Six of Crows~Leigh Bardugo | Review

Title: Six of Crows (The Dregs #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA Fantasy
Length: 462 Pages
Release: September 2015
My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Review

I'm not sure if the series is still called The Dregs or Six of Crows, but I prefer The Dregs (not for the naming of a series to be the same as the title of the first novel), so I'm going to call it that until forced to do otherwise. 

Being a huge fan of the Grisha trilogy, I was very excited for this novel when I heard about it. The concept of these outcasts trying to break into a fortified prison was fascinating. And reminded me of some other books that I love, so I had to read it. 

Six of Crows did not disappoint. The characters are shrouded in shadow at the beginning, being slowly revealed as the plot unfolds. At first this was kind of odd to me, probably just because I had been reading other novels where things were more readily known. But it works. In fact, it's one of my favorite things about this book. You don't really know the characters in the beginning. Each of them has layers that are peeled back slowly and they unfold before your eyes. They are all so beautifully broken. 

The beginning of the novel is somewhat slow, building the story up from the roots. For me this was great, but some people might like more in the beginning. Once it gets going it really gets going though. Kaz and his crew of misfits are the perfect cast of characters. They are all from completely different backgrounds and bring so many different perspectives to the table. 

The characters in this are simply brilliant. I cannot get over how much I enjoyed them all. I do have my favorites, but there wasn't one that I didn't like. Kaz is troubled and fascinating, Inej is quiet and stealthy, Nina is loud and flamboyant, Matthias is innocent yet brutal, Jesper is misguided but loyal, and Wylan is a wandering boy (probably the least known throughout the story).

This book is more about the heist than the romance, although there are definitely touches of romance here. There were some nice connections back to the world of The Grisha, but not too much overlap. One thing that pushed this book ahead of those for me is the changing perspective. Alina could get annoying and always being in her head was frustrating. Here we get chapters from all our main characters. And that's one of my favorite things.

If you enjoy fantasy stories, read this book. It's beautiful, dark, and hopeful in equal measure. Ok, I lied. It's not as hopeful as it is beautiful or dark. But it's brilliant.