settling for anything less, but also poor Kaz for not being able just yet to explain why he’s got all of that armor in the first place (if I read correctly, he hadn’t even told her Jordie existed before the events of the book, much less exactly what happened.) And then things end how they end with them, and Inej gets fucking kidpanned, and it’s a good thing I bought a box set with Crooked Kingdom, which I will be starting today.

So I haven’t even talked about the heist yet, and I love heists. I love how it moved, I love how all of the parts fit together, and I am HORRIFIED by the existence of jurda parem. The book’s first chapter really sets the scene for how messed up that stuff is, and so the stakes were always high, but WOW. It really made the moment when Nina decides to take it and does what she does so powerful. (We still don’t know if she’s ok by the end… please be ok, Nina.)

Other places in no particular order I was Not Ok:

The scene in the wagon where Kaz is not doing well and Inej is trying to give him as much space as she can and a;dlkfajfa;kfljad; I’m fine.

Inej getting stabbed. Not. Cool. (But Kaz’ “I am going to do incredibly violent things to you because you hurt a person I cared about while appearing calm” pushes multiple narrative buttons of mine so good on you, LB.)

Nina and Matthias discovering the burned Grisha bodies and Jesper being the one to do the mercy kill so neither Nina nor Inej had to. That whole bit was ROUGH.

The reveal of the lab and how long the druskelle leadership has been experimenting on Grisha. I think I had to put the book down, take a few deep breaths, and go outside after that because WOW that’s nasty.

Other random favorite moments included:

Matthias being the one who speaks up for Kuwei when he and Nina find him (and the reveal that he’s an inferni and his dad was a Fabrikator… the fact that jurda parem started out as an experiment that was supposed to help Grisha control their powers and hide from persecution is just heartbreaking).

And to end on a happy note… One of my favorite visuals of this whole book is Jesper fricking Fahey driving a tank with a “Fjerdan might” banner streaming behind it. I cannot WAIT to get to see this with my own two eyes.

And now I’m going to go start Crooked Kingdom because I will not be ok until Inej is ok.

[shifty-as-a-swinging-trapeze]

Six of Crows Theatre AU

Kaz is the stage manager. Always has a notebook/binder and a criticism ready. Per Haskell is technically the director but everyone gets their notes from Kaz. He’s very demanding and a lot of theatre kids hate him, actors and crew alike, but you have to admit his shows are excellent. When he was a kid he used to go to musical summer camp with jordie. He loved singing and dancing and everything about musical theatre (just imagine a tiny eight year old Kaz flailing around trying to dance and singing in a voice thats high and clear as a bell, like a kid in a church choir or something. Just. Imagine). He doesn’t perform anymore but he still secretly loves theatre and devotes so much time to it but no one is allowed to mention it on pain of death. Once in a blue moon he’ll sing or hum quietly to himself when alone but Inej is the only one who has caught him doing it (she loved it and thought it was beautiful and adorable)

Inej is the choreographer/dance captain. She always choreographs the shows but only performs sometimes. She’s got a nice voice but prefers to stay in the background. She has a mishmash of dance/gymnastics training that often manifests in the form of acro and she’s constantly frustrated that none of the actors know anything about it; all she wants is someone who can lift her in the non-traditional way or do a fun front walkover combo. She knows ballet but it’s not her favorite and would much prefer modern if she had to choose. She hates tap and absolutely refuses to learn or incorporate it into her choreo. Kaz has had to hire someone specifically to do the tap numbers because of this and he gives her grief for it all the time but she Will Not change her mind. When she does perform she often becomes the most featured dancer because of all the crazy bendy flippy stuff she can do. She has been in newsies multiple times. She played spot conlon once. It was badass.

Nina cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but she’s an amazing actor. She absolutely kills it in straight plays, especially in highly emotional scenes. Has been known to bring audiences to tears before. She hasn’t been doing this since she was little, unlike many others, but first discovered it freshman year of high school. She absolutely despises Shakespeare even though she’s incredible at it. Juliet was her first major role and she hated every second of it. The language, the acting, it was all just so pretentious and after the curtain went down on a weeping crowd for the final time she vowed to never do it again. When not acting, she likes to help out in costumes, especially for her friends’ musicals. She’s also often on snack duty during tech week, making sure everyone is getting enough food and staying hydrated when they’re practicing throughout the day and into the night. Always brings in the best snacks but will yell at you if you eat in costume. Do not test her, she will throw hands.

