Crooked Kingdom
Ratings791
Average rating4.4
another solid fantasy fare!! I think all the characters are solid and likable but none that I got super attached to. The only issues were that all the flashbacks were really heavy-handed in their transitions but they were solid character ideas. I really enjoyed the second to last chapter cuz it was super meaningful given the character journeys but otherwise i just wasn't super invested in my read. But it was definitely a page-turner!
But the sequel was EVERYTHING.
I didn't love Six of Crows, but it kept my attention long enough to want to read the sequel. And boy was I glad I did.
I didn't love the lack of character growth in the first book, but the second met my expectations there. It was equally action-packed and emotional, and it had closure at the end but enough to think about the possible future.
I ended up in love with the characters and the universe by the end and can't wait to dive into the rest of the Grishaverse and read more.
I enjoyed this a lot more than Six of Crows. Perhaps since the world was already built in my mind and the characters all felt familiar. The writing seemed to have improved significantly although it's still a little too amateurish to my taste. It does have certain interesting lessons, the pacing is fast enough to stay hooked. I believe this duology would be perfect for a middle schooler or even a high schooler.
it's been a while since i've read such a good duology that i can't shut up about the crows and the journey i've just lived with them.
it's quite literally my comfort group of people, the way they're contrasting personalities fit each other so well; they're so complementary. the humor that jesper brings, the fierce teasing nina brings, the crazy skill that i just can't stop admiring kaz for, the determination of mattias. the way wylan develops as a character and his love for chemistry resonates with my love for the subject as well. it's just, i love this book and the crows so so much. it feels like a family to me, i care about them so much that they're so real to me and i can't let them go and it's such a bummer this is where it ends.
the way leigh set me through high ups and downs throughout the book. i cried with them as much as i laughed with them. truly a masterpiece and it couldn't have been executed better. i loved seeing how each character opened up and their development. it was so perfect holy shit, they adapted and survived like one would in the barrel.
mattias surprised himself by doing things he never would've. i don't think my words are enough to appreciate what this book has made me feel. i'll carry the mark of this duology throughout. i've been made to protect this series
the amount of times I had to put this book down and take a few laps around the room to fangirl is embarrassing. it's such a fun time and amazingly written. love this series to shreds
Truly outstanding conclusion to the duology. The Characters and their progression were truly fantastic. My only complaint is that this isn't a trilogy.
《No mourners, no funerals》
No tengo palabras para describir lo que siento ahora mismo.
Esto es una obra de arte.
Amé absolutamente todo: la historia, los personajes, la forma en que está contado, TODO.
Reí, lloré, pero sobre todo disfruté. Y hace tiempo que no disfrutaba tanto leyendo un libro.
Amo a los cuervos, todos tienen un lugar en mi corazón.
Venia posponiendo esta dulogia por que me habían spoileado pero tenia muchísimas ganas de leerla y ya no podía esperar más.
Sin dudas dstas duologia se ha convertido en mo favorita
3 star story with a 5 star ending makes a solid ending to this duology. I love how her chapters are set up like Game of Thrones'!
Between 3 and 4 for this book so I leaned towards 3. Certainly a better book than the first, perhaps because I knew the characters so it felt like grueling to start. Loved the introduction of old characters that I knew and loved, but I felt myself waiting for a bit more development of key aspects of the story and they never came.
I have no words.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
THE PLOT:
I never realized how much I liked chaos until now.
THE CHARACTERS
Wylan Van Eck, my wonderful gay explosives-loving son: I love him more than words can express. His character is nuanced, and everything about him is really well written. I love how he is simultaneously a cinnamon roll and salty.
“How about I push you in the canal and we see if you know how to swim?”
” He was Wylan Van Eck, and he told them everything.”
Inej Ghafa: Poor, poor Inej. You deserved better. (Also, her mentions in Rule of Wolves? I'm so proud T-T)
“When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway.”
Jesper Fahey: Tied with Inej for second favorite character. I'm really happy there's so much bi representation here. Also, the character development is so good here breaks down into tears
“The same thing I always do. I took a shot.”
Nina Zenik: As a bisexual fat girl, she is an amazing literary role model!! Her addiction is also really well handled.
“She was the Queen of Mourning, and in its depths she would never drown.”
Kuwei Yul-Bo: Criminally underrated.
Kaz Brekker: He also has really good character development.
“He knew exactly what he intended to leave behind when he was gone. Damage.”
Matthias Helvar: I think his death was a really important part of his redemption arc. He just wanted to change the little boy who shot him for the better.
Favorite scenes:
1. Kaz and Wylan fall through the ceiling
2. The conversation involving such gems as “Nina can raise the dead”
3. Fjerdan might
the beginning was good and the ending was good and the middle was stretching endlessly.
books like this need to be fast paced for me to enjoy them, show me fun heists and not dramatic inner monologue.
the characters are still amazing though and carried the whole thing.
