Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

No (big) spoilers.

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Released: September 29th, 2015 
Rating: ★★★★

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Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.

Review:

I read the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo quite a while ago, see here my review of book 1 and book 2. I liked the trilogy, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it, especially when rereading it. Then I started seeing all these good reviews of Bardugo's new Grisha-world series: Six of Crows. I postponed reading it for a long time (2 years!), but I finally did! And it didn't disappoint :) I definitely liked this book better than the Grisha series. 
Onto my review!

Plot

Six of Crows has such an amazing, fast-paced plot, I was never bored while reading it. Probably because the story contains so many plot twists! The story is one big criminal heist - which is of course never simple or boring. Every time you think, 'pfew, the characters are okay', Bardugo inserts a new obstacle, keeping you on edge. The fact that the crew members all have their separate missions keeps the pace up too. Six of Crows is action-packed until the very end!

World Building

Bardugo did a great job of creating several new spots in her Grisha world, including the rigid, cold Fjerdan country and its Ice Court, and the dark slums of Ketterdam. I'm not sure if someone would fully understand the storyworld  if they haven't read the Grisha series, as there are a lot of references to Ravka and the Grisha, which are not fully explained in this book.
I'm Dutch, so I absolutely loved the Dutch names and references to Dutch stuff (hutspot!) in Six of Crows. If you aren't Dutch, you should definitely look up the Dutch terms, because often they are very fitting to the story. You can see that the author spent a lot of hours researching this, as she also did with Russian for the Grisha series, and the hard work pays off. To be honest, Kaz is not really a typical Dutch name (Kas with an 's' is though) - but I rolled with it. 
Ketterdam's harbour reminds me of the setting of the British TV series Peaky Blinders - the dark slums of an industrial city where all criminal activity happens, with the Dregs gang as the notorious Peaky Blinders, always getting in trouble for wanting more power. Fortunately, I love Peaky Blinders! Fans of this book should definitely watch this series, and vice versa.

Characters

The leading characters in the book, which are the protagonist Kaz's crew, are all round characters full of depth and complexity. They have interesting backstories and relations to one another, which are beautifully woven into the story. Although the characters are pretty dark and don't shun violence, they're still easy to love and all have something good hidden in them. Especially Kaz I found interesting. In the beginning he seems quite ruthless and laconic, but slowly you get to know his sad backstory and how he learned to survive in a hostile environment. This shows you he does have a heart, which makes you bond with the character even more. There's also a lot of girlpower - in form of the Grisha Nina and the spy Inej - who both have overcome hardship and keep fighting.

The book has several POVs which I usually hate, but Bardugo has given each of the characters a unique voice, so I didn't mind this time and I didn't get confused.
There's a hint of romance in the book for several of the characters, which I hope will be explored in the second book.

Ending

I prefer books with a closed or an open ending, not stopping in the middle of action or a cliffhanger. Six of Crows however does contain a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, though it didn't bother me too much. I won't tell what it is of course, but it does make you want to pick up the second book immediately.

I would definitely recommend Six of Crows if you liked the Grisha series, or if you just love fast-paced, action-packed stories in a fantasy world.

I award the book 4 stars.