Matthias is on set crew. He likes helping build the set because then he’s free to watch Nina everyone perform later on in production. Will sit in the back rows during dress rehearsals and flaunt the fact that he has nothing to do to the rest of the crows. If it’s a musical Nina will sometimes join him. He had no interest in theatre until Nina dragged him to a production at the end of sophomore year and he low key fell in love with the passion and skill everyone had. He shyly asked if he could join crew next time and set build welcomed him with open arms. He’s got a talent for envisioning awesome sets but has zero ability to put it on paper so Wylan helps him by sketching out his plans. Matthias describes his vision and Wylan does his best to put numbers and measurements to the pieces, and between the two of them they create some amazing stuff (Matthias is like the architect and Wylan is the engineer lol). No one has ever heard Matthias sing before. Nina tried to get him to audition once but he point blank refused. Everyone secretly thinks he has an amazing voice but no one can get him to confirm it.

Jesper is a born performer. He often gets the male lead but isn’t arrogant about it. When he was in elementary school his school would put on “musicals” that the entire grade would participate in and he put his entire five-year-old body into those performances. He was often borrowed by local high schools to play the kids in their productions and this continued into middle school, even when he started doing actual theatre as well. He’s got a great voice and an even better stage presence, but this boy cannot dance to save his life. He’s all leg. Inej has tried so hard but he trips trying to do the most basic step-ball-change. He doesn’t really like straight plays very much, they’re too boring for him most of the time. He wants the flair that musical theatre brings, the pizazz. (This is also partially the fault of his previous directors for choosing the most boringly traditional straight plays to put on, giving Jesper a permanently skewed perception of them).

Wylan plays flute in pit orchestra (I low key wrote this whole thing for him but shhh). His voice is fucking beautiful but he’s painfully shy and self-conscious about it. He does pit in every production but one year one of the main actors drops out and it’s too late to audition for a replacement. Wylan has everyone’s lines and blocking memorized because he’s just Like That and he often helps out Kaz earlier in production before pit is needed (by help I mean he ends up calling out lines whenever anyone needs them and Kaz is too busy squinting at the stage and the actors (scheming face) to bother) Kaz orders Wylan to fill in for the missing guy and though Wylan protests, one Cannot go against the word of Kaz Brekker. He does it and once he comes out of his shell everyone is just like. Damn. This boy can sing. Maybe ends up playing opposite Jesper?? His dad hates that he does theatre because he wants Wylan to be like an accountant or some shit but Wylan is basically like ‘fuck you dad’ and goes on a journey of self discovery where he gains confidence in his abilities and astounds everyone on opening night except for his friends who are so proud of him.

[mild-lunacy]

What a Heist Should Be

I'm not particularly a fan of heist fantasy and/or YA, though it's certainly popular. I keep trying to-- or meaning to-- give fantasy thieves a chance, but most of the time they're boring, IMO. Perhaps it's my dislike for video game-styled narratives. You know, when you have a pointless/artificial goal that you have to hunt after for no particularly believable reason, and on top of that, endless annoying difficulties get thrown at you. You defeat one level only to face another, blah blah I'd rather stay home, blah. So not only are you the reader supposed to relate to a hunt after some random object, but tolerate increased rates of pointless danger-seeking behavior and frequent lack of basic planning or intelligence. Really unforgivable in a heist story, to be honest.

I suppose I'm unfairly conflating more military/thriller type infiltration stories with heist narratives, but they frequently overlap. Anyway, lack of planning and intelligence is the number one sin and/or reason I get bored. The second thing is the heist crew dynamic. It had damn better work. And not just work a little-- it better be super interesting and fun (and hot/romantic, if applicable) but also work enough as a *partnership*. That means the characters had better have complementary strengths. This is not optional. A duo of shoot first-type covert operatives who only seem to know how to fight hard or harder is a disaster in an infiltration scenario you expect readers to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy. Of course, the writers often don't even expect it, by any means, especially in romance genre books. The point is the video game setting in and of itself, which is just pointless and boring, as I said, like in Anna Hackett's Eon series.

