April 2017 - sprinkled pages » a book and baking blog

Six Of Crows and Crooked Kingdom | sprinkledpages

That’s right friends!

This is a Six Of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo review! *all around the world people stand to applaud as finally, Anisha, has conquered the beast and read…Six Of Crows*

Okay, slightly melodramatic but very true. I have had SO many people on my case to read this duology for the longest time and whenever I would whisper oh so quietly that I had not read Six Of Crows yet, I would be met with SUCH ASTONISHMENT!

So this is to Jananee, who I think has been on my case the longest about reading this duology – because girl, it finally happened!

Also, you can read this entire review without fearing spoilers. including my review for Crooked Kingdom as this is completely spoiler free! Enjoy!

SIX OF CROWS

I think the reason I put this off for the longest was because I was scared. I had such high expectations after hearing SUCH positive things and while I do feel it didn’t meet my expectations I also didn’t really expect it to.

Let me just begin by saying this book was super enjoyable and fast paced and action packed and for me, the characters were the best part! They were so realistic and loveable and they all had their own stories and fears and dreams and they felt like real people to me. undoubtedly though Inej is my favourite but I have a lot of appreciation for Kaz, Nina and Wylan!

The slight problem with this was, because Six Of Crows is such a hyped book, I knew almost everything there was to know about the characters and plot before I began. I knew it was a book about a daring heist with anti-hero main characters. I knew all the character names, roughly a little about their backstory and all the ships.

This meant there was no surprise element left for me. I wasn’t able to discover the characters myself and uncover parts about them. I accidently got mildly spoilt for some bits and knew the general gist of the story. I found that I was a little let down by that and the plot.

I’m not one for hugely complicated plots because I always find myself in over my head and just WAYY too confused, like I was in this book. I find that this would have been the perfect character driven book with minimal plot and while some may argue it has both, I would have liked it to be more about the characters and their journey than a complicated heist story. But at the same time, I also do like the dangerous heist plot because damn that’s exciting.

But, anyway back to the characters, I don’t want to turn this review into a huge gush where I cannot stop talking about my love for these 6 anti-heroes but I can’t help myself. For me, there is nothing better than an anti-hero because they are the most realistic type of character.

There was something just so profoundly beautiful about these characters having experienced the worst yet still making something of themselves and taking back what is theirs. It was an ode to survivors and I freaking loved it.

Can I also just have a little segment in here about how much I adored the diversity? Bardugo puts in characters into her novels that are diverse – but wait for it – she doesn’t make the entire novel about their diverse aspects. *moment of silence to allow this to settle in*

Just kidding. (No not really. Authors, please take note.)

From chronic pain and to people of colour (especially women of colour) to positive and uplifting female friendships and showcasing different body types, Bardugo does it all. However I don’t want to get too much into this because it is mildly spoilery and I don’t want to spoil you all like I was!

OVERALL RATING:

★★★★½

CROOKED KINGDOM

So this segment is going to be a little shorter than the one above because I’ve already said pretty much all I wanted to! I found Six Of Crows to be better than Crooked Kingdom but Crooked Kingdom to have a satisfying but slightly anti-climatic ending.

I found that this one was way too plot and action heavy and I didn’t really understand what was going on. I literally still do not know what happened and I only got through it because of the characters. It was also pretty chunky to read *sweats nervously*.

The cast was amazing as per usual in this! I actually feel there was more character development happening in this one than the previous and that made me so immensely happy because THEY ARE MY BABIES OKAY? Fight me.

And that ending. I knew it was coming and I hadn’t really expected anything else so I wasn’t disappointed but at the same time, I felt the book ended quite abruptly. Like there was all this action, especially towards the end…and then suddenly nothing.

But other than that, WHAT AN AMAZING DUOLOGY.

READ THIS READ THIS READ THIS READ THIS.

You will fall in love with the characters. And when you think you can’t fall anymore…you’ll fall again. And again. And again. Until you’re a broken mess on the ground.

Yay.

Thank you to Hachette Australia for providing me a review copy of Crooked Kingdom. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

OVERALL RATING:

★★★★

Have you read either Six Of Crows or Crooked Kingdom? What did you think? Or are you planning to? And who is one of your favourite anti-heroes? Let me know because I always look for book recommendations with a good anti-hero!