Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2) by Leigh Bardugo (Epub)

Description

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

#1 New York Times bestseller, October 16, 2016

Read all the books in the Grishaverse!

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy
(previously published as The Grisha Trilogy)
Shadow and Bone
Siege and Storm
Ruin and Rising

The Six of Crows Duology
Six of Crows
Crooked Kingdom

The King of Scars Duology
King of Scars

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic
The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic

Praise for the Grishaverse

“A master of fantasy.” ―The Huffington Post
“Utterly, extremely bewitching.” ―The Guardian
“The best magic universe since Harry Potter.” ―Bustle
“This is what fantasy is for.” ―The New York Times Book Review
“[A] world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp.” ―NPR
“The darker it gets for the good guys, the better.” ―Entertainment Weekly
“Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down.” ―USA Today
“There’s a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo’s original epic fantasy that sets it apart.” ―Vanity Fair
“Unlike anything I’ve ever read.” ―Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent
“Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!” ―Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series

Note: Item has Netflix sticker on the books.

User’s Reviews

From School Library Journal Gr 7 Up—Teens will be excited to return to Bardugo’s marvelous world, first visited in her “Grisha Trilogy” and in this duology’s previous Six of Crows. They will be treated to a visit from old friends—the graceful (and deadly) Inej; Nina, the Grisha Heartrender; Wylan, the discarded, illiterate merchant’s son; and the mysterious and vengeful Kaz. Characters from the original trilogy (most notably Stormhund, prince-turned-privateer) also make an entrance in the heart of the slums of Ketterdam. Plots to take control of the city’s underworld abound as Kaz rallies his allies and takes on the might of the rapacious merchant class and Pekka Rollins, King of the Barrel and ruler of the dregs of the city. Following the death of his brother, the antihero has surrounded himself with the castoffs of Ketterdam, all of them very young, defective in some way, and abandoned. Together they will either rule the city victoriously or fail magnificently. While it isn’t absolutely necessary to have read the other titles in Bardugo’s series, readers will be better served by this continuation if they are already familiar with the complex world and characters. This fast-paced dive into the Barrel, where fortunes are made and lost and life itself hangs in the balance, will keep readers enthralled long past bedtime. VERDICT A must-purchase for all YA collections.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK Review Praise for Crooked Kingdom: “A delicious blend of masterfully executed elements… Bardugo outdoes herself in this exhilarating follow-up, and series fans will have their eyes glued to every page.”―Booklist, starred review. “Un-put-down-able excitement from beginning to end”―Kirkus Reviews, starred review. “Bardugo’s ingenious plotting that characterized Crows is again on full display, and the backstories, loyalties, flaws, and romantic alliances….are richly developed.”―The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB) starred review Praise for Six of Crows:”This has all the right elements to keep readers enthralled: a cunning leader with a plan for every occasion, nigh-impossible odds, an entertainingly combative team of skilled misfits, a twisty plot, and a nerve-wracking cliffhanger.”―Publishers Weekly, starred review”Cracking page-turner with a multi ethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell into a family.”―Kirkus Reviews, starred review”Set in a world that will be familiar to fans of the author, this book can be fully enjoyed without having read any previous title. . . . This is an easy choice for teens who enjoyed The Grisha Trilogy, Diviners, or any of the Shadowhunter books.”―VOYA, starred review”The whirlwind pace, along with some witty banter, burgeoning romance, and high-stakes action, makes this series opener a surefire crowd-pleaser.”―Booklist

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ This review does not reflect the story*I am so upset, I received a book with a Netflix add thing PRINTED INTO THE COVER OF THE BOOK… I am a little obsessed with how my books look, the cover being one of the biggest parts. I dont want a book with some Netflix add printed into the cover… if it where a sticker i’d still be upset but atheist a sticker would be removable. I am returning these immediately and as for the story I can not comment because I have not read it yet.

