Crooked Kingdom

"Where do think the money went?" he repeated.

"Guns?" asked Jesper.

"Ships?" queried Inej.

"Bombs?" suggested Wylan.

"Political bribes?" offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. "This is where you tell us how awful we are," she whispered.

He shrugged. "They all seem like practical choices."

Crooked Kingdom picks up just days after where Six of Crows leaves off. Kaz and the gang have just finished pulling off the heist of the century and now their backs are against the wall as they've been double (triple, quadruple?) crossed by just about everyone. One of the team has been kidnapped and the lure of jurda parem has drawn many enemies to the city. Old rivals and new will test the bounds of Kaz's scheming mind if he and his crew are to show more survive.

I admit I hadn't really warmed up to Kaz in the first installment but that's no longer an issue. All the character backgrounds we received in the first book are given even more depth and by half way through I was fully invested in each character. I love the the relationships Bardugo has created, both platonic and romantic. The characters bond and build true camaraderie, using the strengths of each to balance out flaws, turning them into one highly effective team.

The main story line is very twisty! Gone was the annoyance of the constant reminder of character ages. The action scenes are intense and almost cinematic. Kaz Brekker's scheming knows no bounds, which is a good thing considering how many setbacks the team encounters. I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering how everyone was going to pull through. The payoff is very satisfying. Very.

I laughed, I cried, sometimes both at the same time. This duology completely swept me away and I was more than happy to go along for the ride. I can definitely see a reread in the future. show less

There are genuinely no words that can appropriately express how much I loved this book. I loved six of Crows more than I ever expected to, and with Crooked Kingdom following it up, Leigh Bardugo has solidified this universe as my favorite in all of literature. Each of these characters is desperately vying for their place as my favorite but there's no universe in which I would ever be able to choose. They are all equally wonderful, infuriating, sickening and just so god damn incredibly written and fleshed out. I'm sure this squad of rowdy murder children was never meant to be as personable and inspiring as I found them to be but here the fuck we are! I just loved this duology so much and I can't really say anything beyond that. I've read show more a lot of YA and a hell of a lot of YA....fantasy seems like the wrong word but for lack of a better one- fantasy- and nothing has shaken and changed me as deeply as this couple of books did (since Scorpio Races but that's a different review). Just-

If you think you don't like YA and you think you don't like YA fantasy or magic or whatever you want to call it- read this. Sit down with this and let it all seep in and get cozy. You'll soon realize that you're deeply and desperately invested in this story, in the each of the characters, the city of Ketterdam and the Ice Court. You care about the absolute filth and rot of it all and you find yourself falling in love with it because it's exactly what every one of us had wanted at some point- a group of friends that have your back no matter the cost, something to work towards, something to prove, and the scent of waffles and fried potatoes in your nose as you do it all. Well, at least. That's what EYE always wanted growing up. Is that weird? Whatever.

It's a good fucking series, Harold. It's a really fucking good series. Do yourself a favor and read it. It's not what you think it is. It's a thousand times better. show less

No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.

Again, it was easy to forget that these characters -- Kaz & Inez, Nina & Matthias, Jesper & Wylan -- are teenagers. Through various circumstances, they are all on their own on the harsh streets of Ketterdam. Between the flashes back to what they've gone through (one worked in a brothel for a bit, which was the hardest to read for me) and the scheming that they do to survive, this didn't always read like YA to me, especially for younger teens. (Beware of mature subject matter.)

I love the crap show more out of these characters, though. They're tough & smart & hilarious.

“Where do you think the money went?" [Kaz] repeated.
"Guns?" asked Jesper.
"Ships?" queried Inej.
"Bombs?" suggested Wylan.
"Political bribes?" offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. "This is where you tell us how awful we are," she whispered.
He shrugged. "They all seem like practical choices.”

And the love stories, an integral part of the plot without being the primary focus like so many YA novels (and again, I'm grateful for the lack of $%#& love triangles), all these flawed, vulnerable characters with their own special stories.

Kaz & Inej -- so tough and yet so tender:
“I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”

Nina & Matthias -- raised to hate each other:
“Meeting you was a disaster.”
She raised a brow. “Thank you.”
Djel, he was terrible at this. He stumbled on, trying to make her understand. “But I am grateful for that disaster. I needed a catastrophe to shake me from the life I knew. You were an earthquake, a landslide.”
“I,” she said, planting a hand on her hip, “am a delicate flower.”
“You aren’t a flower, you’re every blossom in the wood blooming at once. You are a tidal wave. You’re a stampede. You are overwhelming.”

And, Jesper & Wylan -- the sons who struggle with disappointing their fathers and their attraction to each other:
“Jes, I've thought about this-"
"Thought of me? Late at night? What was I wearing?"
"I've thought about your powers," Wylan said, cheeks flushing pinker.

I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat the whole time I was reading, but there are a few reasons that I rated this one a mere four stars (still REALLY, REALLY liked it):
*So many twisty turns tired me after a while. Especially the one authorial trick I considered a little cheap: Wylan's kidnapping, torture, & "confession" that turned out to be, of course, all part of Kaz's plan.
*the presence of parental units as a reminder that these were, in fact, kids. Except Kaz, because he hasn't been a kid for many years.
*Matthias' death, especially the way that it came when it seemed like everyone was safe.

