Book Review—Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo

"No Mourners. No Funerals." - Six of Crows

I've been waiting to write about these books for the longest time. I'm one of those readers who is in the middle when it comes to liking books. I usually rate books 3-4 stars. It's rare for me to write reviews that are lower or higher than that, but these books are the best fantasy novels I've ever read.

The fantasy genre was the genre that got me into reading. Two of the first series I read were Harry Potter and The Percy Jackson series. I absolutely loved those books, but have struggled the last few years to find good quality YA fantasy.

I had Six of Crows on my TBR (To Be Read) list for a long time, and I finally got around to reading it last December. At first, I didn't really like the book. I was one hundred pages in and still not interested so I was going to stop reading and give up.

I decided to give it one last chance, and then everything just started to fall into place for me. I love books with romantic subplots, but often dislike straight-up romance novels. The romantic subplots were starting to build and the action was growing around page one-forty.

I know that probably turns people off, since I'm saying the book doesn't pick up until page one hundred. I do think that when I go back and re-read the first book, I'll enjoy the beginning more because I know what's coming next and can see how the beginning foreshadows and sets up the rest of the novel.

Six of Crows

Six of Crows is a fantasy novel set in the Grisha Universe, more specifically, a trading port called Ketterdam. Kaz Brekker is a world-renown thief. Kaz and his team learn that there is a drug called jurda parem being created to be used on Grishas, which are people with supernatural powers. This drug enhances their powers, but they end up becoming addicted in the process.

Kaz, and his team—Inej: a knife throwing, fast, but slightly quiet, girl who is Kaz's most trusted side kick, even though he doesn't admit it. Nina: a beautiful girl who is a Grisha, and is not afraid of battle. Jesper: a sarcastic, impulsive part of the gang who never misses a shot, and provides all of the best lines for me to cackle like an idiot at. And Wylan: the son of Jan Van Eck who has a messy and heartbreaking past—are hired by Jan Van Eck to break into the Ice Court, which is an impenetrable prison, to break out Bo Yul-Bayur, the scientist who created the drug. Kaz is offered a hefty reward of thirty million kruge to complete this mission if he returns alive.

Kaz creates a plan, but first they must get one more member to join their team—Matthias Helvar. Matthias is a very strict ex-Fjerdan soldier. Fjerda is where the Ice Court is located, so they'll need his help if they have any chance of penetrating the walls of the prison and surviving the mission.

They break Matthias out of Hellgate prison, where he has been held since Nina turned him in with false testimony about him being a slave trader. The Fjerdans and Grishas have been in a feud for a long time, so of course, this provides a ton of conflict between Matthias and Nina, building a great romance throughout the books. What I love so much about their romance is in Six of Crows they bicker like an old married couple. They also have some of the best lines and make me laugh so much. Here's an example of a great line where Nina is talking about Matthias:

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"I'm a very valuable investment."

"Tell me he didn't say that."

"Of course he did. Well, not the valuable part."

"Idiot."

"How's Matthias?"

"Also an idiot."

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Thanks for this Leigh.

Every person in the group has secrets and a backstory that slowly unfold throughout the book, which I love. The characters are what make this story, and when you combine them with a plot full of stakes, conflict, and action, you have an amazing story.

After they break Matthias out of prison, they head towards the Ice Court. Along the way, we learn more about them and how they came to be fugitives and thieves. We see them interact and grow in their relationships. They get caught once and escape. There are some good scenes between Inej and Kaz.

One thing I applaud Bardugo for doing in this book is she's not afraid to make the reader mad or scared. When reading this book, I didn't know who was going to come out alive and who was going to drown in the river, (they actually get thrown into a body of water at one point.)

She's not scared of splitting her characters up. There are scenes where there is only Kaz, Matthias, and Jesper, and then there are ones with only Wylan, Jesper, and Matthias—who are like the golden trio.

I don't want to give away too much because there are certain scenes, surprises, and plot twists that make the story so amazing, and it would be a sin to spoil those moments for you.

They get to the Ice Court. Lots of secrets are revealed. There are lots of near-death experiences, and then the story is over and we get hit with a huge plot twist, which leads the way for the beginning conflict of the next book.

Crooked Kingdom

When you can't beat the odds, change the game. - Crooked Kingdom

Crooked Kingdom sets us up for the final battle between Pekka Rollins, Kaz's enemy, and our gang of fugitives—Kaz, Inej, Nina, Matthias, Jesper, and Wylan.

Spoiler: Skip the next Paragraph

Inej is now captured, I'm not going to tell you how, but something happens in the end of Six of Crows. So now she's captured, and the gang is trying to rescue her. Along with that, Nina is recovering from the effects of jurda parem, again not going to give details.

They're on a ship. Headed to save the character in the previous paragraph. This book took a different turn than I thought. There were some sad parts, lots of terrifying parts, and a lot more jokes, which I'm a sucker for.

The way Leigh weaves in humor in a book that is full of real-life issues and life threatening situations is one of the best things about this series.

The relationships grow a lot more in this book. Six of Crows threw six outcasts into a life or death situation, and forced them to work together to survive and complete a mission, while Crooked Kingdom brought six people who have a real connection together to face the final battle.

They were strangers in Six of Crows, and in Crooked Kingdom you can see how they've grown to trust and care for one another. The character dynamic is astonishing.

Back to my favorite couple—Nina and Matthias. This book for them has less conflict than the first, but it's still so good. They struggle with judgment from their countries, since they are now together, and that makes them want to unite their people. They are less afraid to show affection and show their feelings for one another than they were in the first book. I think their personalities off-set each other very well; Matthias is still a little reserved, but Nina puts herself out there, and it's hilarious. This is probably my favorite line:

"Stop gawking like you've never seen a girl in a dress before, Matthias."

"I wasn't gawking," Matthias said with as much dignity as he could muster. But for Djel's sake, what was he supposed to look at when Nina had irises tucked between... everything.

"Be quiet, Brekker," Nina said. "I like it when he gawks."

Kaz and Inej's relationship also evolves. It moves slower because they're both held back when it comes to expressing their feelings. The ending of the book is great for them. The final scene had me screaming/crying, which had everyone in my house yelling at me, but it was fine. I think I need to do a blog on how our family/friends never understand the trauma and the emotional roller coaster we have to go through when reading. Comment if you'd like to see that rant.

Wylan and Jesper had a lot of ups and downs throughout these books too. I think they are both hilarious. The one scene though where Jesper kisses someone else, and if you've read it, you know who I'm talking about. Wylan's "twin." Wylan doesn't actually have a twin, but if you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. That scene made me so mad. It was like exciting and then it slapped you across the face.

I love the ending of this book. I think it's so perfect and really ties the series up. Of course there are sad moments, and if you've read it you know what I'm talking about, but it really is a next-level fantasy series, and it's refreshing to see good quality books like these.

That's all for this book review! A lot of the people I've talk to haven't read these books, which I find super sad considering how they're pretty popular. I just brought the book set and I'll be re-reading them very soon.

If you've read this series, what's your favorite part? If you haven't, do you plan to, or did this review convince you to? I feel like my life mission now is to get people to read these books.

Thank you for reading!

It's been a pleasure writing for you, and until next time—stay weird and stay writing. - Lexi