Not gonna knock your perspective on it, you've got the right to feel uncomfortable of course, but I've personally always liked Matthias. I think he's a very interesting representation of what radicalisation can do to vulnerable young men. He had just lost his entire family in an attack by an Inferni and was desperate for somewhere to direct his grief. Jarl Brum gave it to him. I think it's a sign of Matthias's general decency and the flimsiness of the propaganda he was fed that only a couple days with Nina, the first Grisha he had actually ever talked to, was enough to have him questioning his views about the whole world and the legitimacy of what he'd been told. He holds onto his anger at her for a long time because he genuinely believes she only befriended him to eventually get him imprisoned or killed and once he learns that isn't the case he's rather quick to forgive. Again obviously everyone has different opinions based on different background, but for me personally, while I've never fallen down that kind of pipeline, I know quite a few people who did, and Matthias's struggle to deprogram himself, unlearn the hate he was taught since birth, and attempt to deradicalise the other young men harming because of and being harmed by those beliefs very inspiring and touching. He's one of the characters who hit the hardest for me simply because of the realism of his situation. As Nina says, "Matthias was always fighting his own decency." Great video essay! You always seem to follow me into new special interests lol. Always love your content
This!! Matthias's journey into deradicalization was so interesting to me because of how strong willed he was to change his mind on Grisha. He basically had to cut ties with his home and all Fjerdans because it was basically mandatory in his culture to detest Grisha, yet he's resilient enough to bare being cast out because he can't go back and unsee the humanity in Nina, and Jesper, and all the Grisha he encountered. I was so sad he never got to fully enjoy his new found family with the Crows. However, I didn't know part of Bardugo's inspiration for Grisha and Druskelle came from the Jewish community and the Nazis, and I have to agree with Ladyknightthebrave's opinion that it's icky having Nina be the one having to be nice and tolerate him meanwhile he's constantly thinking of ways to kill her and mentally chastising her for existing as a Grisha. It's an old, tired, and frankly shitty plot in films about the Holocaust that a Jewish girl falls for a Nazi, and it always sucks. Maybe if there was no romance between them it wouldn't be as icky, but alas, it is what it is.
That’s where I adore the concept itself. But I feel like the show executes it a bit better imo. Idk I feel like having a look directly into all of Matthias’ murderous, hateful thoughts during everything just makes him so much less sympathetic. At least at the beginning of their arcs, it makes their romance and Nina’s devotion to saving him kinda weird to me.
As someone who grew up in a religious and conservatives household, can sympathizes with Matthias. Because after I left my bubble of private Christian schools and after school activities, I saw the harm that my beliefs caused others and how ignorant I was being. And at the same time, being politically radicalized and deconstructing my faith. Showing that people can unlearn hate is important for others to see, to show that it is possible.
This is the only thing I can weigh in on, really: "can you imagine a Irish person going around today actually upset about the potato famine" ... yes? A lot of Irish people are still angry at what British colonization cost them? Irish-Americans (which is what I am to be clear, I'm speaking abt other Irish-Americans people I've met) are sadly quite ignorant about our history and have moved into the safety of whiteness, which is a fucking shame, because holy shit could so many people find community if they just actually learned our history and realized we, at one time, were just as much a victim of colonization as other people. like the potato famine is a very legitimate thing to be angry about still. one million people died. more people should be angry about it because it would mean they actually pay attention to their fuckin history.
That comment stood out to me too. Like, I guess he wasn't one of the people using the treatment of Palestinians as justification but was just a general "Hey, anything bad done to people I don't identify with more than fifty years ago doesn't matter." type of guy, so at least he's just a regular asshole instead of a blatantly hypocritical within the statement he's currently making asshole.
I agree that a lot of Irish-Americans don't know or understand our history as an oppressed minority, going on to oppress others. I had to make the effort to learn because nobody taught me. What I don't get is: why do people think Irish and Irish-American folks are some model for this "get over it" mentality? Or that they feel like we would be on side with them sabotaging conversations about the conflict by equating all Jewish people with the nation state of Israel? I would like to believe that, as a people group, some of us at least would understand the concept of diaspora and the non-monolithic nature of being part of a particular cultural group. I realize this comment wasn't strictly necessary, but the weird way they made me feel roped into something that walks and quacks a lot like anti-semitism pissed me off.
Seconding this. The Irish side of my family came over due to the famine, and the Scots half woke up one day to find they suddenly had English landlords, couldn't pay the rent, and got shipped to the Americas as debtors, and neither side has forgotten or forgiven.
The famine is also super relevant to current cultural issues in Ireland, like trying to revitalize the Irish language, which is only in danger because of colonization but specifically a ton of speakers died in the famine and even more left the country because of it and stopped speaking Irish and passing it on. That’s just one tangible effect that Irish people encounter on a daily basis
I have Irish friends in Australia, including one that immigrated themselves They are still super cranky about the famine, the troubles and how England needs to get off their island
Im chronically ill and adore kaz but the real soft spot in my heart lies with Wylan. I've struggled to read for as long as i can remember, it never made sense to me and on top of that my struggle growing up in an abuse household completely wrecked my memory so as fast as id get better in my studies id forget everything i learned. I was 11 when i could read, though to this day my reading is still shit and my writing nearing worse. shames always followed me with it. The scene where his secrets outed by his father and the scene from the show where he tells Jesper made me heart sink, growing up i always would sheepishly have to admit i couldn't read to the surprised faces of those i told, i hated it. What i love most about Wylan is that he's never "fixed" I was waiting with baited breath for the scene where he'd be able to read and it'd be a miracle but no he just instead has to learn to live with it, same as I have and that brought me such joy. I
Jesper is my favorite character and the books did a great job portraying his struggle with addiction and implied ADHD, it’s the first time a Black/Black passing character that also happens to be the “comic relief” of the mostly white group was given complexity and depth beyond his charming persona. And his bisexuality being a present but unchallenged part of him was important to me as well. Just him being all of this in a FANTASY story makes him a rare breath of fresh air, I can’t think of any Black fantasy characters by a non-Black author that are as well written as him. As a Black writer who is very critical of how white authors implement Black characters, Leigh impressed me. I love Kit Young’s portrayal as Jesper too in the show, though he doesn’t look as Jesper is described to be (dark skinned) in the books, his performance and charisma is so brilliant I can accept it.
As someone with very annoying knee pain from running a bunch, an actual crow's head cane (yes. It's a Halloween decoration from Spirit Halloween if you want it, but be careful, the thing that they use to mount the crows head part to the rest of the cane is shit so it will break if dropped.) And a "small" obsession with making art of Crows... This video and book series are awesome! (P.S. Bro I want a SOC tattoo 😞)
To see Kaz predicting an attack on his cane and instantly countering was beautiful to me. The whole segment about disability is so relatable, I just had the airport experience a month ago where I had to say 6 times to the personal that I didn't want a chair. And it's really hard to be angry at somebody being kind. But it is really frustrating that somebody is telling me what is best for me while I deal with it every single day for a decade. So, thank you for this segment. Cause illness can be really lonely and this segment and characters like Kaz and Victor from Arcane make it less so. In a slightly related note. From what I've seen, you are also the only youtuber who warned photosensitive people for flashing imagery, which is really nice of you. So also thank you for that.
I would love if the Netflix cast re-recorded the audiobooks! I even think each actor reading the narration of their character’s chapters would work (since the narration is so character-essential) as long as the spoken dialogue was read by its proper actor. Even with the weirdness (that clearly comes from the misplaced & rearranged context, Freddy and Amita’s understanding of these characters is so so evident) of the armor scene, the quality difference in the audiobook and the show is very stark. I think that’s one of the things that frustrated me the most about season 2. These actors are so talented and have such obvious love and care for their characters, and then the arcs and emotions they’re playing with are all jumbled up. It’s a lot easier to critique something as a bad adaptation when it’s clearly miscast! So the wasted potential of this adaptation feels much more disappointing! Great analysis as always!
Matthais is such a complicated character for me, especially as someone who grew up religious and got out of it by realizing that I loved people my worldview told me were evil-that I was queer. (This hit even harder with Nina's 2nd love interest who is fjerdan, grisha, and potentially trans. Their struggles with their father, religion, and sense of self are so close to my experience that they were hard to read. But we spend more time with Matthais and I read the SoC duology first so he is really important to me.) I love Matthais' character arc of learning to break out of his hateful patterns through love because, as cheesy as it is, love is so unimaginably powerful. I relate so heavily to his compassion for other druskelle, young boys who perpetrate violence due to indoctrination (young boys who are likely also harmed by their belief system because they have to suppress so much of themselves). spoilers: . . . . . His death was so painful to me that I had to step away from the series for a bit before returning to finish Crooked Kingdom. His final act of redemption is a sacrifice. To me at the time it felt like this was saying the only way I could ever be redeemed from my upbringing was to die, that there was no happy future for me that I was already too far gone. Of course this interpretation was heavily influenced by my negative mindset at the time and is probably not what Leigh Bardugo intended. Either way, Matthais is such a hard character for me to have discussions about, especially when people dumb it down to "man does evil things = evil guy". To me his storyline feels like a profound tragedy. An indoctrinated child (the aging up in the show really did not help in this case) struggles for so long to break free of the conditions of his worldview. He fears divine retribution, but it never comes. Neither does the divine help he was promised. When he finally manages to break free of the brainwashing it still isn't over. He must atone for the harm he has done. He never does. He must atone before he can truly start to live, but instead he dies. He dies as a child. He dies alone. It feels like he never got a chance to live in the first place. I could have been him so easily. (caveat: obviously i did not participate in any kidnappings thats the sort of thing that can be excused way more easily in fiction than in real life)
Super early on in the video in the casting section and thought the crows are perfect too. Though just as you hoped that Nina would be a little more plus sized, I think I also hoped Jesper would be darker skinned. Half Black here (just like Kit) and Hollywood has an intense colorism habit of casting the lightest of Black and half Black actors for Black characters that they can (especially, especially for Black women characters) so I think I was a liiiiiitttle like ‘…aw man’ even though I adore Kit and his portrayal so, so much but that was my reaction upon first pics.
Not denying this happens a lot, but with Kit he really seems like he was born to be Jesper. He embodied the attitude, the witty humor, and he was a natural at all the gun showmanship. Even in the books he's described as mixed too, being both from Zemeni and Kaelish descent. But I still wish there were more characters with darker skin because there really isn't enough representation due to colorism. I just think Kit wasn't a case of just casting the lightest dark-skinned actor they could find, since he undeniably captured Jesper so well.
@@liswaneKit is great in the role but that doesn’t change the fact that they could have also casted a darker skinned actor, they chose not to. Time and time again Hollywood has shown that if there is a talented light skinned person and an equally talented darker skinned person, they will choose lighter/closer to white.
although i do think dark skinned is important, jesper is canonically mixed in the books just an fyi but that change wouldnt jave affected the plot much and i do agree
@@witchplease9695 And I said that, I wish there were more darker skin tones represented too. I was just defending the casting of Kit because he's so natural as Jesper so it makes sense why he was cast. We don't know if there was anybody else who auditioned and was better or equally as good as Kit, or had better chemistry with the rest of the cast, so I won't make any comments on that. Personally I was ok with him not being as dark as I'd imagined because he was Jesper through and through, unlike other casting situations where they get a lighter skin toned person who's mediocre at the role and they're just picked because they fit western standards of beauty.
