Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Goodreads synopsis: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

My rating: 4 stars.

Content warnings: PG-13. Some cursing in book-specific languages. One f-word. Street violence. A character must fight to death with a wolf (emotionally charged) and suffers injuries. Various characters are stabbed, shot, punched, kicked. A character has the ability to effect people's bodies, killing them either painlessly or painfully. Implied torture. Characters find people burned alive, one still barely clinging to life. One character dresses and acts provocatively. There's talk of brothels and activity within (nothing seen). Another character was sold to a brothel and was clearly traumatized, though the details of her time there are never mentioned. The plot centers around a drug, which has highly addictive effects on certain characters, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

Thoughts: I was torn whether it was three or four stars, but then I remembered Kaz Brekker's gloves. That itself isn't what did it, but somehow those gloves sort of became a symbol for the depth of characterization and development each character got throughout the story and that is what made it great for me. Characters are what I like most about any story.

It did take me a while to get into the story. I wasn't exactly disinterested with what was going on, it just felt oddly dense and hard to get through. But once I made it about halfway, I finished in a day and a half.

I'd heard the prose praised so highly by various people across the internet, but I'm not sure I noticed it distinctly. It was very nice, but maybe I was expecting it to stand out more somehow. Or maybe I was miffed because each chapter seems to supposed to be limited third person, but there were numerous instances of something being described that the assumed POV character should never have known. It wasn't a huge deal, and head hopping isn't something that entirely frustrates me in books. But when you present a chapter as a limited POV, then the head hopping annoys me.

All that being said, I did really enjoy it. I'm interested to see where the next one goes, because I have no idea with that ending what could even happen next. But it should be a fun ride, this one sure was.