Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) (Grishaverse, #5)

by Leigh Bardugo

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



I read Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo because Lex had finally talked me into reading Six of Crows and I naturally had to see what happened next. Once I was done reading it I had to talk this one out with her. I really wasn't sure how I felt about it. Talking it out really did help.

Here's the thing: Crooked Kingdom is a good read. I enjoyed it but.....the pacing was just really weird. You would think "Okay here's the thing that they have to do and/or overcome. Then they'd do and/or overcome the thing within 50 to 100 pages and you've still got a whole lot of book to go. Repeat that like five or six times. It was a bit confusing if I'm being honest.

I had seen a Tweet that had sort of spoiled one aspect of this book for me. I'm not mad about it as it's been years since the book was published. Because I saw that Tweet I was somewhat prepared for it. I knew what would happen, I just didn't know who it would happen to. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty gutted over it. I also don't care that it was setting up another story.

I felt that too much worked out well for the characters...too many miracles and that's because of what Bardugo chose to show the reader and the pacing. It was because of this that I chose to remove a whole star. It really reminded me of Ocean's Eleven with the show and tell session after the heist. For me personally it worked really well in movie format but not so much in book format. I think it is an easier thing to track visually than to absorb in a book.

Crooked Kingdom was still a great read. There were times when I had to stop my audiobook because I just couldn't handle anymore suspense. The narration was fantastic! I loved that they had a full cast of characters. It helped keep things straight from all the different points of view. I'll continue to read Bardugo. I'll probably go back and read the first trilogy now before continuing with the story. I'm happy to have had more time in Ketterdam with Crooked Kingdom.