Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1), by Leigh Bardugo
- Publisher: Henry Holt & Co., 2015
- Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
- Format: Ebook
- Page Count: 465 pages
- My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Oh my Saints! The whole plot had me on the edge of my seat, and my forehead was beaded with sweat by the time I finished it in an extended reading session. Please, not the dreadful cliffhanger!!!
In the first few chapters, I grappled with the concept of Grishaverse. A bit too many jargons stuffed into the beginning, so I wouldn’t say it seized my attention from the start. Maybe the Grisha Trilogy were meant to be read first. But then everything clicked into place and the story unravelled, vivid and dangerous.
It was interesting seeing the languages in Grishaverse with roots from those of ours. I died when I figured Shu Han was from the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Even though the countries mirrored stereotypical ones of ours and that some names were incorrect in our languages, let’s just accept that this is a fantasy worth appreciated, not some adventure set in the real world.
The overall story was not a perfect flow, more like a multiple-stage mission of recruiting, travelling, breaking in, and escaping. It was still very compelling. They started for wealth and freedom, and gradually for alliance. (As a thieving crew, what they had between them might not be friendship.)
I like how each character is conflicted about their own problems. As tough as they may seem, they have their weaknesses, just like everyone. They scam one another, purposely hold back truths. Deceits. Shocking as it may seem, I feel that Kaz’s crew was actually too nice to everyone in the book. You’d thought dealing with con men for a living had taught them something but no, they were simply not as cruel as they wanted others to believe.
‘Like a hive of bees in your dresser drawer.’ (Inej on Kaz)
Is it weird that Inej is my favourite? She is agile and smart, strong-willed and hard-cored, the Wraith, who suffered gravely for the crew. It was impossible for me to not love her. Other characters were either too twisted or not mentioned enough. I need more of Matthias’s thoughts as well as Wylan’s POV, and I will definitely read the sequel.
I feel a twinge of guilt for not being in loving with this book, thinking that it could have been even better. Nonetheless, Six of Crows is a very satisfying book, and I really enjoyed it. [6 May 2018]
