Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Publication Date: September 29th 2015
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: Purchased copy from Amazon
Link to the author: http://www.leighbardugo.com/index1.html

Click here for the Goodreads Summary

Rating:
5 out of 5 stars

Buzz Words:
Heist, Theif, Wraith, Magic, Revenge

Favourite Quote:
SO MANY!

“Better terrible truths, than kind lies” – Inej

“I wouldn’t trust you to tie my shoes without stealing the laces, Kaz.” – Nina

“He needed to tell her…what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn’t pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. That without meaning to, he’d begun to lean on her, to look for her, to need her near. He needed to thank her for his new hat.” – Kaz

My thoughts:
Where do I even begin? I’m just going to say in advance, that this is not going to be an intellectual review but more like all the reasons you MUST READ this book. I was excited to read Six of Crows because I already loved Leigh Bardugo’s other books but the hype had me worried, but let me tell you, this book exceeded the hype. This book made me laugh, a lot, it made me cry, my heart raced, and I often caught myself holding my breath – It was a hell of a ride!

When you want to free a scientist, one who has created a drug that could plunge the world into chaos, out of a maximum security prison, who do you call? Kaz Brekker, a brilliant schemer and the slums top player. Inej, once an acrobat and now a swift death you never see coming. Mattias, a patriotic and pissed off witch hunter. Nina, a sassy heartrenderer looking for forgiveness. Jesper, a man with quick wit and a quicker trigger finger. And Wylan, a runaway full of surprises. Together they try to pull off the heist of a lifetime.

I feel like Bardugo must have been a gangster in a previous life because she wrote about the gang and the slums so so well. The characters, the behaviors, the atmosphere it was all amazing and consistent. When an author writes like that everything on the page just comes alive, for me it was like being right there in Ketterdam. And I loved Ketterdam, I loved everything about this expansion on the grishaverse. The story is told in a multiple point of view format and that isn’t always a good thing in my experience but again Barudgo did it perfectly. I thought six characters was a lot, that only one or two would be complex and leave an impression on me. Boy was I wrong. Without any one of them this would not have been the same story. This band of misfits were so endearing to me, I loved them all. They all had so much baggage, and rich back stories. I often found myself reading a line and thinking “Yup, that’s something (Mattias) would do” Bardugo knew her characters so well that every action rang true to their nature. Her writing just blew me away and each chapter she did it over again! And the banter between the characters constantly had me laughing, the wit and sarcasm was right up my alley. Needless to say for me, this was a very character driven story, but the other dynamics of this book weren’t weak by any means. It was action packed, captivating and intense. From page one I was hooked, and the story never let me go!  The plot wasn’t too fast or too slow for my taste and I loved the twists at every other turn of the page. I can’t stand a predictable book. Can we talk about the romance for a minute? Okay, yes it was a little unrealistic that all the characters would pair up but who cares? I loved all the relationships in Six of Crows. The chemistry between Mattias and Nina especially. Their story was just so beautiful and heartbreaking it was like a Romeo and Juliet but with a second chance. A  part of me is scared to read the second book because I know one of the couples must end up unhappy and I want them all to be together! Speaking of the second book -I certainly didn’t see that ending coming. Of course I knew there had to be something big at the end to leave me fiending for the next book but I didn’t predict that particular outcome. However, I have no complaints except that I NEED CROOKED KINGDOMS. This book was everything I hoped for and so much more.

If you are still doubting how good this book is, know that I rarely ever re-read a book and I would re-read this again right now. I will re-read it before Crooked Kingdoms and I think I will be re-reading it for years to come.

What I liked:
Everything! Mostly the characters and their chemistry, it was incredible. They had flaws, quirks, baggage and scars. I will never forget these characters, I feel like I know them and have hung out with them. And the banter between them was just flawlessly human.

What I disliked:
Um… that Crooked Kingdoms isn’t in my hands now? That it is only a duology? That I can’t go back and read Six of Crows for the first time again?

Would Recommend To:
This book is like Oceans Eleven meets Gangs of Newyork meets Mistborn. So If you enjoyed any of those, Bardugo’s Grisha series or books about heists this book is for you.