About the Ace Kaz/Inej thing me and my friend (both aroace) had a bit of a disagreement when we read SOC. The line "How will you have [etc..]" could be interpreted as Inej wanting to be intimately physical with Kaz but refusing to do so if Kaz does not better himself. Our disagreement was mostly about if Kaz/Inej are actually ace since they do seem to display some "horny thoughts". Now I understand that everybody's experience with sexuality is different and I do not want to invalidate anybody. But I do feel a little uncomfortable when asexuality is portrayed as a trauma response since that's a phrase that was used against me to basically say I could be "cured" from it. I know that there are people who are asexual do to trauma and I don't mean to imply their sexuality is any less real it just comes of a little muddied when displayed in media. When it comes to Kaz/Inej I would be extremely happy if they remained the ultimate ace power couple however when you mix it with their trauma I would understand if the narrative is more about healing from their past. Which would also be a nice message, specially since Inej is a victim of CSA and that's something a lot of survivors struggle with. Anyways, amazing video as always, I wish I could like it a thousand times.
Also, I want to add that there are people on the asexual spectrum who are NOT touch-adverse, and that kissing doesn't invalidate or diminish their ace-ness. I know, you said that there may not yet be enough ace representation in media to quibble over nuance, but (and this is very much imho), I don't want to see more Ace representation if it's just going to be the same limited characterization over and over again.
It was very interesting hearing you speak of these stories, but when you said Kerch is based on Britain it struck a nerve :p Obviously Leigh likely included other influences, but I read Kerch as being very clearly based on the Netherlands. The emphasis on trade, the power of merchants(you even mention Kerch being the only nation without a monarchy! That was the Netherlands in the 17th/18th century!), the pleasure districts- the names especially of both people and landmarks (Joost, Jan, Hertzoon, Rietveld, Tante, Geldstraat, etc) the canals, the Council of Tides keeping the nation from drowning... Geographically it resembles Britain, sure- but everything else rings super dutch to me. It was one of the things that immediately hooked me in Six of Crows. I'd never seen anyone adapt the Netherlands into a fantasy kingdom like this- usually it's stuff like Russia, China, France, Scandinavia, maybe Germany or well.. Britain, as you said. It's a bit sad that you immediately shrug off Leigh mentioning Amsterdam just on the basis of Kerch being an island. Edit: Thought I should also acknowledge the possible colonizer, empire aspect with the implication that the Southern Colonies are connected to Kerch .And the xenophobia matches, too. But those match Britain as much as they match the Netherlands so I focused on the stuff that rang specifically dutch to me.
Hey you wonderful monster like me, thank you for letting me say my piece about chronic pain and our stinky son, and for getting me into this series in the first place. I look forward to being annoyed at season 3 in a watch party with you whenever that releases! 💜
Honestly, as a chronic pain and cane user and lover of fantasy, I found Kaz to be one of the most accurate portrayals of the subject especially in an interesting and compelling character. The way he factors pain and exhaustion into his plans in his internal monologue and plans is so key to his character and so real to the experience of like “can I fit a trip to the shop to get a drink or will my leg give out before I get home if I do that?” But exaggerated to fantasy scale. Plus Jesper’s ADHD feels like exactly how too many people I know ended up undiagnosed, under-stimulated and dropping out of school with a mountain of dept made worse with dopamining habits like gambling, shopping and/or substances.
Ummm... Partly inspired by Amsterdam? Almost every name in Ketterdam is Dutch and worshipping a God of Money on an island city is literally Amsterdam during the Golden Age. Ps. Love the video and everything you do. Keep up the amazing work!
@@reneemujica142 Yeah, as a British person every time I see a mention of Ketterdam being loosely inspired by England my response is very 'eh??????????? You're sure? Because it reads like fantasy Netherlands to me'.
The only thing that’s British about Kerch is that it’s an island, I’m sorry, everything else is Dutch, the language, the culture and just the vibe. They literally mention stroopwafels in the show and the language is just Dutch (also Rotterdam -> Ketterdam??). So they’re just old-timey Netherlands with capitalism as their religion (that’s the American part, lol).
YES! The minute I read in the books that ketterdam is ruled by rich merchants I was like, oh yeah this is def inspired by Amsterdam. Like, the Netherlands were a republic ruled by rich aristocracy/merchants
Lady’s endorsement is my last sign to FINALLY break down and go read the Grishaverse at loooong last (my tumblrinas & fan friends will be relieved to hear) 😅 Amazing, thoroughly captivating work as always! 🙌🏻 From a traumatised, disabled mischief-maker ❤🖤⚔️
I (30-something book enthusiast) started to read the books after watching the first season of Shadow and Bones on Netflix (and really enjoying it!), and I fell in love. The first serie is good, but Leigh Bardugo really found her pace with Six of Crows, I warmly recommend it
@@elyca6329thank you; for responding, for responding in this exact way. I’m a thirty-something now myself as well and not at all acquainted with reading YA (absolutely no offence to those who are) and have thus had more than a few hesitations about reading this series. But, as of the past week or so, I’m finding myself rather engrossed and wishing to continue at every turn. I have my quibbles, yes, but, for the most part, I am having a rollicking good time… as well as a searingly, gut-wrenchingly bad time… in the best way 💔🖤♥️
I swear every video essay you've made has been about a series/show I enjoyed immensely. Six of crows was something I never thought I'd see a video essayist deep dive into, so thank you!!
Chapter 4 was really heartwarming, thanks for speaking so honestly about the currennt situation! A big hug from a viewer from Italy... We have kind the same situation here plus a fascist party holding the power and pretending to care about the middle east war just for islamophobic reasons. It's so sad, i just hope one day all this things will end...
I first picked this up when I was leaving my abusive home, so I was obviously obsessed with a book full of traumatized teens that were the underdogs. I related to the touch-phobia, to the anger and trust issues, and to everything when Kaz said "you can always bleed a little more". This book is so near and dear to my heart because of how much it impacted my life then, it was like a cathartic fantasy for me. I desperately hope that if the spin off show is to go through, it's done right and in accordance with the strike's negotiations so we can keep this amazing cast. I'm also so happy that my favorite media essayist covered the books AND the show :)
I just wanted to say thank you so much for crediting the artists/illustrators whose art you feature in your essay. As an illustrator, it absolutely made my heart happy.
One thing I really hated about the without armor scene in the show specifically is it felt like someone who has is further on their journey of processing their trauma criticizing someone who isn't. Kaz and Inej's issue's with touch stem from very different things while on the surface look similar and while I know Inej never has all the information it still felt like she was expecting him to keep up with her in that scene.
I agree that's how I interpreted it too. It made me think about all the fanfic about characters being considerate of each others' trauma. But then, a lot of things make me think about fanfic...
Ahhh this was soothing for my soul in so many ways. One of my main complaints about the show was the Kaz was 'too nice' the whole way through. It's embarrassing how much I love Kaz Brekker and I want him to rip eyeballs out godamnit! I re-watched your MASH video the other day and was thinking 'I haven't seen anything from LadyKnight recently, hope she's ok' so I was very pleased to see this pop up! Hope you're doing ok, it's been a weird few weeks for those of us in the diaspora. I think you summarised a lot of my feelings there too.
Gotta say, never read the books or watched the series, but even just getting your descriptions got me a little teary-eyed. I am such a fan of heist dramas, the world sounds quite intriguing, and having a gang of bastards just makes me think this is the ultimate Blades in the Dark LitRPG.
As somebody who deals with chronic pain, the section about it really struck a chord with me. I've always pushed through it, or at least tried to, and when I couldn't there were many times where I had cried or cursed my body for punishing me. This is especially relevant right now because my pain decided to flair up really badly and it's hard to stay positive or optimistic. Until today I had more or less a good hang of managing it. I even had days where I didn’t feel pain until my knee inflammation. It just feels like the universe doesn’t want me to have a pain free day and honestly I never had many of them to begin with. I'm relieved to know there are people out there who struggle with similar problems. I continued watching this video at the right time and I'm grateful for it.
Kaz and Inej got me so far in that book. I too love a dark and horrible creature with EmotionsTM that is doing his best not to look at them. But i felt there was too much stumbling when it began in the books. And yet knowing the pace evens out didnt get me far enough. Still a beautiful relationship i wish could be shown as it really is.
Mal and Alina were definitely half Shu in the books because being "half Shu" myself I nearly lost my Goddamn mind with excitement that they actually cast two half Asian characters. Half Asians are frequently not cast in favor of their Asian or white counterparts because we're found to be lacking, think Emma Stone in Aloha. The problem was more that Bardugo wasn't super consistent with it throughout the books.
Mal is actually half Suli. That's why the racism he gets is less vitriolic that Alina's. That said, it's a pretty big point in the discussion around the depiction of anti-asian racism that Mal and Alina were "White" in the books and all those racism depictions were show originals that made people who wanted a more comforting escapism from that particular aspect of their lives unhappy. I didn't agree with them, but I don't tend to face that kinda shit cause I live in an Asian majority area. It's interesting how much was wrong with "Aloha" but because it was so unremarkable in every way the discourse on it evaporated almost immediately. Like, hell, if they'd actually cast appropriately for the role people might have talked about how cool it was to depict that specific life experience on screen, and probably nothing else about the movie... but the only interesting aspect of the movie was overshadowed by white wash casting so all it was was another show set in Hawaii about mainlanders' problems.
Her hair became white at the end of “Siege and Storm” and before that they were light brown, I believe. However, in the trilogy neither her, nor Mal are ever implied to be POC or mixed race (though Alina’s home village is located near the Shu Khan border).
Kerch doesn't feel that inspired by England to me. It's feels more of an amalgamation of all major merchant cities. There is definitly some London, but also Hamburg and Venice, especially with the merchant council and the Commedia dell'arte thing. Most of the names also sound either dutch (like the city of Ketterdam or Rollins alias Hertzoon) or german (like Tante Helene or Kerch itself), with dutch playing the larger role. It's like the whole hansiatic league got shoved into the same place.
I completely agree. Kerch to me is largely based on the Netherlands- it's all over- but obviously there'd be some other influence too. You already mentioned the names (Geldkanaal (or was it geldstraat?), Joost, Jan, even [Tante] is dutch for aunt) but it's also the canals, the emphasis on merchants not only being prolific but in charge. Them being known for their pleasure districts (to the point they get invited to the Fjerdan celebration). The canals. The Council of Tides keeping the nation from drowning, essentially... There is so much Dutch in Kerch and it made me so giddy- I'd never seen that before in this way! For a writer to make a fantasy counterpart like that.
When I was reading six of crows for the first time, there were a lot of names I couldn't figure out how to pronounce (dyslexia). One of the offenders was Kuwei. So I just mentally called him Kiwi. I guess I've been doing it for so long I was surprised to hear his name properly pronounced.
Sorry, but my favorite video essayist talking about my 6 favorite imaginary people? I couldn't stop smiling through the whole video, even as I shed a tear or two.
