Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

“Instead, in that moment of threat, when he should have thought only of the fight, he looked at Inej.”

This is not a love story. This is a story of trauma, loss, battle and betrayal. But any romantic knows that love always finds a way in.

Wow. Just wow. Leigh Bardugo has created a book that I’m going to carry around with me for the rest of my life. I’ve been meaning to read the Six of Crows for around a year now. It was one of those books you add to your list and then never read, but I finally picked it up after reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy and my only regret is that I didn’t pick it up sooner.

Six of Crows delves straight into the city of Ketterdam, throwing us right into one of Kaz Brekker’s schemes. I don’t know how she did it, but Bardugo made me fall in love with each and every one of the six of crows, and in love with the city of Ketterdam. Bardugo creates a city that is broken, corrupt, run down and old, and somehow made me want to be there. She creates characters you can bond with as their stories are so real and I think touch a place in our hearts that sometimes no one else sees. Kaz’s trauma, Inej’s faith, Jesper’s avoidance, Wylan’s family, Matthias’ inner conflict, and Nina’s guilt. We can all relate to them in some way, and I love this because it makes you feel seen, makes you feel heard. It turns a book into a comfort. Uh, this book will stay with me forever.

Bardguo devotes sweat and tears to creating each character and giving them all their own backstory, their own emotions, their own pain, their own drive. She makes the book feel like you’re meeting each character and getting to know each of them as she does not make the mistake of telling us right away why Kaz hates Pekka Rollins; how Inej came to work under the Dregs; how Nina, a soldier of the second army, ended up in Ketterdam; and why Matthias, a Fjerdan Drüskelle, is locked up in Hellgate. Uh, I was aching to know what had happened to each of these characters, and she uses that to keep you reading. This book is such a tease. I loved it. The constant need to know what happens next is so prevalent in this book, making it so much more enjoyable. Bardugo also manages to effectively create character development and manages to not fall into the trap I’ve found many writers do of unrealistic fixes and changes to characters' personalities. In real life, you don’t meet a girl and your whole life slots into place. It takes more than that. It takes super glue, not plasters, to fix problems rooted deep within us. It takes time. Matthias is a Fjerdan Drüskelle who grew up being taught to hunt Grisha until he meets Nina Zenik and his whole world turns upside-down. What I admire most about Matthias’ character is that his battle between his inner self (over what he’s been taught all his life and his new feelings for Nina) is a constant battle. Nina’s love doesn’t superglue his life together, it’s just a flimsy plaster, there’s still work he has to do himself. I think this is what makes the book so great, that the characters struggle and there isn’t an easy way out for any of them. It’s realistic. Bardugo plays on our own pain and our own backgrounds to give the reader someone to see a little of themselves in. To show us our struggle is real and felt. This, to me, is so special. To talk about different types of pain everyone experiences, to make people feel heard is something so precious to me.

The tension between Kaz and Inej. Uh. I can’t describe how much I adored their storyline. They so obviously like each other, everyone sees it but them. The best kind of love story. I won’t ruin it, but I can’t wait for you to read their end.

This book was so unpredictable. Maybe you saw the path all along, but Bardugo had me violently turning pages and gasping aloud at every new twist and turn she came up with it. It was amazing. Writers can only aspire to have a plot so hard to follow but so incredibly planned out. There were so many times when I was thinking this is it, this is when Kaz Brekker finally falls. But I was wrong, every. single. time. Man! I loved how blind I felt reading this. Utterly amazing. I could not put it down. I just could not put this book down. I love how Bardugo created such a mysterious character in Brekker. You’d never know his intentions, nor would any of the characters, which made me feel as if I was part of the gang.

There is no fairytale ending. So refreshing. Most authors believe that every story needs to have a perfect ending, a perfect resolution. Bardugo steers clear of this expectation, which I adore. The ending leaves you feeling raw. Keeps you thinking about it for days to come. I finished this book two weeks ago and have not stopped thinking about it. Other books, with their generic happy endings, are forgotten fast. They leave no room for wonder. Everything is tied up nice and tight with a bow on top. This book leaves room for wonder.

No mourners. No funerals.

Holly

Book: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Fantasy; young adult fiction

Published: 29th September 2015

Rating: 5 stars