Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

DISCLAIMER: If you have different opinions on this book, that's completely fine! Just please respect my thoughts.

Before we get started with the review, I must say that this was very hard to make and form into coherent words since I loved this book so much. Six of Crows is probably one of my favorite YA Fantasy novels.

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of sexual abuse, gore, obscenities

For ages 13+

“Kaz leaned back. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?"

"Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.

"Gun to the back?" said Jesper.

"Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina.

"You're all horrible," said Matthias.”

- Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

Characters:

The characters, in my opinion, were AMAZING. They all had such well thought out backstories and personalities, and I love how they had their faults. Two critiques about them was that they all had sob stories and seemed much older than seventeen, but I didn't mind that too much.

Kaz Brekker:

Kaz Brekker leads a gang called the Dregs and he's calculating, fearsome, and cocky but he's such a cinnamon roll inside <3 But how a seventeen year old can be that smart and threatening...? I don't think that's accurate.

Inej Ghafa:

I think Inej is so inspiring and how she keeps fighting after what happened to her (I won't say because of spoilers) at such a young age. She is thoughtful, loyal, and brave and I love her acrobatic skills- I think they're very interesting!

Jesper Fahey:

I thought that Jesper's restless, funny, and reckless personality was well thought out and that he was definitely an easy character to like.

Wylan Van Eck:

Wylan doesn't have a perspective in Six of Crows, but in the second book, Crooked Kingdom, we learn more about this sweet child. At first, he doesn't feel like he fits with the crow gang since he is so soft and definitely isn't a criminal. Later on, he finds a family within them, and let me just say, the trope of 'found family' was very well used in this book. I liked how he played the flute, not the violin. I feel like playing the violin is an overused hobby in books and movies.

Nina Zenik:

I loved Nina so much: she was so confident, flirty, and independent, contrasting her ship, Matthias, completely.

Matthias Helvar:

I... didn't like him? But at the same time I didn't not like him. Though I did enjoy how even though he was raised with certain beliefs, he changed.

Plot:

The plot was so engaging and twisty- I felt captured and taken straight to the world! A lot of Kaz's plans took me a reread to understand, but I didn't mind. After all, it shows more of his cunning.

Worldbuilding:

The worldbuilding of Ketterdam is absolutely amazing. It felt dangerous and wicked, and I know I probably wouldn't survive living there. I saw that Leigh Bardugo wanted to make the language German, and included words from it, but she didn't really continue using them.

Relationships:

I liked all the relationships and thought that they were so amazing. I'll describe each of them below, and don't worry: these aren't spoilers, since it's really obvious who'll be in a relationship with who.

Kaz and Inej: This is one of my favorite slowburn ships because it's so unique and adorable! (I tear up whenever I think of it).

Wylan and Jesper: This relationship is so sweet and I love some of the banter between the two! There was something that happened in Crooked Kingdom that made me laugh/cringe. If you know... you know.

Nina and Matthias: This was probably my least favorite ship out of the three, but I still really liked it! This was an enemies to lovers, and they had a rough ride indeed! There were many times where Nina and Matthias were coming close to lovers, but something happened that pulled them apart. I'd describe their arc as a roller coaster.

So overall, this was a 5/5 stars and I loved this book so much!