Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Six of Crows

Trigger warnings for Six of Crows include: ableism and ableist language; indentured servitude and slavery; forced underaged sex work (in memory); child abuse (in memory); abandonment and disownment; substance and gambling addiction;
alcohol consumption and recreational drug use; drugging without consent; forced and coerced drug dependency. As well as implied panic attacks and nightmares; implied coerced suicide; blood and gore depiction, graphic physical injuries, emesis, medical experimentation, dead bodies, plague, body modifications (with consent).
Grief depiction and death of a father, brother, family and friend; murder, attempted murder, physical assault, knife and gun violence, torture, strangulation, explosions. Kidnapping, drowning.
☆
☆
Realistically I picked this up three days ago and finished it in the early hours. Once I started it I didn't really put it down. It's a duology that's been sitting on my TBR list for a while, as was the Shadow and Bone series, and it took a while for me to get to them, which is something I regret. My friend recommended them to me a while ago, and I understand why they did now. I even sent them a message while I was reading saying that I understand the pull of Kaz Brekker now.
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One thing that really stood out to me was the amount of representation in this. Both in terms of sexuality and disability and neurodivergency. There's a bisexual character and a gay character.

And Kaz walks with a cane because of a severe limp and chronic pain, as well as the leather gloves he always wears, which is somewhat discussed as being because of trauma and a resulting aversion to touch, he the flashbacks and fainting he experiences are potentially the result of PTSD from childhood trauma. And while it's not actually confirmed in the books, the descriptions make it fairly plain that Jesper probably has ADHD. He also has a gambling addiction.
~
Two other things I feel the book does really well, and I feel are written very well is flesh out the characters, give them a really rich backstory, but make their motives subtle but clear. Like for Kaz, he clearly has a reason for persuing Pekka Rollins, and his childhood was explained in segments. But it's left to the reader to connect those dots because nothing is explicitly stated.

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sehwa's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Knowing this was a YA book, I was sceptical if I would enjoy it or not, but i ended up loving it.
I haven't read the Grisha series written before this one so the beginning of the book was slow and difficult. It was taking my brain a good minute to wrap itself around the new terminology and places and characters etc.
Don't be afraid to read the first few chapters slowly to fully digest everything, the pacing does pick up once we've got a better idea of who are main characters are.

The Six of Crows are a fantastic group who shouldn't work in theory, but ended up working really well together and I loved seeing their friendship grow while they risked their lives together. The plot is amazing, the writing is amazing, the characters are amazing. Can't wait to get started with the next book :)

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oliverreeds's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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laurenn's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a fantastic read, I absolutely loved it. I love a majority of the main characters, the Crows. I thought it was interesting, fun, there were some dark things, but it’s not a huge theme throughout the book. I had a hard time getting into it, but once I sat down and started reading I read the whole thing in one sitting.

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