I had been so thrilled to find an active community for readers and book- lovers. As soon as I finished the book that I was reading, I hopped here to share my review. Grab a cup of coffee and scroll down to read.
Author and Book Introduction
Crooked Kingdom is a second book in Six of Crows duology written by fantasy author Leigh Bardugo. The author is well-known for her creation of a fictional world, Grishaverse. She has written multiple books whose stories revolve around that world.
I have only read the Six of Crow duology yet and just finished the second and last book Crooked Kingdom so will be sharing my few cents about it in this post.
Summary
Like mentioned in the introduction, Crooked Kingdom is a sequel to Six of Crows. The prequel was all about a grand heist at Ice Court pulled by Kaz and his crew.
The sequel begins when the heist ends. What happens at the end of heist would be a big spoiler, but I must tell you there's a great twist waiting for the crows which makes them run for their life.
Just when you think it's the end, you will find out that things are more complicated than they sound. Re-evaluation of plans, deadly schemes, lots of brainstorming at a hideout is all what we get to read in the beginning.
This book is all about taking revenge from all those who tried to con the protagonists in any way.
Kaz, Inej, Jasper, Nina, Mathias, Wylan. Each one of them has a troubled past which binds them together as an unbeatable gang. They are too deadly and vicious to be protagonists.
This book is a mix of love, hate, care, friendship, revenge, loyalty and greed. There's heartbreak and there's tragedy which makes this book an emotional read.
Critical Analysis
As much as I love this book, there are some negative points which I want to highlight. Please note that these are merely my opinion, and you are free to differ with me.
- The story buildup is quite slow. It took me ages to read the first half of the book. Not saying the events in the beginning are unnecessary; everything is linked. But it's just slow which can make you leave the book unfinished if you are an impatient reader like me. However, I am glad that I didn't listen to myself and finished the book, nonetheless. It was a good decision and I almost forgot that it was slow. I couldn't put it down when the second half began and the things accelerated.
Who doesn't love Kaz Brekker's wits? It was all good and fascinating till the first part of the duology but to me it seemed a little far-fetched in the second book. How can any person have a solution to every single problem in the world. I know it's fiction, the author is free to create anything, but a little failure would've done no harm. The character would have been a little more relatable and less surreal.
It's not a critisim to book but I have to vent out. The very reason I bought this book was because of this statement by Los Angeles Times written at the back cover.
Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones with a dash of 19th century Europe and a caper twist.
I felt it was nothing remotely close to Harry Potter and Game of Thrones so it was a little disappointment for me being a fan of both series. Although there was magic like HP and scheming like GOT in this book, probably that's what the paper meant and I got my hopes unreasonably high.
Final Verdict
I love when authors manage to create a fictional world which feels almost real like till date we quote Harry Potter. I think I can quote Grishaverse the same way.
The book was great overall. If you are fantasy and fiction lover then you won't regret reading it. It's an easily 5 star book and I only gave it 4 on Goodreads because during the first half I felt like leaving it hundred times which I already told you would have been a wrong decision.
I hope I didn't gave away any spoilers.
Do share your views if you have read this book or if you haven't then what are you waiting for? 🙂