Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #2 (Final)

Genre: Fantasy

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: Purchased

Hardcover: 546 pgs

Henry Holt & Co (2016) 

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When you can't beat the odds, change the game.

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Rating: 5/5

Here we go. Welcome to 2018!

It has been a long time since I sat down to write one of these. I need to reach all the way back to the end of the summer to find the start of a very long list of books I failed to write down my thoughts for. Crooked Kingdom is something I really regret not writing up when I first finished it. I remember being in complete awe of the book and being so absorbed in the book it was hard to start my next read.

The character continued to be my favorite part of this duology. The arcs and journeys each character went on in this story were beautifully crafted and shaped. Even though we had a lot of different voices, each one stood out for me. Not only were the voices distinct, Bardugo did a great job using character POV to hide information from the reader. At times I wished there were fewer jumps between characters. So much was going on I wanted resolution to one problem before we were thrown into even more trouble. This strategy created a lot of tension and stress though which made me keep reading. I needed to know what was going to happen to this crew. They needed to make it out ok. I have so many feelings about this book it is hard to put into words. I was deeply attached to this cast. The pacing Is very fast and made it difficult to put this down for any length of time.

As so many people have mentioned, the diversity in this story is fantastic. We have multiple people of color on the page, there are characters with physical and learning disabilities and a character fighting a drug addiction. Multiple characters have survived trauma and struggle with that. Though I cannot say if the representation is accurate, the amount of diversity on the page is great.

After seeing how Bardugo snuck in a few favorite characters, I imagine we will see some of these again in the future. I cannot wait to see what happens in the Grisha world.

My Last Review :  Crimson Peak by Nancy Holder