A review by classiccarissa
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

5.0

This book was truly my gateway drug into the world of YA literature. I had tasted it before in The Mortal Instruments, but I never retained it or really held onto that obsession as I aged out of middle school. But then, I took a rare trip to Barnes and Noble and saw a beautiful hardcover book with red lining the pages when closed, and I fell in love. I brought the book with me camping, and it filled quiet hours with some of the most fun I've had reading a book. People say all the time there are some series they want to forget and do all over again, and this is one of them. This book defined my sophomore year of high school. Kaz is such an incredible character, modeled after Bardugo herself, and each one of the characters must have a piece of her in them. They have their own sparks of life in them, from their individual personalities and the way the clash, and later mesh, as a gang of teenagers, was like nothing I'd ever read before. I eventually got the audiobook, which has an incredible cast of readers, and years later I realized that Arthur Morgan (Roger Clark) was in it too! Everyone did an amazing job at further bringing to life the characters I'd imagined in my head. I was ecstatic when I found out Netflix would be adapting it. However, I think nothing can compare to the book. In my opinion, it's better than Shadow and Bone, if only because the protagonists are much more fleshed out and feel cleverer than her. If Book Alina and Book Inej ever really met, I feel like the energy would be a little more hostile than it was in the show.

This book earns a 5/5 from me for the enjoyment it brought to me at a specific time in my life, and because it feels so fresh every reread. The best YA book I've ever read. <3