Six of Crows: Recommended by Gabriella LeGates

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is by far my favorite book. I’ve always loved fantasy stories but a lot of the time I found it hard to relate to characters (like in Lord of the Rings, great characters, but I just didn’t connect with them). However, in Bardugo’s book, it combines a great fantasy novel with relatable, young characters. The book takes place in a world based off of Tsarist Russia with a magical system, on an island called Kerch, in a city called Ketterdam. The main character, Kaz Brekker, is a thief known as Dirtyhands, he is one of the most famous cons in the Barrel, the rough section of Ketterdam. He is hired by a merchant to kidnap a scientist held in Fjerda’s ice prison. Shockingly, the seventeen year old criminal prodigy can’t do it alone. He gathers up a crew consisting of Inej, an ex acrobatic turned spy, Nina, a Heartrender (a kind of magic user, capable of manipulating the body), Jesper, a sharp shooter with a gambling problem, Wylan a runaway with skill at demolition, and Matthias, a former Fjerdan soldier who was thrown into prison. All of these characters, however, are teenagers, which helps me find them a bit more relatable. The story is told through alternating points of view between the six characters. However, I would not suggest this book to the faint of heart or the extremely squeamish as there is quite a lot of violence, blood, and some pretty nasty stuff. Other than that, this book gets a 10/10 from me.

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