Title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pub Date: September 29, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Pages:  462
Source: Purchased
Genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads || Buy on Amazon

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

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My review:

“When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”

This book is about a diverse cast of misfits and criminals working together (or plotting against each other) in order to pull off the ultimate heist. What more could you want?

One of my all-time favourite films is The Usual Suspects, which follows five conmen who are arrested (for a crime they had no part in) and are brought in for questioning. They end up working together to pull off the ultimate crime as revenge on the police. It is so, so good, and Six of Crows definitely has the same allure.

This particular crew is made up of Kaz Brekker (a cunning thief with impeccable timing), Jesper Fahey (a notorious gambler and slightly better sharpshooter), Inej Ghafa (a silent and deadly spy), Wylan Van Eck (an intelligent and well-meaning runaway), Nina Zenik (a compassionate Grisha with killer curves), and Matthias Helvar (a free convict who wants revenge for his imprisonment). To say that these characters are very different from one another is a huge understatement. They make an unlikely team (if you can call them a team) but you will root for every single one of them.

This takes place in the same world that Bardugo unraveled in The Grisha Trilogy, but the story begins several years after the ending of Ruin and Rising. The same rules of magic apply. The same nations are mentioned, but we are now focused on Ketterdam (which is probably an alternate version of Amsterdam) rather than Ravka. The writing is fantastic–which is unsurprising seeing as Leigh Bardugo is a newly-discovered favourite of mine. Her trilogy was amazing but she has outdone herself with this new duology. The plot is action-packed and fast-paced. The romance is minimal yet so precious. I need more!

I can’t say anything else about the plot, not because I don’t want to, but because there was so much going on that I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. Every second counts. Every character matters. This is one epic story.

I highly recommend this book! Read it!