ARC Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: Six of Crows, #1
**I received a copy of this ARC through a giveaway hosted by Read.Sleep.Repeat. which does not affect my review**

For Kaz Brekker, no job is too big, for the right price. As a member of the gang called the Dregs, Kaz assembles and leads the best team to commit less-than-savory jobs. When Kaz is approached by a powerful man to break into the well-guarded Ice Court and rescue a scientist with a dangerous formula that has the potential to start a war, Kaz must find just the right partners to pull off the ambitious heist. The odds are stacked against him and with a team full of people with questionable pasts, this job may not just be impossible, it may be their last.

Six of Crows is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo’s new series which takes place in the same universe as her immensely popular Grisha trilogy. If you are unfamiliar with her debut series, this one might be a little confusing as it is written with the understanding that the reader already has a grasp on the world involving Grisha. Bardugo’s writing immediately drew me in, her world is rich, her characters are complex, and the story line provided plenty of twists that kept me guessing till the end. Though the characters in this novel are in their teens, they could have easily been written as older characters with burdensome backstories and intelligent personalities.

Six of Crows focuses on six different characters. Kaz, infamous thief called Dirtyhands, always has a trick up his sleeve, he’s incredibly clever and savvy. He plays his cards close to his chest, making him unreadable and unnervingly unflappable. Because of his closed-off personality, even those who know him feel that they’ve never seen the real Kaz, something he has made sure of. Known as the Wraith, Inej’s specialty is stealth, able to blend into the shadows and deadly in fight. She’s tried her best to forget the horrors of her past but some scars are hard to erase.

Nina is a Heartrender, a Grisha with the ability to manipulate a person’s organs. Her complicated history with the Fjerdan Matthias managed to break my heart even before I knew what led to one being imprisoned in Hellgate. As a former drüskelle, Fjerdan soldiers tasked with hunting down Grisha, Matthias struggles to reconcile his people’s image of the threatening Grisha with Nina. Rounding out Kaz’s crew is the jovial Jesper, with secrets of his own and knack for getting into trouble, and Wylan, a newbie to the seedy underworld of Ketterdam, who eventually earns his keep in the group.

Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows is a thrilling ride, which manages to be fun while taking the reader on a dangerous adventure. Brilliantly paced, this first installment had me wishing it would never end and I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Rating: 5/5

★★★★★