Six of Crows: Book 1 Paperback – 2 Jun. 2016

I can't remember the last time I read a book and fell so head-over-heels in love with an entire group of characters.People have been recommending Six of Crows to me for a long time now. It's a book I've always meant to get to - who doesn't love a heist story? - but this year I finally sat back, opened it up and was sucked into the seedy underbelly of Leigh Bardugo's fantasy world.As someone who hasn't read Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy this world was entirely new to me, and I loved it. 2018 feels like the year in which I'm rediscovering my first love, fantasy, after several years of being intimidated by it for a reason I still can't quite put my finger on, and Ketterdam has to be one of my favourite fantastical places now purely because Bardugo brings it to life so vividly.While Ravka, which we hear of but don't go to in this book, seems to be a Russian-inspired country, there's no doubt in my mind that Ketterdam is a fantastical version of Amsterdam, with its waterways, merchant-run economy, and the entire districts whose cogs are kept whirring by a constant stream of gambling and prostitution. The Barrel, not at all dissimilar from Amsterdam's Red Light District, is ruled by gangs, and one gangster in particular has Ketterdam in his pocket.Kaz Brekker is one of the most compelling protagonists I have come across in a fantasy novel in a long time. From the blurb I thought he would be very different to the kind of boy he is, but I love how Bardugo has imagined him; she straddles the line between 'criminal prodigy' and 'only a 17 year old' beautifully, creating a character who's had to grow up far too fast and has the dirt of the worst and best of humanity wedged under his fingernails. He's like that first sip of a bitter coffee in human form. It was also so refreshing to read about a protagonist who needs the assistance of a cane to walk and I'd like more protagonists like this please!What makes Six of Crows really sing is its characters. The setting is brilliant and the plot is wonderful, but the characters are what make this book - dare I say it - perfect. Alongside Kaz we have his right-hand woman Inej Ghafa, who was stolen from her home and her family as a child and sold into human trafficking before she began working for the Dregs. Known as the Wraith, she's an expert at going undetected and is yet another example of Bardugo's wonderfully complex characters. Inej's faith is important to her and her morality is something she struggles with when she has essentially become Kaz's personal assassin, but how else is she supposed to survive in a land that sees her as a commodity that can be sold for profit?I loved Bardugo's exploration of religion through Inej and through Matthias, another protagonist from Fjerda, the country next to Ravka, who has essentially been raised in a cult of witch hunters whose own religion teaches that Grisha aren't human. Like all six of the protagonists in Six of Crows, Matthias has found himself washed up in Ketterdam by accident, beginning the novel in prison thanks to a Grisha, Nina, who serves as another protagonist. I'll be saying this for all of them, but I loved Nina, too. A child soldier from Ravka, she was forced to work with Matthias, a boy trained to kill her, after the ship they were on sank and they found their way to Ketterdam. Nina is bubbly and vivacious and loves food - who doesn't? - and I particularly loved her friendship with Inej. There's no competition between them, just the utmost affection and respect and when I say I want more female friendships this is what I mean.Then we have Jesper Fahey, another member of the Dregs who loves gambling and guns a little too much, but another character who is complex and, though flawed, incredibly loyal to Kaz. I adored his sense of humour and his shameless bisexuality. Finally there's Wylan, a boy with a knack for explosives and keeping secrets. He's the kind of character that grows on you as the story progresses, and once you get to know him you can't help but love him.Six of Crows works because each of its protagonists are fleshed out and such fun to follow separately, but they also have brilliant chemistry as a group, too, which is for the best considering they have to rely on each other to pull off a heist that's believed to be impossible. Kaz makes a deal with one of Ketterdam's merchants to break into the Fjerdan Ice Court - a place that has never been breached - and smuggle out a prisoner associated with a drug that, when used on Grisha, turns them into unstoppable weapons who crave the drug more and more and eventually die as nothing more than husks of their previous selves.Kaz doesn't take on this mission out of the goodness of his heart to liberate the Grisha who are being mistreated or to bring order back to the world of the merchants, he takes on the mission because each of them will be rewarded with an inordinate amount of money that will pay off their individual debts and set them up comfortably for life. What ensues is a twisty, turny heist story that keeps you guessing at every turn and makes you genuinely worry for the characters' safety. I love that Bardugo doesn't make this story safe. Kaz has a plan and his plan has a plan, but when things go wrong - and they really do - these kids are forced to improvise if they're going to live to claim their reward.It's been a few months now since I finished this book and I'm still thinking about it. The plotting and character development is exquisite. I fell for this book and these characters and this world so hard, and it's safe to say that this duology is now one of my all-time favourite series and this book has definitely earned a spot on my favourite books of all-time list. It was such fun to read, and it reignited not only my love for fantasy but also my love for YA done well. I escaped into a different world where all the threats and the tears and the love and the smiles felt real, and I will be gushing about it for a long time. And I'm not sorry.

