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

by Leigh Bardugo

[EBookObsessed]

I liked Six of Crows. I loved Crooked Kingdom. It kept my guess and kept surprising me with each new chapter.

Small spoilers unless you finished Six of Crows.

Kaz and his crew were double crossed. Not getting their money after risking their lives was bad enough, but abducting one of theirs unless they give up the scientist is unacceptable. These street rats from the Barrel have just broken into the impenetrable fortress and escaped with their lives and the scientist that everyone wants to get their hands on. They are a force to be reconed with and they aren't going to stand for being double crossed.

Van Eck wants a war with the Barrel scum, and he is going to get more than he bargained for.

Kaz is like the Sherlock Holmes of criminals. He thinks out plans, knowing what he needs to do, how someone will react and how that will change the plans. He makes plans upon plans upon plans. Not everything goes as he expects and certain nothing was going as I expected. Everytime I thought all was lost, I completely fell for Kaz's fake out.

I have a bad habit of trying to figure out the plot before we get there. What I love about a great mystery is when it surprises me. This whole story kept me on my toes. I had no idea what would happen next and several times I was blindsided by what happened next.

First they need to get back their team mate.  Then they want their money.   They are also keeping the most wanted individual on the planet who can create the most dangerous drug.  Everyone wants him, but keeping him alive was probably a mistake and now they had to figure out where he would be safest, if that place even exists.

Where the first book was simply break into the Ice Court, try to surviving and get out again, this book had so many things it needed to accomplish that there was also a plan, a plot, a scheme.  Some that worked and some that didn't.  It just kept going from beginning to end.   And all these kids will face personal challenges that will change their lives and how they have come to see the world in their 15 to 17 years of life.

I always feel that there is so much more to most Young Adult stories because they have to have a story to them. They can't just distract you with a hot sex scenes.

I could see this series being just as successful as the Hunger Games or Divergent series if they could get all these plot points in. There isn't really anything to cut.   You need some of the failures as well as the successes to keep you captived.

This story does get into a bit more of what happened to Inej during her time in the Pleasure House.  It is still not overly graphic but would bring up questions from younger readers that you might not be ready to answer.

My daughter and I are still discussing plots and characters in detail now that I have finished.