Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Six of Crows

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

32 reviews

ye_olde_river's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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david_slack110507's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.5

About a year or so ago, I began reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy as a means to enter Leigh Bardugo's world of the Grishaverse, admittedly, the main reason why I had started to read that trilogy was to start reading this duology, the Six of Crows duology, as it had been so widely critically acclaimed, recommended, and well received that they were put on my radar but I decided I would read the Shadow and Bone trilogy books first, as while not necessary to read these books, I'm glad I did as not only did it allow me to appreciate the little nods and mentions to the aforementioned trilogy spread throughout this book, but it also meant that I wasn't going into this book blind when it came to the lore and the Grisha systems of the world. I also found that it allowed me to appreciate the overall upward shift in quality because while eventually, I did really enjoy the Shadow and Bone books, this one was just another level.

One of the main enticements of this book for me was the characters and I'm glad to say that the characters, at least our main group of 6, all were incredibly well-written and developed. I think their connections as a group as well as intergroup connections with one another were so well done. I loved them all - Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, and Matthias - and I found that I was never once bored when it shifted to either one of their perspectives which I'm really glad this book did as everyone had a unique character background which explained why they were doing what they were doing as well as having unique perspectives on the heist that lay ahead of them.

Speaking of the heist, I found that the heist as the plot was actually really strong, and it helped move the book along at a brisk but nice pace allowing for moments to breathe before the next one arrived. I found the pre-planning and the constant shift in plan when something unaccounted for happened or when something wrong took place was extremely enjoyable and it was really good to see these characters constantly face change during their heist on the Ice Court and adapt the best that they could.

I also really liked seeing the world beyond Ravka and the Grisha's perspective as that was something that, now looking back on it, was missing from the Shadow and Bone books so it was interesting to see what the Fjerdans/Fjerda thinks of Grisha and vice versa as well as seeing the story set in a place of less elegance and extravagance than Ravka with East Stave and the 'Barrel'. It also built upon Grisha magic with the introduction of Jurda Parem, a drug that allows Grisha to do unimaginable things that break the previous limits of their power; I do wish we had gotten to see more of it but I also think that what we saw did demonstrate well enough why it was so dangerous to the world and why it was imperative that this not fall into the wrong hands.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this even if it did take me a lot longer than I wanted to but I found it to be a huge step up from the Shadow and Bone books and the next book is rated even better so I can't even imagine how good of a treat that'll be which I'm hoping to get around to relatively soon as I try and finish up the other books I have on the go. I'm interested in seeing whether or not the next book, Crooked Kingdom, will resolve the cliffhanger off screen (or off the page in this instance, with explanations in the form of exposition spread throughout to explain it) or whether it will start the book and wrap it up relatively quickly to then go onto the actual plot of that book but I guess only time will tell.

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josiee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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agatha_hopkins's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.75

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mxbluet18's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-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? No

5.0

Trigger warnings for Six of Crows include: ableism and ableist language; indentured servitude and slavery; forced underaged sex work (in memory); child abuse (in memory); abandonment and disownment; substance and gambling addiction;
alcohol consumption and recreational drug use; drugging without consent; forced and coerced drug dependency. As well as implied panic attacks and nightmares; implied coerced suicide; blood and gore depiction, graphic physical injuries, emesis, medical experimentation, dead bodies, plague, body modifications (with consent).
Grief depiction and death of a father, brother, family and friend; murder, attempted murder, physical assault, knife and gun violence, torture, strangulation, explosions. Kidnapping, drowning.
☆
☆
Realistically I picked this up three days ago and finished it in the early hours. Once I started it I didn't really put it down. It's a duology that's been sitting on my TBR list for a while, as was the Shadow and Bone series, and it took a while for me to get to them, which is something I regret. My friend recommended them to me a while ago, and I understand why they did now. I even sent them a message while I was reading saying that I understand the pull of Kaz Brekker now.
~
One thing that really stood out to me was the amount of representation in this. Both in terms of sexuality and disability and neurodivergency. There's a bisexual character and a gay character.

And Kaz walks with a cane because of a severe limp and chronic pain, as well as the leather gloves he always wears, which is somewhat discussed as being because of trauma and a resulting aversion to touch, he the flashbacks and fainting he experiences are potentially the result of PTSD from childhood trauma. And while it's not actually confirmed in the books, the descriptions make it fairly plain that Jesper probably has ADHD. He also has a gambling addiction.
~
Two other things I feel the book does really well, and I feel are written very well is flesh out the characters, give them a really rich backstory, but make their motives subtle but clear. Like for Kaz, he clearly has a reason for persuing Pekka Rollins, and his childhood was explained in segments. But it's left to the reader to connect those dots because nothing is explicitly stated.

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rose_88's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Very different to the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but I loved it none the less. I loved how mismatch the ‘crew’ was, and I liked how each of their backstories were littered throughout, rather than getting them all at once.

Though I really want to know more about Wylan, I was disappointed that there were no chapters from his point of view but I loved seeing him from other people’s perspective.

I loved Kaz and Inej, and Matthias and Nina’s real action ships, as well as how different they were. I also really loved Wylan and Jesper’s dynamic, looking forward to seeing more of them.

One thing i really didn’t see coming was that it was Jesper who gave away their plans, and it really wasn’t his fault, he didn’t mean to, but I know Kaz is gonna blame him, and I feel really bad for him, cause it is OBVIOUS that Jesper at least had a crush on Kaz, he literally said how he knew he was nervous when they first got to the Ice Court because he had the opportunity to see Kaz naked but didn’t take it. I just feel so bad for my boy Jes. I felt so bad when he realised he was ALWAYS the only one not knowing the plan/not knowing that Wylan had been tailored to look like the scientist.

I know this is meant to be a darker series than S&B but JESUS. The amount of trauma these teenaged, these CHILDREN, have is absolutely astonishing.

One thing I will say, it got very confusing between them getting a new plan and getting to the Grisha in the Treasury, I just felt it was very hard to visualise it, and the ending came very quickly after, I would really have liked to see how they all reacted when they escaped and how they felt about Nina’s taking of the drug and then getting back to Ketterdam.

Usually, I don’t like cliffhangers, but I felt this one with Inej having been taken by Van Eck just creates high stakes for the next book, which I’m looking forward to. It also opens the opportunity for Kaz to refer to Inej as ‘my girl’. I love them.

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