Summary

There’s a new drug on the market called Parem, and it makes Grisha, the magical population, more powerful than ever. Everyone wants control, but one band of criminals dare to break into the impenetrable Fjerdan Ice Court to free the creator of Parem and protect the Grisha and the world from its side effects.

Rating 4/5

Things I loved:

This book truly captivated me. The plot is interesting, engaging, and has stakes and consequences that directly impact both the characters and the world as a whole. That layer of tension has me unable to put the book down; the need for resolution, to get to the part where everyone is safe—and hopefully happy—is a must at times. As someone who doesn’t like romance, I loved the relationships. Looking back, it’s a little contrived out of a group of six; they all have a nice neat pairing, but going through the book, I found each relationship felt genuine, built on who the characters were, and complemented the novel rather than detracting from it. A particular favourite was the Matthias and Nina pairing, which I found interesting, and I found myself really rooting for.

The plot is almost completely in the hands of one character, Kaz Brecker. The leader of the Dregs, a gang in the city of Ketterdam. They hadn’t always been the most successful, but under Kaz’s guidance, they have become a force to be reckoned with. Always looking for a bigger hit, it’s hard to know if Kaz wants the loot or the challenge. After all, why take on the seemingly impossible task of infiltrating and stealing from the impenetrable Ice Court? Leigh Bardugo write this character beautifully, and this truly abhorrent individual soon becomes likeable. This is aided by the way Leigh cleverly weaves Kaz’s history and origin story into the narrative, lending depth and vulnerability to the fearsome Kaz Brecker. Each character has their own little details and accents that make them them, and with Kaz, part of that is his gloves. A mythology has been created around those gloves for him, but only Kaz knows they are his greatest vulnerability. His characterisation is seamless and develops well. It feels as though we gradually get to know him, as though we are earning his trust, though you know you never could.

Weaving Kaz’s back story and giving depth to a rather large cast of characters rarely impacts the pace. This is something to be applauded, as the book reads smoothly, even as it switches from point of view to point of view. Though, in part, that point of view switch does wonders for hiding little pieces of information, allowing us to know and understand the main cast so deeply, and thus it doesn’t impact the overall pacing of the novel.

Without giving too many spoilers away, the ending does not disappoint. The way the heist is pulled off doesn’t feel contrived or oversimplified. It delivers like the last 10 minutes of any of the Ocean’s movies. But that isn’t all. The trade off at the end left me shocked and ready to pick of the sequel immediately. I love that this book is well-known but not so popular that it’s easily spoiled by the wrong conversation with the wrong person. My advice, when you buy Six of Crows, pick up Crooked Kingdom too.

The top three things I loved: Characters, the pacing, and the points of view

Things I Hated:

Six of Crows is far from the perfect novel. I struggled with a few things while reading. There are tough spots, dry spells, where I felt the story needed to move more quickly so it didn’t feel like such a hard slog. There wasn’t much of it, but it was there. The prologue, while plot-relevant, added very little to the story. It also introduced a point of view I was initially invested in, yet never heard from again. At the same time, I found that some characters were wildly underutilised. I loved Wyland, but I do not think we got anywhere near enough of him.

Three things I would change: The prologue, the dry spells, and more Wylan

Conclusion

Having not read the earlier instalments in the Grishaverse, I found this a fantastic read. I wasn’t missing out by not having read anything else, and from my dip into the earlier books, this duology is the crème de la crème. I will conduct a deep dive into the Six of Crows characters in my next post. Why did I love the characters so much? What really worked about their relationships? I will also be reviewing the sequel, Crooked Kingdom. Another recent favourite.