Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows
By Leigh Bardugo

Kindle Edition, 462 pages

Published September 29th 2015 by Henry Holt and Company

Average Rating: 4.41

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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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I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. That’s where the low rating comes from. I still enjoyed myself and the ships were there, and I swooned and cooed and shipped, but I just didn’t love the book.

Emilie absolutely loved the novel for the same reasons why I enjoyed it. I was just affected at a totally different level.

Okay, I have a serious problem with the plethora of different POVs in Six of Crows. Way too many for the reader and the author to handle. What really annoyed me was that I’m reading in this POV and I’m learning about their past and then suddenly it’s a new chapter and I feel like I’ve been cut off dramatically. There were times where I craved another POV more and that’s where I got annoyed too. The multiple POVs (about 5) made the story choppy and I felt like we couldn’t go in depth into their character for very long or very effectively. I was getting surface level character and I really really didn’t want that. I didn’t get enough time to know the characters (past) or the current storyline (present).  It was too much for me to switch between characters and I believe that if the story was focused on 2 characters, stretching it to 3, the reader-character connection might have been stronger for me. So, I was a little disappointed there because there are some rare cases when authors can pull of the multiple point of views.

Kaz couldn’t see Inej’s face in the dark, but he sensed her disapproval.

“Greed is your god, Kaz.”

He almost laughed at that. “No, Inej. Greed bows to me. It is my servant and my lever.”

On the other hand, the story wouldn’t have been so interesting if it weren’t for the 5 different POVs. All were so different and all had their little quirks which I loved. Kaz was full of snark and sass which is fabulous alone. His personality almost seemed cruel at times which really intrigued me once I got over his harsh personality and the sudden way I was introduced to it. Jesper’s devotion to weapons made me laugh out loud (and give a silent nod of approval). I admire Inej’s honesty and she’s kinda the outspoken, underestimated wallflower of the group. Wylan is just a little twinkie who I want to give immense applause for that character development. Nina’s compassion just blew me away. I love her. Matthias is just a moody, brooding wonder and I want him. All these things are what I love about Six of Crows, but the thing is, because there were so many POVs, that is all I get from them character-wise. Yes, Bardugo was smart to highlight a single trait to differentiate the characters, which I appreciate nevertheless, but it still means I get a surface level character. To an extent. One fabulous, highlighted trait isn’t enough for me. I wanted more. I’m so 50/50 with this book, it’s so confusing!!

Another huge positive about the numerous POVs are the ships. There are six characters, 5 POVs. Each got their own pair and one of them being LGBT!! (However, it is not canon so maybe in Crooked Kingdom, something will happen??) So dang cute, I can’t handle how amazing Bardugo wrote the character-character relationships! And through the POVs, I really got a solid feel of those relationships. Bardugo was almost there but not quite. She barely missed the mark, and that’s why I’m so down in the dumps with this novel.

I’ve read Bardugo’s first Grisha trilogy, Shadow and Bone, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was rather hesitant when I found out there would be a spin-off series because that means my expectations are sky high. My desire to go back to the world of Corporealki, and Heartrenders won out. I was ready for some magic.

“We’ll be kings and queens, Inej. Kings and queens.”

The beginning and the ending just sucked. The middle portion of the novel was actually really good and that was where the chunk of swoons and killer action scenes took place. I was very satisfied with the climax and whatnot, but the beginning of the novel and the ending of the novel just wiped away the stars. This novel really got me thinking about how important these two parts of a story are. Six of Crows had a slow beginning, which made it very hard for me to get sucked in. The many POVs didn’t help either. I wasn’t immediately attached to Kaz or Inej and those POVs were the most abundant in the beginning, so my attention was nonexistent.

They were monsters, he knew it, but boys as well, boys like him – taught to hate, to fear.

The ending was maddening. [spoiler] Girl gets kidnapped. Boy who loves girl, who didn’t tell girl, is going to save her from impending doom. *jazz hands* Foundation for next book! Ugh. COME. ON. Could you at least be a little bit more creative?! Just a little bit more? Not to mention that the girl is badass and can fend for herself. She no need some man to save her!! AHHH!! I’m so angry with that ending!!! It’s strongly anti-climatic and it was literally a horrible ending. What was the author thinking?! Maybe she was going for the infamous cliffhanger but that was done so poorly!! So angry. So disappointed.

BUT THE MIDDLE WAS GREAT. Everything happened; there was non-stop action, anxiety for the character’s lives, plot twists, romance. It was great!! I just wished the beginning and ending were good enough for me and then this would be rated 4 stars.

Six of Crows pulls us right back into the Grisha world with unique characters but too many point of views. You get really attached to the ships, and the plot really puts your brain into knots (it’s a good thing!). However, the ending was a huge letdown and anticlimactic. We’ll see how Crooked Kingdom turns out.

Keep calm and read on,

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