Leigh Bardugo wrote the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy and “Six of Crows” duology as two storylines happening in the same fantasy world of the Grishaverse. The two stories were intertwined in the “Shadow and Bon” series for fan approval and the storylines of both books blurred into one. At first, I did not think this was ideal because of my love for the original separate novels, but I came to love the on-screen version as well, and I knew that not everything could be exactly like the books.

In “Six of Crows,” one of the main couples Jesper and Wylan did not get together until the second book of the series, “Crooked Kingdom;” however, in the show, they ended up becoming a couple at the beginning of the new season. This modifies plot lines when transitioning from book to show, but it allows seeing a different side of the characters together. With the “Six of Crows” characters having altered storylines, it would sometimes be confusing, however, I loved seeing the communication between the characters, with the actors doing an amazing job portraying how it was in the book.

In both of the books, due to the separate plots, some characters never meet, but in the show, there were moments for these interactions to happen. For example, the infamous interaction where Kaz, one of the main characters in “Six of Crows,” escapes General Kirigan, known as the Darkling in the “Shadow and Boneseries,” would have never happened in the books because of the timeline of the Grishaverse. General Kirigan is presumed to be dead in the “Six of Crows” duology, making the interaction impossible, but the audience gets to see it on screen because the storyline of the Crows is a prequel to the original plot of the books, which was peculiar and fascinating to see play out.

One part of the show that was rushed was the “Shadow and Bone” plots from books two and three. To get both books adapted onto the screen, they pushed both of them into season two alongside the “Six of Crows” plot which was a little challenging to follow at times. It felt like the book that had many pages focused on finding the firebird and the sea whip, however during the show, mere minutes were dedicated to this plot.

Another aspect of the books that was portrayed well in the show was the personalities of the characters. The sarcasm and wittiness of the new characters brought the books to life for me. Privateer Nickolai Lanstov and his crew, Tamar Kir-Bataar and Toyla Yul-Battar, were introduced this season with the exact personas of their book characters. Nickolai is humorous, Tamar loves action and Toyla is perfectly content with reading poetry all day. I feel those characterizations were written well in the show.

Overall I enjoyed seeing the new characters come to life on the screen and the new storylines intertwine with the old.