WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Six of Crows is the first book in the Six of Crows duology written by Leigh Bardugo, the best-selling author of the Grisha Trilogy. This story takes place in a different setting than the Grisha Trilogy but it still is in the same universe. I DON'T think you NEED to read the Grisha Trilogy in order to read this duology.
THE STORY
It caught my attention since the beginning and I was intrigued by the characters immediately. We follow “A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.”on their journey towards achieving what they want most, working towards their personal benefit, but to get that they must endure plenty of trials and face their fears. I liked the ending, it made me want to keep reading about these characters and their stories.
SETTING
The setting was a breath of fresh air, it's not Ravka (obviously), the place I'd been reading about before, it's now: Ketterdam. If you've read my review of Siege and Storm then you know that then I wanted to get to know more of this world, other places, new people, different culture, and I'm glad we could see all that in this book.
CHARACTERS
Kaz
I enjoyed the characters. Kaz is not my favorite, he's a little too cocky for me ("Greed bows to me." WTF?) and tends to be cruel to those around him, although it's a way he's found to protect himself from further damage; he is really smart, vindictive, dark and super greedy.
Inej
I didn't identify myself or really felt something towards Inej, it's not that I didn't like her character, I did, she is brave, loyal and a believer.
Nina and Matthias
Nina and Matthias. They're definitely the characters I liked best, especially their relationship and its evolution. Nina reminds me a bit of Nikolai, because of her confidence and sense of humor, she's a Ravkan girl who was captured by the Fjerdans and after ending up castaway with one of them, they start make an alliance which will evolve into something more.
Matthias is a Fjerdan, part of the Drüskelle, soldiers committed to hunting Grisha. At the beginning their relationship is quite rough, they resent each other, but it'll slowly unravel into a deeper and more intimate connection. “Jer molle pe oonet. Enel mörd je nej afva trohem verret...I have been made to protect you. Only in death will I be kept from this oath.”
I think Matthias is probably my favorite character of this duology (so far), he was raised by a man who used his traumatic experience (his parents' death) to fill him with hatred and lies, he tells him what to believe, and yet he was always more human, he allowed himself to see beyond those ideas (which were the base of his existence, part of his identity as a Drüskelle) and he does what he thinks is right, he has this unyielding sense of honor, which made me like him more.
Jesper and Wylan
Finally, Jesper and Wylan, I like Jesper's humor and Wylan's innocence, and I'm sure something will happen between them.
WRITING STYLE
The writing style makes the story easy to engage in, of course the voice, the mood and the style change from the Grisha Trilogy, it's told in third person from different points of view, it's coherent and easy to follow.
IN CONCLUSION
To sum it up, I liked this book, I'm eager to continue reading about these characters and to know what happens after that ending! I give it 4 out of 5 stars. A story filled with complex characters, an easy to follow story and an unexpected ending!
THANK YOU FOR READING!