⭐ They say no mourners, but I’m mourning. I’m mourning that this duology is over. I adored the first book, but the with the addition of the second, the two paired go up in my list of ABSOLUTE PERFECT BOOKS EVAR (which, Ima be honest with you, is kind of hard to get into. The Raven Boys is in there. Harry Potter is in there. You know what’s not? The Hunger Games trilogy or even the author’s first set of work, the Grisha Trilogy. SCANDALOUS)This was so delicious. It was. Fulfilling, never disappointing, it whetted my appetite for a last job/heist story and satisfied with the level of a Shawshank Redemption-style smack down. It gave me spine-shiveringly-fingers-grazing-slightly-hungrily romantic moments, sweet first love moments, hungry lip-devouring moments. It gave me moments where I wanted to fist pump the hell out of every character, and then clutch them to my chest.and make soothing crooning moments.I read the entire thing in 6 hours. Then I re-read the ending. Multiple times. Tears and shivers and laughing and crying all at the same time. Every time.I CANNOT ENUNCIATE ENOUGH MY APPRECIATION FOR THIS BOOK. I literally gasped at the presentation of one character who I didn’t see coming (literally or figuratively) but was so delighted at the brilliance of the author’s move. Everything fit. A perfect puzzle of a story that comes to the most resounding satisfying snap at the ending. I AM NOT KIDDING. BUY THIS BOOK. Actually, buy Six of Crows first, devour that (if you have’t) and then BUY THIS BOOK. And if you’re like me, voraciously devour it. Then as soon as you hit the ending, immediately go back and start re-reading, because you know you’ve missed details the first time around because the pacing of the story wouldn’t allow you to slow down and appreciate the nuances. That’s what 2nd readings are for. And 3rd. AND CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH FOR NO LOVE TRIANGLES?!!!?!!?! (THAT didn’t count. IT doesn’t count. I’m not counting IT.)Thank you Leigh Bardugo, for this duology. Thank you for adding to my miserly BEST READS EVAR pile. Thank you for Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, Matthias, Sprecht, Rotty and every other brilliant character you’ve made so readable and loveable/hateable.Although, could someone please help me out? Most of the lands are pretty obviously references to real life places. Can I get an assist on Novyi Zem? I know I should be able to figure it out – I feel like it staring at me RIGHT IN THE FACE, not mad, just….disappointed.

⭐ Well, I’m sad to say that this was not what I expected. When Six of Crows came out, I read the descriptions and the reviews and I knew I had to have it. When I finally got my hands on it, I burned through page after page, practically devouring these diverse, interesting characters and gorgeous settings. Everything was gritty but oh-so-suspenseful, and the characters’ personalities were flawed but lovable. However, the sequel seems to have lost the spark that drew me in.First of all, the characters. They were the ones who captivated me in the first place–each one was uniquely talented and capable. Of course none of them were squeaky clean (with the exception of Wylan, and even he has a secretive past) because its a book about the dregs of society, but I fell in love with them all the same. In Crooked Kingdom, I didn’t click with them like I did before. One in particular was very irksome (warning, minor rant ahead). Nina’s dialogue is filled with unapologetic self-admiration and supposed female-empowerment, which was ok at first but it got old very quickly. There’s a line in the book about her being “all talk but no action” which I must agree with. Her relationship with Matthias consisted of her being all sass and boldness, with Matthias as her faithful dog, readily agreeing with everything. It seems to me that in recent YA books with “strong” heroines, they have similar characteristics: lots of attitude, sass, and arrogance, and their romantic partner is very deferent (example: Aelin Galanthius from ToG series). I wish authors would empower women without feeling the need to obnoxiously portray them as egotistical with a love interest who fawns over them.Inej was my favorite character because she is so talented, yet she doesn’t heap praise on herself all the time–rather, she’s dignified and is just plain awesome being herself. Kaz is a close second because he is NOT all talk, no action. He has earned his reputation, everyone could rely on his deviousness and ability to get out of any situation. Sometimes his schemes fit together too perfectly, as in there were spots where it wasn’t believable or realistic. But they were certainly elaborate and exciting.I also had an issue with how Bardugo used a painfully obvious tactic over and over again. The character would be doing their assigned task, something would go wrong at the last second, and then the chapter ends grimly with a cliffhanger. Now, lots of authors do this–first one to come to mind is George RR Martin in GoT–but I found myself getting irritated with this repetitive ploy. I understand that these books are about heists, but I wish that the suspense had been built up in a more subtle or sophisticated way.Looking back, I see a lot of similarities to the Game of Thrones series, like the multiple perspectives, gritty environment, and dark characters. I can’t say that Bardugo pulls it off as well. Martin’s world is truly unapologetic–no fancy tricks to save his characters. This world is reminiscent of that, especially with (*****MAJOR SPOILER******) Matthias’s death. Which, by the way, dropped out of nowhere within the last 100 pages and was given very little depth and discussion. What was the point? Even Nina, his lover, doesn’t treat his death with very much gravity.Overall, I kept reading to see the relationships develop and the heists go on. It’s not as bad as I might have made it seem–I’m just sort of disappointed. The hard copy is beautiful; great cover art and the edges of the pages are tinted red. It’s very striking–sometimes, however, I got bored with the story and my attention wandered to the prettiness of the book.

