Paperback Perils: Six of Crows

Title: Six of Crows

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publication Date: 2015

Publishing House: Henry Holt and Company

I am now officially on the Six of Crows bandwagon. I finished the book a week ago and I’m dying to read the second one. Let me start with how I first heard about this book. My stepmom texted me one evening to tell me that my youngest sister was reading to her out loud and that she really enjoyed being read to. Then I just kept getting updates on how good the book was and how much Emily, my sister, was reading. The book was of course Six of Crow. A week later I go over to drop my dog off for the weekend before heading to Amarillo and Emily hands me the book. She makes me promise to read it next.

That same night after hours in the car we make it to Amarillo for the WT Homecoming. At dinner with friends my old roommate tells me I need to read Six of Crows. I start laughing and tell her that I have it in the car. True to my word, after finishing Clockwork Dynasty, I start this book whose name keeps following me.

This book is a wild ride from start to finish. Full of darkness, hard truths, and character backstories that are disturbingly heart wrenching. Despite this though there are these bright moments that shine out so well and they are such small things that in a book with less darkness they would be nothing but in this book they are jems. One of these is a flashback towards the end when criminal mastermind, Kaz, is talking to The Wraith, Inej. She is talking to him but her eyes are closed as she enjoys a spot of sun. This book is beautiful in that there are characters that start out with opposite ideas of what a monster is but they learn and they change, if slowly.

Bardugo wrote this book from multiple first person points of view. Each view is unique to its character and are easily told apart from the others. The characters are all similar in one way, besides being criminals. None of them give up their secrets until they decide the time is right. The main characters are as follows:

• Inej: The Wraith, knife wielding, superstitious and strong.
• Kaz: Criminal Mastermind with a limp and sad past that set him onto his current course.
• Nina: Warrior loyal to her country and her kind
• Matthias: Broken and angry but willing to learn
• Jesper: Gambler who get high on danger and loves to give others a hard time
• Wylan: Trying to find his way in the world  and an explosives expert.

I don’t want to give too much away but if you like fantasy, magic, and heists pick up a copy of this book. I’m off to read Crooked Kingdom. If you have any reading suggestions please leave them in the comments! Happy reading!