After reading books that didn’t really satisfy, it felt so good to finally read something that has completely blown me over. Declaring that now, I’m slightly regretting it (in a good way) because goddamn, it fucking hurts. (This was post-SOC. Just multiply that pain exponentially after Crooked Kingdom.)
I bought Six of Crows without expectations and even as my friend, Julienne consistently assured its good graces, I didn’t look into it much. I didn’t know if doing so made me extra emotional throughout these books though based on others’ reactions, I wasn’t the only one. Leigh Bardugo’s second series in the world of Grisha definitely got some balls to play with our hearts.
After SOC, with the first chance I got, I bought myself Crooked Kingdom. (That should be telling you something: me, someone-who-hates-using-my-own-money-to-buy-expensive-books, buys the sequel without question.) I’m beyond triggered.
When I was bawling after Clockwork Princess, I didn’t expect any other literature to have its characters hold me the way Will, Jem, and Tessa did. (Still do.) For Saints’ sake, I was so terribly wrong.
Kaz, Inej, Nina, Jesper, Matthias, and of course, Wylan. These characters, each of them, have a special, individual place in my heart and even as the crew, as the Six of Crows collectively, they’ve got a penthouse. It’s what, or rather who, I love most about the entire duology and one of the many aspects Leigh Bardugo created tremendously well. I was blown away, especially after dealing with 2 subpar books beforehand.
"He'd started to think of Jesper as fearless, but maybe being brave didn't mean being unafraid."
They are each their own unique person from their history to their personality. Yet at the same time, they managed to complement each other in ways I didn’t expect from anti-heroes. The entire crew may not all be cruel but they’re definitely not innocent. They each have their own demons to fight and vengeance to pursue and not just the external forces stirring them together and apart. Leigh Bardugo managed to string those pieces together perfectly – the humanity and the monsters in all of them – so it was without a doubt that I fell helplessly in love with them all.
Yes, fictional places, fictional world, but it sure as hell felt like I’ve been to Ketterdam. It was home as the Bastard of the Barrel; a nest of worms as a foreign soldier; a skyline of rooftops and smog as the Wraith – a manufacturer of demons and curses. Different for every perspective but still somehow encompasses the capital of Kerch.
“My mother is Ketterdam. She birthed me in the harbor. My father is profit. I honor him daily.”
I’m declaring it, Leigh Bardugo is a damn good travel agent. Even if her destinations are quite shady. Her world building appealed to all senses that I can actually imagine myself walking the dark streets at night with Kaz, or scaling the roofs with Inej, and even shiver with the crew at Fjerda.
Her descriptions put greater emphasis on the story and their characters, especially their flashbacks. It’s not just there to be a background set. I was traumatized of closed spaces, violated in shipping docks, and comfortable at home in the snow, as they were. The countries and cities, even the safe houses and rooms, were living and breathing with the crew.
One of the many things I love about this duology, particularly in the Six of Crows, is how the crew aren’t consisted of flat characters. As you get to know them one by one, learning their whole story, you see their growth to who they are at present. They are all born of tragedy and it’s so interesting to discover how each of them either branched out or moved forward from that.
"But what about the rest of us? What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls?...When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway."
Their development didn’t just stop there. The rope of their lives wasn’t all unraveled at Book 1 and I enjoyed how Leigh Bardugo continuously pulled them apart throughout Crooked Kingdom, slowly but surely. Brick by brick.
There was a common theme in Crooked Kingdom where, in the mind of one character, Bardugo would insert someone else’s line into the context. It was a simple, elegant move, showing how much the members of the crew affect one another than they did before and the bond they have forged.
“I would come for you,” he said, and when he saw the wary look she shot him, he said it again. “I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way together – knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”
Also, I cannot go on with this review without taking note. Dark humor is the best, especially Brekker’s.
Plot-wise, Leigh Bardugo did not lack. These people are criminals – some, on their journey there – led by the infamous Dirtyhands, the ultimate thief, Kaz Brekker with his right hand Wraith, Inej. I wouldn’t spoil the heist and schemes that surrounded both books, but needless to say, you might as well call the Six of Crows magicians in their own right.
"We can endure all kinds of pain. It's shame that eats men whole."
I’m a sucker for action and suspense and even a well-delivered law-breaking *cough* White Collar feels *cough* and Leigh Bardugo delivered. It was a fast paced thrilling ride, especially in Crooked Kingdom, pausing at the right times just to get you holding your breath in anticipation and replacing with scenes that will either get your heart beating faster or laughing yourself giddy. There are, of course, times when we’re going through a tunnel of dullness with too much technical information or slight drag but it’s quickly repaid with good and good-bad heart-wrenching moments, may it be through Kaz’ steely cruelty or my ships sailing.
Without a doubt, the Six of Crows duology finds itself on my favorites’ list beside the Infernal Devices. It tells a story that grips you until the last word with 6 people you won’t expect to love with all your being. I sure do. Fair warning: I bawled my eyes out in Crooked Kingdom.
"No mourners. No funerals. "
Moondust by Jaymes Young