The grishaverse as a whole is a MAJOR hyper-fixation for me rn, so I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on the crows duology! (And a little a scared too 😅)
That bit about doing the calculus in your head about what you're capable of hit closer to home than I'd honestly like. There was a time in my life where every day I would do the math of whether I could afford to walk to the nearby grocery store because I knew if I did I'd be bedridden for days. The decision of whether to eat or survive on whatever I could get my hands on to avoid the backlash for just a little longer scarred me in a way that I've never heard put to words before. Those were the worst times though, thankfully unlikely to return. I still have to do the calculus now and again, but the brutality of knowing I had to pick between mind erasing pain or starvation day in day out for months is an experience I'm not soon to forget. I read the series before my accident, and that subject matter I'm "happy" to say flew right over my head at the time. This video is making me consider re-reading it given the new perspective.
I'm only halfway through the video but this is the best essay I have watched in the last couple of months. There is this tendency recently of thinking describing something is somehow criticism and analises when in reality is far for it. You have the perfect amount of both here, describing the show/books and talking about the themes, arcs, etc. Really good stuff.
Thanks for touching on the casting of Nina. While I LOVE Dani as Nina and think she does a fantastic job of portraying her character, I was definitely disappointed that they didn't cast someone who looks like Nina was described in the books. I was so excited to have that representation of a plus size character, and it just wasn't what it could've been. Also I read Crooked Kingdom over a year ago, and I still get really emotional when I think too long about Matthias' death. It WRECKED me.
Just watched this over on nebula (highly recommend for anybody on the fence about it!), but coming over here to comment for engagement. Another knockout video, already sent it to a friend and will be recommending alongside all your other incredibly detailed, empathetic videos
One thing I find interesting about this show's depiction of racism is that it's kind of like a pre-whiteness world. The concept of whiteness wasn't really invented in this world so racism exists in that context. At least that's a vibe I get. No one has a particular problem with Zemeni cause they're viewed as just another nation. Ravkans have a particular problem with Fjerdans and Shu Han because they're at war. People are still bigoted and ignorant and xenophobic, but it's not formalized with a pseudoscience. Obviously they can't pull it off perfectly because it's being made by people who exist in a white supremacist society...
Good point! I took note of that while reading and it was refreshing in a way, to have racism not centered around being/not being white and not who's above who based on the color of skin and facial features.
You mentioning that line from Thor Ragnarok with regard to the Jewish faith sent me on an ADHD idea spiral about how interesting it'd be to actually tackle the significance religions place on specific holy sites in a science fiction setting where they effectively no longer exist. Like, Earth was destroyed as in Titan AE, or maybe it's just altered beyond recognition like in Starfield or Lancer... well... more Lancer since they actually tackle stuff like religion and cultural diversity in thoughtful ways. Remembering that one guy in Starfield who speaks Yiddish for the sake of tradition.... Starfield really did not think its world through much. But why am I comparing a Bethesda game to a heavily lore focussed Table Top RPG? Uh... right... anyway, my point is that it'd be really interesting to see depictions of how religious people and institutions deal with the fact that their holy sites are gone in a space faring sci fi setting, cause I don't think I ever have. "Can you imagine an Irish person still upset about the potato famine?" I don't have to. I know them. I'm still upset about the potato famine after learning more about it and the only Irish ancestry I have is multiple generations ago. It was a genocide attempt that Ireland's population has yet to fully recover from. Genocide is bad actually, no matter who the victim or the perpetrator is. Sorry, that particular comment just set me off. Uh, just to be clear, I'm not misinterpreting it as something you said. I know you were quoting a some asshole. Just yelling at them for the emotional catharsis.
This is the ADHDest comment I've read in a while. From the stream-of-consciousness enthusing about a new hyperfixation to the over-self-explaining to head off any possibility of causing accidental offence. I see you and I dig you ❤
Holy shit; It's nice to figure out why Freddy Carter looked familiar. Never watched Pennyworth but as an almost 30 year old, tax paying woman...I fucking did watch Free Rein. And I loved it. The horse girl show I always wanted...
TFW they closed the harbors and shut down the row boats..... in all seriousness i still giggle at the way you incepted me to watch like two seasons of free rein for your blorbo. as always, you bring so much empathy and humanity to your videos, and i know that even when the subject is something i'm not into, i'm going to come away from the video completely changed. theres so much heart, and you always manage to cut right to the core of it all.
Regarding the re-recorded lines of the audiobook (sadly I don’t have any useful information on this): I am *sure* this happened to the Lunar Chronicles as well, most likely around the time they got new covers. The first version I remember listening to on UA-cam with the old hardcover covers-courtesy of someone ripping the audio and slapping it into a multi-part series of videos-had the reader consistently but unintentionally mispronounce the full name of one of the characters, but this seems to have been corrected for the audiobook with the new cover, even though the reader is unchanged. If I had to guess, the Shadow and Bone show’s release might have prompted a few changes that could be merged seamlessly into the existing audio for very little effort. If anyone has more information on this, I would also love to know!
Absolutely stunning video with no near enough views. Staggeringly well done, left me speechless more than once. Single handedly convinced me to give the books in the universe another shot. Thank you for all your hard work.
13:48 i wanna add that he also has had a lot more roles in musical theatre, his most notable one being gabe in next to normal (he's had a few leads before that but he's only ever won awards for his performance as gabe). he actually composed the piece wylan plays on the piano in the show aswell!
I agree that what's happening to our people on Turtle Island hasn't advanced to nearly the level of the genocide happening in Palestine. It is a genocide though, about stage 7 to 8 on the scale. You know, when you have laws being proposed that criminalise being trans in public and then try to make the category of the crime punishable by death, it's a genocide. Just to repeat though, I do agree that the severity shouldn't be compared with the events in Palestine. The both-sidism also kinda bothered me. Describing the situation as bombings in Gaza and Israel just doesn't sit well with me. Although maybe that's hindsight.
@@mikkosaarinen3225 hard agree. I generally just don't think the level of blatant murder displayed by the IOF is comparable to the U.S. gov't's treatment of trans people, but I see what you're saying about the criminalization of being trans publicly. I could definitely be wrong about my initial comment, honestly. The amount of dead Palestinians I've seen on the news/social media may well be the same number of dead trans ppl murdered by the police in the U.S.-- but I don't know how to fact check that, because reporting is just so scarce on state-inflicted violence against trans people... anyway, I think the violence being enacted on Palestinians, despite the sacred nature of their location, is abhorrent and in no way close to what I personally experience as a trans person in the U.S.... I also acknowledge that I'm a trans person who hasn't been murdered and has been exceptionally lucky and privileged, so I can't speak for the rest of the community. Thank you for prompting me to think deeper about this, Mikko! I appreciate you.
I mean, isn't it just taking place on different time scales? People in places of power intentionally, relentlessly, and maliciously undermine and control the lives of the Other that they irrationally hate. There isn't bombing and starvation, but they try to structure society into an apartheid .. step 1 in both cases.
let's be honest, if netflix had made a series just with the crows (which means that not as much CGI would have been used for the series, because in the six of crows books there is magic but not as much as shadow and bones, they could have spent money with scenarios etc) It would have been MUCH better, it would certainly have been a much more famous series.
5:16 I'd just like to point out. I am Irish. I live in Ireland. There are most definitely many people still genuinely upset about the famine. Just ask my dad how he feels about it and see how quickly he starts cursing the British. But even if there wasn't, it would probably have something to do with the fact that the famine was 100 years before the Holocaust. There are living survivors of the Holocaust. There are no living survivors of the famine.
I'm pausing the video and I'll come back to it when I get to finish the second book. (I just finished "Six of Crows" and the first season of the tv series. I want to take my time with this story.) Watching the first part of your video really helped me feel euphoric while starting the first one. Also, I love that, with every video-essay, you take time to explain something related to our world, such as the part you dedicated to Jewish people and Palestine in Chapter 4. I usually learn a lot from your videos while just feeling like I'm listening to somebody else telling me a story, in an enthusiastic and intimate way. I think that the Six of Crows' cast is perfect and the tv series editing is immaculate. Inej is my absolute favourite. And it's cool to have some bi rep with Nina & Jesper. I felt really uncomfortable while watching them reading what some people wrote online, objectifying and sexualizing them. They're just kids, ffs. Matthias' chapters freaked me out a little - I'm not Jewish, but I'm a bi woman and his POV felt really "fascist-y" to me. But I felt less alone while reading them, knowing that somebody else felt the same way, and I get that he's supposed to be an interesting representation. I hope you're having a really good day
Oh my, oh my, oh my, one of my favorite essayist and youtuber doing an essay on characters that I discovered quite recently in my life (missed the boat back in the day), WHILE I'm currently reading Crooked Kingdom. It feels like Christmas in my head right now! (Love your work, sincerely from an enthusiast psychologist /YA author / All around happy nerd from Canada
Hi i'm a what normal people whould call a chronically online ding dong, and i want to say that after the recent events i feels rage and hopelessness and was looking to justified my feeling by looking at your responds to the situation since your contents and opinions have touched me in a way that not a lot of things do, and i understand now that what i was doing is doing some kind of purity test, and i want to say i'm feeling bad about it and i'm sorry, one more thing i want to say is while i understand where you coming from in regarded of those comments about "free palestine!" and i do agreeing with you, i think we should extended the no purity test to certain group of people, arabs, black and brown people who experience trauma of colonialism and especially palestinian diaspora in context of thier situation, anyway love your video and sorry for the ramble.
I can't tell how relieved I am that my family didn't ask what was making me cackle at 58:00 and onwards because OOF, that would have been hard to explain. I adore you, you majestic person
Great essay, thank you so much! I never read the books and struggled a little bit with the story in S1 of the TV show, and for me what changed everything and made me love S&B as a show was the plotline of the crows in the second season, god I love them and as you said in your essay, that cast is AMAZING.
ngl I was expecting a little more of a breakdown/analysis of what didn’t work for you with the show (like an expansion of the last 10 minutes/“allow me to complain about the show a little more” part but across the two seasons) as well, but this was a damn good summary of the two books and what worked with them for you. I haven’t read them, but I like the show and it’s clear to me that if I really like the TV versions of these characters then I’m about to hop on the obsession/adoration train when I pick up the books.
I think the point of sharing the good summary and what made the duology of Six of Crows so good serves to point out how the show failed in that aspect. But aside from not representing the Crows accurately, the show is pretty good so it doesn't really need a breakdown of what went wrong. It really did redeem Alina more than the books because I couldn't even finish the original Shadow and Bone books, but the show kept me engaged and having a good time even when it wasn't about the Crows. The only messy thing is that they tried to tell both stories together, and the Crows really had nothing to do with Alina, so it fumbled the bag on that. Anyway, hell yeah read the Six of Crows books! They are amazing, and truly worth the while. Just be ready to cry at the end 'cause that moment between Kaz and Inej wrecked me.
same here, I thought it was a bit too much of a detailed summary of the books instead of a discussion or essay. I still loved hearing that summary because I love the books and all of those scenes, but my favourite parts of the video were when specific themes, character arcs, etc. were discussed or touched upon and when the books were compared to the show. E.g. discussing Kaz and Inej's relationship (which opened up a new perspective for me bc even though I'm on the ace spectrum I've never really thought of them as ace), the part about disability rep, touching upon Grisha as a Jewish allegory, etc. It would have been interesting to see a more in-depth discussion of these topics or maybe a bit more about the other main characters and their struggles, but I still appreciate all the hard work that went into making this video!! Also, on a lighter note, I've never listened to the English audiobooks, only to the German ones where there's only one narrator, and I was delighted to discover the different voices shown in the video, especially that awful and hilarious Kaz voice, omg. The Kaz voice from Inej's POV sounded pretty good, though! I think an audio drama approach (with actors reading the dialogue of their characters and a single narrator and maybe some background noises) would be super cool for these books!!
