#BookReview Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo @LBardugo #TuesdayBookBlog #YA

I had time to kill at the train station recently before heading to Manchester, so I sauntered into Foyles bookshop to see if anything would jump out at me. I’ve struggled to sit and read fiction over the last couple of months, opting for non-fiction and self-help titles, so I wasn’t holding out much hope. However, as I was predictably pulled to the young adult section, one book stood out from the rest.

The cover design for Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo grabbed my interest, and once I’d read the blurb, I was hooked.

Blurb:

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker 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.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist.

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

My Review:

O M G!! What a book! I was totally sucked in by Bardugo’s world-building, and I nearly missed my train stop as I was fully absorbed in the story. The descriptive prose is fantastic, and I found myself re-reading chucks because the flow was beautiful. I can fully understand why this was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

I’m a huge fan of sword and sorcery novels, and although Six of Crows has this in abundance, it also has a detailed heist storyline, interwoven with unlikely friendships and lots of humour. At times I forgot it was a young adult novel and that the characters are six teenagers. I loved how the entire book is told from all six points of view, with each character telling their version of the story a chapter at a time. It worked really well.

Kaz Brekker heads up a team who are tasked with breaking into an impenetrable fortress, the Ice Court, to rescue a scientist who is creating an addictive drug that turns the Grisha into weapons. If they succeed, the team will earn a substantial sum of money. As the story unfolds, we realise it’s not all about the money. As Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, and Matthias’s stories unfold you can’t help but root for them to succeed.

I loved all the characters equally and was entirely spellbound by the storyline. Six of Crows is epic!! Any fan of young adult fantasy will love this book.

I’ve already started reading the sequel, Crooked Kingdom so watch this space…

BUY a copy of Six of Crows from Amazon UK or Amazon US