Of course, the genre and length-- as well as the number of main characters-- make Hackett's heist romance novella pretty different from Leigh Bardugo's YA Six of Crows duology. I'm just seeing patterns in what works for me and what doesn't. As far as I've experienced, the video game approach is more common with fantasy heist stories. The other thing Leigh Bardugo does well that's not common is the snappy dialogue. To be clear, Anna Hackett tries for banter as well-- that's well known as a major draw for upbeat action narratives (just ask Marvel). It's just that it's strictly surfacey, whereas Bardugo's banter always works as character development, something that lets the reader see the characters as real people as opposed to Mary Sue props. This goes along with stuff like giving the main characters real flaws and having them suffer real setbacks, not fake video game ones.

I still don't care about the object of the heist in either narrative-- but Leigh Bardugo compensates for that. The narrative doesn't *expect* the reader to really care about the money. You just care about the characters experiencing success and surviving long enough to thrive. The heist object itself is beyond pointless, and that's what makes it work in a world with some degree of emotional realism. Although, I have to say having a *person* to extract is much, much better than an object, if you want readers to at least somewhat care.

Hackett makes the common Indiana Jones-type mistake of treating the object as a MacGuffin-- a thing of mostly unexplained power and importance for the plot, as opposed to just being a way to make money. This makes the endless risks taken with the object(s) during the action sequences nearly unbearable for me: part of the whole lack of planning thing. These characters don't even bother to protect the priceless object they're risking their lives for. Ludicrous. At least Inej and Kaz thought things through and only risked themselves and their friends or valuables when absolutely necessary. Jesper is impulsive, but he also follows orders. There's a sense that there's a *reason* these folks succeed, and it ain't just dumb luck. Pure derring-do doesn't translate well into fiction, especially when that's all the characters use to succeed against overwhelming odds. The fact is, they would fail with the skill set they're stuck with in Hackett's book and many others. Many times over, in fact. As a wise man once said, you do not simply *walk* into Mordor. Or a top secret alien space station, natch.

The sad thing is, contrary to what you might think from my blog, I don't go around overanalyzing everything I've ever read. I'm not a good planner, either. If I see a hole in a plot, it's because it's so big a truck could drive through it. That's just writing by numbers, and it's gross to me, even when I find the results somewhat enjoyable. And of course, I can't judge all the heist books that I mainly haven't read. I'm just saying that what made Six of Crows work was the way it took its characters much more seriously than the plot devices. And this certainly seems rare in a genre trope as gimmicky as a heist story, so far as I can tell.

[thegayraven]

watch out im discussing my thoughts on netflix shadow and bone specifically the six of crows characters so uh spoiler alert?

im 4 episodes in like i mentioned last night and the more i think about it the DUMBER the job kaz and inej and jesper are on is. truly why did the writers try to write them a heist if they cant write heists? i feel like the only reason theyre even IN ravka is to make the overall plot of season 1 feel more integrated and ~cohesive. like they were like "ok we have to include kaz and inej and jesper because they are popular. should they stay in ketterdam and maybe we can show kaz building up the dregs and some of inej's training to be a spider and jesper getting his gambling add—NO. people love when separate groups of characters come together at the end of a season like in stranger things. we will put them on a job to kidnap alina. we cant write heists? THATS FINE. we will simply borrow elements from the book heists! this definitely will not cheapen those elements later when we're adapting the books!! it will be fine!"

like yes i am enjoying seeing inej and jesper do things. i was amused when jesper and kaz had a whole conversation specifically explaining why they DONT need a demo expert in order to explain to the audience why wylan isnt here. but like. they could have had shenanigans in ketterdam imo.

theyre doing fine adapting shadow and bone tho. i do wonder if theyre going to try and intertwine six of crows/crooked kingdom with the second and third shadow and bone books and what that will look like. like ok i do actually think the darkling considering using jurda parem to control alina is interesting! or if not him maybe other people interested in controlling alina could threaten to dose her with it and that could be interesting as well! but i dont really like the crows being directly involved it feels counter to the point of their book.

would LOOOOOVE to know what its like to watch this show with no prior knowledge by the way. lots of stuff not explained so far that i know but i know lots of people wouldnt. like we have had no actual mention of the dregs or explanation of why kaz is in charge so when he hands over his shares of the crow club to tante heleen someone who hasnt read the book is gonna be like "what is that why does it matter." there is NO mention of inej's acrobatic abilities until shes dangling from a ribbon all of a sudden. the cinematography is kinda fun here snd there tho. cant wait to read confused reviews of the show 💝

[aion-rsa]

Shadow & Bone: Ranking the Ships

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This Shadow and Bone feature contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 1.