I just want you to know, I watched this video once and because of how good it is, I can't watch it for a while because I immediately started reading "Six of Crows" and I don't want to catch any more spoilers than I already have. But i will be sure to come back once I finish so I can watch it at least one (or knowing me - ten) more times. Keep up the good work!
58.52 What’s endlessly ironic about that statement is that Irish people are still mad about the Potato Famine and the 700 years of oppression and its exactly why the country largely stands with Palestine, against the Israeli government.
I stumbled upon the show with zero knowledge of the books and loved every second of it. I did like the 6of crows sections more than the shadow and bone sections but the actors just sold the characters SO WELL I couldn’t help but love everything because I loved the characters and was extremely invested in them regardless of plot line. It’s been interesting watching videos of book lovers talk about all the issues they had with the show since it’s a perspective I wasn’t able to see having zero background knowledge. Even knowing all the differences tho I’m still a huge fan of the show
I've hesitated to watch the show because the crows are in it but grrr this makes me wanna give it a go. Especially since the casting is so perfect for knife wife and dirty hands! Amazing video as always Lady ❤
I came back to this comment section expecting more pro Palestinian stuff, I was not expecting so many people angry about the Irish potato famine specifically
1:12:15 I actually almost forgot about Inej's time at the Menagerie, because they never even hint at it in the show. Since I've read the duology after S1 I almost missed that she did indeed had to WORK AT A BROTHEL and almost attributed her discomfort at the touching to, like, physical violence? And then when I watched S2 I was confused as to why is she petrified, only realizing it on re-watch when my friend got confused. Which would be the perfect time to insert like a hazy flashback to the menagerie. It wouldn't even have to be violent or explicit, it could've easily been clear without being weird. But instead they included those Helnik scenes the whole season, which I'm still confused whether it's a dream or a memory x)
VERY very small detail, but I think Kerch is based off Golden Age Netherlands, with the Merchant Council, the relevance of markets, the multiculturality, and even SUGAR!!! I'm a bit fixated on its history, so it was quite nice seeing the parallels!!!! Apart from that, excellent video!!!
(Don't take this as impatience, just praise) Just so happy to see a new video, brings such a lovely energy to my day because there's always so much love and enthusiasm about the topic, it's infectious. Seriously, you have no idea the large smile that grew on my face when I saw this scheduled to be released (and my subsequent disappointment that I'd be busy working when it came out, so I'd need to watch it later). All the exposure I have to this franchise is through the Netflix series, which I've had conflicted feelings about, mostly due to the issues highlighted early on - it's two mostly separate stories smashed together in a way that doesn't always work. I have the feeling - based on all I've heard - that not having read the books has helped my enjoyment, as I'm not (intentionally or not) comparing the characters and events to the original, nor do I have foreknowledge of where characters are supposed to go on their arc. Despite that, I do feel that nearly all the cast do a fantastic job, really making the characters they're given work (even shining when the writing isn't quite there to support them) - I'll admit my least favourite character has been Mal, who has felt mostly bland with touches of "bland but angry teen", and (having not seen much behind the scenes stuff, mostly just what's shown here) I'm not fully sure if that's just on the writing or whether the directing and acting deserve some blame, as I have seen that trope transcended before. What little behind the scenes stuff I have seen definitely makes me a fan of this cast, though, and I really hope they get to do bigger and even better things in the future (also, Ben Barnes singing with Scary Pockets is worth checking out, he's got some talent on that front). This was a very interesting video, I am often intrigued about aspects of adaptation, especially when it comes to things...not trying to adapt the source the most accurately, as I get curious about why one thing or another is done or why one version works when another does not.
Great video, and now I have to put Six of Crows on my TBR. Also if you want some other fantasy heist/oceans 11 books I'd recommend the Gentleman Basterds Cycle, specifically book 1 The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and The Final Empire, the first Mistborn book by Brandon Sanderson
I'm pretty sure I would watch and enjoy the synapses of The Room if LKtB did it. Your thoughtful perspectives and insights, along with your almost conspiratorial tone, make yours the essays I turn to for soothing relaxation. Thank you for being my personal chill. I have watched several of your essays multiple times. Sometimes, they help me center and ground. You've eased me into restfulness I might otherwise been denied. Thank you, muchly.
My favorite video essays are when you can hear the passion for the topic and I definitely hear such sincerity ☺️ This series has always been spoken of fondly when I hear about it even if this series is not for me; my Leigh Bardugo fantasy books of choice are Ninth House/ Alex Stern books which better only be a trilogy because I am impatient and cannot handle long series anymore. Also shoutout to all of the fan artists featured!! 💜
So I'm right at the start but I honestly just get so excited when I see a new video come out and with this one being about the Six of Crows I knew I had to instantly watch it
God I've never heard the audiobooks for the duology, and I absolutely DIED giggling listening to that Old Sailor Kaz impression! I'm serious, it brought me so much joy 😂
I love the many movies and shows edited together to be visual aid in this and represent the story where there were no other visual representations, it's really fun to look at and helped me get sucked into and get invested in your retelling and also spotting stuff I know and/or love was some extra fun :"")))
I've had a hard time getting into this series. I watched the first season, and I tried to read Six of Crows, but neither really resonated with me. I might give it another try soon. That being said, I do LOVE Bardugo's Ninth House series. Both the first and second books are great, and I think they have similar themes of morally grey characters loving each other so hard they bleed and make others bleed. It's really great, and now knowing Bardugo is Jewish, I wonder if it influenced the way she wrote Alex as a woman of a diaspora. There's this scene where she uses the language of her grandmother to beat back ghosts, and it sticks with me even now.
I was lucky enough to finally catch a premiere and I’m so glad it was for one of my favorite ever book series! Man these characters make me feel things, and I’m going to be rewatching this video many many times in the future.
Great video, amazing video, i cried when u retold the end of crooked kingdom. I think we should make a petition to have u read the audiobook if we can't get the cast to do it.
Admittedly I haven't read the books and so I'm missing a lot of the characterisation that happens in the books, but I have a different take on Inej's 'toxin trip'. It's an exploration, she's testing the waters to see if that physical intimacy is possible for her. Kaz asks if he can touch her and she says yes, the first time she's able to consent, so it's on her terms. It also has to be someone she cares for and trusts, and ultimately despite everything she has heard Kaz say and seen him do, she does trust him with her safety. It being Kaz also provides safety for her within the trip, she knows Kaz wouldn't take off his gloves and touch her like that, it allows her to see it play out without the additional stress of it being real. I also think it shows a good juxtaposition with Kas's 'trip'. He relives his trauma, showing that he is still consumed by it, it reinforces his aversion to touch showing that he isn't ready to try to heal from that, whereas Inej is. The touch is just the physical representation of their experiences and at that moment is a metaphor for their readiness to heal from the trauma. Inej wants to stop feeling like she is under someone else's control, but Kaz still needs to get his vengeance first (or at least, he believes he does). I also like how Inej apologises when feeding Kaz the butterfly. In order to save his life she has to do something that she knows Kaz will hate. I think this also makes it clear to Kaz that they are in different places. If it had been Jesper, he might have joked about it, apologising but with a cocky 'I did save your life though' element to it, and after the initial feelings, Kaz wouldn't be mad at Jesper, because Jesper doesn't understand the depths of it. But Inej does, and Kaz knows that. That moment makes him confront that Inej had to cross both her own and his boundaries to save him, but would he be able to do the same for her. I think in that situation he would, he might hesitate more than Inej did, but he would do it, but he doesn't think he would, and that scares him.
I have only heard tangentially of this series and clicked out of curiosity and now after having seen your essay? I have just ordered the books - thank you for introducing me to what seems to be a very well crafted and fun story ❤
As usual, your video essays make me cry in the best way! and it makes me want to do a re-read of the duology, cause it has been a while. This duology ended a 3-4 year reading slump for me back in 2017 and I've been reading more and more since then, I have such affection for it! (why tf did they start the Wylan-Jasper relationship offscreen, that bugged me so much and so many adaptation choices they made that you talked about were also baffling to me!) Thank you for your work and for doing long essays with your soothing voice, it really is such a comforting experience
ALSO I NEED TO THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER FOR THE OLD RECORDINGS OF WYLAN’S KAZ BREKKER IMPRESSION BECAUSE IT’S BEEN MY FAVORITE THING TO COME OUT OF THOSE HILARIOUS WYLAN CHAPTERS NEXT TO “OYSTERS, MISS” BUT I THOUGHT THE RECORDINGS OF THESE WERE GONE FOREVER EVER SINCE THE ILLEGAL BOOTLEG OF CROOKED KINGDOM’S AUDIOBOOKS GOT TAKEN OFF OF UA-cam… THANK YOU YOU ARE A SAINT
"I love Kaz so much. I want to throw him in a dumpster" is the realest thing I've ever heard
hearing freddy carter talk about him i think he would help you shut the dumpster lid. lovingly
😂😂
Not gonna knock your perspective on it, you've got the right to feel uncomfortable of course, but I've personally always liked Matthias. I think he's a very interesting representation of what radicalisation can do to vulnerable young men. He had just lost his entire family in an attack by an Inferni and was desperate for somewhere to direct his grief. Jarl Brum gave it to him. I think it's a sign of Matthias's general decency and the flimsiness of the propaganda he was fed that only a couple days with Nina, the first Grisha he had actually ever talked to, was enough to have him questioning his views about the whole world and the legitimacy of what he'd been told. He holds onto his anger at her for a long time because he genuinely believes she only befriended him to eventually get him imprisoned or killed and once he learns that isn't the case he's rather quick to forgive.
Again obviously everyone has different opinions based on different background, but for me personally, while I've never fallen down that kind of pipeline, I know quite a few people who did, and Matthias's struggle to deprogram himself, unlearn the hate he was taught since birth, and attempt to deradicalise the other young men harming because of and being harmed by those beliefs very inspiring and touching. He's one of the characters who hit the hardest for me simply because of the realism of his situation. As Nina says, "Matthias was always fighting his own decency."
Great video essay! You always seem to follow me into new special interests lol. Always love your content
This!! Matthias's journey into deradicalization was so interesting to me because of how strong willed he was to change his mind on Grisha. He basically had to cut ties with his home and all Fjerdans because it was basically mandatory in his culture to detest Grisha, yet he's resilient enough to bare being cast out because he can't go back and unsee the humanity in Nina, and Jesper, and all the Grisha he encountered. I was so sad he never got to fully enjoy his new found family with the Crows.
However, I didn't know part of Bardugo's inspiration for Grisha and Druskelle came from the Jewish community and the Nazis, and I have to agree with Ladyknightthebrave's opinion that it's icky having Nina be the one having to be nice and tolerate him meanwhile he's constantly thinking of ways to kill her and mentally chastising her for existing as a Grisha. It's an old, tired, and frankly shitty plot in films about the Holocaust that a Jewish girl falls for a Nazi, and it always sucks. Maybe if there was no romance between them it wouldn't be as icky, but alas, it is what it is.
