BOOK REVIEW: Six of Crows {Six of Crows, # 1} by Leigh Bardugo

“A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.”
Last May, having binged the Netflix adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, I reviewed the book of the same title, only to find that the characters I truly adored from the TV series {Inej, Kaz, and Jesper}, were nowhere to be seen. Fast forward to April 2022, I elected to forgo the rest of the Shadow and Bone series {for the time being} and merely skip to the Six of Crows Duology in order to meet my favorite heist trio in novel form. Though intriguing and adventure-laden at times, I can't say that this introduction lived up to my expectations. In fact, I found myself slogging through repetitive dialogue, lackluster characters, and a premise that I was unable to ever become fully vested in - leading me to believe that I will not be reading part two. Womp womp.

Ketterdam {aka the Barrel}, a locale for sinners not saints, bustles day and night with international trade. Pickpockets prowl the streets; gangs take over entire territories; and, for the right price, anything can be had. No one knows this better than seventeen-year-old Kaz Brekker {aka Dirtyhands} - a criminal mastermind with fast hands and a crew of unlawful, fearless friends with the courage to take on any crime, known as The Dregs. Though Brekker is the brains behind each malfeasance; he himself knows that he would be unable to pull anything off without his crew of outcasts. And so, when he accepts the job of a lifetime, one that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams {if he survives}, he knows exactly who to enlist to get the job done.

The Dregs are quite the motley crew of criminals, with assorted pasts and personalities that oftentimes clash with one another; but they are a family of sorts - and families, regardless of how dysfunctional they may be, stick together. Inej {aka the Wraith}, a contortionist/spy with deadly dagger aim and a conscience; Jesper, a sharpshooter {and former farm boy} with a bad gambling habit; Nina, a hilarious Heartrender surviving the slums with the use of her magic; newcomers Wylan and Matthias; and Kaz himself - a convict hungry for revenge. Together, Kaz is convinced that he will be able to execute the heist of the century: penetrating an inaccessible prison facility known as The Ice Court and extracting Bo Yul-Bayur, the chemist behind the accidentally-created drug jurda parem, a product that, in the wrong hands, could spell disaster for Grisha. To the average criminal, it sounds like an impossible feat; to Kaz and his crew, it's a ticket to incredible riches.

This book y'all...I struggled - like, struggled-so-much-I-had-to-take-a-break-at-the-halfway-point. Don't get me wrong, I found the characters of Inej, Kaz, and Jesper to be entertaining at times, and seeing their backstory was intriguing; but the persistent shifts between character POV and present/past scenarios was enough to make my head spin. On top of that, I truly felt that, after the first 25% of the book, the rest of the story just kept going in circles. My main goal for continuing on was simply to finish it, so that I could begin the next book in my TBR pile - never a good sign. Part of my...disinterest in this story could be blamed on the romantic situations involving all of the characters, which I find incredibly boring; or, perhaps, I just wasn't sold on the characters willingness to attempt such an insane heist. Regardless of the reason, I feel that this will be my last foray into the Grishaverse and Bardugo's work as a whole.


Star Rating: ***


xx

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