Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

“when everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”

leigh bardugo

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Goodreads Summary: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Rating:

Thoughts:

How can you put into words what Six of Crows is? It’s nearly impossible. I have to admit when I started this book, I could not figure out what all the hype was about. I struggled to get into it and ultimately ended up listening to the audiobook for the first 25% of it because I couldn’t get on otherwise. Eventually I moved to a contemporary novel before jumping back into this and enjoyed it a lot more from there so perhaps I was just not in the mood for another Grishaverse book yet. Regardless, I did end up loving this book.

The first half is definitely slow in my opinion which was something I wasn’t anticipating for a book hyped to be one of the most epic heists performed of all time. But although it’s slow in plot for the first half, it does spend that time building the world and the characters in it which made me more attached to them by the end of the book. And surprisingly, I didn’t dislike any of the characters. They’re all remarkably likeable for a bunch of “Barrel scum” and I really enjoyed the way Bardugo jumped between the characters’ presents and their pasts, peeling each of their layers back bit by bit. I particularly loved the way that Kaz’s character was built throughout the story. He’s so intriguing and I’m a sucker for any backstory that explains how a hardened soul became who they are. The characters’ relationships with each other were really heartwarming which was a bit of an odd feeling considering they’re all criminals but definitely not unwelcome.

I honestly didn’t see most of the twists that happened in this book and there are a lot! Nothing goes as you would expect as a reader and I’m kind of in awe at the amount of planning that had to have gone into this book to be able to pull it off. Although it took me a while to get into it, by the last half of the book, I flew through the pages because I was so eager to see what would happen next. The changing points of view were a fun angle as well and I enjoyed being able to bounce around to the different sections of characters as they tried to pull off the heist.

Lastly, I did enjoy the romances a lot. They feel much more genuine than the romances in Shadow and Bone. I loved the more mature feel that came with this book as well as the nods to the original trilogy that Bardugo added throughout. I’ve heard so many readers say they prefer this book over the original books and I have to say I’m camped in the same corner. I do still think it’s a good idea to read the original trilogy first because it is more fun to find the Easter eggs planted in this one and the magic system is explained much more thoroughly in the previous books, but they’re not necessary to read first. And with that ending, I’m eager to return to the Grishaverse soon to see what happens in Crooked Kingdom.

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