So true!!!!
That’s where I adore the concept itself. But I feel like the show executes it a bit better imo. Idk I feel like having a look directly into all of Matthias’ murderous, hateful thoughts during everything just makes him so much less sympathetic. At least at the beginning of their arcs, it makes their romance and Nina’s devotion to saving him kinda weird to me.
As someone who grew up in a religious and conservatives household, can sympathizes with Matthias. Because after I left my bubble of private Christian schools and after school activities, I saw the harm that my beliefs caused others and how ignorant I was being. And at the same time, being politically radicalized and deconstructing my faith. Showing that people can unlearn hate is important for others to see, to show that it is possible.
so well put
This is the only thing I can weigh in on, really: "can you imagine a Irish person going around today actually upset about the potato famine"
... yes? A lot of Irish people are still angry at what British colonization cost them? Irish-Americans (which is what I am to be clear, I'm speaking abt other Irish-Americans people I've met) are sadly quite ignorant about our history and have moved into the safety of whiteness, which is a fucking shame, because holy shit could so many people find community if they just actually learned our history and realized we, at one time, were just as much a victim of colonization as other people. like the potato famine is a very legitimate thing to be angry about still. one million people died. more people should be angry about it because it would mean they actually pay attention to their fuckin history.
That comment stood out to me too. Like, I guess he wasn't one of the people using the treatment of Palestinians as justification but was just a general "Hey, anything bad done to people I don't identify with more than fifty years ago doesn't matter." type of guy, so at least he's just a regular asshole instead of a blatantly hypocritical within the statement he's currently making asshole.
I agree that a lot of Irish-Americans don't know or understand our history as an oppressed minority, going on to oppress others. I had to make the effort to learn because nobody taught me. What I don't get is: why do people think Irish and Irish-American folks are some model for this "get over it" mentality? Or that they feel like we would be on side with them sabotaging conversations about the conflict by equating all Jewish people with the nation state of Israel? I would like to believe that, as a people group, some of us at least would understand the concept of diaspora and the non-monolithic nature of being part of a particular cultural group.
I realize this comment wasn't strictly necessary, but the weird way they made me feel roped into something that walks and quacks a lot like anti-semitism pissed me off.
Seconding this. The Irish side of my family came over due to the famine, and the Scots half woke up one day to find they suddenly had English landlords, couldn't pay the rent, and got shipped to the Americas as debtors, and neither side has forgotten or forgiven.
The famine is also super relevant to current cultural issues in Ireland, like trying to revitalize the Irish language, which is only in danger because of colonization but specifically a ton of speakers died in the famine and even more left the country because of it and stopped speaking Irish and passing it on. That’s just one tangible effect that Irish people encounter on a daily basis
I have Irish friends in Australia, including one that immigrated themselves
They are still super cranky about the famine, the troubles and how England needs to get off their island
Im chronically ill and adore kaz but the real soft spot in my heart lies with Wylan. I've struggled to read for as long as i can remember, it never made sense to me and on top of that my struggle growing up in an abuse household completely wrecked my memory so as fast as id get better in my studies id forget everything i learned. I was 11 when i could read, though to this day my reading is still shit and my writing nearing worse. shames always followed me with it. The scene where his secrets outed by his father and the scene from the show where he tells Jesper made me heart sink, growing up i always would sheepishly have to admit i couldn't read to the surprised faces of those i told, i hated it. What i love most about Wylan is that he's never "fixed" I was waiting with baited breath for the scene where he'd be able to read and it'd be a miracle but no he just instead has to learn to live with it, same as I have and that brought me such joy. I
Jesper is my favorite character and the books did a great job portraying his struggle with addiction and implied ADHD, it’s the first time a Black/Black passing character that also happens to be the “comic relief” of the mostly white group was given complexity and depth beyond his charming persona. And his bisexuality being a present but unchallenged part of him was important to me as well. Just him being all of this in a FANTASY story makes him a rare breath of fresh air, I can’t think of any Black fantasy characters by a non-Black author that are as well written as him. As a Black writer who is very critical of how white authors implement Black characters, Leigh impressed me.
I love Kit Young’s portrayal as Jesper too in the show, though he doesn’t look as Jesper is described to be (dark skinned) in the books, his performance and charisma is so brilliant I can accept it.
as a person with a SOC tattoo, chronic knee pain, and a deep love for the wet cat that is Kaz Brekker this is my favorite video of the century ❤
omg wet cat is the best description i have read for Kaz 😂
As someone with very annoying knee pain from running a bunch, an actual crow's head cane (yes. It's a Halloween decoration from Spirit Halloween if you want it, but be careful, the thing that they use to mount the crows head part to the rest of the cane is shit so it will break if dropped.) And a "small" obsession with making art of Crows...
This video and book series are awesome!
(P.S. Bro I want a SOC tattoo 😞)
To see Kaz predicting an attack on his cane and instantly countering was beautiful to me.
The whole segment about disability is so relatable, I just had the airport experience a month ago where I had to say 6 times to the personal that I didn't want a chair. And it's really hard to be angry at somebody being kind. But it is really frustrating that somebody is telling me what is best for me while I deal with it every single day for a decade. So, thank you for this segment. Cause illness can be really lonely and this segment and characters like Kaz and Victor from Arcane make it less so.
In a slightly related note. From what I've seen, you are also the only youtuber who warned photosensitive people for flashing imagery, which is really nice of you. So also thank you for that.
I try to make my shit accessible wherever possible. One of my best friends has epilepsy so the photosensitivity stuff is close to my heart
I am grateful. And I love your videos.
I would love if the Netflix cast re-recorded the audiobooks! I even think each actor reading the narration of their character’s chapters would work (since the narration is so character-essential) as long as the spoken dialogue was read by its proper actor. Even with the weirdness (that clearly comes from the misplaced & rearranged context, Freddy and Amita’s understanding of these characters is so so evident) of the armor scene, the quality difference in the audiobook and the show is very stark.
I think that’s one of the things that frustrated me the most about season 2. These actors are so talented and have such obvious love and care for their characters, and then the arcs and emotions they’re playing with are all jumbled up. It’s a lot easier to critique something as a bad adaptation when it’s clearly miscast! So the wasted potential of this adaptation feels much more disappointing! Great analysis as always!
Matthais is such a complicated character for me, especially as someone who grew up religious and got out of it by realizing that I loved people my worldview told me were evil-that I was queer. (This hit even harder with Nina's 2nd love interest who is fjerdan, grisha, and potentially trans. Their struggles with their father, religion, and sense of self are so close to my experience that they were hard to read. But we spend more time with Matthais and I read the SoC duology first so he is really important to me.) I love Matthais' character arc of learning to break out of his hateful patterns through love because, as cheesy as it is, love is so unimaginably powerful. I relate so heavily to his compassion for other druskelle, young boys who perpetrate violence due to indoctrination (young boys who are likely also harmed by their belief system because they have to suppress so much of themselves).
spoilers:
.
.
.
.
.
His death was so painful to me that I had to step away from the series for a bit before returning to finish Crooked Kingdom. His final act of redemption is a sacrifice. To me at the time it felt like this was saying the only way I could ever be redeemed from my upbringing was to die, that there was no happy future for me that I was already too far gone. Of course this interpretation was heavily influenced by my negative mindset at the time and is probably not what Leigh Bardugo intended. Either way, Matthais is such a hard character for me to have discussions about, especially when people dumb it down to "man does evil things = evil guy". To me his storyline feels like a profound tragedy. An indoctrinated child (the aging up in the show really did not help in this case) struggles for so long to break free of the conditions of his worldview. He fears divine retribution, but it never comes. Neither does the divine help he was promised. When he finally manages to break free of the brainwashing it still isn't over. He must atone for the harm he has done. He never does. He must atone before he can truly start to live, but instead he dies. He dies as a child. He dies alone. It feels like he never got a chance to live in the first place. I could have been him so easily. (caveat: obviously i did not participate in any kidnappings thats the sort of thing that can be excused way more easily in fiction than in real life)
this analysis is 🔥🔥
Omg my fave youtube essayist making a video about my fave book series/ adaptation, what a dream come true.
Super early on in the video in the casting section and thought the crows are perfect too. Though just as you hoped that Nina would be a little more plus sized, I think I also hoped Jesper would be darker skinned. Half Black here (just like Kit) and Hollywood has an intense colorism habit of casting the lightest of Black and half Black actors for Black characters that they can (especially, especially for Black women characters) so I think I was a liiiiiitttle like ‘…aw man’ even though I adore Kit and his portrayal so, so much but that was my reaction upon first pics.
Not denying this happens a lot, but with Kit he really seems like he was born to be Jesper. He embodied the attitude, the witty humor, and he was a natural at all the gun showmanship. Even in the books he's described as mixed too, being both from Zemeni and Kaelish descent. But I still wish there were more characters with darker skin because there really isn't enough representation due to colorism. I just think Kit wasn't a case of just casting the lightest dark-skinned actor they could find, since he undeniably captured Jesper so well.
@@liswaneKit is great in the role but that doesn’t change the fact that they could have also casted a darker skinned actor, they chose not to. Time and time again Hollywood has shown that if there is a talented light skinned person and an equally talented darker skinned person, they will choose lighter/closer to white.
although i do think dark skinned is important, jesper is canonically mixed in the books just an fyi but that change wouldnt jave affected the plot much and i do agree
@@witchplease9695 And I said that, I wish there were more darker skin tones represented too. I was just defending the casting of Kit because he's so natural as Jesper so it makes sense why he was cast. We don't know if there was anybody else who auditioned and was better or equally as good as Kit, or had better chemistry with the rest of the cast, so I won't make any comments on that. Personally I was ok with him not being as dark as I'd imagined because he was Jesper through and through, unlike other casting situations where they get a lighter skin toned person who's mediocre at the role and they're just picked because they fit western standards of beauty.
10/10 totally understand why people love the book Crows. And I am theorizing that at least one of them will be cast to play a role in Bridgerton.
About the Ace Kaz/Inej thing me and my friend (both aroace) had a bit of a disagreement when we read SOC. The line "How will you have [etc..]" could be interpreted as Inej wanting to be intimately physical with Kaz but refusing to do so if Kaz does not better himself. Our disagreement was mostly about if Kaz/Inej are actually ace since they do seem to display some "horny thoughts". Now I understand that everybody's experience with sexuality is different and I do not want to invalidate anybody. But I do feel a little uncomfortable when asexuality is portrayed as a trauma response since that's a phrase that was used against me to basically say I could be "cured" from it. I know that there are people who are asexual do to trauma and I don't mean to imply their sexuality is any less real it just comes of a little muddied when displayed in media.
When it comes to Kaz/Inej I would be extremely happy if they remained the ultimate ace power couple however when you mix it with their trauma I would understand if the narrative is more about healing from their past. Which would also be a nice message, specially since Inej is a victim of CSA and that's something a lot of survivors struggle with.
Anyways, amazing video as always, I wish I could like it a thousand times.
