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Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Dec. 1st, 2016 11:01 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off the most daring heist imaginable.
But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re fighting for their lives.
Double-crossed and badly weakened, they’re low on resources, allies and hope.
While a war rages on the city’s streets, the team’s fragile loyalties are stretched to breaking point.
Kaz and his crew will have to make sure they’re on the winning side … no matter what the cost.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The sequel to Leigh Bardugo’s SIX OF CROWS is a thrilling YA fantasy crime caper with excellent world building, plenty of twists, humour, sadness and betrayal that had me desperately turning the pages until the end. All of the clever ploys and scams that made SIX OF CROWS so exciting are present here and I really enjoyed trying to work out what Kaz’s real move was. I enjoyed the friendships that grow here in the gang especially Inej and Nina as the only female characters and the way Bardugo fleshes out Jesper both through his relationship with his father and his interactions with Wylan (who also grows here). I welcomed the appearance of some old friends from THE GRISHA TRILOGY, who are used well and serve the plot and I thought Van Eck was an effective villain – smart, cruel and well resourced and yet whose weakness is his own contempt for the criminal element. There are some heart breaking scenes in the book, which I can imagine upsetting some fans but which I think are justified and well executed and I can also see some fans being disappointed with the underplayed romance between Kaz and Inej but I think it was really well written and completely true for each of them and each does develop in their own way. If I’m being critical then I did guess some of the developments (but not all) and I thought that the introduction of Dunyasha and the Kherguud soldiers came a little too late for them to be truly effective antagonists but none of this spoilt my enjoyment of what’s genuinely an excellent book and I really look forward to reading what Bardugo does next.
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off the most daring heist imaginable.
But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re fighting for their lives.
Double-crossed and badly weakened, they’re low on resources, allies and hope.
While a war rages on the city’s streets, the team’s fragile loyalties are stretched to breaking point.
Kaz and his crew will have to make sure they’re on the winning side … no matter what the cost.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): ) The Verdict:
The sequel to Leigh Bardugo’s SIX OF CROWS is a thrilling YA fantasy crime caper with excellent world building, plenty of twists, humour, sadness and betrayal that had me desperately turning the pages until the end. All of the clever ploys and scams that made SIX OF CROWS so exciting are present here and I really enjoyed trying to work out what Kaz’s real move was. I enjoyed the friendships that grow here in the gang especially Inej and Nina as the only female characters and the way Bardugo fleshes out Jesper both through his relationship with his father and his interactions with Wylan (who also grows here). I welcomed the appearance of some old friends from THE GRISHA TRILOGY, who are used well and serve the plot and I thought Van Eck was an effective villain – smart, cruel and well resourced and yet whose weakness is his own contempt for the criminal element. There are some heart breaking scenes in the book, which I can imagine upsetting some fans but which I think are justified and well executed and I can also see some fans being disappointed with the underplayed romance between Kaz and Inej but I think it was really well written and completely true for each of them and each does develop in their own way. If I’m being critical then I did guess some of the developments (but not all) and I thought that the introduction of Dunyasha and the Kherguud soldiers came a little too late for them to be truly effective antagonists but none of this spoilt my enjoyment of what’s genuinely an excellent book and I really look forward to reading what Bardugo does next.
