Genre: Fantasy Age Range: YA Star Rating: 5/5 stars Series: Yes - book 1 of duology, book 4 of GrishaVerse
Synopsis:
Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he’ll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:
Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)
Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)
Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)
Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done – and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable – if they don’t kill each other first.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here. Find on Amazon UK, the Book Depository, and Bookshop.org UK (affiliate links.)
Thoughts:
I love heist books, though I pick so few up. The clever, intricate plots – and the even more insane ones that take their place when everything goes pear-shaped. The crew dynamics, full of banter and sniping.
SIX OF CROWS has all of this. The plan is harebrained, but relies on each character’s strengths that it all makes sense. The Ice Court scenes are so tense and I half expected them to get caught.
The crew themselves are so much fun, with their knotty backstories and scarred pasts. I love how their weaknesses spring directly from this in a fresh feeling way – and how they’ve worked around them. Kaz’s past is the most intriguing, but revolting. I almost don’t want to touch skin after it.
There’s so much banter, but also tension. Nina and Matthias have the most fraught but most intoxicating dynamic. It’s not angst, but real trust issues mixed with attraction and conflicted morals.
The magic system is pushed in new directions, feeling nw and exciting ddespite the fact this is the fourth book in the GrishaVerse world. It’s not just because of jurda parem twisting the Grisha’s magic but because the characters are criminals and criminals use magic differently to revolutionaries. The underhand, clever ways of using magic bring a new angle to the Small Science, while Grisha on parem is sickening (but also so cool).
The ending is shocking, but also feels like it should have been expected. They are criminals, after all.
Read my reviews of other books by Leigh Bardugo
For Young Adult:
The GrishaVerse (this series):
- SHADOW AND BONE (Shadow and Bone #1, GrishaVerse #1)
- SIEGE AND STORM (Shadow and Bone #2, GrishaVerse #2)
- RUIN AND RISING (Shadow and Bone #3, GrishaVerse #3)
- CROOKED KINGDOM (Six of Crows #2, GrishaVerse #5)
- KING OF SCARS (King of Scars #1, GrishaVerse #6)
- RULE OF WOLVES (King of Scars #2, GrishaVerse #7)
DC Icons:
For Adult:
Alex Stern:
- NINTH HOUSE (#1)
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 