Six of Crows
Ratings1,103
Average rating4.3
One sentence synopsis... A familiar set-up - charismatic leader assembled a gang of misfits to pull off a heist against impossible odds - well executed, closely plotted, and snappily written. .
Read it if you like... ‘Ocean's Eleven''s crew of exceptional criminals, meets ‘Avengers' unlikely groupings and humor, plus Brandon Sanderson's ‘Mistborn' series sprinkling of fantasy. .
Dream casting... Bill Skarsgård as criminal mastermind Kaz Brekker, Barbie Ferreira as the resourceful Nina Zenik, and Alfred Enoch as sharpshooter Jesper Fahey.
This book is absolutely amazing.
It completely lived up to its hype
Leigh's writing is just amazing and the story and characters are simply just written so well.
None of the characters in this book are ‘good' in the alignment way since they're all thieves and broken in a way, but I as a reader could root for them nonetheless since they all have goals and almost ideals to strive towards.
The book having multiple POV's didn't bother me at all. In fact it made the book better since the element of suprise was easier to keep!
The only thing I didn't like in this book was the ending.
The ending was kind of weak to me, but I'm still excited and curious of crooked kingdom.
5/5 to Six of Crows!
Super snel lezend en enorm meeslepend, fantastisch avontuur, met een goed uitgewerkte cast waar je steeds meer van wil weten.
Maar ook al heb ik er tijdens het lezen enorm van genoten en meegeleefd, daarna zindert het weinig na en ik vrees dus dat ik het ook snel weer ga vergeten.
Ook vermoed ik om één of andere reden dat dit boek beter tot zijn recht zal komen en meer impact zal hebben bij een tweede keer lezen.
You know the word “heist” was enough for me, I was sold but heist in a fantasy world? That's such an interesting concept I was really hyped. This book is stunning I am very lucky to have found it. I would like to talk about the things I enjoyed the most: Setting/LocationsThe most important thing for me in any fantasy book and most of the books actually. I don't know why but I am a huge fan of dark cities with creepy and mysterious atmosphere. The whole book could have just been set in Ketterdam honestly, the world building by [a:Leigh Bardugo 4575289 Leigh Bardugo https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg] is phenomenal. I also would like to praise the whole Hellgate prison sequence that was so crazy! I enjoyed it as much as that monster of a heist in the marvelous and majestic Ice Court. CharactersThey are all equally amazing and badass, each one of them gets a shining moment but let's be honest Kaz Brekker stands out. The guy is broken down, has lost almost everything & that makes him cruel & ruthless. He's nasty. I love his attire as well. Perfect for walking in a deserted city at night.Jesper & Wylan both are great supporting characters. We don't get as much backstory on Jesper as Kaz, Inej, Nina & Matthias and Wylan doesn't get his separate chapters like all the others. These 2 step up whenever the gang is in deep peril.Inej is the heart & soul of this group. She is the glue that holds this unusual group of thugs. I don't think Kaz would have even considered doing the heist without taking her into calculation. He probably would not have lasted long as leader of the Dregs without her. His whole plans revolved around Inej, his whole life revolved around Inej.Nina & Matthias what a couple these 2 make! I like them even more than Kaz & Inej. Their backstory was so beautiful, the romance was so well done. I like the way Nina flirts with Matthias and he tries his best not to do the same, that was hilarious. They are perfect for each other, man it was really hard for me to hold back tears for both of them.I love you Six of Crows, to me you're unparalleled. No mourners, no funerals.
I wasn't aware this was YA when I started, and had I known that, I wouldn't have given it another glance...largely because YA is written for people who like YA, a group to which I do not belong. How do you criticise a genre for lacking in areas that it simply doesn't care about? It wouldn't be fair to complain about all the teen angst and melodramatic one-liners when that's the point. So I'll focus on the literary basics:
Leigh Bardugo writes bad action. She writes Hollywood action. The characters are wrapped in plot armour and the enemy pawns are utterly dyspraxic, fragile stick figures. Slow, cinematic attention is afforded to the protagonist's feats of combative excellence that they unleash upon their unwitting foes. In her world, physical fights are determined by how stern one's resolve is and how lumbering, brutish and bovine the enemy is, not on any realistic measure of...anything. What's worse, these slim-fingered teenagers and waifish girls are masterminds of athletic skill, reaching their apotheosis at tender seventeen...
