A review by eguare
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

I couldn't put this book down, and re-read it about 3 months after finishing it (which I almost never do). I was so engrossed with this book that I didn't even realize that I'd been supposed to read the Shadow & Bone trilogy first until I'd already finished this duology. I greatly appreciated being able to experience a wide-reaching and politically complex fantasy world that wasn't weighed down with constant gratuitous physical and sexual violence (looking at you, GRRM). I'm now fully immersed in the Grishaverse, and can only pray that Leigh Bardugo returns to it in the future. My only (and very slight) critique is that the sense of humor (not of the characters, but in the narration) occasionally seems rather juvenile, though perhaps that's an unfair criticism - it's published in the YA genre, after all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking and Sexual violence

While one of the characters has experienced horrific sexual violence in her past, it is not the central conflict of her story (that is, it's not the "thing that made her stronger"), it is not described graphically and only mentioned in any detail a couple of times, and both the characters and the narrative treat it as a disgusting crime, not something that's minor or something that's inevitable, as is the case with many fantasy books.