Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – A Review

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Young Adult | Fantasy
Published by Orion Children’s Books
Released September 27, 2016
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Rating:

Crooked Kingdom is the second book in the Six of Crows duology. As such, I won’t be able to say too much about the plot of this book, due to spoilers. However, this novel is somehow even better than Six of Crows, and it absolutely crushed my heart.

If you’ve read Six of Crows, you’ll already know all of the characters in this book. The whole gang is back, and they’re still trying to get their due rewards from Wylan’s father. We follow them on new adventures and watch as deeper bonds continue to form between the members of the group.

Just like in the first book, I love Leigh Bardugo’s writing style and world building. This story takes place in the Grisha Verse universe established in her trilogy that was released before these ones. However, it isn’t necessary to have read those books in order to understand what is happening in the Six of Crows duology. I will definitely be reading that previous trilogy now (I’m actually picking the first book up at the library on Friday!), but I didn’t feel as though I had missed out on anything.

Kaz and Inej are still my favorite characters, and I love both of them even more after this second book. They’re both so deeply scared and watching as they struggle to overcome their terrible pasts is a heartwarming thing to see.

Leigh Bardugo has a way of writing perfectly flawed characters that you love no matter what they’ve done. Every single character in this duology is fully fleshed out and believable. Their pasts are extensive, and since the story is told from multiple points-of-view, you come to understand their motivations and thinking processes, which I adore. It makes you feel as though you’re right there with them, and with their backgrounds, you feel sorry for them for everything that has happened to get them to where they are today.

It was obvious early on in Crooked Kingdom that I would be rating this book five stars. Everything about it was perfect and I definitely feel that it deserves all of the hype it garnered around its release. If you haven’t read this duology yet, it’s never too late! Start reading!