Star rating: 5

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are two books that I will never, ever stop recommending. It's by Leigh Bardugo and it is the second series in the Grishaverse. You do not need to read the first series - the Shadow and Bone trilogy - but you'll understand it better if you did. I read the trilogy first, but the duology is significantly better. 

There are six main characters, Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Wylan van Eck and Jesper Fahey. It is set in a town called Ketterdam, the capital of Kerch, which borders Shu Han. Kaz Brekker is a seventeen-year-old mob boss of the Dregs, and Inej Ghafa is his right hand and spy. Jesper is the sharpshooter, meaning that he shoots objects. Nina is a Grisha Heartrender, which is the highest order of the Grisha. Wylan has been kicked out of his incredibly rich merchant father's house because he cannot read. Matthias is in jail for something he didn't do, and Nina, who put him there, has made it her personal mission to get him out. They are the six Crows.

First of all, Leigh Bardugo's writing style is perfection. The writing flow was smooth, and it was relatively fast-paced, and the way she strategically places the POVs, the way she gets her ideas; I can't even imagine where she gets them from. Nina's backstory is great, and it accentuates her flaws: how reckless she is, her pride etc. Matthias's story, about how he thought Nina betrayed him, his thought process on how stupid he thought himself to be for falling for the Grisha, one of the many, many things that his druskelle instructors ordered him not to do that he did. Jesper's story was sweet, and I know he's on the road to recovery. Inej's story, about being separated from her Suli family was incredibly sad. I love how Kaz brought them back home, because I know that he's the only one who can actually realistically track them. Wylan's story about how his father kicked him out for his extreme dyslexia was sad, but I know he sleeps well at night in the Van Eck manor after conning him out of his money. I love how he’s become a mini-Kaz. I know he’s being proud, although he doesn’t outright say it.

And Kaz. Oh, Kaz. I know some authors who are all 'oh all he's dark and mysterious and he has a BIG BIG SECRET' and the secret is that a girl rejected him back in high school but not Leigh, not about Kaz. She said make it hurt, and it hurt. Him losing Jordie, the entire thing at Reaper's Barge...it made me feel so terrible. And the Pekka Rollins thing, that was so incredibly justified. And I love how him and Van Eck partner together. The scene where Kaz finally brings him to his knees is perhaps my favourite Crooked Kingdom scene. How he used the son he didn't even know for sure existed... it's all just proof how smart Kaz is. He is, undoubtably, my favourite Crow.

I sobbed at Chapter 40. Matthias thinking of Nina at his last dying breath, him not allowing her to use the parem to bring him back - it was all so heart-breaking and so Matthias. 

It’s one of my comfort books, although Kaz's heist plans are too complicated for me to understand. I’ll be comforted, though, seeing as nobody else involved with the Ice Court Heist also really doesn’t know what’s going on.

And, also, I love the Zoya, Nikolai and Genya cameo in Crooked Kingdom. It felt so natural. And Kaz figuring out that the King of Ravka is Sturmhond seconds after meeting him? So in-character. Kaz and Zoya, though, they would either burn down the world together or they would burn each other down. Their banter was amazing. And one of my favourite scenes is the scene where Nikolai-Sturmhond attacked the Shu was simply heavenly, because we all know he cannot do that as King unless he wants war.

So, yes. I would 100% recommend reading Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom