Six of Crows is a duology made up of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. In the first book, a city noble offers calculating thief Kaz Brekker an impossible heist. It’s a lucrative offer, but he’ll have to put together a team to pull it off. This is where the 5 other main characters come in - each with their own backstory and talents.
When I first picked Six of Crows up I had high expectations because I hadn’t just heard praise of it on booktok (where it is much beloved) but also from my friends, whose opinions on books I take very seriously.
I really love these books because they make you root for the characters and Bardugo has a way of balancing the storytelling of the past with the action of the present. Something that makes these books so easy to fall into is the careful, believable worldbuilding. I had already read the Shadow and Bone trilogy which is set in the same universe and 2 years before which helped me understand the magic system and it was nice to see some characters return, however, I don’t think that you need to read Shadow and Bone to enjoy Six of Crows. If you’ve read Shadow and Bone don’t expect it to feel the same way because the whole premise is different and there is not really that “chosen one” trope.
This series has 6 main characters and is written with multiple POVs but not in first person. The chapters are anywhere from 15 to 23 pages long so they’re on the longer side but I didn’t feel tired while reading because there is a good amount of dialogue and the writing isn’t very complicated, despite being quite descriptive. On the other hand, the books themselves are around 500 pages and in the second book especially I felt like the plot was starting to get a bit too much and there were lots of things to keep up with.
Another reason I like this book is because the plot twists made sense but weren’t predictable. Each time Kaz dreamed up a new scheme it felt realistic because we get to know him as a person and see that it’s not always easy for him to devise his plans.
Recommended for people who: