Shadow and Bone, review: it's the new Game of Thrones, but without the incest, swearing and nudity

Ben Barnes as The Darkling and Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov - Netflix
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Game of Thrones recently marked its 10th anniversary. To celebrate – and to revive interest in the franchise – the “iconic” Iron Throne is to be temporarily installed in Leicester Square. In the lore of the show, sitting on this bumpy chair, forged from a thousand metal blades, is said to be torture – a feeling quite familiar to fans who made it through those excruciating final two seasons.

With Game of Thrones once more a topic of conversation, it’s an auspicious moment for Netflix to debut its major new fantasy saga. Like Thrones, Shadow and Bone is adapted from a series of popular novels with an enormous pre-existing fanbase. And it features a sprawling cast of characters, a convoluted magic system and oodles of fictional cartography.

That is where the parallels end. Shadow and Bone is pacy, brimming with twists and, at full pelt, great fun. Yet there is no incest or gratuitous beheading, while the bare-bum count stands at a shocking zero. If that’s a deal-breaker pick up thy broadsword and walk. Shadow and Bone is Game of Thrones you could watch with your teenagers.

Actually it’s Game of Thrones for your teenagers. The original “Grishaverse” books by Leigh Bardugo are in the YA milieu, meaning the bed-jumping is largely off screen and though the baddies are sometimes scary they are never sweary.

The setting is a departure, too. Instead of debauched knights and corrupt kings, Bardugo’s world is an ingenious mash-up of Tsarist Russia and Renaissance Amsterdam.

Kit Young as Jesper, Amita Suman as Inej, Freddy Carter as Kaz and Julia Ubrankovics as Milana - Netflix
Kit Young as Jesper, Amita Suman as Inej, Freddy Carter as Kaz and Julia Ubrankovics as Milana - Netflix

Heroine Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) is a soldier in the army of “Ravka” (a stand in for pre-20th century Russia). When crossing a cursed void, “The Shadow Fold”, that splits the kingdom in two she is revealed to have untapped magical abilities. These mark her as a “Grisha” or magician, a caste held in both awe and suspicion by commoners.

So it’s off to the imperial capital in the company of Grisha big cheese General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), who dresses in black, throws menacing gazes and has pinched Alan Rickman’s villainous Die Hard beard. He is cordial and there are hints of a romantic spark with Alina, however, given his fashion choices – and the fact he is referred to in the novels as “The Darkling” – might there be a teeny chance he’s actually a baddie?

Half a world away in the city of Ketterdam, an Ocean’s 11 style rag-tag of street urchins led by the mercurial Kaz (Freddy Carter) are drawn into the conspiracy around Alina’s powers. They feel like a Dungeons and Dragons party brought to life: Kaz’s gang, “the Dregs”, include knife-wielding Inej (Amita Suman), sorceress Nina (Danielle Galligan) and sharp-shooting Jesper (Kit Young).

There are a lot of complicated names to keep track of yet the story chugs forward with gusto. And the production values are impressive – Ketterdam, in particular, is as vividly rendered as King’s Landing or Winterfell. Harry Potter fans – are there any left? – will, meanwhile, be pleased to see Zoë Wanamaker (Rolanda Hooch in the Potterverse) pop up as a magical instructor who knows more than she’s letting on.

Shadow and Bone is good clean fun with a vengeance (with the potential exception of a coyly-shot gay sex scene). Those who watched Game of Thrones for the nudity and cruelty may find it lacking that spicy kick, but this is fantasy with heart, a towering imagination and a genuine new take on the genre. It could be a real phenomenon for Netflix.

Shadow and Bone is on Netflix now