Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo
Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan
September 29th 2015
This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
I read Six of Crows after the initial excitement swept the young adult book community, which tried to get the book into the hands of everyone in sight. I try to stay away from “buzz books” to avoid being disappointed by the stratospheric expectations I have going in and—surprise!—having the book not meet them. Sometimes they do, but for the most part, they don’t. Six of Crows is an interesting case. It has all the elements that should make it a deep and passionate reading experience but instead, it took me a long time to get through. However, I can’t say that I disliked it.
Six of Crows is about a ragtag group of teens who are brought together to pull an impossible (and quite dangerous) heist for high (HIGH) reward ($$$). It’s set in the same world as Bardugo’s previous series, The Grisha Trilogy, and I was told that knowledge of that original series isn’t needed to enjoy this one. As someone who listened to Shadow and Bone, the first in the trilogy, as an audiobook almost two years ago, I can say that not understanding the world in which this new book takes place is a bit disorienting. You eventually get the hang of it and it’s true that you don’t need to know the details of the Ravkan civil war or who Alina Starkov is, but to understand the different Grisha orders (Corporalki, Etherealki and Materialki) those dropping in unaware could have used a tiny bit more of hand-holding. But one of the strong aspects of the book is the world building, and when I was able to fully immerse myself into it was fantastic.
There are plenty of other things going for it as well. I love heist stories so it was great watching the whole thing be planned and slowly unfold. It’s even better when the people pulling the heist are not completely trustworthy or are difficult to work with. Bardugo knows how to write interesting and diverse characters that you can attach yourself to. I liked some (Inej, Nina, Kaz, and Jesper) more than others (Matthias, and Wylan) which leads me to an issue that I think played a big role in my enjoyment of the novel: multiple points of view (POVs). Part of the difficulty in writing multiple POVs is having one or two of them be less interesting compared to the others and thus creating a ripple effect that drags down the rest of the text. Matthias was an important character, and Jesper had some insights that were of value later on, but both of their POVs didn’t feel as needed. Or if they were necessary, they could have been reduced and strategically placed. For example, Jesper has a section at the end of the book that was a great character moment for him that was lacking in the others. It ultimately created a bit of emotional distancing. This leads me to my final critique: it was a tad too long. There were a few places where fat could have been cut to make the book feel more succinct, such as a bit of the planning stages at the beginning.
Would I recommend this book to others? Yes. It might not have been a book that I races through, as some had suggested, but it definitely examined a ton of interesting themes and topics. I loved that Kaz was a deadly character who also required a cane to offset a leg which was in permanent pain, and how trauma played into his relation to touch. The notion of persecution and how it affects the decision to hide who you are as a result were tackled wonderfully. Belief is a recurring theme in the book: how it helps and harm those around you, which was a welcomed balance. Inej is probably my favourite character in the whole thing and it was a bonus that she also happened to be a woman of colour. What I enjoyed most about this book was that Bardugo is not afraid to expose teens to the ideas of brothels and forced prostitution—she gave us a female character who wasn’t defined by it but who was rightly affected and I’d love to read more of that. I’m very much intrigued for the sequel.
