Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

December 24, 2020 Kirsty Hanson

Why am I reading this book 4 AND A HALF YEARS after it was released?😫 I am SO BEHIND on reading Leigh Bardugo’s hyped books that are set in the Grishaverse. It’s only been recently where I’ve read the Shadow and Bone trilogy! Please don’t come at me! I guess I’ve just been scared because they ARE so hyped, so I didn’t want to be disappointed.

So, here we go! After a very long time, I have finally read Six of Crows!

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he’ll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done – and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable – if they don’t kill each other first.

I will say that I was very wary of reading this duology because of how hyped up it is. But I knew that it was about time that I read it so that I could finally take it off my TBR, and since the Shadow and Bone Netflix show is coming out in April, then I knew IT WAS DEFINITELY time to read it.

“It’s not natural for women to fight.”
“It’s not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand.”

– Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

I actually read this duology via audiobook, since I had heard a lot of good things about the narrators. Now… I know that the characters in this book were supposed to be 16/17/18? I think? But OH MY GOD, they seemed so much older. I just felt like they should be 19/20/21… The way that they spoke, how they acted, I just think it would have worked better if they were that age instead of mid-teens. But, I think that’s such an unpopular opinion… SORRY! I don’t think the narrators helped this either. I loved the narrations of Kez, Inej, and Nina, but the narrator for Matthais made him sound like he was early 30’s!!

Putting the ages of the characters to one side, the actual personalities of the main protagonists were amazing. I loved Inej and Kaz, but I especially loved Jesper and Nina. I identified with Nina a lot because of her body shape, but also just because she loves food so much. She was constantly talking about cake, or other foods and it made me hungry just reading about them. She kind of reminded me of Charmy from Black Clover 😂.

“Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you’ll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won’t matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.”

– Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

One of the things that kind of pissed me off was how Inej treated Kaz and his mental health. He has major PTSD, and puts massive walls up to protect him from people, and for Inej to basically not care about that just… ugggghhh… It really annoyed me. Yes, there’s chemistry between the two of them. It’s obvious when Kaz speaks about her, and it’s obvious when Inej speaks about him. She actually says “I will have you without armour, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.” EVERYONE has that armour. She just pissed me off when she said that.

I also thought that the heist would take up more of the plot, but it was the build-up and the aftermath that was most of the book.

“She wouldn’t wish love on anyone. It was the guest you welcomed and then couldn’t be rid of.”

– Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

I feel like all I’ve done is moan about this book, but I really did enjoy it! The characters made me laugh loads, especially Matthais and his ‘no-nonsense’ attitude. The writing style was so much better than Shadow of Bone. You can definitely tell that Leigh Bardugo has majorly grown as a writer when she was writing this.

I’m glad that I’ve finally read this though! It’s been on my TBR for WAY TOO LONG, and I can finally scratch it off the list of releases from years and years ago that I need to read. 😂