Shadows of Legend: Sifting Bones of Myth from the Grishaverse, Part 1

Considering the popularity of Netflix’s new Shadow and Bone series, I thought it might be interesting to talk about the Grishaverse. For those not familiar with the term, the Grishaverse is a fantasy world where some people—Grisha—are born with the ability to manipulate parts of the physical world, including air, iron, shadows, and light. Leigh Bardugo’s world includes several nations, but the stories mostly center around Ravka, inspired by historical and mythical Russia. Today, I’d like to examine the mythical side of things, the tales that might have shaped the Grishaverse. Some topics will touch on some pretty big spoilers, but I’ll make sure to keep those at the end under a “Spoiler Zone” label for those who wish to avoid them.

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Quarterly Bestiary: The Firebird: A Unique Gem or Just Another Phoenix?

Welcome to another Quarterly Bestiary! Featuring, once again, images by Bridget Sarsen!

Winter Solstice has passed, and the days begin to lengthen once more. To celebrate the return of the light, what better than a creature of brilliance like the Firebird? I had been thinking of looking into this bright Russian beast for a while. However, when I started researching, I quickly found a frequent confusion between firebirds and phoenixes. I even found websites like this one that calls the Firebird a phoenix, and this one that calls the phoenix a firebird.

So is the Firebird a phoenix? Here is what I found.