Crooked Kingdom

Title: Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA High Fantasy
Pages: 536
Rating: 5 stars
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In this conclusion to the Six of Crows Duology, the team has escaped the Ice Court and now has to deal with Jan Van Eck. With Inej being held hostage, and the young Kuwbei wanted by multiple parties, the team has to work swiftly and quietly to finish the job.

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Oh. My. Gosh.  Can I direct your attention to that little word up there that says "rating". Do you see what's next to it? FIVE STARS PEOPLE. I'm so happy I dove into this book. I read Six of Crows back during finals earlier this year, so it took me a solid month and a half to get through the book. Because of that, I was concerned this one would take me forever, too. But nope! I finished it in a week, and dang was it a good week.

I rated this book a half star higher than Six of Crows, and I think I did honestly like it a little better. Mostly, though, this is because you get to skip the heavy world building and jump right into the story. I had a hard time getting into Six of Crows at first, mostly because it does take a lot to set the plot up, but with Crooked Kingdom, I instantly fell into the world and the story. 

Speaking of the story... I really, really appreciate the complexity of this plot. I feel like a lot of books (especially YA) have this standard form of -conflict- make a plan- act out plan- plan succeeds- story ends. However, in Crooked Kingdom, it's so much more complex than that. Bits and pieces of the scheme are revealed to you as it happens. You think you know what's going to happen and then bam! you realize you never knew the full picture. It's just so great.

Another amaaaazing part of the story, as I mentioned last time, is the characters. Typically speaking, I don't like a story having multiple perspectives, but I love how it's done in here- and there's six perspectives! Each character truly has their own, unique voice, and you get to know them all on a deeper level. 

For my Hamiltrash out there who've read this one- did any of you see a handful of Hamilton lines scattered throughout the story? I definitely saw the thing about "guns and ships", the "outgunned- outmanned" thing, and the "see you on the other side" thing. 

So anyway, I loved this book on such a deep level, it's really not okay. I'm so angry this is only a duology. I'm not ready to say goodbye to these characters! And after goodreads-stalking Leigh Bardugo, I can confirm her next project is totally unrelated to the Grisha. It's not even high-fantasy! :(

That said, please, please pick this duology up! I wouldn't say it's necessary to read the Grisha Trilogy beforehand, but there are some references and things you won't entirely understand if you don't. (Nothing essential to the plot though.) So go! Read away! And if you've already read Crooked Kingdom, let me know your thoughts! 

Click here to view Crooked Kingdom on Goodreads

Other books in this series: 

Six of Crows

Six of Crows

Title: Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 465
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Purchase this book:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository

In the dirtiest, grimiest depths of Ketterdam, Kaz Brekker makes a deal. Or perhaps a death wish is a better word.

In the dirtiest, grimiest depths of Ketterdam, Kaz Brekker makes a death wish. And he brings a handful of companions with him.

For 4 million krunge apiece, Kaz agrees to break into the Ice Court, the most heavily fortified court in the world, and find the man responsible for creating a drug that's killing Grisha. Of course, there's the matter that the Ice Court has never been successfully broken into.

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I. Love. Six of Crows. Oh my gosh. I mean, I was expecting to be let down given how long it took me to get through it (a month), but I LOVED it. It was beautifully written, beautifully executed, and beautifully done. But where do I start?

Characters. My favorite part of this book was the characters. For the most part, our main characters are Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, and Matthias. They're the team breaking into the Ice Court. And I know, usually 6 characters is quite a bit to keep track of, but each one is truly different and special. Each character is developed, complex, and flawed. We have Kaz, the head of the Dregs, which is the thievery group the six come from. Kaz is the brains of the group. Inej is Kaz's right hand, and she's an acrobat. There's nothing she can't scale. Jesper's the one who'll crack a joke whenever he deems appropriate (or inappropriate), and he's a good shot. Wylan's super smart, and I'm high-key shipping him with Jesper. We have Nina, the Grisha Heartrender who's sassy, saucy, and sarcastic. And then there's Matthias, stone cold, stiff hearted, and grudgingly in love with Nina. Who's my favorite? I'm still unable to decide between Jesper, Wylan, and Inej. 

So the characters do make up a great bit of my love for this book, but something else I appreciated was how Leigh Bardugo didn't make having LGBT+ characters that big of a deal. I feel like some authors tend to make it seem like having said characters is an enormous thing, and they act like they need to be hugely recognized for being so "forward" and "out there". But Leigh Bardugo didn't even make it seem like anything was different from any of the (start of any) heterosexual relationships. And I don't know, I liked how she made it just another part of the story, just another part of life. 

Moving onto the actual plot, I loved the twists and turns. It was completely unpredictable. And while I did take a half star off for being a little slow moving at parts, I feel that's often inevitable in high fantasy. But especially at the end, I was on the edge of my seat, clutching the book in terror as we ran through the storyline. 

I would highly recommend you read Six of Crows. It's not necessary that you read Leigh Bardugo Grisha Trilogy beforehand. They're completely unrelated, and I would've been fine skipping over the trilogy and jumping right into this amazing story. 

Click here to view Six of Crows on Goodreads