Showing posts with label ruin and rising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ruin and rising. Show all posts

Monday, 14 August 2017

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

11:49:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.


Reading the Riot Act Blog
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Published June 2nd 2016 by Orion's Children's Books
Paperback 491 Pages

Behold! A book I read months ago and then proceeded to forget to review. I know, that might suggest I didn't like this book - well, you are hella wrong. Is this thing a beast? YES! Did it take me almost a month to read? SUPER YES! Will I read the next one? Eventually...

Seriously, this thing was good but it was a slow read - I wouldn't dare try and smash through this bad boy for a read-a-thon.

Six of Crows follow a rag-tag group of brutal criminals, trying to make it large in Ravka. (You know, the Russian-esque country from Bardugo's Grisha series?) There really is nothing like old friends,  but unfortunately they are all dead. Set many years after Ruin and Rising, Alina and Mal and the Darkling are history. Sorry Ladies. Instead, we get a whole new crew to obsess over- and personally. I like them better. (Tell no one.)

Being Grisha is now taboo, far more than some of the segregation we'd come to recognise in Ravka. Some of them have been captured, and a drug produced that gives them unholy powerful gifts but then drains the life out of them. The man who invented it, is locked away inside an ice fortress. Guess who is hired to break him out? and/or assassinate him? Why! It's our rag-tag group of brutal criminals! Can they do it? PROBABLY NOT! Will I have fun watching it all go tits up? HELL YEAH!

The cast of this book is phenomenal. Each of them is vivid with rich backgrounds and startlingly diverse personalities. It can be hard to write a group dynamic, but damn has Bardugo got it down. The only issue is, with so many interweaving stories -the thing can drag a little. Every detail is painstakingly recalled, each different from another characters eyes and they feel so important and tense and crucial, that you find yourself spending 10 minutes on one page. Yeah, I'm not exaggerating. The writing is so beautiful and enthralling that is almost impossible to get sucked in because you'd hate to miss a second of the syntax. That, honestly, is my only complaint. It was so well-written, I couldn't ignore the words and just imagine. #firstworldproblems

Kaz is the leader of The Dregs, and in his criminal gang is Inej -his right hand ninja lady. Jesper, the gun slinger, Wylan - a politician's son who's out for a little rebellion and Nina, a Grisha who kind of fucked over her ex-lover. And...of course they are gonna need to bust him out of prison for the job. Enter Matthias, the Grisha hater - and then our group is complete. All of them have these intensely complicated relationships with each other. They are all burdened by their singular baggage and the baggage of the group. Yet, somehow, they all come together and what at first glance seems like a business arrangement, is engraved with golden lines of love and affection and loyalty. The Dregs make this book, it would be entirely different without them and it would be far, far worse.

I'll say it now and forever hold my peace. Inej is my favourite. It's like having a boy band full of hunks and everyone in your friend group gets to choose one. Inej is mine. She is this perfect mix of totally badass. I mean, she's so effing cool! But also has this beautiful vulnerability that she fights with. She worries about the way the world sees her and simultaneously wants to be feared. I love it - I don't know why I just do.

Six of Crows totally lived up to it's hype. I will eventually get around to Crooked Kingdom when I have a spare month burning a whole in my life - but until then, I'm pretty satisfied. There were twist's at every turn, obstacles, complications and mess ups. This, in essence, is a heist book - and we sure as hell heisted! This book get's a solid 5 STARS!

You can find me on TwitterInstagramGoodreads and Facebook. Until then...Happy Reading.



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Friday, 10 October 2014

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo.

07:49:00 0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for


 What an ending to the series. I really struggle to think of other trilogies that are consistently as good as the other books. I can't think of one book in the series that stands out as the worst. And the fact the ending was satisfying is even better.

I think what really grounds this series is Alina. The 1st person perspective is so perfect because she really leads the way. Its her journey, her emotions and relationships that we care about. It's her emotional struggle that drives the narrative and what really gives this series a really well round, touching but fun feel. 


Another really strong force behind these books is the character development. Mal changes dramatically throughout the series, he starts incredibly self-involved. He let Alina take punishments for him and never even bothered to notice her until she was gone and then finally we get to this point where he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. He gives up anything he can and that is a really tremendous journey to be a part of. Then we have the Darkling, we learn about his and Baghra's past. To say it added new layers to the character is an understatement. It completely changed the way I saw him. I had a lot more empathy and understanding for everything he did and  even got his thought processes. Genya and David and Zoya all have these wonderfl B-story transformations. But then we get to Nikolai. 


In the second book Nikolai enters and he doesn't change much in terms of character development until the latter part of this final book. After being transformed into one of the Darkling's creature. He finally becomes a king. It was accepted that he would not be able to properly rule without Alina, he never understood torture or sadness or feeling completely hopeless, although he sympathised, he never understood. Then when he is cured and returns, he has this level of understanding and you can finally see him become a king. Not the happy go-lucky, it will work out in the end king. But someone respected, feared and someone who understands his people. I thought this was a beautiful narrative, I mean, its really horrible to read terrible things happening to characters you like, but there's nothing more reassuring than seeing trials and tribulations and seeing them become exactly who they need to be. That really stuck out for me. 



I wasn't too keen on the Morozova storyline. I understood the ties and thought it was a great twist that Mal turned out to be the firebird. But I also just didn't care. I was assured enough that Mal would survive and they would be together blah, blah, blah. But I really loved the epilogue. Bardugo has these Before and After chapters that are written in third person. And the ending was just beautiful. It made me feel the way Mockingjay made me feel . Everything wasn't okay, people had died and they had both lost things but life still had the capability for beauty. It was a simple and elegant ending but just the way it was written was so endearing and charming, like finally the world was at peace and you could feel it. Not because she said so but just because the writing was so poetic and calming. 

I adored this book and this series and I cannot recommend it enough. I demand you give it a read and join The Grisha!


Happy Reading.
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