A Review Of "Six Of Crows" By Leigh Bardugo

After the roaring success of Harry Potter, we see plenty of authors claiming to have written the next best fantasy series. The problem with most of them is that they stick to the tried and tested formula of a righteous underdog who rises from the ashes and needs to avenge someone. Next, a bunch of complicated rules for magic are added along with a social hierarchy that is uncomfortably similar to the real world. What I liked about Six of Crows is that the author makes no excuses for the morality of her characters. They are tough because they need to be tough to survive. I did draw parallels to the gang wars that we hear on TV and I wasn't sure if all the characters being in their teens was believable but I did enjoy the diversity of the characters.

Ketterdam is touted as a fictional place similar to Amsterdam and I saw that similarity in its various waterways and having a street dedicated to the pleasures of the flesh. I found the first couple of chapters a bit too boring but that might be a personal opinion since I always prefect action and description over dialogue. the pace of the story changed drastically as soon as the scheming Kaz was brought to the forefront. As with most of the stories now, the book is divided into chapters where the story is told from the points of view of each character. I wish that we were given some inkling to the plans made before they are revealed in the story. They made it a little too unbelievable to me. The ability of Kaz to have anticipated all scenarios and to have made arrangements for things that nobody had thought would happen reminded me of one of my favorite movies – Ocean's eleven. However, scenes that are given the liberty of being too unrealistic in movies are not given the same liberty in books where the story teller has more opportunities to keep the reader in the loop.

The palpable chemistry between Kaz and Inj was predictable but was also enjoyable. Having read so many young adult fantasies lately, the Nina and Mattias equation seemed predictable too. But I appreciate the effort that the author made to get the backstory of each character into the story and still manage to keep the flow of the story. I always like to know what makes a character tick and that was probably the favorite part of my reading experience.

Towards the last half of the book, I was so intrigued that I wished to stay home from work in order to continue reading it and that garners the book its 5 stars. It is not often that a book that I did not like much in the beginning chapters manages to change my opinion of it completely and I was glad that Six of Crows did that. I can now safely say that I understand why the series has amassed such a huge fan base and all the fanfictions and merchandise that has arisen from it.