Six of Crows Book Review: World-Building, Diversity, and Intricate Plotlines

TLDR: This Six of Crows book review is spoiler free. I gave the novel a 4.5/5 star review and highly recommend you read it - continue reading to find out why!

Just as a caution, there are some content warnings you should be aware of before tackling Six of Crows: death, betrayal, drowning, child abuse. If you have read the book and think there are additional CW/TW I should add, leave them in the comments below and I'll get the list updated as soon as I can.

Book Overview

If you've had your head under a rock as I have, you probably don't know much about Six of Crows, Shadow & Bone, or the Grishaverse (as many fans lovingly dub the world that the two former book series live in). Or at least you didn't until the popular Netflix series of the same name, Shadow & Bone, came out in 2021.

With its release in 2015, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is the first of the duology by the same name and picks up roughly two years after the last installment of the Shadow and Bone trilogy; the Grishaverse then continues (and ends) with the King of Scars duology. Fans typically recommend reading the Shadow & Bone trilogy first since there is a potential for spoilers in Six of Crows, but I found that they were minimal. And since the show Shadow & Bone, introduces the Six of Crow characters and plot lines early, it is recommended to watch it after reading all three series in the Grishaverse.

As for the book itself, Six of Crows is a YA fantasy, heist novel told in the third person that pivots between its six main characters' points-of-views: Kaz, the mastermind, Inej, the spy (aka the Wraith), Jesper, the sharpshooter, Nina, the heartrender (aka a Grisha), Matthias, the muscle, and Wylan, the demolitionist. As a young adult novel, Six of Crows brings more to the table than just a pulse-racing plot-line and magically fantastical world; it also touches on themes of disability and trauma in a way that feels believable and honest to readers.

Six of Crows Book Review - First Impressions

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs in Six of Crows! Sometimes, point-of-view can be a bit confusing because characters tend to have different interpretations of what is happening in a story, making it difficult to pinpoint a reliable narrative. But in Six of Crows, the characters have so much depth and stability, that the reader is forced to believe each version. Not only that, multiple POV storytelling gives the reader a deeper insight into the story's characters. For example, because the character POVs we’re switching between in Six of Crows are, for the most part, interacting in the same scenes, we get to see both internal and external descriptions of our protagonists. We are able to see both how they view themselves and how the world views them, which creates a really interesting experience for the reader.

I also think that the multiple POVs helped me, as a first-time reader of anything in the Grishaverse, understand what was happening. Six of Crows relies a lot on its pre-released trilogy to inform the reader of the world, the magic system, and the societal rules. I think the only reason I was able to pick up the story so quickly is because I’ve seen the show adaptation - but even that I had to watch multiple times before I really started to absorb the story. I almost wish I hadn’t watched the show before starting Six of Crows because I went in having expectations of the characters that didn't necessarily align with the original source material. For example, I had no idea that the main characters of the novel (and show) were all around seventeen years old. I thought for sure they were in their early 20s. But after reading the first half of Six of Crows, I started to understand why Bardugo chose the ages she did. Seventeen is an age where you’re just daring and stubborn enough to put your life in danger for the sake of your goals, especially in a world as dangerous as the Grishaverse and the trauma that they’ve all been through.

In terms of popularity, I can see Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows, and the Grishaverse as a whole becoming a huge franchise. The books already have such a huge following that the base interest is there. It will just depend on how the adaptation is perceived by that audience as well as the new cinematic market.

Diverse Representation

Without giving too much away, the protagonists in Six of Crows bring a handful of trauma, disability, and cultural experience to the table. And because of the novel's various POVs, we as the reader get to see firsthand how these characters cope, how they don't, and the impact that their decisions have on the group. Bardugo provides readers with realistic, imperfect characters that try their best, make mistakes, and fall back on bad habits when they know they shouldn't. They struggle in a world that throws everything against them and do everything they can to survive. And we love them for it.

There’s no doubt that the movement for diversity in YA books has enhanced the popularity and widespread knowledge of novels like Six of Crows. With such a unique, teenage character like Kaz, that suffers from both touch aversion and a limp, community pushes like #OwnVoices or We Need Diverse Books, couldn’t help but garner more attention for the duology.

Rating & Wrap Up

My favorite part about Bardugo’s writing is her ability to show deep characterization by utilizing various POVs. We as people tend to see ourselves one way while the world sees us another way, and Bardugo is absolutely brilliant in her ability to utilize both of these views to enhance and round out her characters.

Personally, I gave this book a 4.5/5 star rating for its stunning world-building, intricate plot line, relatable characters, and honest depiction of trauma and disability.

Have you read Six of Crows or another series in the Grishaverse? Tell me about it in the comments!