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Author Leigh Bardugo and her Grishaverse |
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At first when I read the novels, I became critical to a degree of the
situation teenagers who eventually evolved into early twenties adults
were thrust into. I thought things like, well that would not be how a
teenager would think or react. I was skeptical of the blend of the
old-world ideas and the emerging of technology that did not seem to
align itself with the world in which the characters live. Enter
suspension of disbelief. It ceased to matter to me, because just like
the fictional drug parem that became an enemy of the people, Leigh
Bardugo’s character development became something I could not step away
from.
Leigh Bardugo’s characters offer something for every corner of our
diverse society, the LGBTQ community in all of its many colors, every
person no matter their ethnicity and color of skin, and the author
presents women of strength in various societies who would seek to deny
them of that. The cruelty
of war is examined, the denial of human rights is exposed, the loss of
love, the betrayal of love, avarice in its ugliest forms are on full
display, as is compassion in the warmest and most meaningful ways. Small
science how is it to be used and what lines should never be crossed?
The ending of Crooked Kingdom caused me to shed some tears, but
of happiness, and I shared in the grieving of the characters in King
of Scars and Rule of Wolves. Hope, apprehension, fear and
suspicion are emotions that leap to the forefront, at least for this
reader. Ahh, you say, but these
are just characters in fictional novels. They are not real! That my
friends is the suspension of disbelief. We know there are no
heartrenders, healers, fabricators, tidemakers, squallers, inferni etc.,
but are we so sure? We know that the kingdoms and lands of Kerch, Shu
Han, Ravka, Fjerda and Novyi Zem do not exist, but did they once?
Stories of mythical gods, similar, but with different names exist in
such diverse cultures as that of Greece, Roman and in Norse mythology
and yet in ancient times it is probable those parts of the world did not
even know of the existence of each other and stories of lost cities such
as Atlantis, but others too, exist in ancient societies separated by
thousands of kilometers. Are the Grisha so different than the ancient
mythological gods?
Yes, Leigh Bardugo has written an excellent series of novels introducing
us to characters who are believable than not, such as Zoya Nazalensky,
Nikolai Lantsov, Alina Starkov, The Darkling, David Kostyk, Kaz Brekker,
Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Genya Safin, Inej Ghafa, Malyen Oretsev and no
doubt we forgot someone’s favorite character. Their conversations are
believable and often I found myself laughing aloud.
Whether Leigh Bardugo’s novels bend the reader towards the suspension of
disbelief or the author keeps that flicker of hope alive in us that for
all of our human frailty, for all the mistakes that we have made, for
all the suffering that so many of endured that the forgiveness, the
willingness to move on, the kindness and the romantic love that crosses
ethnic boundaries, caste structure and gender and that meets with
acceptance is the future that still awaits us. Maybe in the end it is
not the suspension of disbelief, as much as it is the belief in
something better and the endless quest to build a better future for all.
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The
suspension of disbelief is a phrase that I have become well acquainted
with in recent years. Whether it applies to a novel, a film or some
other form of art, it refers the artist’s ability for a moment in time
to cause us to believe something is possible that are senses tell us
otherwise cannot be true. Many people became familiar with the Netflix
series Shadow and Bone adapted from the novels Shadow and Bone
and Six of Crows by New York Times Best Selling author Leigh
Bardugo. Many more people, like this writer, became immersed in the
sequel novels written as duologies, their titles, Siege and Storm,
Ruin and Rising, Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars and
Rule of Wolves.