Crooked Kingdom
By: Leigh Bardugo
Reviewed by Nila, Grade 10
Rating: 5/5
I love this book. Crooked Kingdom concluded the Six of Crows Duology so well. Something to note is that this book is a sequel to Six of Crows, so read that before Crooked Kingdom. This book was so well written. The world building in the Six of Crows series was so good. It almost felt like I would see Ketterdam when I closed my eyes reading this. Each of the characters are so well developed as well. All of the crows are so amazing. The story follows 6 teens, Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Jesper Fahey, and Wylan Van Eck. Every single character was so well thought out, and each one had such a unique backstory. I love how Kaz was painted in this book. In the first book, you didn’t get much of his backstory, but in Crooked Kingdom it is revealed. I loved Inej’s story, and how diverse each character was. I like how Bardugo brought in some elements of Shadow and Bone into Crooked Kingdom as well. I liked how Nina was from the Little Palace, but got captured by druskelle. Her and Matthias' story really broke my heart in this book. Seeing some of my favourite characters from Shadow and Bone really made me realize all the intricate connections in Crooked Kingdom. The plot follows the Crows, Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Jesper Fahey, and Wylan Van Eck, in their mission to get Inej back from Jan Van Eck, and smuggle Kuwei Yul-Bo safely out of Ketterdam into Ravka. After Nina used Jurda Parem (a drug that amplifies Grisha Power), her powers have changed, she no longer controls the living, but the dead instead, as an aftereffect of Jurda Parem. The plot was very well written, and has so many plot twists, I never saw any of the surprises coming. I highly recommend this book to fantasy and magic book lovers. Overall, this book was amazing, and I would definitely recommend it to friends.