Crooked Kingdom
Ratings792
Average rating4.4
“No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.”
crazy crazy crazy speechless I am so wow what to say what to say I need a third book. now.
In this book, we got to learn and explore more of the characters' pasts. We finally got all of Wylan's story (fuck you Jan Van Eck), and we got to see most of Jesper's as well.
I read this book in two days. That's how entertained and engaged I was. I spent my entire Saturday reading this.
I can't relate to any of the characters, and I usually can't with any book I read, but I don't think you need to relate to a character to feel a connection to them. This series introduced me to that idea. These characters are so well written and thought out that I have no choice but to love them. The way they all work together despite their differences.
Oh, Jes. :( The guilt he felt the moment he saw his father's face. “His father's head snapped up and Jesper steeled himself for what might come next–whatever insults or outrage his father hurled at him, he deserved. But he wasn't prepared for the relieved grin that split his father's craggy features. Someone might as well have put a bullet right in Jesper's heart.”
“Someone might as well have put a bullet right in Jesper's heart.” Yea... that hurt.
Indeed these characters have had hard times. But, Inej... So much shit has happened to her and though I can't relate to it, I can still feel sympathy for her. (Although Inej would probably tell me she doesn't want pity...) She was brought into Kerch unwillingly and spent her days slaving away at a Menagerie, which, in definition, is a place where wild animals are kept in captivity for exhibition. I now see why all the girls at the Menagerie have an animal for their name. Like hello?? A teenage girl working a job that exploits her to grown men?
Kaz's trauma prevents him from performing skin-to-skin contact. When we got that scene of him and Inej... he most definitely shit his pants. But he would try for her. That's what makes him good. Even if he is a shitty person, he loves Inej enough to want to try for her. And when they held hands... I may have cried.
I accidentally spoiled Matthias' death for myself...so when the time came I wasn't surprised, unfortunately. I was sad, of course, because it's Six of Crows not Five of Crows (thank you Cindy for that quote). Nina being so desperate for him to come back most definitely made me tear up, though.
“Matthias couldn't name the ache he felt in that moment. He was a solider. So was Nina. They weren't meant for such domestic scenes. But he'd envied those people and their ease. Their comfortable home, their comfort with each other.” ... This quote killed me. I don't think I will ever truly recover from this book.
Um. Let's talk about Chapter 40. First of all, I took a picture of it, printed it, and put it on my wall. Second, when I first read the books, Kanej was my favorite ship, but going back and looking at everything I tabbed, Helnik is far superior. Anyways, I have this chapter memorized. That's how many times I've reread it. Not that it's hard to learn, it's one paragraph. But what the fuck am I supposed to do in the third book without Helnik? I seriously can't handle this. I'm really mad at you Leigh.
I also want to add some quotes that made me laugh:
“...So Kuwei, you'll go to the Souther Colonies, and when the heat has died down, you can find your way to Ravka or Matthias' grandmother's house for all I care”
“‘Leave my grandmother our of this,' Matthias said.”
“‘Saints!' his father gasped. ‘This city is worse than the guidebooks said!'“
“‘You don't have enough money to buy her waffles,' Wyland grumbled.”
“Be quiet. We're in a library.”
“It wasn't that Alys was so bad, she just never stopped. She sang between bites of food. She sang while she was walking through the graves. She sang from behind a bush when she needed to relieve herself. When she finally dozed off, she hummed in her sleep.“
“Matthias' steps faltered. ‘Why would he–'“
“‘She's tied up, so he has to.'“
“‘Be silent.'“
“‘I also keep a journal.'“
“‘Must be fascinating. Day one: sat in tomb. Day two: sat in tomb some more.'“
“Jesper nodded sagely. ‘Good country air, lots of fields for...gamboling about. I grew up on a farm. It's why I'm so tall.'“
“Alys frowned. ‘You're a little too tall.'“
“‘It was a really big farm.'“
I want to reread this series so bad but 1) I want to wait a little bit longer and 2) I genuinely don't think I'd be able to handle it.
I really hope we get the third book in the next day because I'm not sure how much longer I can go without any new content. We better see them happy in the next book or Miss Bardugo is getting a punch to the mouth. <33
I could probably go on and on about the characters in this book, and while they don't seem to have a drastic growth, apart from Matthias, they've all grown in ways that make them better people. I love how LB deals with mental illnesses like PTSD, abuse, and the impact hate has on others. The ending with Matthias, just when he realised what he'd been taught to believe was wrong and was taking action to combat it, was cruel, but I felt it fitted. I'm not a big fan of him, but oh, I felt tears start in my eyes. The writing on the scene was brilliant!
I would have loved to see an ending with everyone happy and together, but I think I prefer the way it ended, with Inej and Kaz especially. LB understands that mental illness can't go away overnight, and sometimes it takes years, and even then, sometimes people still struggle in moments.
The best part in the book, and the worst, has to be with Jesper and Kuwei. Oh, I had anxiety all day after listening to that scene! Secondhand embarrassment is horrible, and I really felt for Jesper then.
I loved how Jesper's dad waltzed into the story. Most of the fantasy books I read have absent parents, or dead parents, and this makes a delightful change.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend.
This should've been combined with Six of Crows instead of being a second book. It didn't pick up with the conflict I felt was needed, given how Six of Crows ended. Some of the stuff that was a cliffhanger was basically resolved off-page between books. That was pretty annoying. I lost interest near the end and didn't care for the characters as much as I did in the first book. But it was enjoyable for the most part and definitely readable.