Far be it for me to criticise a mainstay of YA fiction, but if your cast of characters have a median age of sixteen and a half, surely they some similar emotional and mental semblance to their age? I had to age up Bardugo's cast by about 6 years each just to inject some credibility into the story. Kaz was perhaps the most guilty of being a “just...one...more...gimmick” type character, as if he was written for a play-by-post forum RPG. I have no clue how he found all the time to gather all those personal quirks and perfect all those skills by 17, but colour me impressed.
The worldbuilding was lacklustre. I wanted to make a concession here: a deeply complex, compelling world isn't necessary if the story is plot or cast-driven (which this is). But Bardugo's worldbuilding is complex, and takes up a fair bit of wordcount...it just isn't compelling. The pages are flush with descriptive interjections about the Grishaverse and its geopolitics, but they're rarely interesting or well thought-out or satisfyingly deep. I can forgive the cringey fake-Dutch, but I can't forgive the lazy, trope-filled caricature that is Fjerdan. Half the book is spent up there yet absolutely nothing of interest returns with the cast to Kerch. They're written as typical faceless frozen brutes centered mindless martial zealotry, despite the insinuation that they're an entire, thriving kingdom. They have an entire warrior caste of elite...teenagers? They have a completely contradictory social code of anti-magic yet their sacred castle is riddled with obviously Grisha-made artefacts? They keep a bunch of tanks just lying around with the keys in, fueled up, ready to burst through their walls whilst the entire nation's military complex does what, exactly!?
(Minor spoiling tangent - I have absolutely no fucking clue what was happening with the tank scene in the Ice Court. The teenagers can just...drive tanks? Fire it's various guns? Drive through stone walls? Also, when driving into a stone wall, people are thrown FORWARD Leigh, not backwards!!)
Anyway, the plot was written to a solid tempo despite the flashbacks, which were kept relatively short and entertaining. Quick-paced enough to keep you reading. I didn't find the (as another review mentioned) sitcom-style, cheesy humour to be too difficult to swallow. At times both the good and bad guys couldn't help but force in exposition about their cunning plans into their dialogue (often at very awkward instances), but this can be forgiven. Because its YA.
(caveat: I'm aware there is plenty more Grishaverse books. Maybe the worldbuilding is more complete in them, but I won't hold my breath. Bardugo has shown herself to me to not quite get what I consider to be good worldbuilding. It should leave you wanting to know more; woven deftly into the story; exhibit uniqueness and originality; be coherent and informed and consistent. This ain't all that).
Lastly, a fitting soundtrack to how I imaged much of the events unfolding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJGcO5Une-g
It's been a long time since I've read a book that made me stay up hours after bed but this one did it. I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Each had personality, with their own uniqueness, and flaws which I appreciated - giving realness to the characters. I enjoyed the jovialness of the group dynamic. Whilst they were in many ways strangers to one another, there was a level of friendship despite the bickering, that made for very pleasant reading. The ending of the book gets pretty intense and I am very eager to begin to the next book.
I'm not sure the story itself was anything fantastic, but everything else more than makes up for it. It's essentially a heist story with a ragtag crew. I am aware this book is set in a larger universe (Grishaverse) with prior novels in a seperate series. There were times I felt I needed to know more about this world to understand it better with descriptions and references that felt like assumed prior knowledge (though I suppose in many ways it is) but it wasn't difficult to wrap my head around it.
There were a few times when I felt cracks in Bardugo's writing, but these were kept to a minimum (maybe like 3 times), where I couldn't quite follow or make-out what was happening or who had said what. Overall, the writing isn't anything to write home about it but it does get the job done very adequately. The first half of the book required more plot as well as the story doesn't truly begin until halfway through.
In short: the characters are awesome, the story is pretty good, these a few minor flaws here and there but overall a very good book. 4 stars.
No wonder this book has such a good ratings.
I couldn't keep this book down since I started it. Such a good hiest. Love everything about the book. The way author has developed each characters, the writing style everything. Starting the second book right away can't wait for another rollercoaster ride.
A fun fantasy read about breaking in/out of a maximum security prison. It ended on a huge cliffhanger which is kind of frustrating. Won't be picking up the sequel but I might check out the Netflix series when it comes out.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT That was FANTASTIC!!!!!! I really can't write a review that does this book justice!!!! While I still don't understand why this is more popular than the original Grisha trilogy, I'm so absolutely fuckin Impressed at how much Leigh Bardugo changed her writing style!!!! I just,,,, Screams into the void for 47 years!!!!
BRUH that was one cool book. Idk what to say except I'd DIE for Jesper and Wylan.
