Ethan Murphy

Block 2B
1/16/18

Six of Crows

Thanks to George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon, I reluctantly persuaded
myself to read Leigh Bardugo’s highly acclaimed book, Six of Crows. Honestly, if there
weren’t so many direct comparisons to their action-packed movie, Ocean’s Eleven, I
wouldn’t have thought twice about attempting to read this young adult novel. In addition
to the intimidating thickness of this almost 500-page book with black-edged pages, I’m
not typically a fan of the fantasy genre. Yet the memories of Danny Ocean’s wild-ride of
adventures and mishaps through the challenge of his impossible heist are still fresh and
persuasive.
Apparently, Leigh Bardugo already had a strong fan club from her previous
fantasy trilogy about Grisha, humans with various supernatural, witch-like powers. So
even though many people couldn’t wait to get their hands on Six of Crows, I wasn’t one
them. Again, I was only reading it for it’s hyped up epic heist. Because of this unbiased
detachment, I feel my review is about as genuine as it gets.
If I had to give Six of Crows a starred rating, I would classify it as a solid 4.5 out
of 5. Vivid descriptive language, thoughtful plot development, detailed world-building,
and an unbeatable ability to keep the reader wondering which spontaneous direction the
story will turn, all deserve 5+ stars. My own personal hang-up about the use of fictional
vocabulary words is the only reason I docked this popular book a half star. In the first
chapter, I was getting frustrated with the heavy load of foreign-sounding proper nouns
used in her creation of the world of Ketterdam, a bustling city of commerce on the True
Sea. Not a Lord of the Rings fan, I was getting the same lost feeling that the “middle
earth” vocabulary gave me.
Like Ruda Sepety’s book, Salt to the Sea, Bardugo builds the story of this crazy
heist through the rotating narration of 5 of the 6 main characters who take turns peeling
back the layers of their very different pasts. This hand-selected crew of Ketterdam’s
“finest” is led by the notorious Kaz Brekker, or “Dirtyhands”, a 17-year-old who rules the
streets of the shady neighborhood known as The Barrel. Bardugo’s descriptions are
photographic. In the opening scene, Kaz and his gang, “The Dregs”, have a face-off
with “The Blacktips” over territory boundaries. Kaz outsmarts Geels in a double-crossed
set-up that sets the stage for his ability to take on the looming heist. “Geels looked at
Kaz as if he was finally seeing him for the first time. The boy he’d been talking to had
been cocky, reckless, easily amused, but not frightening – not really. Now the monster
was here, dead-eyed and unafraid. Kaz Brekker was gone, and Dirtyhands had come
to see the rough work done” (pg. 33).
Even though he is more of an anti-hero who appears to only care about himself,
Kaz had me rooting for him to pull through every road block and twist he encountered.
Like a true card shark, he holds the cards of his plan close to himself, keeping his team
on edge as the journey to Ferjda begins aboard the ship Ferolind. Of all the characters,
Bardugo keeps Kaz’s secrets the longest. The mystery of why he always wears gloves
is revealed close to the end, . . .and it’s not what I was expecting.
The heist itself is presented to Kaz after being drugged and kidnapped by a
wealthy “mercher”. He offers to pay Kaz 30 million Kruger to kidnap Bo Yul-Bayur, a
scientist currently locked up in the “Ice Court”, a prison in the frigid land of Ferjda. Kaz
learns that Yul-Bayur developed a powerful new drug called jurda parem, that enhances
the powers of the “supernaturals”, like the Grisha. In the wrong hands, the
consequences for the world would be devastating. Although the job seems impossible,
Kaz accepts due to the unimaginable cash reward.
Together with his team, who were each offered a 4 million cut of the prize, Kaz
leads with confidence. As the momentum builds approaching “The Ice Court”, so does
the tension between the team. Relationships are slowly revealed through flashbacks
and the characters are seen for more than their individual skills that got them hired. My
favorite character, aside from Kaz, is Wylan. As the son of the mercher who arranged
the heist, he is the security deposit for getting the reward money if they succeed. Wylan
quickly adapts to a world that was completely foreign to him growing up. He earns the
teams respect by saving their lives with his demolition expertise.
Without the technology that Danny Ocean and his team had at their fingertips,
Kaz had to rely on the chiming of the bells at the Ice Court to keep his plan on schedule.
Toward the end, the chapters become shorter and faster paced, with “Ten Bells and a
Half, Eleven Bells, Eleven Bells and a Quarter”, helping to close in their race.
Yes, the ending was epic and unpredictable in many ways. Kaz, Inej, Matthias,
Nina, Jesper, and Wylan draw you into their lives and their heist with raw, dramatic, and
mesmerizing power. “The boys gaze was steady, his chin jutting up stubbornly, as if
he’d known this moment might come. The right thing to do was obvious. Kill this boy
quickly, painlessly. Destroy the lab and everything in it. Eradicate the secret of jurda
parem. If you wanted to kill a vine, you didn’t just keep cutting it back. You tore it from
the ground by the roots. And yet her hands were shaking.” (pg.392). My guess is that
Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows will soon be a Hollywood blockbuster that will give
Ocean’s Eleven a run for their money.