Also, I want to add that there are people on the asexual spectrum who are NOT touch-adverse, and that kissing doesn't invalidate or diminish their ace-ness. I know, you said that there may not yet be enough ace representation in media to quibble over nuance, but (and this is very much imho), I don't want to see more Ace representation if it's just going to be the same limited characterization over and over again.
It was very interesting hearing you speak of these stories, but when you said Kerch is based on Britain it struck a nerve :p
Obviously Leigh likely included other influences, but I read Kerch as being very clearly based on the Netherlands. The emphasis on trade, the power of merchants(you even mention Kerch being the only nation without a monarchy! That was the Netherlands in the 17th/18th century!), the pleasure districts- the names especially of both people and landmarks (Joost, Jan, Hertzoon, Rietveld, Tante, Geldstraat, etc) the canals, the Council of Tides keeping the nation from drowning... Geographically it resembles Britain, sure- but everything else rings super dutch to me. It was one of the things that immediately hooked me in Six of Crows. I'd never seen anyone adapt the Netherlands into a fantasy kingdom like this- usually it's stuff like Russia, China, France, Scandinavia, maybe Germany or well.. Britain, as you said.
It's a bit sad that you immediately shrug off Leigh mentioning Amsterdam just on the basis of Kerch being an island.
Edit: Thought I should also acknowledge the possible colonizer, empire aspect with the implication that the Southern Colonies are connected to Kerch .And the xenophobia matches, too. But those match Britain as much as they match the Netherlands so I focused on the stuff that rang specifically dutch to me.
Not to mention that the clothing style of the merchers (somber, black) ressembles very much the protestant dutch style of that era.
@@elyca6329 I completely forgot about that you're absolutely right. The description of how the merch wives are dressed matches too
Hey you wonderful monster like me, thank you for letting me say my piece about chronic pain and our stinky son, and for getting me into this series in the first place. I look forward to being annoyed at season 3 in a watch party with you whenever that releases! 💜
Honestly, as a chronic pain and cane user and lover of fantasy, I found Kaz to be one of the most accurate portrayals of the subject especially in an interesting and compelling character.
The way he factors pain and exhaustion into his plans in his internal monologue and plans is so key to his character and so real to the experience of like “can I fit a trip to the shop to get a drink or will my leg give out before I get home if I do that?” But exaggerated to fantasy scale.
Plus Jesper’s ADHD feels like exactly how too many people I know ended up undiagnosed, under-stimulated and dropping out of school with a mountain of dept made worse with dopamining habits like gambling, shopping and/or substances.
Absofuckinglutely seriously. I'm a kindred spirit and cannot agree any louder ❤
Ummm... Partly inspired by Amsterdam? Almost every name in Ketterdam is Dutch and worshipping a God of Money on an island city is literally Amsterdam during the Golden Age.
Ps. Love the video and everything you do. Keep up the amazing work!
EXACTLY!!! I was so confused by her saying it’s England when it’s basically just a rainy day in the Netherlands??
@@reneemujica142 Yeah, as a British person every time I see a mention of Ketterdam being loosely inspired by England my response is very 'eh??????????? You're sure? Because it reads like fantasy Netherlands to me'.
Yeah, it’s fantasy Amsterdam with a sprinkle of Venice and Prague on the side
The only thing that’s British about Kerch is that it’s an island, I’m sorry, everything else is Dutch, the language, the culture and just the vibe. They literally mention stroopwafels in the show and the language is just Dutch (also Rotterdam -> Ketterdam??). So they’re just old-timey Netherlands with capitalism as their religion (that’s the American part, lol).
YES! The minute I read in the books that ketterdam is ruled by rich merchants I was like, oh yeah this is def inspired by Amsterdam. Like, the Netherlands were a republic ruled by rich aristocracy/merchants
Lady’s endorsement is my last sign to FINALLY break down and go read the Grishaverse at loooong last (my tumblrinas & fan friends will be relieved to hear) 😅 Amazing, thoroughly captivating work as always! 🙌🏻
From a traumatised, disabled mischief-maker ❤🖤⚔️
oh you’re gonna love love LOVE it
I (30-something book enthusiast) started to read the books after watching the first season of Shadow and Bones on Netflix (and really enjoying it!), and I fell in love. The first serie is good, but Leigh Bardugo really found her pace with Six of Crows, I warmly recommend it
@@elyca6329thank you; for responding, for responding in this exact way. I’m a thirty-something now myself as well and not at all acquainted with reading YA (absolutely no offence to those who are) and have thus had more than a few hesitations about reading this series. But, as of the past week or so, I’m finding myself rather engrossed and wishing to continue at every turn. I have my quibbles, yes, but, for the most part, I am having a rollicking good time… as well as a searingly, gut-wrenchingly bad time… in the best way 💔🖤♥️
I swear every video essay you've made has been about a series/show I enjoyed immensely. Six of crows was something I never thought I'd see a video essayist deep dive into, so thank you!!
Chapter 4 was really heartwarming, thanks for speaking so honestly about the currennt situation! A big hug from a viewer from Italy... We have kind the same situation here plus a fascist party holding the power and pretending to care about the middle east war just for islamophobic reasons. It's so sad, i just hope one day all this things will end...
I first picked this up when I was leaving my abusive home, so I was obviously obsessed with a book full of traumatized teens that were the underdogs. I related to the touch-phobia, to the anger and trust issues, and to everything when Kaz said "you can always bleed a little more". This book is so near and dear to my heart because of how much it impacted my life then, it was like a cathartic fantasy for me. I desperately hope that if the spin off show is to go through, it's done right and in accordance with the strike's negotiations so we can keep this amazing cast. I'm also so happy that my favorite media essayist covered the books AND the show :)
I just wanted to say thank you so much for crediting the artists/illustrators whose art you feature in your essay. As an illustrator, it absolutely made my heart happy.
One thing I really hated about the without armor scene in the show specifically is it felt like someone who has is further on their journey of processing their trauma criticizing someone who isn't. Kaz and Inej's issue's with touch stem from very different things while on the surface look similar and while I know Inej never has all the information it still felt like she was expecting him to keep up with her in that scene.
I agree that's how I interpreted it too. It made me think about all the fanfic about characters being considerate of each others' trauma. But then, a lot of things make me think about fanfic...
Ahhh this was soothing for my soul in so many ways.
One of my main complaints about the show was the Kaz was 'too nice' the whole way through. It's embarrassing how much I love Kaz Brekker and I want him to rip eyeballs out godamnit!
I re-watched your MASH video the other day and was thinking 'I haven't seen anything from LadyKnight recently, hope she's ok' so I was very pleased to see this pop up! Hope you're doing ok, it's been a weird few weeks for those of us in the diaspora. I think you summarised a lot of my feelings there too.
Gotta say, never read the books or watched the series, but even just getting your descriptions got me a little teary-eyed.
I am such a fan of heist dramas, the world sounds quite intriguing, and having a gang of bastards just makes me think this is the ultimate Blades in the Dark LitRPG.
As somebody who deals with chronic pain, the section about it really struck a chord with me.
I've always pushed through it, or at least tried to, and when I couldn't there were many times where I had cried or cursed my body for punishing me. This is especially relevant right now because my pain decided to flair up really badly and it's hard to stay positive or optimistic.
Until today I had more or less a good hang of managing it. I even had days where I didn’t feel pain until my knee inflammation.
It just feels like the universe doesn’t want me to have a pain free day and honestly I never had many of them to begin with.
I'm relieved to know there are people out there who struggle with similar problems. I continued watching this video at the right time and I'm grateful for it.
Kaz and Inej got me so far in that book. I too love a dark and horrible creature with EmotionsTM that is doing his best not to look at them. But i felt there was too much stumbling when it began in the books. And yet knowing the pace evens out didnt get me far enough. Still a beautiful relationship i wish could be shown as it really is.
Mal and Alina were definitely half Shu in the books because being "half Shu" myself I nearly lost my Goddamn mind with excitement that they actually cast two half Asian characters. Half Asians are frequently not cast in favor of their Asian or white counterparts because we're found to be lacking, think Emma Stone in Aloha. The problem was more that Bardugo wasn't super consistent with it throughout the books.
Mal is actually half Suli. That's why the racism he gets is less vitriolic that Alina's. That said, it's a pretty big point in the discussion around the depiction of anti-asian racism that Mal and Alina were "White" in the books and all those racism depictions were show originals that made people who wanted a more comforting escapism from that particular aspect of their lives unhappy. I didn't agree with them, but I don't tend to face that kinda shit cause I live in an Asian majority area.
It's interesting how much was wrong with "Aloha" but because it was so unremarkable in every way the discourse on it evaporated almost immediately. Like, hell, if they'd actually cast appropriately for the role people might have talked about how cool it was to depict that specific life experience on screen, and probably nothing else about the movie... but the only interesting aspect of the movie was overshadowed by white wash casting so all it was was another show set in Hawaii about mainlanders' problems.
Alina was white in the books though?? I have no issue with the change in the show but Alina was not a poc in the book
Wasn’t Alina blonde in the books?
@@billyb7852 I thought she had white hair but I haven't read the books tho
Her hair became white at the end of “Siege and Storm” and before that they were light brown, I believe. However, in the trilogy neither her, nor Mal are ever implied to be POC or mixed race (though Alina’s home village is located near the Shu Khan border).
Kerch doesn't feel that inspired by England to me. It's feels more of an amalgamation of all major merchant cities. There is definitly some London, but also Hamburg and Venice, especially with the merchant council and the Commedia dell'arte thing. Most of the names also sound either dutch (like the city of Ketterdam or Rollins alias Hertzoon) or german (like Tante Helene or Kerch itself), with dutch playing the larger role. It's like the whole hansiatic league got shoved into the same place.
I completely agree. Kerch to me is largely based on the Netherlands- it's all over- but obviously there'd be some other influence too. You already mentioned the names (Geldkanaal (or was it geldstraat?), Joost, Jan, even [Tante] is dutch for aunt) but it's also the canals, the emphasis on merchants not only being prolific but in charge. Them being known for their pleasure districts (to the point they get invited to the Fjerdan celebration). The canals. The Council of Tides keeping the nation from drowning, essentially... There is so much Dutch in Kerch and it made me so giddy- I'd never seen that before in this way! For a writer to make a fantasy counterpart like that.
When I was reading six of crows for the first time, there were a lot of names I couldn't figure out how to pronounce (dyslexia). One of the offenders was Kuwei. So I just mentally called him Kiwi. I guess I've been doing it for so long I was surprised to hear his name properly pronounced.
Sorry, but my favorite video essayist talking about my 6 favorite imaginary people? I couldn't stop smiling through the whole video, even as I shed a tear or two.
The discussion of chronic pain was spot on, also I am 36 and use a mobility aid because of my disability. Thank you for talking about this
You cannot imagine how much I need this rn thank you 💜
I just wanted to say I am happy you are "very much not dying" and continue to give us wonderfully thought-out content. You're amazing
The grishaverse as a whole is a MAJOR hyper-fixation for me rn, so I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on the crows duology!
(And a little a scared too 😅)
That bit about doing the calculus in your head about what you're capable of hit closer to home than I'd honestly like. There was a time in my life where every day I would do the math of whether I could afford to walk to the nearby grocery store because I knew if I did I'd be bedridden for days. The decision of whether to eat or survive on whatever I could get my hands on to avoid the backlash for just a little longer scarred me in a way that I've never heard put to words before.
