Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: A review

Week 5 of 13

I've read Bardugo's Grisha trilogy, and I really enjoyed it- some books were better than others, and I did have issues with the characters and stuff (urgh, Mal needed a hard kick in the balls)- overall, it was a solid 4.26 stars. I had actually previously also picked up Six of Crows, but I abandoned it after the prologue or whatever that first bit with Joost was- don't know why, I think I was reading something else at the time, and then forgot to go back to it. It was only when I was looking for something really good to read because what I'd just finished was really crap (A Court of Mist and Fury- it ended up being pretty decent, but I wanted to waterboard Feyre, the moody cow). So when I saw the glowing 5 star reviews on Goodreads, I thought I might as well.

Rating: 4.78 out of 5 stars

Mary, Joseph, donkey, three wise men and sweet little seven pound baby Jesus himself.

WHAT A BOOK, GUYS, WHAT A BOOK.

Six of Crows is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy, I think two years after the event of the final book. We don't see any of the old characters, although Zoya and Prince (now King) Nikolai are mentioned, especially the former. It's not set in Ravka, although one of the characters is from there, but Ravka also crops up fairly often.

Kaz Brekker is a ruthless, crook, criminal mastermind, and (practically) the leader of a crew in a city called Ketterdam, that is fast making a name for itself as one to watch out for. When a man makes Kaz an offer that try as he might, he can't refuse, he gathers a motley, six-people-strong crew, to break into one the most notorious and secure prisons in the world. 

Aargh, I don't know where to begin! I honestly was NOT in any way expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I sped through this book, so caught up in the characters, the plot twists and turns, the engaging dialogue, and then I finished it and was like

At its centre, this story is a heist story. I've read quite a lot of those type of heist or con stories, like Heist Society and Con Academy, but I never really got into those. The heist/con was always so complicated and far fetched that I never understood what was actually going on, and the authors tried so hard to craft their protagonists into aloof, tough, quick-thinking, don't-need-anyone-but-myself characters that they didn't spend enough time giving their characters enough depth and personality to REALLY make us root for them. But MAN, Bardugo did it, and she did it well.

The characterisation in this book is PHENOMENAL. We are presented with six main characters, and each and every single one is crafted with such SKILL. Not a single one is left out, and trust me, it's no mean feat to develop all your characters so superbly. I loved how funny and bubbly and teasing and sarcastic Nina was, with her smart dialogue and the way she teased Matthias. I wasn't too sure about Matthias as first, but as his story went on, Bardugo developed him so well, showing his own personal journey, from hating Grisha to feeling sympathy, then grudging respect, then eventually acceptance. Jesper, poor guy, I really felt for, because the writer showed his personal struggles and turmoils so well, and I really thought he fancied Kaz. Wylan, the spineless, useless fool, who turned out to have some uses and suddenly grew a spine. Inej, the loyal, stealthy Wraith, who was the lodestone of the group in a way, who had her own dreams, her own desires. And Mr Kaz Brekker himself.

I LOVED Kaz. He reminded me of Skulduggery, (if Skulduggery was more ruthless and had less of a conscience) with his comebacks for all situations, him always being ten steps ahead of everybody else in the game, and of course, always being immaculately, formally dressed. Not that I've read many books with anti-heroes (except for Marie Lu's Adelina, and I seem to be the only person in the world who REALLY disliked her) but I've always wanted to read a book with a really good one, someone to rival Loki-

                                               

-which is nigh on impossible, because no mere mortal will be able to match that level of perfection, and finally, Kaz Brekker has come close.

“You'll get what's coming to you some day, Brekker."

"I will," said Kaz, "if there's any justice in the world. And we all know how likely that is.”

Despite EVERYTHING, despite how utterly without mercy Kaz is, despite the fact that his moral compass broke a long, long time ago, despite how he pushes people away and doesn't let anyone close to him, both literally and figuiratively, whenever we read a chapter from Kaz's point of view, we are given an insight into his mind, and he is humanised for us. His backstory with Jordie was so sad, and the way he felt about Inej was just, urgh. There were so many romances in this book to be invested in.

I say that, but another thing I really liked was the way Bardugo did the romance, in that it was fantastically done. We had two straight couples and almost definitely a soon-to-be gay couple (looking forward to seeing how that plays out) and every single one of them I was emotionally invested in. Matthias and Nina's history, which was revealed though flashbacks and memories, was so realistically developed, full of quips and taunts and banter and teasing, and I loved it. Wylan and Jesper and almost definitely going to end up together, but I'm glad Bardugo only teased it, because it's too much to expect that they would get together straight away, while previously not being able to be together without sniping at each other. And Kaz and Inej:

IT WAS ALMOST INFURIATING HOW THEY WERE SO HESITANT AND DANCED AROUND THEIR FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER! Poor Kaz, who's been wearing his armour for so long he doesn't know how to begin taking it off, and poor Inej, who's heart is in so much turmoil she has no idea what she really wants. What was one of the best things about it was no matter how badly I wanted them to just kiss and go off to make babies, it was a very realistic portrayal of how that kind of romance would progress. That's what I liked about all of the romances actually. I may have wanted Matthias to burst into tears and confess his love to Nina, or for Jesper to compose an epic love ballad to woo Wylan, or for Inej to grab Kaz by his beautifully starched collar and snog his face off, but it wouldn't realistically happen. For the first time, THERE WAS NO INSTA-LOVE IN A YOUNG ADULT FANTASY NOVEL!

One thing that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed as much if there was more of it out there, was Nina and Inej's relationship. It is so rare to have a good female friendship in a book, with no bitchiness or irrational jealousy between them, and it's so sad that we don't get it enough in books. I genuinely don't understand why it's not more common, because do authors think it's that hard for the readers to believe, that there are females who are friends with each other and have a strong, honest relationship? And if so, what does that say about us women? 

Sorry, went a bit too deep there.



And man, that opening chapter, when Kaz goes to meet with Geels was SO GOOD. Like, I felt like I was actually watching it or something, because there were actual shivers going down my spine, and I kept chickening out and putting the book down because I was so sure that something bad was going to happen. It was just one more of the many parallels between Kaz and Skulduggery Pleasant, and Kaz just pulled it off so well.

Another comparison to Skulduggery Pleasant (sorry) is the funny banter and camaraderie between the characters. Okay, maybe not camaraderie, because they hardly all have a good enough relationship with each other to have that, but all the piss-taking, dry remarks and witty taunts were all so fun to read.

Jesper knocking 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 quirked. "I'll just hire Matthias' ghost to kick your ghost's ass."

"My ghost won't associate with your ghost," said Matthias primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain

If there is some lonely soul out there who by chance happened to stumble across this review, I urge you to give it a try, it's a fantastic book. The sequel is coming out on the 27th September and I cannot even contain my excitement, it's going to fantastic, especially with the way the last one ended.