Six of Crows #2 Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Hello,
Here we go with the second volume of The Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. This woman toys with my emotions and I love it. Let's just get right into it.
What the blurb says:
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Doubled-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.
What I say:
Inej was kidnapped by Jan Van Eck to weaken Kaz and his crew. He also doubled-crossed them. The six of crows don't have their money and they've lost a member of the crew. Kaz is determined to set things right. But things don't go so smoothly. Jesper's dad is in Ketterdam, new enemies arrive - including the Kherguurd soldiers - and old enemies become more ruthless. The six of crows are trapped and have no choice but to stop hiding if they want to be free again. But along with their will of freedom and justice comes the threat of a war that will include every country.What will become of the six of crows?
My opinion:
I always find it stressful to read a sequel because I don't want to be disappointed. And well I wasn't disappointed with this one! Leigh has an amazing writing and it is a real pleasure reading her books. The book is structured in the way. It is divided in parts: Forsaken, A Killing Wind, Brick By Brick, The Unexpected Visitor, Kings & Queens and Action & Echo. Each chapter follows one character. I really like this type of structure because we get to be in everyone's mind - or at least in important character's mind - it also means we get to see the action thoroughly and not sparsely.
The evolution of the characters is great. We go deeper into their own problems and flaws and pasts. We understand better their behaviour and choices. I love that she decided to deepen her characters. I also love that wa can clearly see them evolve. But at the same time their flaws aren't fixed by the end of the book like a miracle. Their evolution is realistic. Kaz really tries hard to chase his demons away to try and keep Inej next to him. Inej emancipates from Kaz. And she needs to. She stops trying to get something she can't have. SPOILER: she gets it - kind of. Jesper is the one that has to face the most concrete situation when his dad arrives in Ketterdam. He is very reluctant to face his father and tell him the truth. But in the end Jesper is one of the characters whose evolution is the most impressive along with Wylan. And Wylan, I have fallen in love with him in this book. He is so brave and smart. He gets better and better throughout the book. He comes into his own and gets more and more confident. He knows what he wants and he does everything he can to get it.
Nina and Matthias are in my opinion the characters that evolve the least. Nina has taken jurda parem in the first book and because of that she is changing. for the better part of the book she is broken by it - physically and morally - and it takes her while to get better. Again I feel like it very realistic that she doesn't get better right the way. Jurda parem gets people addicted on the first take. No one who is a drug addict heals from the addiction in a couple of days. And Nina doesn't heal fast. We can see the effect of the need of it in her behaviour. But in the end she finds herself and is able to get better. Matthias, I don't even want to talk about him. That's the only thing I don't like about the book. It shouldn't have ended like this for Matthias.
Another thing that I really like is that they don't win easily. In the first book, even if things were not easy, they managed to get out of bad situations quite easily. In this one though they keep being doubled-crossed and crushed to the ground. There comes a moment when it feels like there is no way out for them. I think it gave the book a good dynamic. It was also good that Kaz was outsmarted because it helped him evolve as a person. I loved how the six of crows grew stronger as a crew. Their belonging and friendship grew closer. They cared for each other. In this book it was really about getting out of everything as a crew and not just as people united to win money. Even if in the end they don't stay together, their friendship is what helped them make it to the end.
This duology was so good. I'm actually really sad that it is over. If Leigh wants to write a third book I wouldn't mind. I am satisfied with the end. We don't necessarily have all the answers and we don't know what the characters become in a long haul period but we know enough and we know the characters have prospects. I also feel like Leigh opened doors to new books. The Kherguurd soldiers from the Shu army could potentially be something to write about. Kuwei Yul-Bo as well. Maybe he could have his own series of books - although I don't cary him in my heart, he is a bit of a bitch. Leigh has written a trilogy about Grisha - that I'm going to read in the future - and now this duology and there is so much more she can do with it. I can't wait to see where she will lead us next.
Conlusion:
AMAZING DUOLOGY. I WANT MORE. Read it.
Rating: ★★★★★ (Again, I feel like adding a sixth star)