Six of Crows: Ocean's Eleven Meets YA Fantasy (Spoiler-Free Review)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today, we are going to be doing another book review, this one for Six of Crows, the first book in the Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo. 

This title says "spoiler free," however there is one key physical aspect of one of the main characters that I mention. It isn't a major spoiler, but if you're the kind of person who prefers to go into a book without knowing anything (including physical characteristics), then I may not advise reading this. For everyone else, read on.

With that being said, let's get into the review!

Six of Crows is a YA Fantasy novel with romance aspects sprinkled in, though it isn't the focal point of the novel. This series is technically the second series in the Grishaverse, the first being the Grisha/Shadow and Bone trilogy (depends on who in the fandom you ask; both are valid search queries, though if you read the Six of Crows cover at the top, it clearly states Grisha Trilogy).

This story is written in third-person point-of-view following six characters (five have a POV in this novel). These six characters are members of a gang in a world inspired by Amsterdam, Antwerp, Las Vegas, and Old New York (New Amsterdam), with one member being a leader. 

I read this about a month ago because I wanted to watch the Netflix adaptation that mixes Shadow and Bone and five of the characters in Six of Crows; however, the Six of Crows TV plotline doesn't cover much of the book plotline (save for one romance spanning this novel), most likely setting these characters up for a future season due to the show's success among many Grishaverse fans and generic watchers of Fantasy or Netflix.

When I was reading this, I was very much reminded of Ocean's Eleven, a movie my sister and I watched last year in preparation for a family vacation right before the pandemic hit. There is a heist involved, albeit it's a fantasy setting instead of Vegas (though it was an inspiration for Ketterdam, which I'm honestly not surprised about). 

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I technically read this book out of order. I read Shadow and Bone at the beginning of last year, and had begun reading Siege and Storm right after, but I dropped it because I wasn't feeling it at the time. I had been excited to read this one for two reasons. One, the plot sounded intriguing, and two, the cover is memorable.

Personally, I really enjoyed this book, and it's one of my favorite YA books. It isn't my number one (it's going to be hard to overthrow the Riordanverse books), but it was incredibly enjoyable, and I might even consider it a top five. I especially enjoyed Kaz, who is one of the main characters, and he was my favorite (yes, even over Inej). I just related to him for one specific reason. 

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If you've read any of my other posts, you know I have autoimmune disease/chronic pain/juvenile arthritis/invisible disability. Kaz has a cane he uses due to something that happened to him in the past that is revealed a bit later in the novel regarding his right leg, and I thought this was fascinating. 

I can only think of one other YA character that requires a cane to get around (Jem Carstairs from The Infernal Devices, though he isn't a protagonist, and he doesn't always need the cane; also one of my favorite characters). I can think of many side characters with limps (the most notable being Newt from The Maze Runner series; another favorite), but not mobility aids, especially in a fantasy novel.

I don't have mobility aids (I refused everything except a stroller or wagon when I was younger), but I've walked with a limp dozens of times, and I've also dealt with leg pain a lot, so to read about a YA Fantasy character that has a limp and needs a cane is really special and refreshing. 

The author, Leigh Bardugo, mentions in her Acknowledgements in Six of Crows that Kaz's limp and cane was largely inspired by her own experience with osteonecrosis (death of bone tissue due to lack of blood supply; sometimes Ms. Bardugo has to walk using a cane), which makes Kaz even more personal. 

I think his limp was incorporated into his character really well. It never made him weak, and it was never glossed over as if it never existed. The limp itself never disappeared. It was never a convenient plot device solely so that he could be healed at the end of the novel, and I liked that. It was just a part of who he was, which is more realistic to how life actually works.

As for the rest of the Crows (the members of the gang), I enjoyed all of them. I thought their stories and backstories were really well incorporated, though I connected with Kaz the most, due to the reason I mentioned above.

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I think I read this book at the exact time I needed it, though I can't explain why. Kaz is a character I have never seen before. His backstory was so fleshed out, while also keeping some aspects mysterious, and I really enjoyed that. At times, I didn't even feel as if I was reading a YA novel. Sometimes when I read books, I can tell what the target audience is supposed to be, especially when it comes to YA. 

However, this book has such well-done characters mixed with such a unique writing style that just makes it feel as if this novel is intended to be read by anyone fourteen and up (I only say fourteen because there is more violence in this than in the Grisha Trilogy and other YA books I've read), which is something I haven't really come across in my reading adventures and binges.

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Overall, I really enjoyed Six of Crows, and I rate it 5 out of 5 stars. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys YA, Fantasy, Romance, heists, morally gray characters, and characters that feel as if they could be real. Many people will say that this book isn't realistic because no kid could be the leader of a gang (it's Fantasy, it doesn't always have to be hyper-realistic) and that it isn't relatable because of this (although, based on my comments above, you can tell that I highly relate to it despite the fantasy barrier). 

Overall, I think this book is worth a try. You don't have to read the Grisha Trilogy before this (I didn't, joining a club of many other people), but if you are a stickler for continuity and reading things in chronological order, then I would definitely read about Alina Starkov, Malyen Oretsev, and the Darkling first. 

That's it for this review! I hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time,

Lexi K🖌