crooked kingdom: an emotional roller coaster
- paigenherbooks
- Feb 9, 2022
- 4 min read
Rating: 5/5
Once again, Bardugo has stolen my heart with her characters and world building. Crooked Kingdom came, conquered, and tore my heart apart in the best way! The continuation of the story of our rag-tag band of criminals with a goal of bettering the corrupt society around them. Crooked Kingdom was a roller coaster of emotions that kept me glued to my seat the entire time.
Synopsis: 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.
This book. After I finished and turned the last page, I shut the cover and I just sat there. Thinking. Taking in the almost 500 pages I had just read and really letting them marinate inside my head. I loved it. It was even better than Six of Crows in my opinion, and that book set the fire for this story within my heart. Everything about this book was perfect. The pacing, our lovely cast of characters, the world building. All of it done so perfectly!
I could write a novel on how clever and interesting Kaz Brekker is. He is such a chaotic good but greed fueled character. Half the time I feel as if I have no idea what he wants and then, in moments of vulnerability, we see Kaz for who he really is. He relishes in destruction of systems that undermine people. He is fighting for the right. The right to do as he pleases. The right to inadvertently help others to also have this freedom. The way he crafts his plans is phenomenal, you literally have no idea how anything is going to go. The author does this to keep you in the dark and it works perfectly! Kaz is as if Sherlock Holmes and Batman had a child. I love him.
The rest of our characters were equally enthralling as they were last time. Each one of them are so unique and I loved getting into their backstories even more. I genuinely don't want to spoil too much of anyone's heartbreaking or fantastic backstories, because I genuinely never saw what was coming. Bardugo has a flair for being able to craft stories and characters in a way that make them likeable as well as relatable...even if they are in a fictional world with things that probably would never happen in our day and age.
Which brings me to the plot. This book was paced so well! There wasn't one moment where I was dreading reading through a chapter or bored with where the story line was going. Everyone's point of view was engaging and kept the reader wondering what was going on. That the thing with this book! All of the moving parts with their subplots really leans into something that the reader can follow but never know 100% what exactly is going on! Things like this is what kept me glued to it's pages. Everything from the details to wrap up every small subplot as well as the major plot was done SO WELL. There were no plot holes or what if's, which made it feel like the book truly did end. Even if chapter 40 is the worse chapter of a book I have ever read and I recommend that you just skip it all together...
Then the range of emotions. Sometimes I laughed, other times I almost cried...then I did full on sob at one point (if you know you know). Other times I wanted to quite literally throw the book as hard as possible at the wall and scream. BUT I loved going through every single one of these emotions! These characters have become some of my favorite and I genuinely care about each of their story lines, back stories, and future.
Then the romance! It is SO small yet SO powerful. Everything is alluded but in a way that makes the romance feel natural. None of it is pushed and everything is so sweet !!! I was F A N G I R L I N G! I loved that the love is natural, I feel like I'm in middle school again with a little crush! Kaz and Inej are so cute!! Nina and Matthias!! Jesper and Wylan!! All of them make me so happy and I am always so intrigued by their story lines! Every character is crafted in a way that makes them feel real. Not only that but they are authentic. Someone can relate to one aspect of the characters. No boring random, cookie cutter archetypes types here!
The story as a whole was something great, I enjoyed every single moment of it. The concept of what would and most likely should be villain's being the characters we root for is genius. I love that even though they cheat, lie, steal and sometimes beat the shit out of people, the characters are still the ones we are rooting for. The Dregs for life! I think it takes quite the author to be able to turn normally negative characters into some of the best ones I've ever read about!
The world building and the world of the Grisha is one I look forward to visiting again soon as I start the Shadow and Bone trilogy!
happy reading as always!
xoxo,
paige :)
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