Overall, a great little series, and one that I am recommending to my adult friends and older teens. show less

❝ When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway. ❞

This duology—it felt like hope. I put off reading it for a long while, maybe because I wanted the ability to savor it a little longer, maybe because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to all my anticipation demanded of it. But it lived up to so much more. In these books, Bardugo has crafted an imaginary world from the most honest and basest of our desires, and woven through it the kind of storytelling that reminds me why I became a reader in the first place, and why I will be one forevermore.

I had to start reading this one the moment I finished “Six of Crows” because AHHH that ending! Leigh Bardugo, you are the master of suspense! Things are not so good for our Crows, with Inesh captured and Kaz, Matias, Jesper and Waylan trying to get her out while Nina suffers through terrible withdrawal. We got a lot more backstory in this one. I particularly felt for Waylan, and the revelations we learned. I connected with his character somewhat in the first book, but I totally loved him here.

And oh, the ships. I could get into the plotting, which is like the most complex Swiss clock of a thing anyone has ever tried to pick apart, but it’s just amazing, and I’d waste three paragraphs fangirling. It’s the ships here that leave show more you pining, make you swoon, and break your heart. Matias with his stiff Fierden heart that is slowly warming to Nina. Kaz and Inesh who you wonder if because of their traumas they’ll ever be able to touch. And Waylan and Jes, who are just too sweet for words. Just the right amount of shipper-goodness included. Loved this book, and really hope to read another one set in this world because Leigh Bardugo gets better and better with each one!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

I had heard this book was better than SoC and wow…. This one just blows all the others before it out of the water

This book has layers… the characters have so much depth… the story is written so beautifully, so vividly and takes you on a wild ride.

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎” - 𝙺𝚊𝚣 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚔𝚔𝚎𝚛

There’s no way to know what’s coming and I was shocked at so many points throughout this book. At some point, maybe 80% through, I started to pick up on little hints… things that weren’t what they seemed. I started to understand the scheming and what they might have planned. And while I may have THOUGHT I knew what was show more planned, there was always another twist. Another layer. Another scheme.

This book took my on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and I loved every second of it. I was constantly shocked and surprised.

I’m still in shock at the number of twists and turns. These characters play the odds and hope they’ll fall in their favor. There’s plotting, planning, conniving, ruthless manipulation, found family, romance (kind of…?).

I’m just in awe of this book. It was fantastic. I love every single one of these characters. I went on this journey with them and felt every emotion they went through. They will always hold a special place in my heart. Just thinking about them has me tearing up. This book has been the best BY FAR of 5 in the Grishaverse that I’ve read so far.

5/5⭐️ and absolutely worth every one and then some.

——major spoilers———
Some of my favorite parts that I don’t want to forget:

When Nina’s powers changed (so excited to explore that some more) I was SHOOK!

Wylan finding out his mother is still alive. 😭

When Matthias died, I was heartbroken and bawling my eyes out (literally, I posted it in my stories @jessie_allbookedup). Poor Nina…. I don’t know if she makes an appearance in King of Scars but I hope she does

Kaz and Wylan getting caught at the safe but then Kaz having yet another back up plan with Van Eck’s will

Kaz and Inej connecting, a slight touch, a brush of lips on her back, bandaging her wounds, rescuing her from Van Eck, buying her a ship, bringing her parents to Ketterdam…. This relationship (if you can call it that) is complicated, and messy but gah I hope they figure out how to be together. I wasn’t rooting for them before but now after finishing this book… I LOVE Kaz and Inej

“𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔, 𝙸’𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚠𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚠𝚎’𝚍 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛—𝚔𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚠𝚗, 𝚙𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚜 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚍𝚘. 𝚆𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐.” - 𝙺𝚊𝚣 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚔𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝙸𝚗𝚎𝚓 𝙶𝚑𝚊𝚏𝚊

Inej seeing her parents for the first time after being kidnapped and sold as a slave to work in a pleasure house and then spent years working as the Wraith…

𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊.

Wylan and Jespers first kiss!!!! I love that they’re together and bold enough to tell the other.

The final scheme: Dressing up the Grisha to look like the Tide Makers, Jesper realizing his Fabrikator abilities is what makes him such a good gun slinger and making an impossible shot, Nina using her new powers and spreading dead skin cells to look like a plague, Rotty and “pregnant” Nina in the boat, STURMHOND!!, poor Matthias dying…, Wylan and the Crow gang members tricking Van Eck!, Kaz actually caring enough to forge the Will so Wylan inherited everything from his dad… Kaz is just a big softy on the inside.

One thing I wasn’t a fan of was that the book ends with a chapter from Pekka Rollins… I wish the book would’ve ended after Inej’s last chapter because it was the perfect ending. But instead it ends on Pekka and just kind of left me feeling meh about it. Honestly I almost skipped it and I kind of wish I had. I don’t care about Pekka, he’s not part of the crew, he’s a massive jerk, and I wasn’t ever invested in him… so to give him the last chapter, the last words, felt odd. I get that it ties up Inej’s promise to Pekka but I didn’t really care about that. 🤷🏼‍♀️ show less

Okay first of all: holy shit the roller coaster this book takes you on! And part of that is why I'm not giving it a full five stars the way I did with Six of Crows--it felt like there was too much packed into this book, from the Deeper Explorations of Everyone's Trauma to the 10,000 plots and plans they go through over the course of the book. I still really really liked it! If 4.5 stars was an option, I would probably have given it that, because I really just enjoy being in this world and learning about the Adventures of My Emo Children Who Do Things For the Aesthetic, but I do think this book was less tightly-woven than Six of Crows was.