The streets of Ketterdam are bustling with international trade, and a new drug has been introduced onto the streets— jurda parem, capable of heightening any Grisha’s powers beyond their control.
Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered the chance to orchestrate the heist of a lifetime: find the scientist who created jurda parem and Kaz will be rich beyond his wildest dreams. Together with his chief spy, The Wraith, he puts together a team of Ketterdam’s most notorious criminals: a Fjerdan convict out for revenge; a Heartrender soldier with a complicated past; a sharp shooter with a gambling problem; and a runaway with a penchant for bomb-making. Together, they will take on one of the greatest heists in history…or die trying.
We admit, these books had been on our radar for a while. It seemed like everyone and their mother was raving about Bardugo’s fantasy novels on Goodreads. So when the books were turned into a Netflix original TV show, we finally took the plunge— and boy are we so glad we did!
We love a good heist of any sort, so we knew we wanted to start with Six of Crows as our first dip into the Grishaverse! This book drew us in from the beginning. We loved the characters and Bardugo is one of the best world builders in YA fantasy. Her characters— every single one of them— were compelling, and though they had questionable moral compasses, we couldn’t help but root for them.
Kaz Brekker was basically the other reason we picked up this series first! Kaz is beloved by the YA Goodreads scene and we needed to know why. And now we do! He’s a total badass with the most brilliant mind and quick wit. His story was definitely the most interesting and we were dying to know what motivated him in his pursuit for revenge.
We also loved Nina for her fierce personality and loyalty to her country. Her banter with Matthias— our sweet Matthias— left us swooning. We also loved Inej, who brought out the best in Kaz. We definitely want to see more of their romance! Rounding out the crew were Jesper and Wylan, who had us laughing with their antics and dislike for one another. We’re invested in seeing where their story goes!
The plot had us hooked from the beginning, especially their journey from Ketterdam to Fjerda, when some key details about certain characters’ histories were revealed. Bardugo seamlessly weaved these characters’ stories together, along with those from the companion series. Not to mention the amazing world building! Sometimes fantasy novels get too bogged down in the details, but Bardugo knew how to balance world building with character development.
Overall we see what the hype was about, and we’d definitely read more of Bardugo’s Grishaverse books. Up next: binging the Netflix show! Have you watched the show yet? Let us know in the comments!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm All Booked Up - a young adult book blog 
I keep meaning to read Leigh Bardugo (I’ve had Ninth House sitting on my TBR since shortly after it came out). This makes me think that maybe I should bump it up. 🙂
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We think you should! 🙂
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Six Of Crows has been on my TBR list for such a long time! I really should get around to reading it ♡ Great review
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Thank you! We’re excited to get your thoughts on it.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! I didn’t like SoC the first time I read it because I went in without reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy (thinking SoC was a prequel) and was thoroughly confused haha. But then when I went back and read the initial trilogy and then SoC again, I loved it!!! I thought it was such a cool story and enjoyed the characters a lot. I hope you like Crooked Kingdom just as much 🙂
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It’s great that ended up loving it! Did you like Netflix’s adaption?
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Yay!! I am so happy that you loved this one so much. It is one of my all-time favourites! 🙂
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It was such a great book! 🙂
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a lot of people are adding her books after watching the show, and ngl so did i! i hope you enjoy crooked kingdom, i preferred it over six of crows. it’s so different than the shadow and bone series.
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We’re excited for book 2!
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I just finished the original trilogy and enjoyed them. I hope to read soon six of crows.
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We’re excited to see your thoughts!
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Yay, so glad you enjoyed the book!! It’s one of my absolute favourites
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Thank you!
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I really enjoyed this book. Great review!
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Thank you so much!
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Alright – the books are on my shelf so I suppose this is the answer to get at it and start reading them! I have read the Shadow and Bone trilogy so I suppose I should give them a go
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We hope you like Six of Crows!
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Six of crows is totally one of my favourite books and the whole character arc and heist, is absolutely amazing x
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It’s one of our favorites now! We loved Kaz lol.
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I watched the Shadow and Bone show (without having read the books) and The Crows were much more interesting to me than the other arcs. I plan to read the book at some point. Thanks for the review.
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Thanks for sharing your opinion on the Netflix show!
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Yay I love the Six of Crows duology. I watched the Netflix show but honestly, I just wanted more of the Dregs and wasn’t that interested in the rest 🙈 I haven’t read S&B and I don’t really intend to so I would have been happy with just more of Kaz’s gang, and Milo, obvs. And I LOVE Jesper 🥰
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We really need to see how the show compares to the book, especially since we’re not planning on reading Shadow and Bone anytime soon. Yes, Jesper is great! 🙂
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So glad you enjoyed this one! Six of Crows is one of my all time favourites and the show turned out so well too – I can’t wait for season 2 when it will actually move into the events of this book. Great review!
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Thank you! We can’t wait to start the show.
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Great review! I loved Six of Crows and the sequel was great as well. Kaz is such an interesting, rich character. I was enthralled from the beginning.
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We’re glad you enjoyed it too! We can’t wait to read the sequel.
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Great review, I’m so glad you loved this one! Inej is my favourite character, but Kaz is just one of a kind.
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They’re both so great! We can’t wait to finish the series.
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