Leah Bardugos Six of Crows, released in 2015, is the first novel in a duology set in the fantasy world of her Shadow and Bone trilogy. (A world that has since been dubbed the Grishaverse) The novels feature an intricate system of cultures based off of places in the reader’s world. Across these lands are individuals called Grisha who hold the power to manipulate the world, and Ketterdam (the main setting of Six of Crows) serves as the crime-ridden city at the center of world trade. It is in this city where we find our main setting for Six of Crows.
The novel is a play on the classic heist story; in which unlikely companions must work together for a common goal. This trope is well known for its fast-paced story lines and mysterious, yet interesting, main characters. Bardugo handles these elements well and incorporates them into a grim fantasy world with ease.
Many books of this fantasy genre suffer from the need for exposition, a slow process that directly contradicts a heist story’s fast-paced nature, but Six of Crows manages to juggle the difficult tasks of plot development, characterization and world-building seamlessly and often simultaneously. The development of a character’s backstory will lead directly to an impotent note about the world. And the ever present banter charms the reader to the six leading characters while keeping a quick and fun atmosphere.
One of Six of Crows unique draws comes in the use of its perspective. The novel constantly switches between the third-person narration of its six main characters: Kaz Breker, the leader of a local gang known as the Dregs; Inej, his top and most loyal assassin; Jesper, the gambling gunslinger; Nina, the Grisha and temptress; Matthiass, the forgotten, imprisoned soldier; and Wylan, the awkward demolitions expert.
Bardugo utilizes these shifting narratives to tell a cohesive story while also keeping important secrets hidden from the audience, effectively allowing the reader to learn about each character alongside the larger group. It is a similar effect to those found in Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, in which a single story is made far more interesting with the revelation of each character’s individual backstories. This effect is simply not possible in a story with one, or even two, points of view and allows for a uniquely interesting experience.
While a strong draw, this perspective-shifting can become a lot for a reader to handle. Occasionally, the chapters will be written in a perspective outside of the main six which can cause confusion as to when and where the narrative has switched to. The best example of this is actually found in chapter one. This opening, featuring a character named Joost who never appears again, is the most pointless part of the entire novel.
The pacing of this chapter is slow and includes a convoluted romantic subplot and several unimportant characters. I almost put the book away entirely purely because of this first, very confusing chapter. There is some relevant information for the larger plot but it could have been presented in a simpler and shorter fashion perhaps even in a prologue. But beyond that hard opening, every chapter captured my complete attention.
Overall the Six of Crows novel expertly shrinks a massive, interconnected world into a closely connected and deeply compelling story. The world is gritty and often grim, but the characters are filled with personality and love that create a wonderful balance of tone. In the modern fantasy scene, which is often filled with predictable plots and bad romance, this book along with Baardugos wider Grishaverse works are a refreshing twist on the genre.
