Review: Six Of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Genre: YA Fantasy

Published: 29th September 2015

Length: 462 pages

My rating: 7/10

Overview: Kaz Brekker, leader of a criminal gang, is offered the deal of a lifetime. Break into an impenetrable fortress, rescue a man who could unleash hell into the world, and make it back in one piece. Easy, right?

I decided to read this book as I've heard amazing things about Leigh Bardugo and all her books sound interesting. I must admit, I had very high expectations, but for me the book didn't quite live up to them. That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable, and I am still looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I felt like it was the plot that let the book down. This is hard to explain because I loved the world building and the concept of Grisha and the gangs, and there was certainly no short supply of plot twists. However, I just feel like some of it was really rushed, underdeveloped, and not explained very well. For instance, their journey to the Ice Court was really quick and we could have had some more of the characters getting to know each other more, especially the newcomers Wylan and Matthias. We rarely had a conversation that included all six main characters which I think would have been nice. I understand why the many plots conjured up by Kaz were kept secret from the reader until they happened, because it is more surprising, but I would have preferred to have a hint at what was going on. Being constantly kept in the dark makes the reader feel like Jesper; annoyed to be kept out of everything.

What totally redeemed the book was the characters. I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite, but I really liked Nina for her sassiness and although he wasn't in it much compared to the others I quite like Wylan too. I loved that we got a glimpse into each character's past, as it added much more dimension to each of them, especially Kaz, Inej, and Nina. To be honest the character I struggle to warm to is Matthias, just because his character development of wanting to kill Nina to being in love with her happened way too quickly and should have been drawn out a bit more. Even at the start of the book you could tell that these characters will probably go through a lot of development throughout the series which is always fun to read about. I even liked one of the villains, Pekka Rollins (what are these names though? So silly) and I am quite excited to see more of him and hopefully watch him get defeated!

I feel like I'm pointing a lot of bad things out about the book, but just one more: it annoyed me that all the main characters were coupled up with another of the main characters. None of them have really made a proper couple yet but they probably will, and I just think it would be more interesting to have someone either already in a relationship, in a relationship with a character apart from the main six, or a character that will have more than one love interest over the course of the series. Obviously I have only read the first book so this could happen, but we will see.

I am being really picky here and this is honestly a good book which is worth reading. I think hopefully as the series goes along it will improve and hopefully not rush along so much. What are your thoughts? Also in other news which I forgot to say last week, I also have a goodreads account now, so friend me @helloprinceling to see what I'll be reading and reviewing next! I will try to read the next Six Of Crows book soon, but because I'm poor I have to wait until it comes from the library, so it may be a little while.

#review #leighbardugo