Netflix’s Shadow and Bone adaptation is rife with excellent shipping options. Adapted from Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse YA book series, there is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to romantic relationships. Whether you’re into the Enemies to Lovers vibes of Nina and Matthias (aka Helnik), the Slow Burn angst of Inej and Kaz (aka Kanej), or you just like to see Jesper having fun with the hot stableboy, Shadow and Bone has you covered. In the interest of covering the wide swathe of romantic ships on this show, and recognizing that everyone has their own subjective taste when it comes to storytelling, Den of Geek editor Kayti Burt and Den of Geek contributor Lacy Baugher are teaming up to discuss loving the love of Shadow and Bone. Welcome to our discussion, and feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below…

Question: What was your favorite ship in Shadow and Bone Season 1?

Lacy: Matthias and Nina are my favorite ship in the books, and my favorite ship in Shadow and Bone. I’m actually kind of surprised by this though, because there are just so, so many ways that their storyline here could have gone off the rails and been truly awful to watch. Instead, their connection is really natural and develops carefully throughout the season. (I was really afraid it would just be some insta-attraction, but that’s not what happened at all.) 

From Nina’s capture and  imprisonment aboard what is essentially a Grisha slave ship bound for Fjerda to Matthias over the top hatred of her “kind,” there’s just so much goodness for those fans— like me, lol—who love a good enemies to frenemies to OTP forever style romance. They’re both so good for each other, and I love how thoughtful the show is about showing us how they’re each expanding one another’s experiences and worldview. Also, waffles!!! 

Kayti: From the get-go, I was pretty much all in on Alina and Mal (aka Malina), which surprised me because they are… fine in the book. The decision to play this romantic connection as so obviously reciprocal from the beginning, even if Alina cannot see how Mal feels about her (and maybe vice versa), was so smart. In the first half of the season, which was the weaker part of this story for me, the yearning between these two is the narrative aspect that kept me emotionally engaged, even when the Little Palace stuff wasn’t as interesting.

Lacy: I love how hard Alina fights to go with Mal into the Shadow Fold in the first episode. That isn’t the way that happens in the books (they’re both basically just ordered to go) and that choice sort of crystallizes for me all the right things that this series does with their relationship. They’re both really active about how much they mean to one another and are constantly fighting to either stay together or get back to each other, I find that so romantic.

Question: What was your least favorite ship in Shadow and Bone Season 1?

Lacy: I find the idea of Alina and the Darkling (aka Darklina) really off putting for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that his desire for her is almost completely and utterly self-serving. I know there are a lot of Shadow and Bone fans who love it for whatever reason and I support anyone shipping whatever they need to ship. (Also, Ben Barnes is certainly a looker.)  But, for me Alina deserves better than a man who seems to think he has some kind of right to her simply because their powers are similarly spectacular and rare. It is fully not Alina’s job or responsibility to save this man from his own darkness or loneliness or however he would describe the many moral failings that he expects her to somehow magically cure.

Plus, well, he’s a remorseless murderer who is basically trying to take over the world. But even if he wasn’t, the Darkling is still someone who lied to and manipulated Alina for his own selfish ends, and then forced her into compliance with his desires against her will. There is truly no aspect of that story that’s romantic for me, and I think trying to pretend that he’s in some way good for her is downright dangerous at points. 

Kayti: Yes! It is not Alina’s job to fix the Darkling. She deserves support and love now, not some time in a possible future when she has managed to coach Aleksander through his pain. (That being said, Ben Barnes is an utter delight and I love him.)

I will say that, even though I don’t personally like this ship, I love how the series handles it. As a story, I don’t think the adaptation really ever romanticizes this relationship as anything other than what it is: a toxic, manipulative dynamic that, for Aleksander, is always about power and never about love. The series’ contextualization of their relationship (it only ever briefly entertains the idea of these two as a proper couple) honestly feels somewhat radical, especially because Alina/the Darkling is such a popular ship in the novel.

Additional note: I am not here to murder anyone’s ship. If you’re into the Darklina of it all, I say go for it. Shipping fictional characters is different than perpetuating toxic dynamics in real life, and if shipping Darklina brings you joy, I say go for it!

Question: Which ship gets the “Most Improved” award from the books?

Lacy: 100% Mal and Alina! I’ve written about this at some length already, but I’m honestly a bit stunned by how well the show adapts this relationship for the screen. I did not expect it, but I love it and I honestly can’t wait to see how the show handles the events of the second book.

