Review: Six of Crows

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars


 I received this book as a birthday gift from a good friend, Alex of AlexCanRead. That was back in late August. At the time, my cat was (and still is, sadly) seriously ill and I was too distracted to read much, but then I had to evacuate because of Hurricane Irma, deal with a slew of post-hurricane repairs, and I was ultimately really jammed with my October and November ARC commitments. So I said to myself, the only way this book is getting read right now is on audiobook.

I bought the audiobook and whoa, was it a dark start. I actually messaged Alex at one point in the beginning and said, "this is what you gave me?!" "Stick with it," she said. "It's a great book," she said.

We briefly discussed our favorite character (same favorite!) and I went on my merry way, listening to 15 hours of audiobook while driving, doing laundry, chopping vegetables (after shushing husband, who wanted to know what a grisha was). And I get, finally, to the end of the book only to find a CLIFFHANGER INVOLVING MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!!??

Messages exchanged:

Me: Nooooooooo! ALEX!!!!! It ended in a cliffhanger for [INSERT FAVORITE CHARACTER FOR HUNDREDS OF PAGES HERE]!!!!

Alex: Hai! Wasn't it a great book? Wasn't it fantastic character development? Yeah, there's that cliffhanger with [Insert Favorite Character Whose Fate Hangs In The Balance Here]. But now you like Kaz better, right? 

Me: 

Also me: Do you know how much I hate cliffhangers?

Alex: But the sequel is already out! Go read the sequel. And it's just a duology. Wasn't it great?

Me: I know it's a duology, Alex. I just bought the second $@#$%#%#$@% audiobook. 

Alex: See! It's such a great series.

Me: I bought the three Grisha books, too.

Alex:

Me:

Alex: BWAHAHAHAHAHA. (Clear Silent Message:  Aw, poor you. Found a good series because of me. Poor, poor you.)

Reader, the above was part of an actual exchange with Alex. Be warned, Reader. Alex Can Read puts books laden with jurda parem in your hands, and you, like an innocent little grisha reader, will get hooked.

This was a very good book, but it's a dark world. I wasn't always on one hundred percent on board with plot plausibility but the character development is off the charts. All the characters have complex, rich and surprising personal histories that inform who they are when we meet them and how they react. One of the central characters has a physical disability and an important secondary character appears to have dyslexia. Bardugo had me at the sophisticated inclusion of characters with disability. And well, with everyone in the band of thieves and grisha. I liked all of them by the end.

As mentioned, I'm now reading Crooked Kingdom. It's all Alex's fault. Well, I guess some is Leigh Bardugo's fault, too.

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