Book Review: Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo

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BOOK review

Started on: 22 June 2021
Finished on: 16 July 2021

 

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo

 

Title: Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

Pages: 546 pages / 561 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2016
Price: Rp 184,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 5/5

*for those who haven't read the first book, this review may contain spoiler.

Review for Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo here.

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"I don’t hold a grudge. I cradle it. I coddle it. I feed it fine cuts of meat and send it to the best schools. I nurture my grudges, Rollins."

Kaz Brekker and his crew have successfully pulled off a dangerous heist that almost cost them their lives. But instead of receiving the reward that was promised, they're double-crossed and was overpowered by the enemy. They went into hiding to regroup but the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. At the same time, powerful resources from all over the world descend on Ketterdam to figure out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem. Old rivals and new enemies emerged to challenge Kaz and his crew's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the streets of Ketterdam—a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

"Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself."

"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."

I was quite sad when I finally reached the last page of this book because it means I would have to say goodbye to Kaz Brekker and his crew 😢. After following all of their adventures and various missions, I kind of grown attached to each one of them. Nevertheless, I'm proud of myself for finally reading this duology and kind of regretted that I waited so long to read it. Just like the first book, Crooked Kingdom is also written in third-person POV from multiple characters: Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Matthias, Nina, and Wylan. As I've said in my previous review, the multiple perspectives helps us see what they're all doing when separated into different missions. Plotwise, Leigh Bardugo kept surprising me again and again with the unexpected twists and turns of the story. The tension is a little bit higher in this book because Kaz and his crew are wanted with a price on their heads—so they had to be extra careful with their moves if they want to survive. My heart sank whenever they're suddenly ambushed or their plans failed unexpectedly. I am constantly worried that someone is going to die 😥. I hope I'm not spoiling too much when I say that there will be death in this book. I personally think the death was unnecessary and I would much prefer for everyone to survive until the end.

"Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return."

As for the characters, I still stand by my initial opinion that Kaz Brekker is the best character in this duology. He continue to amaze me with his brilliant mind and how he always managed to get out of a difficult situation. A lot of his plans and strategies are unexpected, and I was so happy when he successfully outsmarted Van Eck and didn't fall into a trap for the second time—it was such a relieving moment for me. Aside from the missions, we also got some progress regarding Kaz and Inej's relationship. It's more of a slow-burn romance due to their past: Kaz who's traumatized by skin-to-skin contact and Inej who used to work in a pleasure house called the Menagerie. But I find it incredibly sweet when Kaz—who always seems so cold-hearted to everyone around him, actually worried and cared so much about Inej 🥺❤️. Lastly, we also resolved Kaz's revenge towards Pekka Rollins in this book. I thought it would require a lot more effort to bring Pekka down—considering he's the leader of the most prominent gang in Ketterdam; but Kaz achieved maximum results with minimum effort. He instilled fear that would cause suffering for the longest period of time and his subtle threats sends a chill down my spine. Kaz Brekker is definitely on my list of favorite fictional character of all time!

In Six of Crows, we didn't get much background story on Jesper and Wylan, and I'm glad that we got that in this book. Wylan's story is a very heartbreaking one—especially when he found out what truly happened to his mother. But I'm glad Wylan got a happy ending that he deserved after going through a lot of hardship that his father caused. In this sequel, we also met Jesper's father, Colm Fahey, and we finally found out what happened to Jesper in the past and how he ended up living in debt. Colm is an incredibly sweet and loving father; and regardless of what Jesper has done in the past, Colm was still supportive and even helped executing Kaz's plan to bring Jan Van Eck down.

"Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for."

All in all, Crooked Kingdom wraps up the story of Kaz Brekker and his crew really well without any loose ends. This book is action-packed, thrilling, and makes me root for the main characters to win! I am also pleasantly surprised with the sudden appearance of Sturmhond, Zoya, and Genya in this book. It's nice to see familiar names that we've met in the Grisha / Shadow and Bone trilogy. I think their cameo in this book also builds up the story for the next series: King of Scars—which might involve khergud soldiers created by the Shu. I'm looking forward to reading that series next, so I guess it's now time to say goodbye to Kaz and his crew. If Leigh Bardugo decides to write more stories involving Kaz in the future, I definitely wouldn't mind and I'll be sure to pick it up immediately 😉.

"My mother is Ketterdam. She birthed me in the harbor. And my father is profit. I honor him daily."

by.stefaniesugia♥ .