Scan barcode
A review by imme_van_gorp
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
3.5
Wow. This book was so vivid and so vibrant. All the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The imagery was gorgeous and the story just flowed so seamlessly. It was all very admirably and cleverly put together.
The writing was pretty dense though and could definitely feel like it dragged with its excessive descriptions, but despite that, it was somehow still pleasant and engrossing to read, even if a bit hard to get through at times.
That said, this book was certainly too action-packed and plot-focused for my tastes. I prefer it when there are more quiet moments spend on character development and build-up of relationships. There were so many action scenes going on that there was little time left for the characters to interact with each other.
And that’s not to say that these characters felt superficial or empty; far from it. These characters actually felt very real and lively with super interesting backstories, motivations, dreams, fears and personalities. However, the fact that there was so much potential in these characters was also exactly why I wanted to see more of them. I wanted to see their personalities shine through in scenes without some sort of action-sequence involved; I wanted to see these characters be more than pawns in some genius scheme, I wanted them to just be themselves and talk with each other in a meaningful and in-depth way, but also have light or fun moments together.
Alas, that was not what happened as most of this book was action upon action with a pure focus on the twist and turns of the plot, and thus, with hardly any room left for dialogue or interactions of a different kind. For me, that was exactly what made this merely a good book instead of a fantastic one.
The writing was pretty dense though and could definitely feel like it dragged with its excessive descriptions, but despite that, it was somehow still pleasant and engrossing to read, even if a bit hard to get through at times.
That said, this book was certainly too action-packed and plot-focused for my tastes. I prefer it when there are more quiet moments spend on character development and build-up of relationships. There were so many action scenes going on that there was little time left for the characters to interact with each other.
And that’s not to say that these characters felt superficial or empty; far from it. These characters actually felt very real and lively with super interesting backstories, motivations, dreams, fears and personalities. However, the fact that there was so much potential in these characters was also exactly why I wanted to see more of them. I wanted to see their personalities shine through in scenes without some sort of action-sequence involved; I wanted to see these characters be more than pawns in some genius scheme, I wanted them to just be themselves and talk with each other in a meaningful and in-depth way, but also have light or fun moments together.
Alas, that was not what happened as most of this book was action upon action with a pure focus on the twist and turns of the plot, and thus, with hardly any room left for dialogue or interactions of a different kind. For me, that was exactly what made this merely a good book instead of a fantastic one.