Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off the most daring heist imaginable.
But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're fighting for their lives. 
Double-crossed and badly weakened, they're low on resources, allies and hope.
While a war rages on the city's streets, the team's fragile loyalties are stretched to breaking point. 
Kaz and his crew will have to make sure they're on the winning side... no matter what the cost.

Me before and during reading this book!

I hate having to review the last book in a series, especially one that I LOVE! I absolutely adored Six of Crows, it was one of my top reads of 2015 and introduced me to 6 of my new favourite characters. So that made it very hard to read the second and final book in this duology, I was so nervous that I wouldn't enjoy it or it would end badly. It didn't but, if I am being completely honest, it also wasn't my favourite ending to a series either. It was really good, it just wasn't everything I was hoping for. I am going to just give you a spoiler free review of my thoughts about this book.



Six of Crows ended with Inej being taken by Van Eck, and him demanding Kuwei Yul-Bo being handed over to him in exchange. How could Bardugo do that to me?!? But I also loved her for it, as I knew what it would bring out in Kaz. Kaz is so in love with Inej that it is just adorable and I knew that her being taken would make him go into full cold-blooded, calculating bastard in order to get her back. And he did not disappoint me. I just love those two together and I was so excited to see what devious plan he could concoct in order to get her back.

I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd craw to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.

Me with all six of the crew!

The characters in this book are what I love the most and what suck me so completely into this story. This series was originally a standalone, Bardugo says she was originally able to tell the whole story in one book, but that is cost in terms of characters and she couldn't flesh them out the way she wanted to. So it became a duology and I am glad it did if it meant we got such fleshed out, interesting characters. There isn't one of the main 6 characters that I don't like, I love them all and I ship these guys far too much. Inej & Kaz, Jesper & Wylan, Nina & Matthias. They are all adorable and all perfect for each other. I was so invested in these characters and what would become of them.

I have to admit to feeling like the story suffered a little here, and that is showed a little that it wasn't originally going to be two books. It felt like the story was being dragged out just a little too much, but maybe that was just me. I love how Bardugo manages to keep us in the dark about parts of the plan, so that we can be surprised along with everyone Kaz is screwing over. I just wish the story had felt as tight and perfectly paced as the first book, it just didn't to me.

They were twin souls, soldiers destined to fight for difference sides, to find each other and lose each other too quickly. She would not keep him here. Not like this.

I still absolutely love this book though for so many reasons. A million of those are about the characters, but there is more as well. I love Bardugo's writing, she is a writer that seems to improve with every book. I love her dialogue, she writes some of the best, funniest dialogue between her characters. I love all the ships, and the fact they are all so different. I love the world this is set in, how vast it is. I can't get over how she manages to keep us guessing and surprising us at every turn. This wasn't everything I wanted but it was still an amazing finale to a brilliant duology.

4/5 Butterflies

Okay...

Now it is time.

SPOILER TIME!

Just skip right to the bottom if you want to avoid all the spoilers and just leave a comment. I can't review this book without giving spoilers, I need to go in to detail.

Okay... go away non-spoiler reading people. BE GONE!

Okay, time to really get into it. I feel my biggest problem probably came from the fact I did not feel any closure at the end. I JUST DIDN'T! I wanted more, I felt like the story wasn't over and that there was more to know. I love these characters so much and want to know that they are okay. And, yes, I totally need to see Kaz and Inej get over their many personal issues and just be together already. THEY DESERVE IT! My other big issue was the death, which felt completely unnecessary to me and just out of the blue. I don't know if it was just me, I felt it was there for the sake of killing off a character and nothing more. It broke my little heart a little, and seemed a bit too obvious as well. After the millionth time of Matthias telling Nina he was made to protect her and only death would stop him, you kind of get the general idea that the guy is about to kick the bucket.

Basically all my Kaz & Inej feels summed up.

More detail on my Kaz and Inej feelings. Oh my, I ship these two far too much and I wish they had got a more happily ever after together. Kaz has so many issues, but then so does Inej. I wanted them to be able to work through them together. I have seen some criticise Inej and how she deals with Kaz and his issues, they seem to just brush over her own issues. These two are made for each other, they have both suffered in many ways. Kaz can't bear to touch another person, Inej spent years being touched when she did not want it. It was heartbreaking to see the one person she wanted to touch her be repulsed by the very idea, even though she knew it wasn't about her it still stung. I just wanted to collapse into a little sobbing mess on the floor and weep for these too. They deserve a happily ever after but I don't know if they will ever get it, not in the way I would love. Inej and Kaz are my favourites, they have both been through so much. I find Inej so strong, when she started thinking back on her time at the Menagerie I was a teary-eyed mess. I couldn't bear to think about all those times she had been raped, all the things she had been made to do just to survive. It really brought all my Kaz and Inej feels to a whole new level, knowing he was the one to rescue from that and give her the freedom she craved. And at the end of this when he paid off her contract and got her a boat... Excuse me while I cry FOREVER!!!

The last thing I HAVE to talk about is Matthias dying. I CAN'T DEAL RIGHT NOW!!! I still don't understand it and why it was necessary. Other than the fact it would seem 'too easy' if they had all managed to survive. Clearly I am just a basic bitch who needs the wonderful, happily ever after where all our heroes run off into the sunset together. But, come on, is that too much to ask for!!! Bardugo is evil. I was on a bus when I read that part and, even though I had been spoiled for the death before I even read this book, I was a horrible weepy mess. It was heartbreaking to read, especially when Nina couldn't bear to let him go and tried to bring him back. NOOOOOOOOO! Why would Bardugo do it, why?!?! I just can't deal. I hate when a death feels like it is just there for the shock factor of it all. Some of my favourite books involve the deaths of my favourite characters, but at least there it felt like it made more sense and was for a reason. Here it didn't. But maybe that is just me.

WHY, BARDUGO, WHY?!?!

SPOILERS OVER

Okay... I am going to leave it there. I can't even deal right now. I am still not over this book. I will nee a reread, where my score will probably go to 5/5 once I get over the open ending. It also didn't help that I have been in a 5/6 month slump when I read this, that might have been a factor into why I didn't love it as much as I wanted to.