Mal and Alina’s relationship is so much more complex and interesting here than it is on the page, from the changes to their shared history (Mal and Alina aren’t just from the same orphanage, they’re both the only mixed race kids there who get bullied for being part Shu-Han) to the increased depth Mal’s presence throughout the story lends to his character. These two make so much sense as a couple here, and it’s all very natural and earned to me – and doesn’t at all come off like they’re only together because they books say they have to be.

Kayti: Agreed! The adaptation made Mal a protagonist in his own right, outside of his value as a romantic interest for Alina, and it made their relationship so much more interesting to me. Getting to see Mal fight to get back to Alina, all while she thought he had given up on here, was quite powerful.

Lacy: Right? Like Mal is also…fine in the books, but he really comes into his own as a character for me here. I know part of that is just that the books are primarily Alina’s POV so she can’t know what she doesn’t know when it comes to him, but the downside is that Mal really comes off as a jerk at multiple points. (Like, oh, now he’s suddenly jealous of the Darkling? What?) 

Plus, I just love the repeated imagery of them choosing each other, not just once, but everyday. That’s what real love is, in my book—the decision to be with someone that’s a constant, conscious part of your life that you choose to uphold in big things and in small.

Question: Which ship has the most potential to be The Best Ship moving forward?

Kayti: As someone who has yet to read Six of Crows, I was very into the Inej/Kaz dynamic, which is more of a pre-romantic relationship in this first season. I love the angst of a Slow Burn, and I imagine this is one of the benefits of bringing in the Six of Crows characters ahead of the main plot of their books: we get to see how these characters’ relationships develop before their arcs come to fruition, or even properly begin. I also am glad these two didn’t start anything when there is the messy power imbalance inherent in Kaz paying off Inej contract. This will still be a factor moving forward, but feels less squidgy when Inej has the option of leaving.

Lacy: I think that the answer is probably also Mal and Alina? I can’t quite figure out how Shadow and Bone will incorporate the elements from Six of Crows moving forward so I’m not sure how big of a piece those characters will play in any second season—though don’t get me wrong, I am very much looking forward to however Nina manages to get Matthias out of Hellgate prison. 

But, given the tensions that arise between Mal and Alina in the book Siege and Storm, I’m very curious to see how—or even if—the show handles/presents some of them. I fully expect that the more layered presentation of Mal we saw here will play into this, and I think that’s going to make a real difference in the story. (Which, unfortunately, often comes off on the page like romantic conflict that exists for the sake of propping up a love triangle.) 

Question: OK, rank your ships. Go!

Kayti: Why did I give us this question? It’s so hard! And now, since gushing about Mal and Alina at the beginning of this conversation, I have talked myself into Inej and Kaz as my #1. Plot twist! This just goes to show how many great romantic relationships (and other kinds of relationships) there are in this show. Here goes…

Kaz/Inej

Mal/Alina

Nina/Matthias

Jesper/that stableboy

That ship they all end up on at the end

Genya/David

Alina/Aleksander

Lacy: There is Matthias and Nina and there is everyone else. 

This show has made me a hardcore Malina shipper though. So that’s new and exciting! 

I do have one shipping-related complaint, however, and that’s that Genya and David are a favorite pairing of mine from the books and I am truly not sure that they exchange more than a dozen words in the entire first season of the show? I fully believe there are viewers who probably can’t even easily identify who David is. (Unless you’re armed with the book knowledge that he’s the one who fuses the stag’s antlers to Alina’s shoulders.) 

Kayti: Yeah, justice for Genya/David.

I love how much you love Nina and Matthias, and also think your enthusiasm has kept me from writing too much about them in favor of highlighting other ships. But let the record show: I am here for these two. Of the Six of Crows crew, they had the best and clearest arc, which is how their connection manages to support a whole subplot all on its lonesome. I wrote about this in our other Shadow and Bone conversation article, but these two give me Jon Snow/Ygritte vibes in the best possible way (hopefully, they get a better ending!), but I haven’t mentioned that watching them share that floating detritus post-shipwreck helped soothe the Titanic trauma I still hold from watching Jack freeze to death because he can’t fit on that door with Rose. (Um, Titanic spoilers.)

Read more

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Shadow and Bone Review: Netflix Adaptation Brings the Magic

By Lacy Baugher

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Shadow and Bone: Why Netflix Cast Its Fantasy Adaptation With Relative Unknowns

By Kayti Burt

Question: Any final thoughts?