Can't wait to see how the second book will play out!!
Okay okay I totally get the hype. This book was a really good YA story: the characters were interesting if a bit predictable, the setting was intricate, the plot was fun, and it was well paced. The characters were wildly unrealistic teenagers though. I had to constantly remind myself that the kids weren't at least in their late-twenties. As long as you can set that aside, you should have a good time. The biggest downfall of the book is that every obstacle or curveball, and there are quite a few, is conveniently overcome. If you just take Six of Crows as a feel good story about a ragtag group of scoundrels who always have the right trick up their sleave to get out of trouble, you will have a blast. I think the end lacked something, but I can't put my finger on what. Having not yet read Crooked Kingdom, my guess is maybe the duology should've been combined into a longer standalone book.
This has been a book I've been interested in reading for a very long time after seeing its amazing cover artwork. I was hesitant at first since it's been recently been picking up momentum because there's going to be a Netflix series based off of it. But I figured, what the heck. I was immediately immersed into a lusciously wonderful yet dangerous world Bardugo has created. I admit, the first two chapters were a little tough to get through, mostly because there's lost of different names being dropped. But, it's all because Bardugo is setting the stage and elements to the story. The characters were fascinating and have interesting backstories, the action was nonstop, and there's amazing twists. If you're looking for action, a hint of romance, and magic, this is the book for you. You'll feel like you're in the heist alongside this ragtag team of lovable misfits.
This book was recommended so many times, but every time I looked at the synopsis I wasn't thrilled by it, but it just kept popping up and eventually I couldn't resist giving it a go - and man this is one of those times that I was glad to be wrong about my instincts! I loved it! The magic, the characters and the story just pulled me in from page one and had me hooked all the way through. There are no sappy love stories or triangles, there are no heroes journey storylines and though the magical heist sounds cliche, Leigh Bardugo did it so well in this book that you can't fault it for that. The characters are ‘grey' but still extremely likeable and their banter is one the highlights of the books. You are never sure where loyalties lie or what's around the corner and that made it a very compelling read. I haven't read the other Grisha books, but I liked the magic, even if it wasn't the focus of the story here. I liked that the story felt like it was in this big epic fantasy world of magic, but focused on the small part of it with bigger implications on the horizon. I am VERY much looking forward to book two and highly recommend Six of Crows if you enjoy fantasy, but are maybe tired of the usually fare, but still want a good story, good characters and a place you can get lost in for a while.
Actual Rating: 3.5
This one is so hard for me because I was so excited to read it and it's been hyped up so much.
But bruh. This bad boy is so freaking slow. I didn't think it picked up until roughly 100-150 pages from the end and it is just way too long for that to be the case. I felt like the entire third of the book was spent introducing the characters and that was just a bit unnecessary.
With that said, the ending was great and single-handedly moved my rating up from 3 stars to 4!
The characters were interesting but I can't say I love them (my heart already belongs to Nikolai Lantsov oops). Does that mean I am not eager for the sequel? Haha. No. Of course I am eager and dying to get my hands on it in the near future.
Overall, I sadly think this book falls into the category of “books 16-year-old Hailey would have loved but simply seem okay now”. But it was still a good read and I'm glad I finally committed to it.
I love everything about the #grishaverse. I'm fully invested as the imagery, the breath-stealing scenes, the comraderie and jesting between the MCs make this a fun series.
Six of Crows greets us with a new crew to fall in love with and @lbardugo does NOT disappoint. It's fast-paced, exciting and an all around great read. This will have you rooting for the underdogs.
This was the best teen book I've read - aside from Strange the Dreamer, which I think is written more like adult. There was depth to the characters, interesting dialogue, and lots of unexpected twists packed in this relatively small (460 pages yes but well spaced with big font) book. And I cried for a minute, so do with that what you will.
An interesting story in a good world. The plots a little too focused on romance, and the third act twist is a little wierd, but those are small niggles. The big one is this: this book does not end, it just stops.
I'd give it thirty million stars if I could.
It's a masterpiece of YA fantasy literature. Not debatable. A fact.
wanted to love it, didn't love it, and hate that this is the way my 2020 reading journey started out
i thought it was just the slow start that kept me uninterested but it wasn't until i was 300 pages in that i actually started caring — that's awful. nearly 500 pages and i didn't care for most of it?
i'm still trying to figure out what disinterested me so much. long blog post to come
Didn't enjoy this as much as I had expected.
Pretty good caper story, but not really my cuppa.