I've been a fan of Leigh Bardugo's ever since I discovered her Grisha trilogy so of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of Six of Crows. I had high expectations going in but I was blown away by how amazing this book was. It's set in the same world as the previous books but if you're new to the author you can definitely start here. Fans will recognise a few nods to the other series but in general this is completely separate and it's actually a very different kind of story to anything we've had from Leigh Bardugo before.Six of Crows is a heist story, one in which six characters have come together to attempt the impossible. Not only do they have to break into an impenetrable fortress but they also have to release a hostage and get him safely back out again. If they can pull off the challenge they'll earn more money than they could get in a lifetime of honest work but it will mean putting their lives at risk and trusting the rest of the team to each play their own vital role. Kaz may be the leader but he can't do this alone and only Inej, Nina, Jesper, Matthias and Wylan have the unique skills needed to help him pull off the heist of a lifetime.It's been a long time since I was quite so invested in such a diverse bunch of characters. Kaz is a great anti-hero, nothing with him is quite what it seems and he is constantly at least ten steps ahead of everyone else. His planning skills are second to none and I loved the way he was constantly pulling off the unexpected even though the number of secrets he was keeping was incredibly frustrating for the rest of the team. Nina and Matthias have a very complicated history and it makes things more than a little awkward between them, they're more likely to kill each other before the mission is complete than to actually have each other's backs but I really enjoyed the way we got to learn about their pasts through various flashbacks. They have both done things they're not proud of and they have good reasons not to trust each other but they're going to have to find a way to work together, at least temporarily, if they want to achieve their goals. Jesper added a lot of humour to the group, he's probably the least conflicted character in the bunch but he's loyal and is trusted by everyone. Wylan is a bit of an unknown quantity, as the newest member of the group and someone that none of them have ever worked with before he has to prove his loyalty before he can gain their trust.As much as I loved all of the characters it was Inej who quickly became my favourite - she's just absolutely brilliant and I couldn't get enough of her. Nicknamed The Wraith, Inej is an expert at sneaking around, her acrobatic skills mean she can get anywhere and you'll never hear her coming. If Kaz needs a silent assassin Inej is the one he sends but she's best at spying and an expert at gathering the secrets of his enemies. Inej puts all other badass women to shame and I don't think there is anything she can't achieve but she's also one of the sweetest characters who has been through some horrific things and I desperately want to see her dreams come true.I was a little worried at first that it might be hard to keep track of who everyone is, books with this many different points of view can get incredibly complicated, but Leigh Bardugo has given them all such unique voices and made all six of them so three dimensional that I had no problems at all keeping things straight. The same definitely can't be said of Kaz's plans for the heist because that was twist, after twist, after twist and I swear I was on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the book. You never had a clue what would be thrown at the characters next and I was genuinely concerned that not everyone was going to survive the mission. The first half was a little slower as it introduced each of the characters and laid all the groundwork for what was to follow but I was never bored and I loved every minute of it.Speaking as a Leigh Bardugo fan girl I would definitely say that this is her best book yet, I love the Grisha trilogy but this is on a whole new level and epic doesn't even begin to describe Six of Crows. It was marketed as Oceans Eleven meets Game of Thrones and it lives up to the hype, it's fast paced, witty, clever and the characters are absolutely fantastic. The first instalment of a duology Six of Crows doesn't answer every question but it doesn't end on a cliffhanger and you will find out if they can pull of their heist or not. The sequel, Crooked Kingdom, is now at the top of my wish list for 2016 and I can't wait to spend more time with these characters!