You have changed my life Leigh Bardugo. With your Six of Crows. Really. I don’t even know that this post is going to be. Will it be a review? Will be it a blog full of spoilers? Will it have me gushing about how much I loved the book? Will it just have incoherent random nonsense from me?
The answer is – probably all of the above.
I started this book with shaking hands two days back. So many of my online bookish friends have loved this book. And I had recently read the Ninth House. So I was nervous. Will I like it or not like it? I realised I needn’t have worried. Leigh Bardugo – do you know how much reading the first book cost me? It cost me buying the beautiful collector’s edition from Amazon and one day of my working day salary, because guess what? I took a day off from work just so I could binge read this and finish it! That’s how much I loved your book and the story about these unlikely, strange, broken and yet absolutely lovable characters!
I don’t want to waste my blog space by telling you what the story is about. In short, the first book is Ocean’s 11, YA style. Those are Leigh Bardugo’s words. Everything about the book is great ok! The plot, the mood, the setting, the twists, the actions, the drama, the romance, the humour, the characters.. I mean, I can’t stop gushing. This is literally me in the rest of this post, sorry if I wasted your time with my fan girling😏
The thought on the top of my mind last night was, wait a second, these are 17 year old kids?! I’m 37 and I feel like I still don’t have half the brains, courage, panache, clarity that all of these kids have in the book put together. While these kids were planning and going through the heist of their lives, what was I doing when I was 17? Oh right, I was living with my parents, cooped up hard in my study room, trying to crack the terrible school exams and entrance exams. The biggest adventure I had when I was 17 was hitting a guy in the market place who had grabbed my ass. That was the only time I felt invincible and somewhere close to these characters.. lol!
So characters – I loved all of them! Really! After ages I’ve read a book where I was so invested in the characters that I actually cried in some scenes and had an ‘awww’ moment in some scenes and laughed out in the empty apartment in other scenes and had my heart beating with nervousness and anticipation in some scenes. I cared about all of them and I wanted and prayed that all of them come out of this like winners. I was dreading that the author will kill one of them and I just wouldn’t have been able to deal with that at all. Whew! Thankfully, my kids were safe.. kinda.. this is a spoiler-y post ok?!
My favorite was Jesper though. I think I’m a lot like Jesper. The clown and entertainer on the outside, who is never taken seriously by her friends or family and is most often left out of all planning and decision making, but always invited because she will always be there and always entertain people, even though she might be hurt inside or unsure inside. I thought that was Jesper and I think that’s me. But I also dream of being like Inej. Strong, amazing, beautiful, mysterious and yet vulnerable. I loved all the chemistry in the book. (I know I can never actually be her, I’m Jesper, that’s who I am)
Scheming face..
Definitely
The dialogue that made me laugh all the frigging time! It’s stuck in my head too.
Other dialogues and thoughts that are stuck in my head
I’ll ask Matthias’s ghost to kick your ghosts ass
My ghost won’t associate with your ghost
And all the talk about ghosts and what they would do with their money😂
I loved Inej’s thoughts and the parts she remembers about her father teaching her about how to fall.
The trick is not to try to focus on the landing but to focus on standing back up.. (I don’t think those are the exact words but more or less the gist of it)..
And the chemistry between Kaz and Inej.. my goodness. I was shipping all the couples to be honest. I enjoyed all the scenes between Matthias and Nina too. They were both so fierce and yet had such kind hearts.
Since I’m so much like Jesper, I wonder if there’s going to be more of Wylan and Jesper in the second book? I want to read more about them too 😊
The puzzle and the plot- how do people think of such amazing puzzles and crack them and write about them in a way that leaves the readers breathless and with a thought that says, I never saw that coming?! The whole layout of the ice palace, putting the team together, planning the entry and the exits, failing and succeeding .. I was just blown away.
Now that all the gushing is sort of out of the way, the only parts that I struggled with were the Grisha terminologies. I think it might have been easier had I read the Grishaverse trilogy, but I had to keep going back and forth in my notes to remember what powers a Corporalki has and who is a fabrikator and which group he/she belongs to and what is a heart render and who is a healer and all those references to the Ravkan civil war and the Grisha second army.. maybe I’ll know more about that when I read the Grisha trilogy😊
Reading this book was literally like watching a movie like Ocean’s 11. Right from the first scene of the showdown and Kaz’s genius when he is one step ahead of the rival gang. I’ve been day dreaming about the book since yesterday and really wish they make a screen adaptation of this one too.
And now, I consider myself lucky to be a late reader because I don’t have to wait for the sequel!!! Diving right into ‘Crooked Kingdom’!!!
Questions to you guys
Please please let’s gush over some of the scenes and your favorite lines and your favorite characters from Six of Crows together!!! I need to fan girl some more lol!
Starry Eyed Enigma 