Six of Crows and Crooked kingdom

"A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from barrel who had become something worse"

Written by Leigh Bardugo, this duology happens after the Shadow and Bone trilogy. In my opinion, these two books are perfection and none can change my mind.

Whether you're a reader who likes plot-driven books or character-driven books, this series has both. Leigh Bardugo's third-person writing style is the best. And also, the multiple POV's in the book made me understand every character in depth.

The characters in the book are some of the most beautiful characters I've ever read. Kaz Brekker is a notorious criminal. He's an anti-hero with questionable morals. Inej Ghafa- kidnapped from her parents and sold off as an indenture at a menagerie. She later becomes a killer after meeting Kaz. The fact about Inej that gets me every time is even after enduring many dreadful things, she never loses her hope of seeing a better world. Jesper Fahey- a sharpshooter with a gambling addiction. There's no out once you fall in love with this character. Be warned. Nina Zenik- a Grisha heartrender living in Ketterdam as an indenture. She's such a wholesome character. Matthias Helvar - A fjerdan soldier trained to kill Grisha. He has one of the most beautifully written character development arcs I've ever read. Wylan- a son of a merchant. The soft boy of the group.

Coming to the plot- Kaz Brekker gets offered an obscenely big amount of money for an impossible heist. So these characters go on a heist which changes their lives for better or worse. The second book picks up from when they return after the heist. The plot of the books is so jam-packed, it sucks you right in. The world-building is as amazing as the characters. My personal favourite from these two books is Crooked kingdom. Because after a point, the book has so much going on one chapter after the other. I needed to put down the book sometimes because it was a lot of wounds and trauma to take in at a single time. We get backstories of each character in this book.

When it comes to Leigh Bardugo's books, we will know for sure that there's going to be representation of all sorts. The author did not disappoint me on this. What I liked so much about the characters is they're not perfect, they have flaws, questionable morals and they are not extraordinary which makes them relatable sometimes. That's what this is about. Six ordinary people with some talents doing crazy shit we all want to do with our friends.

"I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting."

Kaz and Inej have my heart. There's no changing that. Their relationship has all that angst we all love reading about. Kaz's aversion to human skin and Inej's trauma which she has from working at the menagerie stops them from having any sort of relationship at all. Their constant battle of being repulsed by touching anyone and wanting to have a sense of normalcy with each other is so beautifully written. That's what makes me love them even more. The level of maturity they have is mind-boggling sometimes. Because while dealing with trauma you can only be with the person, the rest should be wholly on the person who's going through it. We can't set the pace of healing. It's totally up to them. Kaz and Inej acknowledge that they have unresolved issues which can be an obstacle for them and they give importance to themselves. Because that's what a relationship should be about, codependent not dependent.

Now coming to the hardest part, people who have read the books would know what I'm talking about when I say the second book has completely traumatised me. Completely shattered me. I'm not going to drop any spoilers even though it's so hard not to. So rest assured. This is just a warning that you will not be the same after you read these books.

Picking a favourite character from these six is very hard. But if I were to be at gunpoint, I'd choose Inej, no it's Kaz. Wait, maybe it's Jesper, nope, it's Nina. Could be Wylan or Matthias. Now you know the problem. In case you didn't get the drift, this is my favourite series, even though this series is pure psychological torture.