"Shadow and Bone": The Chosen One in a Central European Alternate World, with Queer Characters

 Shadow and Bone, a Netflix fantasy series, throws you into the deep end of a complex mythology from the get-go.  You have to pay close attention -- no fiddling with cell phones -- and even then you have the impression that you're missing a lot.  So I might not have this right:

It's either our world after an catastrophic event or a close parallel world (towns named Novokribirsk and Novyi Zem).  Technology and costumes are early 19th century: guns but no electricity.  Ravka (Russia) has been separated from the rest of Europe by the Fold, a 20-30 mile expanse of utter darkness inhabited by monsters.  Most people go all the way around, through Fjerda (Scandinavia), even though it takes months, because going through is treacherous, a virtual death sentence.

Ravka is a terrible place, cold, barren, with constant food shortages.  It seems to consist entirely of soldiers and cartographers living in yurts.  Central character Alina (Jessie Mei Lin). a cartographer, is an orphan and a Shu (East Asian), so everyone hates her except for her best friend/boyfriend and fellow orphan Mal, a soldier (Archie Renaux, top photo).  

Some of the soldiers are Grisha, whom everyone hates because one of their kind created the Fold (but none of them can destroy it except for the Sun Summoner, who is probably just a myth).  There are also inferi (a singular and plural noun), and other types/jobs that I don't understand.

Mal and Alina are assigned to an expedition that must cross the Fold in a flying ship.  They are cautioned to keep quiet and use no light, but one of the soldiers panics and lights a lamp.  The monsters attack, killing them all, except for Alexei (Antonin Masek, the one in the towel), who runs away.  

Even Mal and Alina are killed!  Wait, I thought they were main characters!  Just before she dies, Alina lets out a bright burst of light.

Meanwhile, on the other side, in Ketterdam (Germany), we meet crime boss with a heart of gold Kaz (Freddie Carter, right) and his assistants, artful dodger Jesper (Kit Young) and Inej (Amita Suman), whom he is purchasing from a brothel for mysterious reasons.  They are competing with evil rival crime boss Pekka (Dean Lennox Kelly), and must find a way to cross the Fold for a big score.

Surprise!  Alexei makes it to the other side.  So does the flying ship, with Alina and Mal injured but not dead.  Alina is tested and told that she is the legendary Sun Summoner who will destroy the Fold (didn't see that one coming, did you?).  All she needs is some training in the Little Palace.  

Problem: you'd think that the Chosen One would be lauded, but everyone wants to either force her to use her powers for their internecine squabbles, or kill her outright. On the way to the Little Palace, Fjerdans (Scandinavians) attack with both guns and magic.  Most of the guards are killed, but General Kirigan (Ben Barnes) comes to the rescue, using magic to chop a Fjerdan to bits from 50 feet away.

Meanwhile, evil crime boss Pekka kidnaps Alexei and tortures him to find out how he crossed the Fold on foot without getting eaten.  He doesn't know.  So Pekka kills him (darn, he was cute!) and sets out to grab Alina (not Mal?).  

Meanwhile, Kaz, Jesper, and Inej search for Arken (Howard Charles), who is transporting people safely across the Fold for economic and sexual exploitation. How does he do it? And Inej has problems of her own: her owner at the brothel assigns her to kill a rival, who turns out to be...wait for it...Arken! 

Beefcake: Only Mal.

Other sights: Ravka is all wasteland, but Ketterdam is a quaint 19th century German city.

Gay Representation:  The brothels feature both "girls and boys" (presumably adult men and women).

Gay Characters: Maybe Mal?  He and Alina describe each other as "best friends," but there's a recurring motif of them holding hands, and they scream each other's names and rush after each other a lot.  But when a woman invites Mal for "a tumble," he refuses.  Because he's not into women, or because he's being faithful to his "best friend "?

Kaj and Jesper ?  They are quite chummy for employer and employee, and never display any heterosexual interest. Not even with Inej.

Note: I read online that Jesper is gay, and has some same-sex kissing later on in the series.  Plus there are minor queer characters throughout.