“Has anyone noticed this whole city is looking for us, mad at us, or wants to kill us?”“So?” said Kaz.“Well, usually it's just half the city.”― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdomrating- 4.5/5if that quote doesn't sum up the entire book, i honestly don't know what does.I finished reading this a week ago. It took me a week to recover , just enough, to put how i was feeling on paper. (screen?). Just saying.okay, so here goes nothing. This review contains spoilers for Six of crows and Crooked kingdom. Please DO NOT read it if you haven't read either.________________PREMISE [b:Crooked Kingdom 22299763 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763.SY75.jpg 42090179] picks off right where [b:Six of Crows 23437156 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651710803l/23437156.SY75.jpg 42077459] ends. It follows Kaz and his crew right after they pull off an impossible heist. Except things didn't turn out the way they thought it would. (when does it ever). Now they're up against powerful forces both from in and outside Ketterdam, with no money, allies or resources.THOUGHTS I liked Crooked kingdom even more than six of crows?? and i REALLY liked SoC. No because I am absolutely in love. I love the morally grey (but still somehow moral?) characters. SO MUCH. I love their character development and their banter. I love the group dynamic and I love the writing. i just love, love and love. “Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don't forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.”But i mean there has to be something i didn't like if i didn't give it 5 stars right? yeah we'll get to that {spoiler alert: i go back and forth over what I didn't like, a little bit (well a lot) and don't actually hate anything as such}, but lets start off with everything i liked:)I think my favourite part of both [b:Six of Crows 23437156 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651710803l/23437156.SY75.jpg 42077459] and [b:Crooked Kingdom 22299763 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763.SY75.jpg 42090179] is that the characters never lose themselves. In the face of adversity, when talked about in a relationship dynamic and honestly just in general, there was never a moment where i read something, say kaz or nina did and thought to myself- that doesn't seem like something he/she would do, you know? everything just seemed right. It's beautiful how [a:Leigh Bardugo 4575289 Leigh Bardugo https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] managed to give each character such a strong voice and a sense of individuality while still making sure this doesn't get blurred when they work in a group.Their backstories were further developed and wylan got the attention he deserves! (safe to say, he's definitely one of my favourites now).“Until this moment, Wylan hadn't quite understood how much they meant to him. His father would have sneered at these thugs and thieves, a disgraced soldier, a gambler who couldn't keep out of the red. But they were his first friends, his only friends, and Wylan knew that even if he'd had his pick of a thousand companions, these would have been the people he chose.”Pace inconsistency was an issue for me in [b:Six of Crows 23437156 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651710803l/23437156.SY75.jpg 42077459], but [b:Crooked Kingdom 22299763 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763.SY75.jpg 42090179] fares well in that aspect and is fast paced throughout. The transition between the books is smooth and the author doesn't waste any time but gets right into the plot.AND KAZ AND INEJ. I love them so much. (everybody freaking out over them just holding hands is just so funny in my opinion). also this quote absolutely broke me:“I would have 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 out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”also nina & matthias and wylan & jesper. all of them. ugh.(there's so many cute moments, can't really pick a quote tbh)Something else i REALLY REALLY liked was the appearance of characters from the grisha trilogy. when characters from different books in the same universe have a crossover kinda or even just referenced, it's my favourite thing ever. worlds colliding. my heart<3. it just made me so happy to read nikolai's humorous sarcastic retorts again:') even if it was only for one chapter. okay, onto what i didn't like:SETBACKSso right off the bat, i know that both [b:Six of Crows 23437156 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651710803l/23437156.SY75.jpg 42077459] and [b:Crooked Kingdom 22299763 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763.SY75.jpg 42090179] are fast paced books, and i get that. i do. but to me at times it just felt like there was a lot going on? I struggled to keep up with the numerous sub plots and fail- safe plans. it's just A LOT was going on for my mortal brain to comprehend. I'll probably reread it a few months later and see if this changes the second time around.the ending!major spoiler¡ (adding tags too)something else I didn't like was matthias's death. honestly i think most people would agree that it did nothing to the plot whatsoever and felt extremely abrupt.i thought about this for a while and couldn't come to a conclusion so here i am.right so, execution? wasn't the best in my opinion. they went through ALL of that in both djerholm and ketterdam only for matthias to be shot a few streets away, AFTER they'd managed everything? i don't know..very anticlimactic honestly.the idea though? it makes sense in my opinion. I've seen so many people write off the death as unnecessary and i agreed. but after the initial shock and sadness wore off, i really thought about it and i feel like it does have some symbolism and merit. could it have been executed better? absolutely. but well, it is what it is :')and also when i say the death does have some merit to it, i don't mean that in the- (*read in mocking singsong old man voice*) "it's not possible for all of them to be alive after going through all that." or "well, somebody had to die" way. I'm a sucker for happy endings so it wouldn't have been unrealistic to me if they were all alive in the end. i mean they pulled off an entire heist, managed to deceive so many people. THE THEME IS HOPE and being able to pull off the impossible for saint's sake (yes I'm swearing like grishaverse characters now). so no I'm not FOR killing off characters, only to make