Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) (Grishaverse, #4)

by Leigh Bardugo

[lessthelonely]

4.25/5 stars.

If you want to know the truth about how I started this book, I'd have to tell you that I was avoiding reading this book for the longest time - you know why? Because this is one of BookTok's favorites. I'd say it's just a general favorite among reading communities in general and to spoil what I'm going to be talking about pertaining to this book, I now understand why.

Before I dive into my own two cents on the plot, characters, and themes of this book, I want to make you understand why this book is such a hit in general - and why it also seems to be able to singled-handedly drive a lot of hype for the Netflix series on Shadow on Bone, which I do want to watch but I decided I was going to at least read this book before it, as many people mentioned the Crows as the series seller. This book managed a feat of representation a lot of books don't manage, which is to strike a balance between palatable and uncomfortable that most books try to stay away from to appease the mostly privileged audience of white people, which I am a part of.

If you've never read my About Me page, you shouldn't know I am caucasian. Like painfully white and within a position of privilege of socio-economical state, even if I am gay, being a white gay doesn't give me a place over other people's struggles. So I do want to say I think this book's representation is beautiful and I'm not going to be voicing my opinions on what I believe could've been done better on the representation, because I don't believe I have anything to say. This doesn't mean it's flawless, it means it reached me without alienating me and all I can do is thank it. Me saying this book has beautiful representation has no bear on whether or not it's healthy or even objectively good, it means I liked representation that I do believe was sort of made to cater to an audience I am a part of. So I do commend it for doing that job well, even if I feel like I'm congratulating a bare minimum here.

Now, this is one of the main reasons this book is so hyped: it's easy to relate to these characters in more ways than one and this makes it so you're invested in everything relating to these characters. This puts the author in a very privileged position, where they were able to write anything they wanted to happen and have me feel their hearts skip beats because of it. The heist was written to a T, this book was planned from every single moment. The writing accompanies it effortlessly, even if I do think you have to give it a chance as I did.

Chapter one was kind of a letdown, you know? I was hoping this book was going to grab me by the balls and never let go, but it was more of a slow burn, as the book spirals into these character reveals and moments, mirroring my experience with Hunter x Hunter. It grabs you with an intriguing show of character from Mister Kaz Brekker, and then just goes all-in into all characters and you realize you've read 100 pages in the first sitting when you were hoping to read the first chapter and go watch a TV show on Netflix.

Now, on the objective beliefs I have surrounding this book: it's not as fast-paced as many reviews I read of it paint it, but I do understand the confusion. This book has long chapters, which is usually a turn-off for any page-turner seeker like me, but because you're so invested in the characters because of the way this book makes you feel for them, every paragraph reads as a part of the most thrilling Thriller book in your hands, which in my case would be a Detective Erika Foster one from Robert Bryndza.

Anyways... The reason I'm not going to give 5 stars to this book is for the ending, which I know would've left me absolutely REELING if I wasn't able to read Crooked Kingdom immediately. Even though that's not the case, I'm judging this book as its own, now.

Read it.