Lacy: Romantic or no, I just love the care that Shadow and Bone takes with all their relationships. Nothing happens on screen simply because it does in the books and everything feels really organic and true to who these characters are. 

That’s not easy, and there are a ton of shows—let alone adaptations—that are really, really bad at it. Shadow and Bone is really good at it, and I can’t wait to see what happens as things get more complicated from this point forward.

Kayti: The relationships on this show, brought to life by this charming and talented cast, are the heart of this adaptation. So many epic fantasy series brought to the screen bring the world or the plot without giving us a reason to care about the people, and that is a dealbreaker for me. One of the strengths of YA has always been the prioritization of relationships and emotional interiority, and to see those narrative priorities brought to the screen in an epic fantasy story makes me so happy. 

Lacy: It’s such a rare thing, when you find a show where you can literally ship almost everyone in virtually any sort of arrangement or permutation, but if the entire cast just suddenly decided to make out I would not be mad. 

Kayti: The perfect conclusion to our conversation… and the show?

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The post Shadow & Bone: Ranking the Ships appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Happy Monday! I had a terribly anxious night of sleep last night & idk why, so I’m giving myself a little extra love this morning, and that includes telling everyone about the book(s) I finished reading!

So I said my new years resolution was to read more, and so far I’m doing a pretty decent job of it. I’ve read three books this year and, while I would have loved to post about each one individually, the first two were e-books. Thus, we are here. 

Welcome to the first (and possibly only) installment of BOOKS I READ IN 2018! Maybe if I give it a title I’ll feel some responsibility to uphold it. I’ll put it under a cut because I tend to blab. Also, if you’re not into YA but interested in the book in this pic, scroll down to the last rec. If you don’t read any other part of this post, read that. Because this is the book I really want to rec to people. 

Anyway.

Six of Crows by Leah Bardugo

This book was fun! I had seen loads of stuff on tumblr about it and I’ve missed reading YA lately, so I thought I would give it a go. Plus I’m a sucker for a good heist. It took me a while to get into, I’m not going to lie. I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the right place for it when I tried, or if it was just slow moving at the start. Regardless, I pushed on and I’m really glad I did. 

The premise: Six teens from the dregs of Ketterdam attempt to pull the most difficult heist in the most impenetrable place in the world in order to make a little lot of money. 

Praises: There are different (third person) perspectives throughout the book, and I really enjoyed that because it gave characterization that you wouldn’t quite get if it had been a single perspective. I really loved the way the author created this world but made it really realistic. The names and languages and locations reminded me of various parts of the world, and made it really easy to visualize. Ketterdam is modeled after Amsterdam, and there were definitely traces of Dutch in the language used in the city. Same thing with the other countries and cultures. Fjerda reminded me of Scandinavia, Su Han reminded me of east Asia, Novyi Zem reminded me of Africa, Ravka reminded me of Russia, the Kaelish reminded me of the Irish, and the Suli felt very Middle Eastern to me. I really really liked this kind of implicit representation in it. I thought Bardugo did a really great job giving background about each place without feeling like I was reading an entire history of the country à la many fantasy writers in the world (cough cough George RR Martin). 

Complaints: all these characters are supposed to be incredibly resourceful and also very murderous as times, and they’re only like 16-18 years old. This is just a general complaint about YA stories like this in general. I didn’t mind it when I was the same age as the characters, but reading it now being nearly 24 years old I’m just kind of meh about it. But, that said, it was still enjoyable and I suspended reality of it for this fictional world. 

Since Six of Crows is a duology and I didn’t have to wait for another book to come out, I decided to read the sequel immediately after. Henceforth, we have the next book.

Crooked Kingdom by Leah Bardugo

I liked this one even better than the first one. The characters stayed the same, but the story was very different. They all still banded together to pull some tricks, but the overall story was structured different. 

Praise: So often I think sequels take the same shape and structure as the previous book, especially if the first was received very well. This is not necessarily bad, but it can get tired after a while because you already have an idea of what will happen. This book didn’t do that, and I loved it. It had similar elements, but this was more of a revenge plot than the first book, and I thought it was really well done. I don’t want to give too much away in case anyone wants to read it. But it was a refreshing sequel and I really enjoyed it. We also got to learn more about the characters which I loved, and more background about the world they live it. Again, Bardugo did a great job of balancing everything and not making it too heavy in one area. 

