Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo

I read these at the beginning of the summer (yes, still behind on my reviews!) If you like heist movies or books, the first one should be right up your alley. This is a dark world, without a lot of goodness or hope. Perhaps that is so the friendship and loyalty between the characters shines more brightly.

Of the two, I liked the first one better.

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1), by Leigh Bardugo

3.5 stars: A team of underdogs takes on the impossible. 

Kaz Brekker has a lot of secrets and knows a lot of things. One thing he knows is that money talks. He needs money to pull off his ultimate plan of revenge. Ever since he and his older brother were swindled as country boys and thrust onto the streets of Ketterdam City, he has lived to pay back the crook that did it to them. Not the momentary type of revenge, either. The type that will leave his enemy utterly ruined.

Kaz, now known as Dirtyhands, has come far since those naïve, trusting days. Now he trusts no-one. He basically runs the Crow Club, where he used to crash as a lowly new kid on the totem pole. He is always 3 steps ahead of his foes, prepared for every contingency in every underhanded deal. He is ruthless. Whatever soft spots or weaknesses he may have, he keeps them well hidden. Make no mistake about it, his bad leg and that deadly cane don't factor in as weaknesses.

So when he gets the opportunity to make more money than he has ever seen, he has to take it. Even though the job is basically impossible. He will have to "liberate" an important prisoner from the Ice Court. This political prisoner has created a substance that greatly enhances any magical powers of its users, though the effect is temporary, while also being highly addictive.

He won't be able to do it alone. He chooses his crew from amongst the underworld that he inhabits. Though they all have skills and a few even have magical powers, none would be what you might call influential. More like misfits. But Kaz would trust them with his life--and he's going to have to.

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Kaz defines anti-hero. He has gotten to where he is by his intelligence and fearlessness, sure, but also through his callousness and brutality--at times. Through flashbacks and his memories, we get to understand what has made him the way he is, but it was rather difficult to cheer him on. Pity him, but not root for him. (It would probably make him furious to be pitied.)

The interactions of the gang added some lightness to what otherwise was a gritty, rather grim tale. Two of the characters are gay and begin to develop a relationship.

Content: Overall tone of this one is pretty dark, so keep that in mind. Violence, innuendo, gang wars, talk of prostitution, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting. Older teens and adults.

(Finished reading June 10)

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2), by Leigh Bardugo

3 stars: Kaz and Co. are going to get their due, no matter what.

After being cheated out of his reward money, Kaz is ready to set his ultimate plan for revenge into motion. Of course, every plan has unforeseen difficulties. Kaz prides himself on preparing for those difficulties and throwing in a few of his own for the opposition. However, he never could have guessed that Inej, the Wraith, would meet her match.

Now Inej has been kidnapped. Kaz and the gang are going to have to get her out. Revenge and rescue. It will take a master planner with a cold eye toward emotion. Sounds like Kaz is the man for the job, all right. 

This time it's all or nothing. Kaz and his friends are either going to the top or the bottom. Or technically, the top of the bottom, as The Dregs are not what your average person would aspire to.

* * * * *
The characters continued to be developed, including a painfully awkward, stop-and-start attempt at romance between Kaz and Inej. Kaz seemed a little more human in this one, which almost made his choices more disturbing. In fact, it was a bit hard to tell who was the villain. In allowing himself to become consumed by revenge, Kaz had become at least as bad as the man he wanted to bring down this whole time.

I thought the characters were well done. I was interested in the plot and wanted to find out what was going to happen. The magical element was woven in well. Even with all of that, I still liked the first better. The heist added the element of a mental puzzle--here was a seemingly impossible task; how would they achieve it? This one was missing that element and we were left with--well, The Dregs.

Content: Much the same as the first: violence, innuendo, criminal behavior, and so on. As far as I can remember the romances stayed clean (hazards of waiting 3 months to review it!) Again, for older teens and adults.

(Finished reading June 12.)


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Have you read either of these? What was your take on them?

Rook, by Sharon Cameron

If you enjoy history--particularly the French Revolution--retellings of well-known stories, or dystopian worlds, try this combination of the three!

Rook, by Sharon Cameron

5 stars: Clever and atmospheric. A worthy retelling of its predecessor.

In the Sunken City, everything old is new again. Peasants are rioting, the upper class fear for their lives, and The Razor--a guillotine in the public square--has been shaving more and more heads from bodies lately. The prisoners' only hope is that the mysterious Rook will rescue them before their number comes up. When the guards come to the cells thus emptied, all that they find are the black rook feathers, tipped in red to show whose handiwork it is.

Meanwhile, Sophia Bellamy--who lives across the sea in the Commonwealth--has a ball to prepare for. In fact, she is supposed to meet her betrothed tonight. It's an arranged marriage; an effort to save the family estate, in fact. She is not looking forward to it.

Then she meets him: Rene Hasard, vain empty-headed fop, and is even less impressed. However it's not long before she realizes that there is more to her fiancé than meets the eye. Well, good. Same goes for her, too. She must play her best game now--his cousin is LeBlanc, the man responsible for the bloodbath in the Sunken City--and she suspects Rene may be in league with the him. It really is too bad he is so darned attractive.

* * * * *
This one hit all the right buttons for me! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's set in a future world where the Ancients (that would be us) are a distant memory, though our plastics, cement, and satellites--among other things--continue to outlive us. In fact, anything plastic is a prize. Much of the knowledge and ideas of the Ancients, however, have been lost. Paris (The Sunken City, in case you missed it), and England (the Commonwealth) are still around, though with a few alterations here and there, of course.

