The most shocking book-to-show changes in Shadow and Bone season 2

Jurda parem appears earlier in the story

Season 2 ends on a huge cliffhanger: jurda parem, a highly addictive drug that enhances Grisha powers by a thousand times, is used in an attempt to thwart Nikolai’s coronation and kill everyone present. The jurda parem plotline is not introduced on the page until Six of Crows, but Shadow and Bone has brought it in early.

Fans know what’s coming next for the Crows: the Ice Court heist. This adventure for Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina and Matthias next season is bound to be mind-blowing. And it will be interesting to see how Ravka deals with the presence of jurda parem.

David dies now instead of during the events of Rule of Wolves

Fans of Leigh Bardugo’s books knew this would eventually happen but didn’t expect it so soon: the death of David Kostyk. On the show, he sacrifices himself so his love interest Genya can get away, a reversal of an earlier scene where she is tortured while he flees to safety.

David’s premature death means he and Genya will never be married. He will never be part of the Grisha Triumvirate (his spot is taken by Alina in the show). He will never work on the cure for jurda parem or create inventions like he does in the books.

I don’t know which death is more painful: the one written for the show or his original fate in Rule of Wolves, where he leaves Genya as they are dancing at their (second) wedding because he has the urge to go work on an idea, only to be killed by the Fjerdans when they bomb the palace. In the book, he dies in his wedding clothes. In the show, Genya finds the ruby ring he crafted for her.

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