Book Review – Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

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Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo has completely and utterly destroyed me! I am still shook and its been three days since I finished it. Leigh Bardugo has made me her No:1 fangirl with this book and this duology.

Synopsis

Welcome to the world of the Grisha.

Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world. 

MY REVIEW

Crooked Kingdom picks up right where Six of Crows ended. The crew is making plans and setting everything in motion to get Inej back and wreak havoc on Van Eck who dared to cross them. Everything seems to be going according to plan but then suddenly out of nowhere, things start falling apart.

“What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was how you survived when you weren’t chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway.”

SoC started out a little slow because I had to get used to the world and all the different characters. Crooked Kingdom on the other hand is jam packed with action from the very first page. It was a crazy roller coaster ride of twists and turns, highs and lows, crossings and double crossings. It was dark, complex, multilayered and hands down one of the best reads of 2018

Told in multiple POVs, each and every character leaves an unforgettable mark on you. If Six of Crows was an introduction, Crooked Kingdom gives you an indepth character study of all the members in the gang. Right along with the action, seamlessly incorporated into each page, is the past and hopes for the future, dreams and fears, strength and weakness of each member of the gang. I didn’t think I could fall any more in love with the characters of Kaz, Inej, Nina , Mathias, Jesper and Wylan but I was proved wrong again.

It was a beast of a book with more than 500 pages in the hardcover but I still finished it in under a day. I literally couldn’t stop turning the pages. I knew there would be twists upon twists but even then I could never predict what was going to happen next. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout and not even for a second, was I bored. The ending completely destroyed me, though. I was not expecting it and it gave me such a whiplash that I am still not completely over my shock.

“Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.”

So people, if you havent read this one yet, it would be like missing the ride of your life. Seriously, get this book now and start reading!!!

Rating : not even a 1000 stars would do this book justice.

Add to : Goodreads || Storygraph

For everybody who recommended this book, a big thank you!!!! With this one series Leigh Bardugo has become my new favourite fantasy author and I will blindly buy anything she writes from now on.

Have you read it? Let’s discuss in the comments section below 👇🏻

About the Author

Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the Six of Crows Duology and the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, as well as the upcoming Wonder Woman: Warbringer (Aug 2017) and The Language of Thorns (Sept 2017).

She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. These days, she lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band.