title: crooked kingdom
author: leigh bardugo
genre: ya-fantasy
type: paperback
pages: 536
start: 06.08.2017
finish: 11.08.2017
rating: ⭐⭐⭐.75
“Fate has plans for us all.” – “And sometimes fate needs a little assistance.”
what it’s about:
after pulling the biggest heist in their lives, kaz brekker and his crew have no time to rest, because there are new dangers coming at them from all different sides. they need to summon their strengths, find a new plan and defeat all the enemies, that are coming their way to get what they want.
what i think:
i’m kind of afraid of writing this review, because i feel like everybody has already read “crooked kingdom” and loved it way better than “six of crows”. i am not one of those people and i will explain myself with spoilers, because otherwise there is no way for me to express my feelings towards this duology ending by leigh bardugo.
first of all i really loved “six of crows”. i didn’t expect to love it, but i did. i fell in love with kaz. he’s the bad boy and i love bad boys. why? don’t ask me. but i also fell in love with inej, because she is a badass female character that blew me away. i fell in love with jesper, because he was so funny, that i laughed out loud all the time. and then there were nina, matthias and wylan, who i liked, but they did not stand out to me.
this was a little pre story. with all these feelings i went into “crooked kingdom”. and since the starting point was a kidnapped inej, i was so excited, what the crew would come up with. so i started reading. and reading and reading. and somehow i had to realize pretty early in the book, that the point of view of kaz was missing. all the other characters got their time, their chapters. but inej was kidnapped and kaz had nothing to say? i was somehow irritated. and then i got mad. at some point, let’s say it was exactly page 127, i finally got, what i wanted. i got kaz’s point of view. and it was exactly for 8 pages. i was furious. i thought: “you’ve got to be kidding me?” but i stayed calm. i went on with the book. but it dragged. oh my, i have to admit, that i was bored. somehow nothing happened. there was no real exciting plot twists and i had a feeling, that nothing is happening at all. there were just filled pages, that had not much to say.
i realized, that i didn’t tab any pages, which is crazy, because i tabbed the hell out of “six of crows”. and here? nothing. i was starting to be afraid. what if this was all there was? i was scared, because i did not enjoy myself very much. i had a feeling that all chapters were just too long and nothing really happened that had me alarmed and focused and that made me hold my breath. nothing.
then page 357 happened. yes, i marked it, because it was the best chapter in the entire book for me. it was kaz’s point of view. it was emotional. it was gripping. it was wonderful. it was exactly what i was looking for. thank you! i was back again and i had new joy for this book. i even wrote down: “finally the chapter i wanted to have!”. here’s the evidence 😀
you may be asking yourself, why this book still got 3.75 stars from me. that’s pretty easy. the last third was strong. really strong. it saved a lot, it just came too late. because from this point on, the book got better and better. there was more action, more suspense and i was looking forward, which plan kaz and the group would come up to. i knew, i shouldn’t take everything seriously, because there would be plot twists, and yes, they happened. and i was so happy about that, because the final pages of this book saved it for me. bardugo wrote them beautifully and i was hooked. i really enjoyed how the plan played out. of course i was flinching and of course i hurt when they hurt, but it was good. it was what i wanted from the start.
inej was a character that also saved this book for me. she was still badass and i loved her so much. she was always there for kaz and i loved how they both worked together. the nothing-lovey-dovey-is-happening-thing was perfect, because everything that stood between the lines mattered so much more. thank you leigh bardugo for that. also the way inej is doing her work and how she feels and behaves is amazing. i love this woman so much.
another good thing for me was the way the situation between nina and matthias was executed. since i wasn’t the biggest fan of these characters, the ending didn’t hit me as much as it may have hit other readers. but i was happy how it was executed and i think leigh bardugo did the right thing here. many people may be disagreeing with me, but i really liked this development and how it was wrapped up.
but unfortunately, all that came way too late for me. all the suspense and action should have happened right from the beginning. i mean, that had a hell of a villain but even he couldn’t be the badass villain he should have been. instead i was bored and that is something the last third of the book can’t make up for. even the tears i’ve shed because of you know what, can’t make up for it. and that makes me mad and sad, because this book could have been so much more for me.
what you should know:
“crooked kingdom” by leigh bardugo focuses on all the characters in the crew and goes deep into their lives and into their past. you get to know them very well and if you love certain characters, this book is right for you.
if you are a big fan of kaz brekker, this book won’t be enough for you. i counted. from all 45 chapters, kaz got exactly 8. that is way too less for me. his background story in “six of crows” had me shook. that was mind blowing, but “crooked kingdom” focuses more on the other characters. that’s a thing you should know, going into this book, because you won’t get as much kaz as you got in “six of crows”.
you should also know, that it’s not as funny as “six of crows”. i didn’t laugh often and i only tabbed three funny quotes, and one even didn’t come from jesper. that was a disappointment, because that was something i loved about him in the first book. here, he wasn’t that funny and i missed it a lot. he didn’t stood out for me in “crooked kingdom”, which is a real disappointment.
you may be thinking, that i didn’t like this book. but i did, at least the last third. that was what i was hoping for. but it came too late. if you are interested in the backgrounds and past of all the characters, you will enjoy this book. but don’t expect it to be suspenseful and full of plot twists right from the start. it needs its time to get there and in my opinion this time just came too late.
what did you think about “crooked kingdom”? please let me know and we can discuss! 🙂
“crooked kingdom” on goodreads
leigh bardugo on goodreads