it seem more realistic.But i thought of it this way and this just makes more sense to me. Matthias has immense character development; he goes from an angry barbarian {saying that makes me so sad now:''''') remember the princess and the barbarian story bahaha} to somebody who understands he grew up in the wrong environment and that he was filled with hate but not born with it. his younger self however was hateful and misogynistic, and he'd probably done a lot of hateful stuff before the ship with nina *sob*. The young fjerdan kid who shot him? he's so much like young matthias. It's almost like his past was catching up to him.So in a way, matthias was essentially killed by his younger self.poetic? RIGHT. still hurts i know:( but seems less unnecessary now doesn't it? moreover, i love how his last thoughts weren't hateful or of revenge, but just about nina and saving fjerda from their mindset. (crying, brb)something else to make you sob and break your heart even more?if you didn't already know this, matthias's first chapter and his last chapter starts and ends with the same words:“Matthias was dreaming again. Dreaming of her"heartbroken for the rest of my life < / 3OVERALLThis book definitely made it to my favourites. The grisha magic system is unique and the plot is captivating and catches you off guard just the right amount. you should absolutely read it, if you haven't already. it'll make you laugh out loud, cry and smile throughout. super excited to pick up the [b:King of Scars 36307634 King of Scars (King of Scars, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525110825l/36307634.SY75.jpg 57978319] duology next, since i personally loved the grisha trilogy and nikolai is one of my favourite characters:)my other reviewsmy review of shadow and bonemy review of siege and stormmy review of ruin and risingmy review of six of crows
I was not expecting the spoiler death of the certain character. I mean, i already knew someone is going to die from the main six but...not that character. And though i felt sad but relieved because it wasnt who i was expecting so im grateful.
Leigh Bardugo's six of crows duology is the only series i dont have much to complain about because its very light, fun and intriguing to read. Unlike grisha trilogy, where there are so many plotholes that my head just goes ??? Half the time.
5 stars deserved.
Usually sequels are very picky for me, more often than not, I would pick up the first book, like it and then not be even remotely interested in the sequel (even in a duology) but this one has got to be one of the most fascinating, fast paced, plot twist after plot twist book sequel I've ever read. I really enjoyed Six of Crows for them traveling and having a heist not in Ketterdam but I really enjoyed this one because it was rooted in Ketterdam and was less confusing in terms of visualization.
Love love love it!
Perhaps even more than Six of Crows but only time will tell :)
I have to say Leigh Bardugo manages to built the tension... she had me every time.
And the death... NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sob
oh my god OH MY GOD ?? six of crows was so good and yet this was so much better ???? NO BECAUSE WHEN WESPER FIRST KISSED BUT THEN JESPER HAD ACTUALLY KISSED KUWEI IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING
“Has anyone noticed this whole city is looking for us, mad at us, or wants to kill us?""So?" said Kaz."Well, usually it's just half the city.”
Excuse my language, but...
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
This book.
THIS BOOK.
I'm still not over it. It deserves all the stars in the stars. Every single on in the night sky. I've been trying to write this review for two weeks, and espcially since I'm the worst reviewer ever, I'm at the point where I want to hire Leigh to do it for me, because obviously she knows how to write masterpieces.
I had the unfortunate experience of having to travel 6ish hours on a cramped bus a few days after Christmas. I was dreading my decision to travel with this book, considering how massive it is, but if I hadn't, I may very well be dead right now. I don't do go with crowds and strangers, but I got so wrapped into the gang's adventures that the six hours flew by so quickly. I like to credit Leigh Bardugo for saving my life. Thank you, Leigh. I owe you one.
When I read Six of Crows, there was something missing for me. I wasn't sure what that was, as I loved the plot, the characters, the world, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it the five star rating it deserved. Yet, whatever it was found its way into Crooked Kingdom and made this book one of the best things I have ever read. Ever.
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get “No Mourners, No Funerals” tattooed on my forehead so everyone knows how much of a Six of Crows trash I am.
If you haven't read this duology, abandon whatever book you are reading right now, because chances are that it's not anywhere as perfect, and pick this up. Right now. Stop freaking reading this review and start Six of Crows. Or Crooked Kingdom.
“Have any of you wondered what I did with all the cash Pekka Rollins gave us?”“Guns?” asked Jesper.“Ships?” queried Inej.“Bombs?” suggested Wylan. “Political bribes?” offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. “This is where you tell us how awful we are,” she whispered.He shrugged. “They all seem like practical choices.”
Kaz.
Jesper.
Inej.
Wylan.
Also can we talk about when he got his face back, he made his appearce slightly more attractive because same.
Nina.
Matthias.
And then died after everything was over and HE DIDN"T DESERVE TO DIE (His death very much reminded me of John Laurens in Hamilton which made me even more sada). Like what Wylan said, none of them were suppose to die. I really didn't expect it and I'm still resentful.
“I would have 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 out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”
Kax
Jesper
Nina
Conclusion.
“I Would have 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 out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”
If I could talk about the Crows all day I would, like this is the best book I've ever read. All I really have to say is that you have to read this book for yourself to experience it.
“Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind too them. and the people who wrong them too. They don't forget. They tell each other who watch after and who too watch out for.”