Review: Six of Crows

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There's a reason why this book comes with Michael Dante DiMartino's seal of approval - it's a lot like Legend of Korra in a few ways, with its primary settings being two different cities in an alternate world. One, Ketterdam, being a sort of early 20th century steampunk city. And the other, an icy city in the northern wastelands of Fjerda.

It's also got a lot of Ocean's Eleven in its DNA, being a heist story as opposed to the magical war that marked the Grisha Trilogy. As a result, in spite of a few lagging stretches of the story, there's some serious action involved in this book, and a rich array of antihero characters with dark pasts. And while most of them aren't magical, the small science still plays a huge role in the plot - because the whole reason for the heist has something to do with a new drug that seriously enhances a Grisha's power, but with nasty, nasty side effects.

Now that we're getting a little more insight into the world of the Grisha trilogy - particularly the lands beyond Ravka - I'm pretty happy. And after re-reading this book in anticipation of Crooked Kingdom (which I've recently picked up at the library and will read after finishing Empire of Storms), I feel compelled to bump up my star rating for this book - because while I did find it a bit slow at times on the first go, this time around, I got a stronger feel for our antiheroes and their distinctive, strong personalities - and I realized just how much of a Kaz I really am. Especially in terms of his interactions with others - more phobic than they (or I) ought to be.

I'm just bummed that Crooked Kingdom is the end of this series...though hopefully not the end of Bardugo's wider Grishaverse.

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