Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Published September 29th, 2015 by Henry Holt and Co.                                               Genres:  Young Adult, Fantasy                                                                                           Edition: Hardcover                                                                                                                 Source: Purchased                                                                                                                   Pages: 465                                                                                                                                Rating: 5/5 stars

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.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction–if they don’t kill each other first.

From the moment I heard the description of this book, I was intrigued. A band of thieves attempting to pull off a huge heist? Sign me up! I was counting down the days till it released. I had such high expectations for this book. And believe me, they were met. I couldn’t put this book down. I loved every minute of it. Now, it is one of my favorite books of all time, and I’ve read a lot of books. I titled this “review”. In a review, you usually find criticism of the book. But since I loved this book, it’ll mostly be me gushing about all my thoughts. I just want to run up to people, shove this book in their face, scream “READ IT”, and then go and reread it by myself.

the plot

It was so interesting! I loved the whole heist. Something was always happening, and it was always interesting. It kept me surprised: PLOT TWISTS!

the characters

The characters were probably my favorite part of this book. We meet six that, by the end of the book, I had come to love. They’re all so unique. I loved reading from each perspective, that way I got to know the characters a lot better.

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

Kaz- The leader.

“Greed is your god, Kaz.”
He almost laughed at that. “No, Inej. Greed bows to me. It is my servant and my lever.”

“A liar, a thief, and utterly without conscience. But he’ll keep to any deal you strike with him.”

Nina- She’s so brave, snarky, funny, and just an amazing strong female character. I loved that we had a Grisha in the group.

Inej-MY FAVORITE. She’s an ex-circus performer who now is a spy known as The Wraith. She struggled between her dedication to the gang and her desire to see her family again.

“Besides, she was the Wraith-the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.”

Jesper- the sharpshooter, who added so much to the story. The chapter told from his point of view are really great, because you see the other characters how he does, and I think he sees them how they truly are.

“Take good care of my babies,” Jesper said as he handed [his guns] over to Dirix.
“If I see a single scratch or nick on those, I’ll spell forgive me on your chest in bullet holes.”

Wylan- He was this adorable, innocent, little boy at first. But his character changed/revealed as the story went along, and I LOVED it. I wished we could have gotten chapters from his POV, but Leigh said there will be in the 2nd!

“Always hit where the mark isn’t looking.”
“Who’s Mark?” Asked Wylan.

Matthias- I loved how he struggled with loyalty to his country and his love for Nina, and I also loved seeing the backstory of how him and Nina met.

“And what did you do, Matthias? What did you do to me in your dreams?”
“Everything,” he said, as he turned to go. “Everything.”

the romance!

I loved how the story was not overpowered by the romances in this book. It was a side plot that made the story more interesting. It wasn’t as prominent as the action part, but it was there. And it was amazing. I won’t spoil anything, but let me just say, I have 3 new OTPs just from this book.

the setting

In Bardugo’s previous trilogy, which I loved, we get to know the world a little, but it’s mostly set in Ravka, one country. Six of Crows was in a different country in this world, Kerch, and the group travels to a new country, Fjerda. I loved getting to know this world better. Also, the characters are from different countries so we get to know their view on their country and the others.

the writing

Her writing, like always, was incredible. It flowed beautifully. Some people have said it starts out slow, but once you pass the first 100 pages, things start picking up and getting really interesting. (I was interested the whole time, of course. I loved it from the very beginning.) But if you’re not enjoying it as much, I’m begging you. Keep trying. It’s SO worth it. There’s so many amazing quotes! I literally have notes and notes full of them.

This book is funny! It made me laugh out loud a lot (and I was in public, so people stared at me.)

“Jesper knocked his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. “Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I’m going to get Wylan’s ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost.
Brekker’s lips quicker. “I’ll just hire Matthias’ ghost to kick your ghost’s ass.”
“My ghost won’t associate with your ghost,” Matthias said primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain.”

This book is so gorgeous! The cover is beautiful, but my absolute FAVORITE thing about it has to be the black edged pages. And the maps!! There’s two beautiful maps. TWO!

what I didn’t like

I honestly can’t think of anything I didn’t like in this book. I tried to come up with something, but I loved it too much.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend you check this book out. It brings all the feels. I need the second book, Crooked Kingdom, NOW.  Also, if you haven’t read Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy, you should. A lot of people have asked me, “Do I have to read the Grisha Trilogy before Six of Crows?” My answer has been: No, you don’t have to. Of course I would recommend that you do, as it is one of my favorite trilogies. If you don’t, you might be a little lost in the world, and there are some characters mentioned in here from that trilogy that you wouldn’t understand, but you could understand the story. There are minor spoilers of the end of Ruin and Rising in Six of Crows, but there is also some misleading. If you read the Grisha trilogy, you learn more about Ravka, where Nina is from, which helps you understand her better. Plus, it’s just an amazing trilogy. You SHOULD. But no, you do not have to.

Okay, I’ll just conclude my ramblings now. Go read this book, please. This review took so long to write, because I had so many good things to say, and I reread Six of Crows while writing it.

Have you read Six of Crows? What did you think of it? If you haven’t read it, are you planning to?

xox, Ava