Six of Crows

Six of Crows Book Cover
(with pages black on the side, what?)

So tell me, surely you too had heard about this one so much you thought odds are it was going to be another one of those overhyped YA books? Or was that just me?

And yet, I read it. I'm not entirely sure why but I am sure I don't regret it. Let me tell you more about that.


Offer me 6 misfits and I'll take them gladly with open arms. Not only are they outcasts, they're killers and though it may sound odd, I really enjoy those as well. Okay just in books, clarifying.

So six misfits, five of them being in a gang of a sort, are offered a generous amount of money to go on a heist and return a scientist who has created a drug for Grishas. Grisha being people with powers like the abilities to manipulate metal, this was a problem. Also, as with any drug the first hours were an incredible high but after that was done, they came back crashing down like angels in a Supernatural season finale.

The plot was obviously planned out with care, I am still trying to learn how one does that as a writer. It took me a while to actually finish reading it as I got into this awful slump due to my new phandom, so that didn't really help with me understanding the general plan. I was too lazy to go back though and reread so I went along, sorta-not-really-understanding Kaz's intentions but quite excited for it nonetheless.

Now regarding the characters, brilliant. Kaz was probably my favorite one as I do love a boy who can get a job done, no matter how dirty. (Don't look for too much in that last sentence, it was as innocent as possible.) I enjoyed him a lot. Inej is now probably one of my favorite female characters ever, I seriously have to reconsider my All-Girls Characters Squad with her in the picture. I really enjoyed her abilities and her odd relationship with Kaz, and her strength as a human. I loved her as a character, really. Now, Mathias I wasn't entirely sure of, as I have trust issues now. (Thank you Red Queen.) Eventually though, like the very ending, I knew I did not like him if not trust him completely. His love poblems with Nina were not much of my interest but I didn't want to skip it. Okay, yes I did want to but I didn't. Nina, was a very admirable character I think. As a fairly feminine woman, with curves and all, I came to respect her. I myself could not relate but I'm glad for the contrast with her and Inej, because they were both strong though very different. Nina, I think, was the perfect teacher to remind us, me, that being girly does not equal being weak. I am quite tired of that belief so I refuse it and I'm glad Nina clearly does too.

Wylan and Jesper I came to appreciate so much as well. Not only were they the comic relief very much needed at times, but LGBT is something very important and you can clearly see this as authors are giving it the attention it deserves. Also, I shipped it since the first half of the book, the ending with the whole "Not just boys," was just confirmation to my fangirl heart.

So overall it was fantastic. The world itself was fantastic, and I now have to get to the Grisha trilogy, and I can't wait for the second book. Of course it had to end on a cliffhanger. The characters as you can see, were in my opinion both fantastic and well fleshed out. It got a lot of attention yes, but in this case, I think it was well deserved. Thankfully.

So go ahead and give it a try if you're into misfits banding together to get into some badass schist. It'll be good, but just wait a little so you aren't tempted to rip out lungs for having to wait so long for the second book... that wasn't just me right?

- The Bookdragon