Magic, heists, and trauma: Six of Crows was amazing

My favorite books tend to be character-driven. I want events to happen because of the choices characters make, and I want to feel like their reactions are informed by their past. And Six of Crows delivers. I’d read elsewhere that others felt that Leight Bardago improves her writing in these books compared to the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and I can’t help but agree. I say that having loved (most of) Shadow and Bone.

If you’re unfamiliar with this book, the six, titular, crows are a group of people looking to score big. The character interactions completely sucked me into this book. We have the cold mastermind, with a secret weakness on a mission for vengeance; the elusive spy with a spiritual soul looking for direction; the stoic witch-hunter, who might hide a heart as gold as his hair; a sarcastic ‘witch’ who can’t say something serious to save her life; the incredible gunslinger who probably has ADHD and DEFINITELY has a problem with gambling; and lastly a passable bomb maker who probably shouldn’t be here.

With that group of misfits at the helm, I adored this book. Every one of those characters is deeply (and I cannot underscore this enough, DEEPLY) flawed. The trauma is palpable even before we start getting their backstories. There is SO much banter, and I lapped it up. I think I called the characters “emotionally stunted babies” (affectionate) in a text to a friend while reading this. That comment was in response to something Kaz had done, of course. But it, in turn, applies to most of the characters. I think Inej is the most mature of the lot.

Six of Crows is told through multiple points of view. That can be challenging to write well, but Bardago nails it for me. I noticed that the narration in each character’s POV remained fairly consistent from chapter to chapter. What changed was the internal thoughts and reflections of the character. I think that internal thread of consistency helped balance the fact that we saw the POV of almost every major character (and a few side ones).

Kerch is such a cool setting. It feels like I’m reading a heist story set in 1920s England. I’ve seen it compared to Peaky Binders by others. Despite being in the same world as Shadow and Bone, this new country feels completely different than Ravka. The Grishaverse is turning out to be a rich world and the politics matter to this story (and even more in the next one!). Overall, I highly recommend Six of Crows to anyone who likes a smidge of magic, broken characters doing their best, and lots and lots of banter.

You can find a shorter review on my Instagram page. Thank you for reading!