Maximum Occupancy

While these two authors are newish to me, they are not to most readers and have an established fan base and catalog. They are modern masters of young adult fantasy, providing complex female and diverse characters in the lands that they create. While the two trilogies I am about to talk about are different, the similarities in story and impact from these authors made it seem reasonable to want to compare The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco and the Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.

I of course learned about the Shadow and Bone books from the Netflix series. I watched it first and feel in love with the concept, actors, the world and magic, and the six of crows. Enough that I had to read the books, even while burning through the two seasons that are available.

This part of the Grishaverse that the author has created focuses on the point of view of an orphan name Alina, in a land that is reminiscent of Russia, China, and Mongolia. She is part of the army in her fictional country, a cartographer, about to make her first journey through the Fold. A swath of cursed darkness that splits the land, filled with creatures that even the Grisha (magical humans) have difficulty fending off.

Between the three books, we find that she is not normal, she is like mega special. She becomes intwined in politics, the lore of how the Fold came to be, and a “love triangle” between the Darkling and her fellow orphan bestie, Mal, drives the plot. When this falls through, the love triangle will be replaced by other supporting characters because this is about young love and misreading the obvious!

I enjoy this series, I do believe for the genres it counts towards, it is well written so much so that I understand my hate for Alina and Mal is because I tend to dislike these type of characters and tropes. The world she has crafted makes up for my disappointment in the fictional characters motivation and reactions to events, the side characters are compelling, and you can tell she tried to think of the different people and prejudices you might see in this steampunky world.

After watching the show and finishing the books, I understand the changes that were made given the amount of episodes they had and the format it was been translated into, however I do believe that it would need three seasons to cover the three books. I thought the actors that were cast did an excellent job bringing their characters to life, even if I still was annoyed by everything that happened.

I want to keep reading the other books in the series, because I am sure I will enjoy the Six of Crows duology more or the other stories I see that are a part of it. A cool world and easy to fall into, I put up with a lot for interesting fantasy stories.

The Bone Witch trilogy used similar terminology but had a foundation in “Filipino witch doctors” and “Middle Eastern folklore.” (Thanks Wikipedia!) I found that the similarities - dark and heavy subject matter when it comes to the magic, the amount of deaths, and the hard decisions that are required of the female main characters - were more prominent in this series. And I didn’t always hate what the characters were doing, so more appealing to me overall.

This story follows a young girl, Tea, whose power is frowned upon and yet sought after. We find that she can raise the dead (cause she is a bone witch) after she resurrects her brother. This makes her important to her kingdom, at time the story will focus more on the political factions and parties in this more “cooperative” world of magic with groups like the dark asha holding court with rulers.

The second book, The Heart Forger, did get me a bit annoyed with the ending. It had me wondering why they just didn’t think to ask certain questions, or realize what was going on until that moment, but with the twists of book three it was forgiven.

The series includes hordes of the undead, necromancy, dragons, sacrifices, and has a more satisfactory ending (if more bittersweet) than Ruin and Rising (the third book in Shadow and Bone). I guess I really a bitch eating cracker level petty about Alina.