The Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo

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… Kaz’s crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction — if they don’t kill each other first.

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Ok so I’ve just fallen deeper and deeper into the Grishaverse and I don’t think there’s a way out…. These books have completely won me over. I loved the original Shadow and Bone trilogy but the Six of Crows duology really hit the nail on the head of what kind of content we’re all craving. Mobsters, magic, drug cartels, and an impossible heist? Where do I sign up? There is a cast of 6 characters and we read the story from each point of view and it made it such a dynamic and fast-paced read. The most unlikely group of bandits all in it for their own personal reasons but number one of those being money. It’s like an Ocean’s 12 but young adult fantasy instead. I absolutely loved it. Both books: Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom got a full 5 star rating from me. 

Ketterdam, a small island in the midst of the “True Sea”, is crawling with the unsavoury. Human trafficking, dirty politicians, gang wars, you name it, Ketterdam has it. Kaz Brekker is the unofficial leader of The Dregs, a gang he built up from nearly nothing. For the deal of a lifetime he can break into the most secure place on earth and if he succeeds, finally have enough money to rule Ketterdam in the way he pleases. The trick is….. it’s the most impossbile place on earth to break in to. Rounding up a crew of misfits, Kaz’s mission is doomed from the start, hit by trial after trial and with guest appearances from our favourite Grisha leaders, this "simple" heist turns into so much more, something that could change the course of history, and possibly destroy everything in it’s path. The heist aspect of this story is the main attraction and one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much but we go from a simple goal for riches to having to save the world from something much more dark and sinister and the way the author did that without making it a story too similar to her original trilogy was genius. It felt more grown-up. Less fairy-tale, more gritty and true.

Honestly my favourite thing about these books were the characterizations. I know I say that often, I’m a sucker for some great three-dimensional characters but this book was the best by far. With so many main characters involved and having us bounce around from viewpoint to viewpoint I feel like it could have been a real struggle to portray each character as so individually unique and important to the plot. Kaz was the “bad boy” but there was so much more depth there and his past was one of my favourite flashbacks. Inej was such a strong character and so admirable, Nina was the most relatable of all of them, so down to earth, Jesper was the loveable fool, Wylan - the impressionable newbie, and Matthias, a wild card, as unpredictable as the wind. It was such a great group of characters and the dynamics were such a thrill! Witty banter, legitimate disdain, the hesitancy of trust, getting into the dynamics of this group was so fun. These characters were definitely memorable which made the prospect of a second book so much more intriguing.

The diversity and representation in this book was awesome (in all of Leigh’s books there’s diversity but these books did an especially good job). A group that does not just feature a solely white cast of characters, everything from the good characters to the grey characters to the straight up villains were of different races and colours. Two of the main characters were LGBTQ and this was something very normalized in the world of Grisha. The main character was disabled in a very real way. Unlike many stories where the characters' disability slowly fades as the plot moves forward, Kaz’s disability was a big part of his story and something that proved how resilient he really was. Each character also had their own traumatic pasts that weren’t just plot drivers but experiences that made these characters flawed and broken and so very much more relatable. They didn’t brush their trauma under the rug or magically heal from it, it was something they had to learn to live with and we got to see that throughout the book. I also absolutely loved that the most “beautiful of the group” was Nina Zenik, a character considered “curvy” and “chubby” knocking down the stereotypes that only the small girls can be attractive. Her love of food was what won me over. She’s one of my favourite characters of the entire Grisha world. I feel like everyone who reads this can relate to or see themselves in one of the characters in some way and I think that's amazing. Everyone should be able to invision someone like them in these characters.

Fantastic duo of books, if you’ve read the Shadow and Bone trilogy you will definitely love these books, if you haven’t, you’ll still definitely love these books. From the start we’re dropped into the world and into the main plot and its action-packed right until the very end. 5 stars on these books for sure!