⭐ In full disclosure, I enjoyed SIX OF CROWS but I wasn’t in love with it like a lot of Bardugo’s fans are. The world-building was interesting, the fantasy heist shtick was fresh, and the characters were diverse enough to be enjoyable, even if they are shamefully aged too low for their skill sets in order to sell the book to teens. But CROOKED KINGDOM leaned into all the weak parts of SIX OF CROWS, to make for a sloppy, sappy, bloated follow-up.The Sloppy: A repetitive story that takes forever to get going and constantly meanders. When the action heats up, Bardugo turns down the flame with flashbacks, telling (and retelling) of what just happened instead of letting the reader put it together, and “twists” that always come down to Kaz having some master plan that the reader never was given hints to. If you enjoyed the Oceans 11/12/13 style of “here’s new information which completely invalidates the stakes and drama of the last scene”, you’ll love CROOKED KINGDOM. Bardugo does this constantly and by the time I was three or four hundred pages in, I simply stopped caring about any drama in story.The Sappy: Gosh does Bardugo love the sound of her own voice and her characters. They’re all so in their own heads, all obsessed with their own legacies and wounds, and their internal monologues go on and on and on. As does the romantic tension, which was completely cringeworthy. It felt like half of the book was devoted to this sort of navel gazing and teen angst drama, which is completely at odds for a group that is supposed to be the roughest, toughest, baddest heisters that ever heisted. Overall a saccharine and self-absorbed slog.The Bloated: Here’s the basic pattern to CROOKED KINGDOM: Something happens in a character’s POV scene. We end on a cliffhanger. We jump to another POV and rewind, playing back the events from a slightly different viewpoint. Rinse repeat. The revolving POV structure did not need to be in this book, but Bardugo forced it in anyway, which required her to bloat out POV chapters with those rewind retells, with flashbacks (many of which were happening when she should’ve been building tension in the second half of the book), and with telling, telling, telling. So much telling instead of showing. By the time I was done I felt literal relief at no longer having to be told what an elaborate and intricate heist story I was reading.At the end of the day, CROOKED KINGDOM underscores that there are simply different kinds of readers in the world. There are those who flock to the light, floaty, YA fantasy worlds full of teenage wunderkinds where being over 30 is ancient, where there’s always time for an awkward kiss, and where the stakes don’t really ever matter. If that’s you, you’ll like CROOKED KINGDOM as you probably already liked SIX OF CROWS (you’ve also probably already given up on reading this review). In which case, enjoy! It’s more of the same. You’ll like it.But if you’re the other type of reader–the one who wants a world that isn’t just built out but which feels real, which has true victories and true losses, and in which the idea of a 17-year-old being the savviest crook in the most corrupt city in the world is completely ridiculous, you should probably give CROOKED KINGDOM a pass (even if you did like SIX OF CROWS). The gimmick from the last book wears thin here, and the ham-fisted real world stand-ins for countries–Ravka as Russia, Shu as China, Fjerda as Scandinavia–begin to feel borderline appropriative (if not just lazy). Consider yourself warned.

