This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
Ketterdam is a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price: Secrets. Fortunes. Futures. Lives. For some, the only safe way to walk the streets alone is to make a reputation for yourself, to fight for your place, to make people fear you.
No one knows what it takes to survive the slums better than the criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. When Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams, he knows it will be the biggest gamble he has ever made, and he can’t pull it off alone.
Inej Ghafa, known as the Wraith, is a spy for Kaz in the war against Ketterdam’s rival gambling house gangs.
Jesper Fahey is a sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
Wylan Van Eck is running away from the bad memories of a privileged past.
Nina Zenik is a Ravkan Heartrender who has used her magic to survive the slums.
Matthias Helvar is a Grisha hunter who would do anything to regain his freedom and his honor.
They all have their own reasons for hoping to pull off this heist, but there is more at stake than just their lives. In the end, Kaz’s ramshackle crew may be the only thing that stands between their world and the destruction of nations.
Reminiscent of Oliver Twist meets “Oceans Eleven,” Six of Crows is a thrilling tale with a larger-than-life cast and a brilliant heist that kept me up late turning pages.
Despite the large cast, Bardugo masterfully weaves in a slow reveal of backstory that brings each of the characters to life and makes them easy to love. Ketterdam’s slum, known as the Barrel, is a hard place lined with gambling dens, rival house gangs, and houses of pleasure. They’ve had to cheat, steal, and rely on violence to survive, but despite this, they each bear strengths and hidden vulnerabilities that remind us, despite it all, they are humans with needs, hopes, and wants, and wry humor that even their bleak situations can’t destroy.
Rated: Moderate. Mild and moderate language is scattered throughout the story, as well as two to three instances of strong language. Sexual content is reserved to some crude banter and innuendos. There is a lot of descriptive violence and several areas the reader many find unsettling. Some dark topics include slavery, girls being forced to work in brothels, and a drug and its addiction that can lead to death or suicide. Two shipwrecked characters remove wet clothes and lay together under blankets to stay warm. Several characters are also forced to strip off their clothes and be searched upon entering prison.
