Title: Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy, young adult fantasy
Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Group
Publication Date: 2016
Format: Paperback
Length: 536
Read if you like: Anti-heroes, black and grey morality, star-crossed lovers, found family, hurt her and I’ll hurt you, lgbt representation, Shadow and Bone universe

Rating:

I feel like I started and stopped writing my review for Crooked Kingdom many times because it was difficult to articulate just how much enjoyment I got out of this duology. I loved the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which set the stage for this complex and fascinating universe of magic known as the Grishaverse, but the Six of Crows duology elevated the stories of this world even further. It brought together characters from all races and walks of life into one massive, complex heist-turned-revenge quest that had me gasping at plot twists and silently crying through major emotional moments.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible to adequately build so many loveable characters that you could simultaneously be invested in, but Bardugo does it seamlessly, weaving a narrative that had me rooting for all six of the perspectives in unique ways.

I have loved quite literally everything that Bardugo has written, and this was no exception. Crooked Kingdom was the perfect end to the Six of Crows story in so many ways, and I am so incredibly hopeful that one day she chooses to dive back into this universe.

Fair warning: as this is the second book in the duology, summarizing the plot involves some spoilers. Proceed at your own risk if you haven’t read the first book.

The Book: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom dives in right where Six of Crows left off: Inej has been captured by Jan Van Eck and the Ice Court heist has fallen apart, leaving the other five Crows in mortal danger. Kaz is spinning up complicated plans to rescue Inej, Nina is attempting to recover from the effects of parem with Matthias’ support, Wylan is reeling from the depths of the violence and evil that his father is capable of, Jesper is trying to get back into Kaz’s good books after proving to be the leak that nearly killed them all, and Kuwei is still the most wanted man in the world.

To rescue Inej, the team has to participate in a complicated con that has Van Eck believing that they’re coming for her directly while implementing a plot that involves kidnapping his very pregnant, very young wife. When Van Eck discovers that the Crows have stolen the soon-to-be mother of his child, he lines up a new plot himself that ensures that every participant in her abduction is wanted across Ketterdam for devastating charges that would see each of them hang.

The crew is successful in saving Inej but immediately finds themselves in more danger than they’ve ever been in, particularly as delegations from Kerch, Shu Han, Fjerda, and Ravka all arrive in an attempt to claim Kuwei for themselves. When the entire city turns on them, including the gangs of the Barrel, Kaz dares to dream of one final scheme designed to set them all free, ruin Van Eck and Pecka Rollins, and free Kuwei permanently. Whether or not they can pull it off is a separate issue entirely.

The Review

As was the style of Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom had a complicated series of interconnected plot twists that kept me guessing about how things would go until the very end. Each time I felt myself hope, felt myself feel like maybe, for once, the Crows would pull one over on the merchants of Ketterdam, Bardugo ripped my heart out and switched gears. It was emotionally exhausting in the best way and kept me turning pages compulsively.

I also loved getting to spend more time with these characters and getting to understand their vulnerabilities and their dynamics with each other. For a group of people that were so different, that held so many prejudices and experiences and traumas individually in the first book, seeing them break down each other’s walls and better learn how they could be better people to each other and the world was so enjoyable. I felt like Bardugo did an exquisite job of developing their unique personalities without entirely erasing their flaws. Their issues are what made them who they are, and I appreciated that they continued to carry the weight of those problems even through resolving to change.

The pacing did lag a little, and I found myself getting impatient to learn what the final twists would be as I headed into the last part of the book, but then everything was blown up so spectacularly that I couldn’t put the book down. I think I cried for about 50 pages straight toward the end as each character came to unique and, sometimes, totally heartbreaking resolutions. It was the perfect ending, even if it was hard, and left me so sad to see this story come to a close.

A lot of people told me going into the Six of Crows duology that it was a fandom unto itself beyond Shadow and Bone, and I completely understand why. While it sits in the same universe, the stories were so unique, and the characters so utterly loveable and diverse that it was a completely different experience from Shadow and Bone. I loved this foray into a different region of the Grishaverse and would highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoyed Shadow and Bone (or fantasy as a whole).