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A review by eisenbuns
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
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
3.75
"Crooked Kingdom" is the follow-up to Leigh Bardugo’s successful “Six of Crows,” which follows a rag-tag team of thieves as they try to make their fortunes and secure their futures. There’s a lot at stake heading into the second and final installment of this duology. Kaz, morally gray leader and brutal with his cane, is bent on revenge but might just burn out before he gets it. Stealthy Inej, The Wraith, needs to buy out the contract that binds her to a local pleasure house. Jesper, sharpshooter extraordinaire, is drowning in debt. Nina and Matthias, witch and witch-hunter, fight for a future in which Grisha need not be hunted down for their powers. Sweet Wylan needs to find his own place in the world, and prove to everyone that he is worth more than his familial connections.
The character moments in "Crooked Kingdom" blew me away. I cried for Inej. She speaks to a place in my heart that I’m not sure any character has touched on before. Her relentless desire to do good, paired with her earnest faith in her gods, left me little choice but to fall helplessly in love with her.
This book suffered most from its plot. I normally love a plot-pivot, where we go in thinking the plot is one thing, but the real plot comes knocking in act two. It just didn’t work for me here. I felt that the schemes the group got into were weirdly tame compared to SoC, when the stakes should have been raised. How they scraped by was more of the same. “The plan is the plan,” to steal a phrase, except there is always another, higher plan. This formula was fun in the first book, but boring in the second. I found myself skimming plot scenes to look for the character moments while the next deus ex machina plot device was revealed.
Romance-wise, I think Bardugo almost nailed it. She fulfilled expectations set up in the first book, without giving any spoilers. I do think that the queer romance felt tragically two-dimensional. I burned for the heterosexual couples in this book and wanted to feel the same chemistry in the queer representation corner, but it just wasn’t quite there. Still, great representation! I just wanted more from it.
The character moments in "Crooked Kingdom" blew me away. I cried for Inej. She speaks to a place in my heart that I’m not sure any character has touched on before. Her relentless desire to do good, paired with her earnest faith in her gods, left me little choice but to fall helplessly in love with her.
This book suffered most from its plot. I normally love a plot-pivot, where we go in thinking the plot is one thing, but the real plot comes knocking in act two. It just didn’t work for me here. I felt that the schemes the group got into were weirdly tame compared to SoC, when the stakes should have been raised. How they scraped by was more of the same. “The plan is the plan,” to steal a phrase, except there is always another, higher plan. This formula was fun in the first book, but boring in the second. I found myself skimming plot scenes to look for the character moments while the next deus ex machina plot device was revealed.
Romance-wise, I think Bardugo almost nailed it. She fulfilled expectations set up in the first book, without giving any spoilers. I do think that the queer romance felt tragically two-dimensional. I burned for the heterosexual couples in this book and wanted to feel the same chemistry in the queer representation corner, but it just wasn’t quite there. Still, great representation! I just wanted more from it.