Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Published by Orion Children’s Books

THERE are two questions I’ve found near impossible to answer in my time as a reader, the first being my favourite genre. To choose one wouldn’t make sense, as under a number of genres there have been books that I adored, that made a great impact on me and that I’ll always come back to fondly, and those that I’ve lost interest in devastatingly quickly.

Taking this into account it would seem unusual to place one over all the others, and rather it makes more sense to ask for an individual favourite book, which once again I often struggle to answer.

If you’re reading the right books and taking the time for them, I find that there’s always going to be ones that stick with you more than others. However for me, my favourite book on any given day changes regularly and is always the most recent great book I read. Today that book is most certainly Six Of Crows.

I’ve had this one recommended to me often and as soon as I began reading it I not only understood why but also wondered why I’d taken so long to read it in the first place. A trope that’s always spoken to me is that of a group of misfits brought together by a common goal. This is probably because of the room it leaves for complex and contrasting characters that give readers at least one thing to relate to.

I have never seen this theme done the way this book does, with unique and well-written characters that never take away from the main plot but enhance it at every turn.

The action begins very quickly by introducing us to the intimidating and mysterious Kaz Brekker, a 17-year-old key player in one of the main criminal gangs of the fictional city of Ketterdam. From his perspective – as well as that of his associate and the closest thing he has to a friend, Inej – we learn that this world is far from ordinary.

A group of society known as Grisha are blessed, or cursed, with various powers such as healing and manipulation of materials but when it’s discovered an addictive and dangerous drug can be used to enhance these powers beyond what is controllable, the upper classes who often keep Grisha as servants begin to worry.

Kaz Brekker is enlisted, at a high price, to find and retrieve the scientist to blame for the development and production of this drug and to put a stop to it before word gets out. The job is extremely dangerous and not the kind he can do by himself so he is forced to put aside his loner tendencies and recruit a team. Once assembled, the group begin their mission in return for a share of the reward money.

Six of Crows is the sort of fast-paced book that doesn’t leave you lost and looking for some clarity and to catch up, but rather works perfectly with the plot. Especially as it’s a reasonably long book it feels fulfilling to read without ever letting you put it down.

Leigh Bardugo created the perfect well-rounded young adult novel, tied together by the relationships of the main characters because with danger on every page the group must learn to survive together, but they must also learn to live with each other.