Those were the worst times though, thankfully unlikely to return. I still have to do the calculus now and again, but the brutality of knowing I had to pick between mind erasing pain or starvation day in day out for months is an experience I'm not soon to forget.
I read the series before my accident, and that subject matter I'm "happy" to say flew right over my head at the time. This video is making me consider re-reading it given the new perspective.
I'm only halfway through the video but this is the best essay I have watched in the last couple of months. There is this tendency recently of thinking describing something is somehow criticism and analises when in reality is far for it. You have the perfect amount of both here, describing the show/books and talking about the themes, arcs, etc. Really good stuff.
Just recently did a kaz cosplay for a convention! Love this series and so excited to hear you talk about it!!
Kazplay
Thanks for touching on the casting of Nina. While I LOVE Dani as Nina and think she does a fantastic job of portraying her character, I was definitely disappointed that they didn't cast someone who looks like Nina was described in the books. I was so excited to have that representation of a plus size character, and it just wasn't what it could've been.
Also I read Crooked Kingdom over a year ago, and I still get really emotional when I think too long about Matthias' death. It WRECKED me.
Just watched this over on nebula (highly recommend for anybody on the fence about it!), but coming over here to comment for engagement. Another knockout video, already sent it to a friend and will be recommending alongside all your other incredibly detailed, empathetic videos
One thing I find interesting about this show's depiction of racism is that it's kind of like a pre-whiteness world. The concept of whiteness wasn't really invented in this world so racism exists in that context. At least that's a vibe I get. No one has a particular problem with Zemeni cause they're viewed as just another nation. Ravkans have a particular problem with Fjerdans and Shu Han because they're at war. People are still bigoted and ignorant and xenophobic, but it's not formalized with a pseudoscience. Obviously they can't pull it off perfectly because it's being made by people who exist in a white supremacist society...
Good point! I took note of that while reading and it was refreshing in a way, to have racism not centered around being/not being white and not who's above who based on the color of skin and facial features.
You mentioning that line from Thor Ragnarok with regard to the Jewish faith sent me on an ADHD idea spiral about how interesting it'd be to actually tackle the significance religions place on specific holy sites in a science fiction setting where they effectively no longer exist. Like, Earth was destroyed as in Titan AE, or maybe it's just altered beyond recognition like in Starfield or Lancer... well... more Lancer since they actually tackle stuff like religion and cultural diversity in thoughtful ways. Remembering that one guy in Starfield who speaks Yiddish for the sake of tradition.... Starfield really did not think its world through much. But why am I comparing a Bethesda game to a heavily lore focussed Table Top RPG? Uh... right... anyway, my point is that it'd be really interesting to see depictions of how religious people and institutions deal with the fact that their holy sites are gone in a space faring sci fi setting, cause I don't think I ever have.
"Can you imagine an Irish person still upset about the potato famine?" I don't have to. I know them. I'm still upset about the potato famine after learning more about it and the only Irish ancestry I have is multiple generations ago. It was a genocide attempt that Ireland's population has yet to fully recover from. Genocide is bad actually, no matter who the victim or the perpetrator is. Sorry, that particular comment just set me off. Uh, just to be clear, I'm not misinterpreting it as something you said. I know you were quoting a some asshole. Just yelling at them for the emotional catharsis.
This is the ADHDest comment I've read in a while. From the stream-of-consciousness enthusing about a new hyperfixation to the over-self-explaining to head off any possibility of causing accidental offence. I see you and I dig you ❤
Holy shit; It's nice to figure out why Freddy Carter looked familiar. Never watched Pennyworth but as an almost 30 year old, tax paying woman...I fucking did watch Free Rein. And I loved it. The horse girl show I always wanted...
TFW they closed the harbors and shut down the row boats.....
in all seriousness i still giggle at the way you incepted me to watch like two seasons of free rein for your blorbo. as always, you bring so much empathy and humanity to your videos, and i know that even when the subject is something i'm not into, i'm going to come away from the video completely changed. theres so much heart, and you always manage to cut right to the core of it all.
Regarding the re-recorded lines of the audiobook (sadly I don’t have any useful information on this):
I am *sure* this happened to the Lunar Chronicles as well, most likely around the time they got new covers. The first version I remember listening to on UA-cam with the old hardcover covers-courtesy of someone ripping the audio and slapping it into a multi-part series of videos-had the reader consistently but unintentionally mispronounce the full name of one of the characters, but this seems to have been corrected for the audiobook with the new cover, even though the reader is unchanged. If I had to guess, the Shadow and Bone show’s release might have prompted a few changes that could be merged seamlessly into the existing audio for very little effort. If anyone has more information on this, I would also love to know!
Absolutely stunning video with no near enough views. Staggeringly well done, left me speechless more than once. Single handedly convinced me to give the books in the universe another shot. Thank you for all your hard work.
13:48 i wanna add that he also has had a lot more roles in musical theatre, his most notable one being gabe in next to normal (he's had a few leads before that but he's only ever won awards for his performance as gabe). he actually composed the piece wylan plays on the piano in the show aswell!
what a wild journey this video was... the last line actually made my skin shiver. thanks a lot for your work and for your passion
As a trans person, don't compare what's happening to us in the U.S. to the Palestinian genocide.. /gen /nm
I agree that what's happening to our people on Turtle Island hasn't advanced to nearly the level of the genocide happening in Palestine. It is a genocide though, about stage 7 to 8 on the scale. You know, when you have laws being proposed that criminalise being trans in public and then try to make the category of the crime punishable by death, it's a genocide.
Just to repeat though, I do agree that the severity shouldn't be compared with the events in Palestine.
The both-sidism also kinda bothered me. Describing the situation as bombings in Gaza and Israel just doesn't sit well with me. Although maybe that's hindsight.
@@mikkosaarinen3225 hard agree. I generally just don't think the level of blatant murder displayed by the IOF is comparable to the U.S. gov't's treatment of trans people, but I see what you're saying about the criminalization of being trans publicly. I could definitely be wrong about my initial comment, honestly. The amount of dead Palestinians I've seen on the news/social media may well be the same number of dead trans ppl murdered by the police in the U.S.-- but I don't know how to fact check that, because reporting is just so scarce on state-inflicted violence against trans people... anyway, I think the violence being enacted on Palestinians, despite the sacred nature of their location, is abhorrent and in no way close to what I personally experience as a trans person in the U.S.... I also acknowledge that I'm a trans person who hasn't been murdered and has been exceptionally lucky and privileged, so I can't speak for the rest of the community. Thank you for prompting me to think deeper about this, Mikko! I appreciate you.
I mean, isn't it just taking place on different time scales?
People in places of power intentionally, relentlessly, and maliciously undermine and control the lives of the Other that they irrationally hate.
There isn't bombing and starvation, but they try to structure society into an apartheid .. step 1 in both cases.
@@pmcgee003 truuueeee. the ideology is definitely the same in both cases, thanks for pointing that out! I didn't think of that /gen /nm
let's be honest, if netflix had made a series just with the crows (which means that not as much CGI would have been used for the series, because in the six of crows books there is magic but not as much as shadow and bones, they could have spent money with scenarios etc) It would have been MUCH better, it would certainly have been a much more famous series.
2 hour long video on one of my favourite duologies?? Hell YEAH
Yoooooo, the editing just keeps leveling up- let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOO 🔥🔥🔥
5:16 I'd just like to point out. I am Irish. I live in Ireland. There are most definitely many people still genuinely upset about the famine. Just ask my dad how he feels about it and see how quickly he starts cursing the British.
But even if there wasn't, it would probably have something to do with the fact that the famine was 100 years before the Holocaust. There are living survivors of the Holocaust. There are no living survivors of the famine.
I'm pausing the video and I'll come back to it when I get to finish the second book. (I just finished "Six of Crows" and the first season of the tv series. I want to take my time with this story.)
Watching the first part of your video really helped me feel euphoric while starting the first one. Also, I love that, with every video-essay, you take time to explain something related to our world, such as the part you dedicated to Jewish people and Palestine in Chapter 4. I usually learn a lot from your videos while just feeling like I'm listening to somebody else telling me a story, in an enthusiastic and intimate way.
I think that the Six of Crows' cast is perfect and the tv series editing is immaculate. Inej is my absolute favourite. And it's cool to have some bi rep with Nina & Jesper. I felt really uncomfortable while watching them reading what some people wrote online, objectifying and sexualizing them. They're just kids, ffs. Matthias' chapters freaked me out a little - I'm not Jewish, but I'm a bi woman and his POV felt really "fascist-y" to me. But I felt less alone while reading them, knowing that somebody else felt the same way, and I get that he's supposed to be an interesting representation.
I hope you're having a really good day
Oh my, oh my, oh my, one of my favorite essayist and youtuber doing an essay on characters that I discovered quite recently in my life (missed the boat back in the day), WHILE I'm currently reading Crooked Kingdom. It feels like Christmas in my head right now!
(Love your work, sincerely from an enthusiast psychologist /YA author / All around happy nerd from Canada
this took me a while to get through but holy shit. i don’t think ive ever gotten chills from a video essay before. you’re absolutely brilliant.
I have been waiting for this video ever since it was announced!
I have been wanting a video eassy like this since I read the books! so thank you so much for making this!
Hi i'm a what normal people whould call a chronically online ding dong, and i want to say that after the recent events i feels rage and hopelessness and was looking to justified my feeling by looking at your responds to the situation since your contents and opinions have touched me in a way that not a lot of things do, and i understand now that what i was doing is doing some kind of purity test, and i want to say i'm feeling bad about it and i'm sorry, one more thing i want to say is while i understand where you coming from in regarded of those comments about "free palestine!" and i do agreeing with you, i think we should extended the no purity test to certain group of people, arabs, black and brown people who experience trauma of colonialism and especially palestinian diaspora in context of thier situation, anyway love your video and sorry for the ramble.
I can't tell how relieved I am that my family didn't ask what was making me cackle at 58:00 and onwards because OOF, that would have been hard to explain. I adore you, you majestic person
Great essay, thank you so much! I never read the books and struggled a little bit with the story in S1 of the TV show, and for me what changed everything and made me love S&B as a show was the plotline of the crows in the second season, god I love them and as you said in your essay, that cast is AMAZING.
ngl I was expecting a little more of a breakdown/analysis of what didn’t work for you with the show (like an expansion of the last 10 minutes/“allow me to complain about the show a little more” part but across the two seasons) as well, but this was a damn good summary of the two books and what worked with them for you. I haven’t read them, but I like the show and it’s clear to me that if I really like the TV versions of these characters then I’m about to hop on the obsession/adoration train when I pick up the books.
I think the point of sharing the good summary and what made the duology of Six of Crows so good serves to point out how the show failed in that aspect. But aside from not representing the Crows accurately, the show is pretty good so it doesn't really need a breakdown of what went wrong. It really did redeem Alina more than the books because I couldn't even finish the original Shadow and Bone books, but the show kept me engaged and having a good time even when it wasn't about the Crows. The only messy thing is that they tried to tell both stories together, and the Crows really had nothing to do with Alina, so it fumbled the bag on that.
