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Jul. 30th, 2016 04:09 pmLeigh Bardugo's Six of Crows is not much at all like the Heist Society books except in the crucial central factors of a.) having a plot that would probably make a lot more sense if everyone involved was at least ten years older but b.) nobody cares because everyone loves TEENS DO A HEIST!!!
Six Of Crows is set in an approximately nineteenth-century-tech fantasy world in which certain people called Grisha are born with moderate magical/telekinetic/healing powers. Somebody has discovered a highly addictive substance that amplifies Grisha powers a bajillionfold and then burns them rapidly out. As a result, a crack team of teenaged criminals from the alt!Amsterdam slums has been hired for an equivalent bajillionfold amount of dollars to break the scientist who invented the substance out of alt!Russian prison!
The team includes:
- Kaz, a notoriously ruthless (sixteen-year-old) gang leader with a genius brain, a limp, and a vendetta against another gang leader whom he holds responsible for his brother's death
- Inej, a (sixteen-year-old) acrobat and aerialist, who's working through her contract with Kaz's gang so she can leave and find the family she was stolen from
- Jesper, a (sixteen-year-old) gambling addict and sharpshooter with a crush on Kaz
- Matthias, a (sixteen-year-old) Grisha-hunting alt!Russian soldier who has spent the last year in prison thanks to
- Nina, a (sixteen-year-old) Grisha with healing powers who has spent the last year trying to get Matthias out of prison
- Wylan, a runaway merchant's son who functions simultaneously as hostage and demolitions expert
...OK, it actually makes a lot of sense for Wylan to be sixteen (and once Wylan is sixteen Jesper also has to be sixteen or else their ongoing flirtation throughout the book gets weird) (and then I guess everyone else has to be sixteen also) (plus OK it's a YA novel) (BUT I DIGRESS)
Anyway, like I said, who doesn't like 'TEENS DO A MAGIC HEIST'? This was a highly enjoyable read with solid worldbuilding, and it's always so refreshing to read a YA fantasy novel in which no super-talented teens seem likely to have a magic destiny or rule a kingdom, they just want to earn a cool bajillion dollars in order to pay off their gambling debts.
(Fair warning though, I did not know this was the first in a series when I picked it up and there is a MASSIVELY cliffhanger ending.)
(Also fair warning, pretty much every single teen has a dramatic tragic backstory, some of which include slavery/harm to children/sexual violence.)
(Also there is one scene with REALLY GROSS EYEBALL STUFF.)
Six Of Crows is set in an approximately nineteenth-century-tech fantasy world in which certain people called Grisha are born with moderate magical/telekinetic/healing powers. Somebody has discovered a highly addictive substance that amplifies Grisha powers a bajillionfold and then burns them rapidly out. As a result, a crack team of teenaged criminals from the alt!Amsterdam slums has been hired for an equivalent bajillionfold amount of dollars to break the scientist who invented the substance out of alt!Russian prison!
The team includes:
- Kaz, a notoriously ruthless (sixteen-year-old) gang leader with a genius brain, a limp, and a vendetta against another gang leader whom he holds responsible for his brother's death
- Inej, a (sixteen-year-old) acrobat and aerialist, who's working through her contract with Kaz's gang so she can leave and find the family she was stolen from
- Jesper, a (sixteen-year-old) gambling addict and sharpshooter with a crush on Kaz
- Matthias, a (sixteen-year-old) Grisha-hunting alt!Russian soldier who has spent the last year in prison thanks to
- Nina, a (sixteen-year-old) Grisha with healing powers who has spent the last year trying to get Matthias out of prison
- Wylan, a runaway merchant's son who functions simultaneously as hostage and demolitions expert
...OK, it actually makes a lot of sense for Wylan to be sixteen (and once Wylan is sixteen Jesper also has to be sixteen or else their ongoing flirtation throughout the book gets weird) (and then I guess everyone else has to be sixteen also) (plus OK it's a YA novel) (BUT I DIGRESS)
Anyway, like I said, who doesn't like 'TEENS DO A MAGIC HEIST'? This was a highly enjoyable read with solid worldbuilding, and it's always so refreshing to read a YA fantasy novel in which no super-talented teens seem likely to have a magic destiny or rule a kingdom, they just want to earn a cool bajillion dollars in order to pay off their gambling debts.
(Fair warning though, I did not know this was the first in a series when I picked it up and there is a MASSIVELY cliffhanger ending.)
(Also fair warning, pretty much every single teen has a dramatic tragic backstory, some of which include slavery/harm to children/sexual violence.)
(Also there is one scene with REALLY GROSS EYEBALL STUFF.)
