by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA high fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★★
Description:
In the aftermath of the Ice Court heist and Van Eck's betrayal, Kaz Brekker and his crew of outcasts are fighting for their lives.
World powers are descending on Ketterdam in search of the secret to the drug jurda parem, and with enemies on every side, a war is about to be waged on the streets of the city.
Overall Thoughts
Did I like Crooked Kingdom better than Six of Crows? Maaayyybbbbeeee. While I did have a few major issues with this book (as opposed to Six of Crows, which I had almost no issues with), I feel like the overall plot of Crooked Kingdom was... ooh, dare I say it?... better than Six of Crows. Since this specifically has to do with the plot, I'm going to talk about this first.
Plot/Pacing
I realize I have probably made quite a few fans very angry at me. I'm sorry. But please, hear me out. There were a few places in Six of Crows where my suspension of disbelief was stretched. It wasn't enough to make me hate the book -- far from it. But there were a few key places where I felt like the author had written her characters into a corner, and had to come up with a very random event to save them. In Crooked Kingdom, I never had that problem. Everything seemed to progress in a logical fashion, and the major plot points and twists didn't ever seem to come out of nowhere. The overall plot was engaging and well paced.
I will say that I wasn't a big fan of one of the subplots... this particular subplot never really impacted the rest of the plot in a significant way, and never really impacted any of the character's arcs, either. So I didn't see much point in it even being there.
The Characters
The characterization is definitely good, as it was in Six of Crows. A few new characters were introduced, and several that were briefly mentioned or introduced in Six of Crows get more development and characterization on page. I did feel like some of the villains weren't as smart as they should have been... more than one of the villains monologues in the book (and the other characters note the monologues as well.) I would have been fine with one villain being naturally prone to monologue, but more than one felt strange.
Worldbuilding
I liked the continued exploration of the magic system in this book. Nina's powers, in particular, were explored in a new way in this book, in a way that was both original and intriguing. A few other aspects of the magic system were also explored in interesting ways, but Nina's powers were the most interesting to me.
Content
Recommended for ages 15 and up.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: References and brief flashbacks to sexual and physical abuse, another character is addicted to a drug. Reference to a child having his throat cut and being buried alive.
Violence in this book is similar to the violence levels in the first book. Descriptions of blood, numerous instances of hand to hand combat, and knife and gun use, resulting in injury and death. Descriptions of wounds. Explosions. An unnamed character is shot through the eye, and the gore is described, semi-detailed. Acid is used to fatally injure another character, and this is described in a way that could be disturbing. Descriptions of dead bodies, some in states of decay.
Multiple instances of sexual references and innuendo. A character recalls past sexual abuse. Mentions of pleasure-houses and prostitution. Several instances of kissing between a boy and a girl, as well as two kissing scenes between two boys. Two characters are heavily implied to be gay, and another is implied to be bisexual.
Profanity includes use of the f-bomb at least twice, as well as other coarse language.
Characters drink alcohol. References to drug use and addiction.
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