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rachel_here 's review for:
Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In Six of Crows, we follow the story of Kaz Brekker, a well-known criminal prodigy from the city of Ketterdam. When he is offered a huge sum of money to perform a dangerous heist, he reunites a team of five other outcasts in the hopes of getting wildly rich, preventing their world from destroying itself, and having revenge on the man who destroyed his life many years ago.
The story itself is a page-turner. I enjoyed reading it, and everything was alright: the characters were fine, the worldbuilding was fine, the prose was fine (I'll admit some parts made me laugh too, and others, like Kaz's backstory, made my skin crawl. These were the highlights.) But I can't say anything else was above alright. The characters did feel a bit like cardboard cutouts, just ones I enjoyed following for the most part;and the heist was pretty contrived, especially knowing that the Ice Court had never been robbed before. But here a bunch of teenagers (who really should've been in their twenties) succeed on their first try, despite Kaz not communicating half of the plan to them and doing his own stuff halfway through and not telling anyone about it, like the great leader he is. Okay then.
And for another thing: I really liked Nina and Matthias as characters, but these two bring out the worst out of each other. I don't like enemies to lovers unless it is well done, but here it was a mess of hormones and anger and forgetting-you're-genociding-my-people until it becomes useful again. Their dynamic could have been really interesting, and it could have led to a less black-and-white examination of prejudice and nature vs nurture; but since it had to be a romance, these themes were barely brushed up beforeeverything was resolved by revealing there was simply a miscommunication all along . It just felt cheap.
It may sound like I hated this book, but I really didn't. As I said, I was invested in the story - enough at least to buy the sequel. But looking back, I kind of wonder what the point of the story was. Stuff happened, interesting stuff too; but it didn't feel like there was any substance in it. I'm sure many people will enjoy Six of Crows, but it just was a bit too average for me personally.
The story itself is a page-turner. I enjoyed reading it, and everything was alright: the characters were fine, the worldbuilding was fine, the prose was fine (I'll admit some parts made me laugh too, and others, like Kaz's backstory, made my skin crawl. These were the highlights.) But I can't say anything else was above alright. The characters did feel a bit like cardboard cutouts, just ones I enjoyed following for the most part;
And for another thing: I really liked Nina and Matthias as characters, but these two bring out the worst out of each other. I don't like enemies to lovers unless it is well done, but here it was a mess of hormones and anger and forgetting-you're-genociding-my-people until it becomes useful again. Their dynamic could have been really interesting, and it could have led to a less black-and-white examination of prejudice and nature vs nurture; but since it had to be a romance, these themes were barely brushed up before
It may sound like I hated this book, but I really didn't. As I said, I was invested in the story - enough at least to buy the sequel. But looking back, I kind of wonder what the point of the story was. Stuff happened, interesting stuff too; but it didn't feel like there was any substance in it. I'm sure many people will enjoy Six of Crows, but it just was a bit too average for me personally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking