Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom – duology that ages like fine wine

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads Blurb (Six of Crows, #1):

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Overall Rating: 5/5

I have come across barely anyone, maybe a soul or two, in the book blogging world who hasn’t read this extraordinary duology by Leigh Bardugo. I re-read these for the #BookedKingdom readathon and it turns out I’m still obsessed even after about 5 years!

The novels are aging like fine wine I tell you. Each re-read has been a wonderful experience, and the ending has left me hollow but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Poetic Justice. I love the characters, my crow babies, utterly and wholeheartedly.

These books basically leave me overwhelmed and I struggle to write a comprehensive review every time. The intricate and epic world-building, the character arcs and development, their interactions and journey, were richly and phenomenally written and the emotions were complex and raw.

If you still have not read the books, and are meaning to get to them before the show comes out, this is your chance! Go grab those books ASAP!

The series is based on a heist, but it is so much more than that. It’s about a group of unconventional young adults coming together under similar yet polar apart circumstances and forced to take part in this impossible mission which eventually led them to accept each other and forming bonds despite their backgrounds. In the end, it was them against the world. It was grand and majestic, as it was breathtakingly heartbreaking.

The characters represent multiple cultures, faiths, and sexualities, portray mental and physical illnesses and handicaps, yet Bardugo does it all without making any of it feel exploitative. She writes believable characters, in believable situations, but the entire journey is unpredictable. Seriously though, how does Bardugo keep up with herself?

Trust me, neither I nor any other fans of this series are ever forgetting the Dregs, and this series any time soon, and when I say you won’t regret reading it, I mean it.

“Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.”