Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Kaz Brekker assembles six dangerous outcasts for an impossible heist that promises unimaginable wealth but demands absolute trust from a crew built on secrets, grudges, and survival. As their mission spirals toward catastrophe, this team becomes the only force standing between the world and destruction (if they don’t tear each other apart first, that is).

And oh my lord, it sounds as good as that summary sounds! 4.5 stars all round.

To say the least, Leigh Bardugo has written an action‑packed novel that kept my attention for 19 days straight. The GrishaVerse is definitely a world I want to return to. It’s complex, layered, and built with a sense of law and history that goes way deeper than just the world’s surface. And the best part? For all of us who fell head‑over‑heels for this book, it’s only half the journey — the duology means the story keeps rolling long after that brutal cliffhanger. If you know the feeling of finishing a book and craving more, this is exactly the kind of novel you should sink into. I finished it, wandered around like I’d misplaced a limb, then opened Crooked Kingdom and immediately felt restored. Bardugo absolutely smashes this story out of the park.

For starters, the story throws you into this morally messy world full of beautifully damaged characters, and it shows exactly how survival, loyalty, and power end up shaping who people become. Honestly, it proves that even the most dangerous, unhinged characters can form a family when life gives them literally no other option.

And what I thought was really cool — like actually different — is that Bardugo doesn’t bother with the whole “hero vs villain” thing. She’s like, nope, survival makes people do morally grey nonsense, and sometimes the line between necessity and cruelty is basically a smudge. There’s no one good person, no one bad person; they’re all flawed disasters trying to navigate a world that constantly challenges their personalities, beliefs, and trauma. Which, let’s be real, is very much like the world we live in. Nothing wild or unbelievable — just deeply human, deeply moving, and painfully understandable.

Not only do bad people interest me, but they make for way better stories. A virtuously good person who never steps out of their comfort zone, has the same routine every day, and wouldn’t dare cause chaos doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. But characters as troubled as Bardugo’s? Oh, absolutely. They’re the reason her die‑hard readers kept turning pages like their lives depended on it.

She uses trauma not as some decorative backstory but as an active force shaping every character’s motivations — which, oh my god, is so clever and honestly fundamental to why I enjoyed this book so much. She gives us Kaz’s aversion to touch, Inej’s fractured sense of identity, Jesper’s compulsive gambling — all of it rooted in wounds that actually influence how they behave. This level of detail is exactly what fuels my obsession with both reading and writing.

And yes, it’s a fantasy novel, but she’s written it so well that I genuinely feel like Ketterdam, Ravka, and Fjerda (to name a few places in this world) are real places I could access through some kind of portal. Maybe I’m delusional, but the world is so cool and I loved every single page inside it - with all my heart.

What makes it even better is how the book treats trauma as something ongoing rather than “resolved.” You actually see how healing is slow, uneven, and very personal. It gives the characters emotional depth and makes their moments of trust and connection feel significant, because every step toward vulnerability is a risk. It’s exciting, it’s thrilling, and compared to other books that can feel a bit flat, this feels genuinely otherworldly.

It’s a genre I only dip into occasionally, but I’m so glad I did — and honestly, if fantasy is something you’re thinking about venturing into, start with Six of Crows. It’s simply written — and that’s my only real niggle, since I’m used to richly descriptive prose where similes and metaphors take centre stage. But here, the simplicity feels necessary. It makes the distress land more sharply and reflects the overall harshness of the story. I’ve got loads more fantasy recs I could throw at you, but this one is fresh in my mind and absolutely deserves the hype. It might look complicated from the outside, but it’s genuinely easy to follow, full of adventure, and refuses to let you down. And if it does let you down… I’m sorry, but your idea of fun — or lack thereof — is tragic…

So with all that said, please, please, please read this if you’re even slightly thinking about it. Don’t ask yourself twice. Don’t hesitate. Just do it. It’s the kind of story that yanks you straight out of whatever nonsense the real world is throwing at you and gives you an efficient escape that might submerge you for hours without you realising. And if it helps: on your bad day, Kaz Brekker is probably having a worse one — so you’re in good company.

Get your rebellious side out. It’s dark, criminal, and full of turns that’ll have you on the edge of your seat. It’s like no other fantasy novel; a smart creation that I still can’t quite believe someone came up with in the first place! It’s brilliant.

Buy your copy of the book using this link: https://amzn.eu/d/0deOp0f6