Reviews

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Only show reviews with written explanations

blurrypetals's review against another edition

5.0

March 24, 2021

[reread in anticipation of the release of Rule of Wolves as well as the Netflix adaptation, Shadow and Bone]

No mourners. No funerals. Among them, it passed for 'good luck.'

I have a confession to make! Even though I knew I loved this book back when I first read it in 2018, I wasn't exactly warmed up to it as I am now. It was of an undeniable quality back in 2018, but now, having spent 3 years growing to both love and miss these characters, I am finally exactly where I always wanted to be with this series: loving it, missing the characters, and relishing a reread just as much as I relished a reread of The Grisha Trilogy.

In my first review for this book, I broke down my thoughts in a character by character basis. At the time, it felt easier to break apart the Crows, pick my favorites, and call it good, but now, trying to think of the six of them as anything other than the beautiful cohesive unit seems almost like blasphemy.

I do still have my favorites, of course, in Kaz and Inej, but I really loved and appreciated the whole team and the way they all worked together much more this go around. The heist they pull off is so well written, so chill-inducing, so fun and adventurous that part of me wonders if Leigh Bardugo sold her soul to write a book as slick and well put together as this.

One of the most incredible and mind-blowing parts of this book is the crew's escape from the Ice Court at the end. It boils each and every character's emotions right to the surface: Matthias and Nina's reunion, Jesper's success with the winch and the exultant escape with the tank, Inej realizing she wants to buy her way out of Ketterdam and free slaves, and perhaps most compelling of all, Kaz accepting how he feels about Inej in the river, recalling her laughter feeding the crows on the roof of the Slat. The finale of this book is so breathtaking that it's no wonder this series has become as popular as it is.

I am as excited as ever to return to Crooked Kingdom and I cannot wait to embrace it with the same warmth and adoration as I embraced this with. See ya in the next one!

February 9, 2018

[read for my book club, My Idea of Therapy]

It's difficult to write a review for this that's in my usual overview sort of a way, so I'm going to try to take the same approach to reviewing this book as the book did to its plot: character by character.

First, to get this in before I begin the character by character here's this: I recommend this book overall and it was definitely good enough to still sit beside The Grisha Trilogy on my favorite books shelf, but it was easy to pick favorite characters and thus, favorite parts of the story. Part of it is due to the fact that this audiobook has seven narrators; I think it would have benefitted the overall feel and structure of the book if it had either been narrated only by Lauren Fortgang and whoever the fuck narrated Kaz's chapters (I listened to quick samples from each guy; I can't tell for certain, but I THINK it's Fred Berman) or if it had been written in the first person. I still generally liked the book, but it basically became a waiting game for Kaz and Inej chapters for me because I preferred their narrative voices as well as the actors who, well, gave them audible voices.

So here are my thoughts on each character, from my least favorite to my most favorite(s). It's a tie for first.

5. Matthias - even though he was my least favorite, his arc was still really great. The actor they chose for him sounded so *MANLY* and that, paired with the character's rigid personality made his head the least fun to be in...or near? I still don't get why this book is in the third person.

4. Nina - she's further down mostly because her arc is tied to Matthias who is, as I've established, not the most fun, but I felt like most of her character development was tied to Matthias's arc or it didn't exist at all until the VERY END of the book. She was narrated by Elizabeth Evans, who is certainly a fantastic narrator, but her voice belongs to the Throne of Glass series in my head. Every time I heard her (very lovely) voice I started to have war flashbacks to Empire of Storms, which would sour my mood, which is obviously not Leigh Bardugo's, Elizabeth Evans's, or anyone else's fault (except maybe Sarah J. Maas's?) it's just one of those things. Hopefully it's a hurdle Crooked Kingdom will help me get over.

3. Jesper and, by proxy, Wylan - I don't have much else to say other than the fact that they're adorable and I ship it like FedEx.

Spoiler

I also really really really loved how upset Jesper was that Wylan had Nina change his face at the end. Fuckin' cute shit, man.

1. and 2. Kaz and Inej - the two biggest reasons this book has a 5 star rating from me. Their relationship is so intricately written with fathomless depths, so much mutual respect I think I got diabetes from how sweet it was, and, of course, it's a cagey bad boy with a troubled past that's affecting his future, paired up with a badass girl with her own mess of past traumas...what's not to absolutely love? Not only are they great together, but they're amazing on their own, too. As I said earlier, I looked forward to their chapters nearly from the word go because their voices were both so unique, intriguing, and enrapturing. This is the Leigh Bardugo I signed up for, the one who wrote one of the best villains (and honestly, one of the best characters, period) I've ever read in The Grisha Trilogy. Kaz and Inej are perfectly imperfect and I can't wait to find out what happens to them and their comrades in arms.

The heist they have to pull of was all really fun, well-paced, and unpredictable, too, from getting the party together, to leaving Ketterdam, to crossing the ocean, on and on and on until the very last twists and turns, even in the very last minutes, when I certainly thought things were wrapping up

Spoiler

especially when I was damn near certain Kaz had killed Pekka Rollins and then BAM NOPE HE'S A TEMPORARY ALLY

.

I'm glad I read The Grisha Trilogy before reading this, too, because a lot of people have said you can just read this without reading The Grisha Trilogy, which you can but it does spoil who survives certain things and it drops certain contextual spoilers that aren't HUGE but anyone who reads this and THEN goes back to read the original trilogy might have some lightbulb moments and it could drain the tension out of certain things that happen there.

Onward to the finale!

annatrller's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Phenomenal, chefs kiss, wow
Idk why it took me almost 6 years to finish this book

kait_kosub's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

3.5⭐
Anyone else feel lied to? I think this was such a disappointment because of how hyped this series is and how all I was hearing was 'you just have to tough it through the shadow and bone series and this will make it worth it'... well. Hopefully crooked kingdom is fantastic.