It would have been a solid read if it was just the dystopian world, which I found entertaining in its own right. Throw in the retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and the parallels to the French Revolution, and it bumped up a notch to fascinating. Strong side characters with complex motives didn't hurt a bit, then as the icing on the cake, clever Sophia and possibly even more clever Rene trying to outwit each other and not fall in love. It was just delicious!

I had one quibble, but since it involved the ending I will not discuss it here. Once you read it, let me know and I'll see if the same thing bothered you!

Plus, I have to say--whoever designed that cover deserves a bonus! It set just the right tone going in.

Content: Some passionate kissing. Also, some gruesome scenes involving LeBlanc and his victims--though most of it happened offstage and you just got the results. For ages 16+.

(Finished reading October 8.)

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Have you read The Scarlet Pimpernel? Or seen any of the movies? The only movie version I've seen is the one with Jane Seymour in it, but I really liked it! "Sink me..."

Series Spotlight: Matched trilogy, by Ally Condie

I actually read this young adult series almost 2 months ago, and am finally getting around to reviewing it. I have tried not to spoil anything in my reviews, which is why the summaries for #2 and #3 are so short.
By the way, whoever came up with the covers deserves a gold star! They are so intriguingly beautiful!

Matched

3 stars: Cassia begins to see in all kinds of new ways, putting her at odds with The Society.

Cassia lives in the Society, where everything is decided by far-off officials, including what your occupation will be, what you eat, who you marry, and even when you will die. There's a match system set up for young adults, with the results announced at fancy banquets. Cassia can hardly wait for her Match Banquet. She and her best friend Xander go together.

When it comes time for her Match to be announced, the screen stays dark. That can mean only one thing: her Match is present at the same Banquet. Then the name is announced: Xander Carrow. She is relieved and delighted. So is he.

Later on, as she opens up the specially-made microcard for her Match, there's a different boy whose name and face appears. Wait, what?! Then he disappears and Xander's information comes back. Now she is seriously confused, but also curious. She knows the other boy, also--Ky Markham. Could the Society have made some kind of bizarre mistake? Or is it possible that she has a choice in love?

In this world where every little thing is monitored, Cassia feels compelled to find a way to have a sliver of independence, if only to figure out for herself which boy she's supposed to be with--but at what cost?

* * * * * *

There were many things I liked about this book. I loved the references to poetry and writing, and the way a poem became a symbol of independent thinking. I found the world itself interesting, with enough room to explore further. Cassia was a bit immature, but not annoyingly so.

I was lukewarm on the love triangle bit. It seemed like she threw over a lifelong friendship with Xander pretty quickly for this other boy--possibly out of pity, or just because he was more mysterious...? But then, maybe that's just me showing my age. I'm trying to think back to high school--would "known and safe" have appealed more than "mysterious and wounded?" Hard to tell.

Anyway, definitely written for the high school crowd, but enjoyable for me as well.

Content: Clean. (Thank you, Ally Condie, for writing a clean YA romance!)

(Finished reading June 2.)

Crossed

3 stars: The star-crossed lovers work pretty hard to find each other.

Ky has been taken away, and Cassia and her family Relocated to another Borough. She is determined to find Ky, even though it will be risky. Even though it will mean she must travel to the unsafe borders, the Outer Provinces. What she hasn't planned on is getting there, only to find him already gone. How will she ever find him now?

* * * * * *

This one had several unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed both Cassia and Ky's growing friendships with others. I thought the world-building was well integrated in this one--little bits woven in here and there, without taking you out of the story too much. While the first book focused on the love triangle, this one was the "epic journey" installment, so expect quite a bit of wasteland wandering.

I finished it, then zoomed onto the next in the same day! (Um, no. I did not accomplish anything else that day.)

Content: Some violent death, but clean otherwise.

(Finished reading June 9.)

Reached

4 stars: Events and people collide in sometimes surprising ways.

Cassia and Ky are now officially part of The Rising, but it splits them up once again, as they have different assignments. There's something else they don't know: there's a plague, and it's overtaking the Society on all levels. Who started it, who has the cure, and what will come of it?

Meanwhile, Xander is a medic at Ground Zero of the plague, doing his best with the hopeless odds and long, long hours. Even so, he may find a sliver of happiness of his own.

* * * * * * *

This was my favorite book of the trilogy. I was ready for it all to come together, and it did. There were still some unanswered questions I had, particularly in regards to the border war, but for the most part things were resolved in a satisfactory way. If you were like me, and thought Xander had gotten the shaft this whole time, you'll probably like his part of the story.

Also, I just loved the idea of the Cassia's art & poetry walls, as a community expression of hope and connection. Then again, I was a Humanities major, so no surprise there!

Content: Some gross Plague-related scenes and a bit of violence, but clean otherwise.


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Overall, I enjoyed this series. I was especially happy with the mostly clean content--no sex, no swearing, and relatively little violence. Nice! My mother-in-law found the first one at a garage sale and passed it on to me, which is what got me reading them in the first place. I find that I have to be in a certain mood to read YA dystopian novels, and after a few of them I'm done for several more weeks. (Maybe that's why it took me so long to review them!)

When I finally got around to reading the first one, I liked it, and I wanted to read the next ones right away, but it's not a trilogy I've been talking to everyone about. Then again, I'm not the target audience either. I would hand them to teens that have read The Hunger Games.

Have you read these? What did you think?