Anyway, hell yeah read the Six of Crows books! They are amazing, and truly worth the while. Just be ready to cry at the end 'cause that moment between Kaz and Inej wrecked me.
same here, I thought it was a bit too much of a detailed summary of the books instead of a discussion or essay. I still loved hearing that summary because I love the books and all of those scenes, but my favourite parts of the video were when specific themes, character arcs, etc. were discussed or touched upon and when the books were compared to the show. E.g. discussing Kaz and Inej's relationship (which opened up a new perspective for me bc even though I'm on the ace spectrum I've never really thought of them as ace), the part about disability rep, touching upon Grisha as a Jewish allegory, etc. It would have been interesting to see a more in-depth discussion of these topics or maybe a bit more about the other main characters and their struggles, but I still appreciate all the hard work that went into making this video!!
Also, on a lighter note, I've never listened to the English audiobooks, only to the German ones where there's only one narrator, and I was delighted to discover the different voices shown in the video, especially that awful and hilarious Kaz voice, omg. The Kaz voice from Inej's POV sounded pretty good, though! I think an audio drama approach (with actors reading the dialogue of their characters and a single narrator and maybe some background noises) would be super cool for these books!!
I just want you to know, I watched this video once and because of how good it is, I can't watch it for a while because I immediately started reading "Six of Crows" and I don't want to catch any more spoilers than I already have. But i will be sure to come back once I finish so I can watch it at least one (or knowing me - ten) more times. Keep up the good work!
58.52 What’s endlessly ironic about that statement is that Irish people are still mad about the Potato Famine and the 700 years of oppression and its exactly why the country largely stands with Palestine, against the Israeli government.
the love i feel for this characters knows no bounds and the fact that i got to hear you talk about it for over 2 hours? life is good
I stumbled upon the show with zero knowledge of the books and loved every second of it. I did like the 6of crows sections more than the shadow and bone sections but the actors just sold the characters SO WELL I couldn’t help but love everything because I loved the characters and was extremely invested in them regardless of plot line. It’s been interesting watching videos of book lovers talk about all the issues they had with the show since it’s a perspective I wasn’t able to see having zero background knowledge. Even knowing all the differences tho I’m still a huge fan of the show
Thank you for making this a fundraiser :)
I've hesitated to watch the show because the crows are in it but grrr this makes me wanna give it a go. Especially since the casting is so perfect for knife wife and dirty hands! Amazing video as always Lady ❤
I came back to this comment section expecting more pro Palestinian stuff, I was not expecting so many people angry about the Irish potato famine specifically
1:12:15 I actually almost forgot about Inej's time at the Menagerie, because they never even hint at it in the show. Since I've read the duology after S1 I almost missed that she did indeed had to WORK AT A BROTHEL and almost attributed her discomfort at the touching to, like, physical violence?
And then when I watched S2 I was confused as to why is she petrified, only realizing it on re-watch when my friend got confused. Which would be the perfect time to insert like a hazy flashback to the menagerie. It wouldn't even have to be violent or explicit, it could've easily been clear without being weird. But instead they included those Helnik scenes the whole season, which I'm still confused whether it's a dream or a memory x)
VERY very small detail, but I think Kerch is based off Golden Age Netherlands, with the Merchant Council, the relevance of markets, the multiculturality, and even SUGAR!!! I'm a bit fixated on its history, so it was quite nice seeing the parallels!!!! Apart from that, excellent video!!!
(Don't take this as impatience, just praise) Just so happy to see a new video, brings such a lovely energy to my day because there's always so much love and enthusiasm about the topic, it's infectious. Seriously, you have no idea the large smile that grew on my face when I saw this scheduled to be released (and my subsequent disappointment that I'd be busy working when it came out, so I'd need to watch it later).
All the exposure I have to this franchise is through the Netflix series, which I've had conflicted feelings about, mostly due to the issues highlighted early on - it's two mostly separate stories smashed together in a way that doesn't always work. I have the feeling - based on all I've heard - that not having read the books has helped my enjoyment, as I'm not (intentionally or not) comparing the characters and events to the original, nor do I have foreknowledge of where characters are supposed to go on their arc. Despite that, I do feel that nearly all the cast do a fantastic job, really making the characters they're given work (even shining when the writing isn't quite there to support them) - I'll admit my least favourite character has been Mal, who has felt mostly bland with touches of "bland but angry teen", and (having not seen much behind the scenes stuff, mostly just what's shown here) I'm not fully sure if that's just on the writing or whether the directing and acting deserve some blame, as I have seen that trope transcended before. What little behind the scenes stuff I have seen definitely makes me a fan of this cast, though, and I really hope they get to do bigger and even better things in the future (also, Ben Barnes singing with Scary Pockets is worth checking out, he's got some talent on that front).
This was a very interesting video, I am often intrigued about aspects of adaptation, especially when it comes to things...not trying to adapt the source the most accurately, as I get curious about why one thing or another is done or why one version works when another does not.
this made my day a new vido for me to watch over and over again till the next
Great video, and now I have to put Six of Crows on my TBR. Also if you want some other fantasy heist/oceans 11 books I'd recommend the Gentleman Basterds Cycle, specifically book 1 The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and The Final Empire, the first Mistborn book by Brandon Sanderson
I second this. The Curse Workers series is also really good YA heist fantasy, with a personal endorsement by Leigh Bardugo!
Oh, are you ace too? Sweet
Also you made the books sound sooo interesting, I might read them now!
I'm pretty sure I would watch and enjoy the synapses of The Room if LKtB did it. Your thoughtful perspectives and insights, along with your almost conspiratorial tone, make yours the essays I turn to for soothing relaxation. Thank you for being my personal chill.
I have watched several of your essays multiple times. Sometimes, they help me center and ground. You've eased me into restfulness I might otherwise been denied. Thank you, muchly.
I'm glad you gave a glossary 20 minutes in because the noun dump up front made my head spin.
My favorite video essays are when you can hear the passion for the topic and I definitely hear such sincerity ☺️
This series has always been spoken of fondly when I hear about it even if this series is not for me; my Leigh Bardugo fantasy books of choice are Ninth House/ Alex Stern books which better only be a trilogy because I am impatient and cannot handle long series anymore.
Also shoutout to all of the fan artists featured!! 💜
Great video. I loved this book series. I'm still working my way through the show, but I'm excited to finish it and come back to rewatch this.
FANTASTIC VIDEO! THANK YOU!
So I'm right at the start but I honestly just get so excited when I see a new video come out and with this one being about the Six of Crows I knew I had to instantly watch it
Just commenting to say I adore your content, love seeing your latest pop up into my feed and your in depth dives never cease to blow me away ❤
TURN IT UP !! IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE
I really wish they had just done this whole show as an adaptation of the crows novels, it'd have been so much better.
God I've never heard the audiobooks for the duology, and I absolutely DIED giggling listening to that Old Sailor Kaz impression! I'm serious, it brought me so much joy 😂
I love the many movies and shows edited together to be visual aid in this and represent the story where there were no other visual representations, it's really fun to look at and helped me get sucked into and get invested in your retelling and also spotting stuff I know and/or love was some extra fun :"")))
this was an amazing watch, well worth the wait, sorry that your health problems are still ongoing and wishing you well.
I've had a hard time getting into this series. I watched the first season, and I tried to read Six of Crows, but neither really resonated with me. I might give it another try soon.
That being said, I do LOVE Bardugo's Ninth House series. Both the first and second books are great, and I think they have similar themes of morally grey characters loving each other so hard they bleed and make others bleed. It's really great, and now knowing Bardugo is Jewish, I wonder if it influenced the way she wrote Alex as a woman of a diaspora. There's this scene where she uses the language of her grandmother to beat back ghosts, and it sticks with me even now.
I was lucky enough to finally catch a premiere and I’m so glad it was for one of my favorite ever book series! Man these characters make me feel things, and I’m going to be rewatching this video many many times in the future.
Great video, amazing video, i cried when u retold the end of crooked kingdom. I think we should make a petition to have u read the audiobook if we can't get the cast to do it.
Really enjoyed your nuanced take on the current conflict. Great video as always x
I've been waiting for thisss, so excited!
Admittedly I haven't read the books and so I'm missing a lot of the characterisation that happens in the books, but I have a different take on Inej's 'toxin trip'. It's an exploration, she's testing the waters to see if that physical intimacy is possible for her. Kaz asks if he can touch her and she says yes, the first time she's able to consent, so it's on her terms. It also has to be someone she cares for and trusts, and ultimately despite everything she has heard Kaz say and seen him do, she does trust him with her safety. It being Kaz also provides safety for her within the trip, she knows Kaz wouldn't take off his gloves and touch her like that, it allows her to see it play out without the additional stress of it being real.
I also think it shows a good juxtaposition with Kas's 'trip'. He relives his trauma, showing that he is still consumed by it, it reinforces his aversion to touch showing that he isn't ready to try to heal from that, whereas Inej is. The touch is just the physical representation of their experiences and at that moment is a metaphor for their readiness to heal from the trauma. Inej wants to stop feeling like she is under someone else's control, but Kaz still needs to get his vengeance first (or at least, he believes he does).
I also like how Inej apologises when feeding Kaz the butterfly. In order to save his life she has to do something that she knows Kaz will hate. I think this also makes it clear to Kaz that they are in different places. If it had been Jesper, he might have joked about it, apologising but with a cocky 'I did save your life though' element to it, and after the initial feelings, Kaz wouldn't be mad at Jesper, because Jesper doesn't understand the depths of it. But Inej does, and Kaz knows that. That moment makes him confront that Inej had to cross both her own and his boundaries to save him, but would he be able to do the same for her. I think in that situation he would, he might hesitate more than Inej did, but he would do it, but he doesn't think he would, and that scares him.
I'm sad becase an ex talked me into reading this, and so every time I think of it it's tinted by that relationship.
I have only heard tangentially of this series and clicked out of curiosity and now after having seen your essay? I have just ordered the books - thank you for introducing me to what seems to be a very well crafted and fun story ❤
As usual, your video essays make me cry in the best way! and it makes me want to do a re-read of the duology, cause it has been a while. This duology ended a 3-4 year reading slump for me back in 2017 and I've been reading more and more since then, I have such affection for it! (why tf did they start the Wylan-Jasper relationship offscreen, that bugged me so much and so many adaptation choices they made that you talked about were also baffling to me!)
Thank you for your work and for doing long essays with your soothing voice, it really is such a comforting experience
THE NOTIFICATION MADE ME SO FREAKING HAPPY ❤❤❤
Every new video makes me so excited.
these books are so off the rails but so fun, really glad you made a video about them
ALSO I NEED TO THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER FOR THE OLD RECORDINGS OF WYLAN’S KAZ BREKKER IMPRESSION BECAUSE IT’S BEEN MY FAVORITE THING TO COME OUT OF THOSE HILARIOUS WYLAN CHAPTERS NEXT TO “OYSTERS, MISS” BUT I THOUGHT THE RECORDINGS OF THESE WERE GONE FOREVER EVER SINCE THE ILLEGAL BOOTLEG OF CROOKED KINGDOM’S AUDIOBOOKS GOT TAKEN OFF OF UA-cam… THANK YOU YOU ARE A SAINT