⭐ Kaz and gang pick up where they left off to fix the mistakes they madei n the Ice Court. After a botched job, a visiting Da, and finding family, they plan the coup of a century, taking the city down brick by brick. This book concludes the story, but it leaves it open for the author to write more of these characters if she wishes.Here’s what I didn’t like: To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with this one. I’m not sure if it didn’t receive as much as attention as the first book did, or that it just felt like a repeat of book one with a slightly different objective. I also feel the author used too many points of view, I especially loathed Nina’s POV, but I didn’t mind reading about her from someone else. The same can be said for Wylan. Every time their names popped up as a header I had to fight not to close the book. I’m not even sure if we needed Jesper’s POV. Also, we weren’t grounded very well in most of those POVs. Just because the name is at the top didn’t always help ground you in their perspective, especially when they were a fly on the wall. Another annoying thing about the rotational POV is that a good portion of it felt like a repeat of the previous chapter, which slowed the pacing down in the book. I wanted to skim a lot of them to get back to my favorite characters.I had a hard time following who spoke half the time. Someone would be talking, like Colm for instance, and whoever was the viewpoint character would sigh or have a thought in the middle of his dialogue, making me think that they were speaking instead of Colm.Story wasn’t told linearly. It’d open with Inej doing something risky, then she’d used 2/3 of the chapter on how she got in that duct in exposition, and then we’d pop back into the present. Characters reacted to things before it actually happened. like covering your ears before a shot was fired.Flashbacks in almost every chapter. Or at least, there were so many of them that it felt like that was happening. I skimmed almost all of them unless it was Kaz or Inej.those dudes with wings story line didn’t feel resolved.Mathias’s last chapter felt like a gimmick, like it was just meant to tug at readers.Here’s what I liked: I’m enchanted by the characters and the setting. It was really interesting world building and you can tell the author spent a lot of time fleshing her characters out (giving us tooooo much info). I like the story that was told, but I felt like we were given far too much information.Overall, while fun to read, the incessant flashbacks exposition dragged the pacing down. Remember I like to read things chronologically, so this is a personal preference. I’d still recommend this book with this warning.

⭐ Note: spoilers abound in this review because a lot of my critique is due to said spoilers.Trigger warnings: parental neglect, abuse, and attempted murder of child, forced commitment for nefarious purposes of a family member, PTSD, discussion of chronic pain, discussion of addiction both to a substance and to gambling, genre typical action and gore including explicit issues of corpses.So… I LOVED the first book in this duology SIX OF CROWS. Bardugo nailed the multiple POVs and the heists with the overarching plot of the book shining through even when side shenanigans were happening. There were twists and turns and complicated relationships and backstories, and it just all wove together so so well.CROOKED KINGDOM was… well it was OK. I think part of the problem was that the plot was more like “plots” – it felt like three seasons of a TV series back to back instead of a single season, if that makes sense. There was no single overarching plot – or well I guess getting back at Rollins and Van Eck were an overarching plot, but it was hard to stay focused on that with the way the immediate plots kept changing and overturning. I almost think that there came a point where I almost started expecting twists to happen instead of being surprised that they were happening, and it just… almost got a little boring? Almost like the way everyone expects the same kind of twist ending to a M. Night Shyamalan film now – as soon as one plot line was getting close to a climatic point, I started looking for the gotcha which is the opposite of how a twist and turn is supposed to happen to the reader. We shouldn’t be expecting it, at least in my opinion.Also, the big spoilered death that everyone was mad about? Yeah, I’m mad about it to – not because I was so into the ship, though I was don’t get me wrong – but because it felt almost like an afterthought it was so unrelated to the plot. It also seemed like it happened just to further Nina’s angst into the next duology, and I don’t like that trope of a hero’s love interest is killed just to further his manpain and just switching the genders doesn’t work for me either apparently. I get that yes it would have been unlikely for all of the crew to survive all of what went on in this book, but for it to happen the way it did seemed almost lazy like Bardugo just needed the character to go and so made it happen instead of actually making it a death that worked with the story.So yeah, I’m admittedly a bit disappointed in this one after how much I loved SIX OF CROWS. Le sigh.

⭐ OK, so I had no idea who Leigh Bardugo was. But somehow an ad for “Six of Crows” cropped up on my computer. The title was cool, so I read the description. A heist book. I love heists. And it had a diverse cast of characters with different skills – like Oceans 11. Cool. And it was a fantasy. I dig fantasy books – Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games, Outlander, etc. So on a whim, I bought Six of Crows. I had extremely low expectations – thought it might be a weak version of a fantasy book with silly names and strange creatures. But boy, was I wrong! It was so incredibly good, I had to get Crooked Kingdom to find out what happened next.This story line in both books was so complex and so dense! The action was amazing. The character development extremely impressive. So many twists and turns. And the setting was wild – kind of medieval and kind of modern. So innovative and creative. A completely unique experience.Interestingly, the characters seemed much older than 17 (on average). So, as a 59 year old, this “young adult” story was extremely satisfying, because they all acted way older than they were supposed to be.And at the end, I cried. It touched me so much. Happily, Leigh left the ending open for more books, and I hope she continues dreaming up more adventures for these vastly interesting and unique characters.I will be getting her next book, for sure! And I hope she writes a sequel to these two “Crows” books. Thank you, Leigh, for a wild ride into the Grisha universe!

