Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I have had Six of Crows on my to-read list since it was first published, and I put it on my kindle almost a year before I actually got around to reading it. The story takes place in the city of Ketterdam, which is a city inspired by Amsterdam. Kaz Brekker is a owner of the Six of Crows club, and he is also looking for revenge against Pekka Rollins, a man he blames for the death of his older brother. When Kaz is offered the chance to make more money than he has ever dreamed of, he cannot pass it up. He recruits Inej, Nina, Jesper, and Wylan to help him, and the five of them soon break Matthias out of prison to get him to join the team. The six of them then travel to Fjerda to rescue Bo Yul-Bayur from the Ice Court where he is being held to manufacture a drug that renders Grisha (people with magical powers) basically indestructible. However, the drug is also very addictive, and Kaz and his crew know that if they don't rescue Bo Yul-Bayur then other groups will control him, and the drug could lead to the destruction of the Grisha and the world as they know it.

I have to say that this is one of the better Fantasy books that I have read recently, and as I started the book it was easy for me to see what the appeal was to my students who had read the book. I loved learning about the past of each of the characters, and I was swept away with them in all of their adventures. Bardugo does an excellent job of weaving their lives together, and she creates believable stories for each character. I found myself wishing that I knew more about each character, and I felt that each one of them could have a book of their own to tell their back story.

Another part that I loved was the way that Bardugo was able to get the characters out of situations that I thought for sure they would not be able to get out of on their own. It was so fun for me to see how Matthias worked against the Fjerdan government and turned his back on his home because of his love for Nina. I loved seeing Inej get in and out of predicaments thanks to her own quick thinking and the help of her crew. There were some parts that I thought for sure one of the characters were going to get killed, but Bardugo apparently didn't want to see any of them die, and I was happy to read a story where none of the main characters were killed off.

The end of the story is clearly a cliffhanger, and there is a second book to follow up. I also read online that many felt you should read the Shadow and Bones series prior to reading this, but I don't see that as a necessity. The Shadow and Bones series would help you understand a little more about Ketterdam and the world the characters live in, but I felt that there was enough background information given in this one that I didn't need to read the series that came before. Overall, I highly recommend Six of Crows to anyone who loves young adult fantasy with a little bit of romance mixed in.