Reviews with content warning for Torture - Six of Crows

A fun, rollicking adventure akin to Ocean’s 11. I started the book invested in Inej and Kaz, but along the way Nina and Matthias’ story became the most compelling - their struggle to reconcile seeing the humanity in each other against the propaganda they grew up with was so well done. The action is fast paced and the twists along the way are great.

-.25 because what are these ages??? With the accomplishments they’ve had, Kaz in particular should be at LEAST in his 20s. It broke the immersion for me every time the book references that they’re teenagers. I just don’t believe a young teenager built a criminal empire in so short a time unless literally everyone else in the Barrel was incompetent. I know this is a common complaint with this series, but they should have been in their 20s for their backstories to make any sense.

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mxine_'s review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One of my all time favourite books but I think that NASA scientists work less hard than I did trying to picture what the Icecourt looked like

Still an amazing book read it now. It’s got a heist, a morally grey cast of characters, and a bisexual gun slinger what more could you want?

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sskalon's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If Six of Crows had been written for an adult audience, it could have rivalled Game of Thrones.
Instead, I found myself reading a potentially fantastic story held back by underdeveloped characters, whose backstories were often limited by both their age and the intended audience. A friend recommended the book to me, and I must admit, I was hooked. But all throughout, I could not ignore the potential.

Six criminals come together, driven by individual reasons, to do an impossible heist. The story itself is filled with plot twists, detailed planning and various perspectives. Spoilers below - I will talk about its shortcomings.

At the forefront of the book is Kaz Brekker, a deeply traumatised criminal mastermind. I found him fascinating, both at the start and as his story unfolded. I thought he was well-written, an interesting balance of flawed and brilliant.

However, by the end, Kaz makes uncharacteristic mistakes supposedly driven by the development of romantic feelings. To me, this felt out of place, as well as uncharacteristic for him. The real romance of this book is between Nina and Matthias, whose complex dynamic hinted at a depth that was not fully developed. Jesper was done dirty by the end of the book, and I kept expecting the last POV to be Wylan’s, possibly after something went very wrong or to tie everything together. But the story, filled with unprepared teenagers undergoing a deeply flawed plan with endless possibilities for it to fail, went perfectly - not a single one of them was lost. Unpopular opinion: Nina should have died

There’s an almost heroic attempt at making Kaz a morally grey character, but despite his efforts to build a bad reputation—and the author’s attempts to portray him as such—he doesn’t truly operate in that grey area. I understand his mysteriousness keeps people at a distance, but given their backgrounds, Inej must be blind at times when describing him.

I loved the multiple perspectives, which allowed me to understand each of their minds and accompany them through their parts in the plan. But none of them should have been teenagers. And this book should not have been YA targeted.

I get it, Inej’s past is traumatic - but the alluding to the Menagerie, which is such a big part of her, should have been explored further. Kaz gauging the eye of someone out with his bare hand and stuffing a handkerchief - good. Mentions of a brothel - bad.

To me it seemed clear the author wanted to get deeper into it, having to settle instead for subtleties. Another spoiler: I don’t even want to further talk about the fact that almost all of the characters are minors. The choice did nothing but constrain the story on all aspects. And made it difficult to read in those moments.

Overall, as a simple reader, due to my attachment to the characters, as well as appreciation of the writing style and the interesting plot, I will rate it 4/5. YA great quality books are few and far in between, and this is one of them. But it should have been a 3.

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maddy707's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is my second time reading this duology. Truly perfection. The universe, the characters, the relationships, they all have my heart.

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mainereading's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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hazeydaze24's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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ashmeanything's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow, this book. I haven't taken so long to read something in quite a long time, but it was worth it. Immediately, the prose and command of the world hooked me, and the qualities I initially loved were fleshed out and present throughout the entire story. Bardugo clearly has an amazing ability to weave discrete and complex storylines together, disrupt and reset the status quo, and keep secrets from both the characters and the reader. Finishing this book was like unraveling more and more depth, making the painful and wonderful parts all stronger. The only things keeping it from a perfect rating are the sheer number of details that I had to remember and the very graphic descriptions of injury and bodily harm. Overall, though, this was excellent. I can't wait to read the next one.

Content warnings for xenophobia/racism, trafficking, child abuse, injury and medical content, violence, war, betrayal, genocide, addiction, slavery, and murder (all frequent) as well as bullying, guns, addiction, confinement, illness and child death, sexual harassment, and brief ableism and drug use.

Used for 2024 r/Fantasy Bingo (criminals, hard mode); also fits for first in a series, entitled animals, multi-POV (hard mode), character with a disability (hard mode), survival (hard mode), judge a book by its cover, and book club.

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