The characters are well developed and continue to dominate the show in this second book of the series. The plot is well crafted, and the book ends cleanly.
I recommend these two books - Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. The combination of characters, backstory, and action in the ever moving plot will keep you interested. This was a perfect escape story.
At first I found it to be a slow book compared to Six of Crows, but in the end it turned out spectacular.
Every moment I found awkward or slow or anything else than good was perished in the ending chapters.
It definitely made the entire book worth it and made me definitive on giving this book a 5 star review as well.
I loved the characters as usual, their personalities and their motives. Their strengths and their weaknesses.
I did find Matthias death to be unnecessary.
He was alive and strong in one sentence and then dead in the next and it didn't give me a sad feeling like with most character deaths. It just happened and there was no reason for it at all. It didn't bring Matthias story to an end. Nor did it give Nina anything except loss and the feeling of ‘I have to return to Fjerda now' and it didn't bring their story together to an end/ closure as well. At least thats how I felt about it, but Matthias was never my favourite character.
I overall loved the book, the worldbuilding and all the plots and turnarounds. You never know what to expect when you turn the page and all in all, I loved it.
Bardugo is a great writer and I enjoyed this immensely, even if I found it slightly too long for my current predilections. I don't know that I want to read a bunch of books set in this Grishaverse though so if she wanted to branch out into other genres, like historical fiction, that'd be swell.
Despite the death of loveable character, this book is great.
Beetje hetzelfde gevoel als bij Six of Crows: spannend, gedreven door zijn personages, enorm vlot en avontuurlijk. Ik heb deze denk ik zelfs iets liever gelezen en was deze keer ook meer emotioneel betrokken bij de personages, vooral bij bepaalde gebeurtenissen snif
As much as I HATED THAT THE AUTHOR DECIDED TO KILL MATTHIAS (I shipped him and Nina so hard. And he was still young. IT WAS UNFAIR. I think the death was unnecessary since HE HAS SUFFERED ENOUGH IN HELLGATE), I enjoyed this book. Even more so than the first book. It was also well-written just like the first one. The plot was gripping (especially the ending!); it was filled with action and great dialogues throughout the story. Some of my favorite parts were Wylan's chapters; his What am I doing here? lines, that genius plan of theirs, and that scene where Jesper accidentally kissed Kuwei. I was laughing so hard. Let's not forget when Jeslan actually kissed (marry each other already you two.)
You wouldn't regret reading the series; I would reread it sometime. Looking forward to the third book; I miss the characters already.
Actual Rating: 3.5
I enjoyed this. It was nice, but there was definitely some room for improvement. I just honestly felt that this wasn't nearly as good as the first book, but it was still entertaining.
The beginning was really boring for me, to be honest. I didn't feel it pick up until it was about 200 pages in, but then it really started cooking and almost made up for the boring start to the book. Almost.
With that said, I'd kind of like a third one, or even just a novella to find out how everyone's new lives worked out for them!
Ooh my this was a good book. It's been a long time since I read young adult and this was a good book to do it with. I'm not really sure how it's young adult, maybe on a technicality? I'm not too familiar with the genre but it has very rich and deep characters with all their flaws and goodness wrapped up into distinct characters. Not just one, not just two ... but 6 uniquely fleshed out characters in just two books. Many books struggle to develop one or two so I am very impressed here. Bardugo really manages to capture the humanity of each character, including the side characters outside of the main six.
Pacing is good, characters are strong, ending is fulfilling and satisfying, story is interesting. The story is brutal when it needs to be and gentle when it's time. A really well done book, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Favoriteseriesreadthisyear❤
The series wholeheartedly deserves the solid 5 star....
Such a overwhelming feeling after finishing this read. Enjoyed every scene. Loved the climax so much.
The final book in this duology picks up right after the events of the first one and as in the first book, nothing is quite as it seems and the best laid plans often go awry in unexpected ways that keep you turning pages. I didn't think this volume was quite as strong as the first one, mostly in the sense of pacing. It felt very stop and go as we got huge back stories on just about every character between currently happening events. As much as I liked getting to know the characters better, I found how it interrupted the main storyline a bit frustrating sometimes and sometimes even gave current happenings less impact than I thought they should of.
Having said that, I really enjoyed all the characters with Inej probably being my favourite. They were fallible, but still enjoyable and likeable with motivations that made sense and never strayed into too dark a territory, which is what I tend to be fond of in the ‘grey' character trope that has taken over much of the fantasy books these days.
The fantasy itself is pretty light, there is magic, but it takes second seat to many other aspects of the story and that wasn't a bad thing. It felt very real in a way and believable in a genre that can sometimes stray into the absurd if it's not careful.
Overall I really enjoyed it, highly recommend it and think that the duology as a whole was excellent.
Deep BreathSCREAMS FOR 47 YEARS Wow!!! That was EXTRAORDINARY!!!! While I definitely can't write a review that does this book justice, this was an EXTREMELY amazing way to finish everything that started in Six of Crows (Granted, I do have a complaint about a Certain character's death, but apart from that)!!!
Took a loooooong time to read, especially now, but was a very satisfying ending. Had more heists and action than Six of Crows because the characters and world were already so well established. Everytime I felt it was too long I also found myself enjoying reading about the characters you know and care for, so I'm not even sure what she would have cut here.
Man what a wild ride. So much action, twists, backstabbing, and plots within plots. There aren't enough words to describe how much I love the Grishaverse.