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Author: Leigh Bardugo
Language: English
Name of the book: Six of Crows
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
About the Author
Leigh Bardugo is an Israeli-American young
adult and fantasy author. She is best known for her Grishaverse novels, which
include the Six of Crows, the Grisha trilogy beginning with Shadow and
Bone, and the King of Scars series.
Book Review
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is the first
book of a new series set within her Grisha universe.
The story follows Kaz Brekker, thief, con-man, gang leader, the man known throughout Ketterdam as Dirtyhands because there is no job too dirty for him. Kaz is kidnapped by impossible people and offered an impossible job – break into Fjerda’s Ice Court and retrieve the package.
It’s an impossible job, the consequences are beyond the darkest of
nightmares, but the rewards are beyond the wildest of dreams. Kaz knows he can
put together the right team for the job, but the question is whether or not he
can keep them from killing each other long enough to complete the job.
Six of Crows is heavily marketed towards Young Adults, but don’t let that put you off. There is some melodrama to accompany teen romance, but that pales in comparison to the dark and gritty things Kaz and his team do in pursuit of their goals.
From playing dead amongst a barge of plague-ridden bodies to some graphic torture involving an eyeball relocation, Bardugo / Dirtyhands does not shy away from the darkness of violence when something needs to be done. It’s the reason why Kaz Brekker and his team were hired, they will do the things that nobody else will do to get the job is done, and not only do these actions make for excellent reading but so does the fallout from these actions.
Kaz Brekker may not care about
consequences, urging his team on with the mantra “No mourners. No Funerals”,
but everyone else cares about the consequences and will make their own
decisions accordingly.
Six of Crows has a solid plot, great action, impressive world-building,, and a well-constructed heist that pays off fantastically, but it is the characters that make this book stand out from the crowd. Bardugo has constructed a team with the goal of maximizing the friction between everyone.
There’s Inej, the Wraith, a young girl freed from sex slavery by Kaz Brekker and in return has become his personal spy/assassin. There’s Nina the Ravkan witch and Matthias the Fjerdan witch hunter, two people born to hate each other brought together through necessity and mutual attraction, but always loyal to their country first.
There’s Jesper the sharpshooter who is also, a boastful gambler that is constantly getting the team into trouble because he can’t keep his mouth shut. And finally, there’s Wylan, the “demolition expert” who also happens to be Kaz’s insurance policy against his employer.
Bardugo gives us scenes from each of these character’s perspectives, some of which overlap with each other, some that give us information being hidden from other characters, and some flashbacks that give us detailed backstories for each of our characters so we can better understand the motivations behind their decisions.
Bardugo does a fantastic job of differentiating the characters and making them seem like real people with real pain, hopes, dreams, and nightmares. I finished reading this book over a month ago and have had no trouble recalling these characters and what was so fascinating about them.
Six of Crows is a fantastic book, one of
the best fantasy heist books going around. It is funny, tragic, witty, silly,
murderous, thoughtful, and more all in one package. If there is a criticism, it
might be that Bardugo tries to cram too much into a single story, but it’s not
much of a criticism given how adeptly she pulled this story off. I would highly
encourage you to put your prejudices aside and give this book a shot.
My Ratings for this book- 4.8/5
You can easily order a copy of it from
Amazon – Six of Crows
Written By - Violet Priscilla S
Edited By - Anamika Malik
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