Complaints: Both in this and Six of Crows I wished that the perspectives were divided a bit more evenly. They were for the most part, but I found myself getting tired of seeing the same stuff about some characters and not so much about the others. This may be a bias because my favorite characters had fewer perspectives and I wanted more of them, but whatever. That was really the only issue I had with the book. Oh, and there were a few things (e.g. Winged Shu & Dunyasha) that I felt were introduced for no real reason, other than to have another exciting element. I could have done without these and been perfectly happy. 

Favorite Characters by rank: Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar, Kaz Brekker. 

Overall, both were very very good and helped kick start the year of reading. 

How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on Love

I took quite a turn after reading SOC & CK to read a book of short stories about love. 

I grabbed it, initially, because the cover art is breathtaking and I am a sucker for love. I thought it was going to be all romantic love, but I was surprised to read that it covered several different types of love. I’ve always been fascinated in the different type of love in the world, as well as how we show love to each other, so naturally I had to get it. I thought it would be a nice way to start the year too, with a little bit of tender growth into whoever I am supposed to be. And it certainly did that. It wasn’t entirely transformational. This isn’t the type of book that I’m going to shove in everyone’s faces saying “YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ THIS IT’S THE BEST BOOK EVER.” But I will say that it provided me quiet comfort and allowed me to see things in ways I hadn’t really considered before. 

There was a really great quote in the introduction by the editor that solidified my purchase too. She’s said that she gave the different types/definitions of love to various writers and let them choose whichever called out to them the most. That was the only prompt. Write about that love in whatever way the writer saw fit. Then she says: 

“When all the stories came back, the thing that struck me most - the uniting feature of each tale - was that the love they chose was always characterised by action, and resulted in transformation. Love in these stories is rarely static, but constantly changing and developing. It is, universally, an active force.”

And I just love that so much? I think we often forget how transformational love is. We get so swept up in the idea of romantic love being this all encompassing and beautiful thing that turns your world on it’s head, but we forget about the small types of love we experience every day and how that changes us. Because those changes are so much smaller and happen at a much more gradual pace, so we don’t realize how much growth we’ve gone through until we’re years down the line. And I just think that’s so beautiful. 

The Types of Love Discussed in the Book & a Brief  Opinion About the Story That Exemplifies it: 

La Doleur Exquise (the pain of unrequited love): Before It Disappears by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

What a way to start the book. This one is painful and heartbreaking but gives so much sympathy for a couple struggling late in their relationship when one of them cannot help themselves any longer. 

Pragma (enduring love): One More Thing Coming Undone by D.W. Wilson

An interesting story about reconnecting with an old flame that never really went away, even though you haven’t spoken in nearly twenty years.

Philautia (love for oneself): White Wine by Nikesh Shukla

A heartwarming story about a brother and sister and how the brother learns to see himself through certain aspects of his sister’s life. A brieft touch on casual racism in everyday London society and how the characters deal with it. 

Mania (obsessive love): Magdala, Who Slips Sometimes by Donal Ryan

A fantastic story who’s style mimics the manic, chaotic, desperate love described within it’s pages. About a love that persists, however unhealthy, years after it ended. 

Storge (familial love): Codas by Carys Bray 

This one made me feel a lot. It centers around a woman and her relationship with her father and her son. It’s simple and moved me in a way I didn’t expect. It made me very excited to love a child as my own one day. 

Eros (erotic love): The Love Story by Grace McCleen

My favorite of the stories. It follows a nine year old girl who is desperately wanting to know what love is, as well as the uncomfortable pleasure she experiences when she gets sexual feelings for the first time. 

Agape (love for humanity): The Human World by Bernardine Evaristo

A hilariously funny take on God and what it takes to love and watch over humanity to make sure we don’t destroy everything. It’s honest and it hurts and it made me think of the way God is so often portrayed in media and what it would actually be like to have God’s job. Even if you’re not religious in any way, it’s very universal and definitely worth a read.

SceptreLoves: It Was Summer by Phoebe Roy

This story was the winner of a writing competition that accompanied the hardcover publication of this book. It follows a relationship from start to finish and back again in a way that is soft and moving and incredibly realistic. 

Overall these stories were great. Whether you read them all in one sitting, or read them individually over time, or in some other combination, it’s a light read that will make you reflect more on the life you lead and the way you love.