⭐ Six of crows was so good. It sucked me in and didn’t let me out. This book basically ruined that and make me feel like the first was a waste of time….it got boring, repetitive, Kaz was ALWAYS right, never developed as a character….not to mention Wylan, Jasper, and Nina’s perspectives were boring and often dragged on without advancing the plot. It just felt like they were going in circles the whole time not really accomplishing anything real. Every chapter ended on some dramatic cliffhanger note that was then proven to be fake later on. Worst of all, and the reason I stopped reading the book/wished I never read either of these books in the first place, *MINOR SPOILER* She killed off a main character for absolutely no reason and no one acted like they cared, not even their S/O. There is one last super short chapter of the dying character being like “I’m going home” that is completely worthless. I don’t know why the author would do that besides trying to add a layer of emotional depth to the book, but it just makes me mad because it doesn’t serve the plot in any way shape or form. Overall this book was a waste of time! Stop at SOC

⭐ I started in the Grishaverse in the “wrong” order– I started with King of Scars and LOVED it!! And, since I’m waiting for it’s sequel, Rule of Wolves to come out, I thought I’d see what else there was to see in Grishaverse. So, I hopped over to the Grisha trilogy (Shadow & Bone, Siege & Storm, Ruin and Rising) which was also enjoyable! But, it wasn’t going to be interesting enough for me to pick up Six of Crows, until (as they do with the Kindle version) they had the first few chapters of Six of Crows to entice you to start reading it. Even as I got to the end of the sample, I wasn’t committed to reading Six of Crows until there was a chapter on Nina! I loved her character in King of Scars and noticed she wasn’t in the original trilogy. It was Nina alone that got me to read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingom. The story was good enough; the characters were okay, but not as interesting as the characters in Grisha Trilogy or King of Scars Duology, except for Nina and Matthias.Overall, I could have done without reading it, but I’m not upset or disappointed I read it either. It was an okay enough book to read while waiting for Rule of Wolves.

⭐ I was really glad when I realized the entire book was going to be set in Ketterdam. I was left disappointed by the descriptions in the previous book, but I cannot say anything about the second one. I felt like I was actually walking the streets of Ketterdam the whole time.I was also incredibly pleased when I realized the focus was going to be more on Jesper and Wylan. I loved those two from the previous book already, and the way their relationship grew made me smile at the end. In particular, I loved how Wylan became more independent and confident, sure about himself and what he wants from life.I cannot write a review about crooked kingdom without talking about Kaz and Inej. Of course, they are both awesome characters. I like how strong Inej is, not just physically. Her strength goes way beyond that. She fell so many times throughout the books, but she always managed to get up.Nina and Matthias are still not my favorite characters, though I think their relationship improved a lot in this last book. They are more mature, and some of the issues that I thought were left unsolved in Six of Crows, are here dealt with.Despite the fact that I loved both this book and the previous one, there are a few things I haven’t enjoyed as much.For one, I thought that while the relationships between the characters grow and change, there are so many things left unsolved. I guess the author wanted an open ending, but I couldn’t help being a little disappointed at all the questions I still had by the time I finished reading.One more thing I didn’t particularly like, though it can probably be linked to the unsolved questions, is how the Pekka Rollins problem ended. Since Six of Crows, the author had us think Pekka would be the big enemy to beat at the end. However, I felt like it didn’t take them much to get rid of him, and that he was just a secondary problem to deal with, so that disappointed me a little.Finally, what happened to the drug problem? The whole duology was about this new drug that was being experimented, but I felt like Crooked Kingdom didn’t really solve the problem. What will happen to it? Is there going to be a different book about it? Should we expect another series in this universe, or was it all supposed to end like this?To end my review on Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, I would say I loved it. It was an incredible story, with awesome characters and great banters.The things I didn’t like were very few, and at the end of the day, it is hard to write a book and make it perfect. That is one thing I can definitely understand, which is why I always try to read my own books like I read every other.For some reason, it’s easier to be critical when you’re reading something other people have written. For that reason, I can’t say this duology was perfect, but I very much enjoyed it, and it has definitely deserved a special place in my memory.

Keywords

Free Download Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2) in Epub format
Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2) Epub Free Download
Download Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2) 2016 Epub Free
Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2) 2016 Epub Free Download
Download Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2) Epub
Free Download Ebook Crooked Kingdom: A Sequel to Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 2)