What would they see when they looked at her? The female characters are kick-ass. They're feminine, but not useless. They don't try too hard to be rebels to be bad-ass, to deny their own nature to prove they can play with the boys, they're just themselves There is romance, but so little of it, and what little there is felt natural and unobtrusive.
A blossoming from grudging tolerance to like, to possibly something more. But I consider this a great book, because the romance is not intrusive in any way. Every time she moved, the reindeer cloak parted, revealing a flash of round calf, white skin, the shadow between her breasts. She was trying to rattle him. He needed to focus on the fire. Nina snorted and lay down in the nest of pelts, propping herself on one elbow.
I just wanted to be warm. I promise not to ravish you in your sleep. Her grin was vicious. He knew he was meant to lie down next to her. The sun had set, and the temperature was dropping. View all 63 comments. Jun 30, Jessica Edwards rated it it was amazing Shelves: This took me awhile to write, but I've been meaning to write a long review for awhile. So here it is! Six of Crows follows six teenagers living in the city of Ketterdam, a city of slums and crime lords.
Kaz Brekker, an infamous thief also known as Dirtyhands is promised a very large sum of money to kidnap Bo Yul-Bayur, a scientist from the Ice Court. The Ice Court is the most highly protected place in Fjerda, and Kaz won't be able to gatecrash it alone. He needs a crew. He recruits Inej Ghafa. Inej is known for her ability to climb buildings and move across impossible terrain with extreme agility. She's quiet but strong, and she's got quite an interesting background.
Inej was kidnapped from her family's caravan and sold to a brothel in Ketterdam. When she eventually escaped, she entered into a contract with Per Haskell, a crime lord in Ketterdam. Inej's goal is to make enough money off of her work for Haskell to pay off her contract and return home to Ravka. Next, Kaz recruits Jesper Fahey. He is the crew's sharpshooter. Jesper is a lighthearted and sarcastic character, who enjoys gambling a bit more than he should.
Nina is the only trained Grisha in the crew. She is stuck in Ketterdam and is unable to go home. Nina is really confident and unapologetic of who she is. She's also loyal to her friends. Matthias a former Druskelle, soldiers from Fjerda. He has history with Nina as the two of them helped each other after a storm destroyed their ship, with the two of them developing a trust.
Nina betrays him which causes him to hate her, but he also loves her. Wylan is the son of a merchant. He serves as the brains of the operation. Wylan is an intelligent engineer and inventor. He's very shy and awkward because he's been isolated for most of his life, but slowly warms to the other members of the crew. Can I just say, that this book is beautifully written. Each and every character in this book were likable and bad-ass, and they literally felt like real characters.
Loved everything about this book! View all 34 comments. This was exactly what I needed and so much more. I'm tempted to give this a 4. This deserved the full 5 stars. I was a little unsure about the pacing somewhere around the middle of the book, but to be fair it was due to some of the character development, and the characters were my fave part so who am I to resist a little extra time getting to know them?
Nevertheless, this was so much fun. Loved the world, especially after having read the Grisha trilogy, it was awesome to explore somewhere new. They were all so intriguing with fascinating life stories. They were so distinctive as well, each had such a strong personality and I'm finding it impossible to narrow down to a favourite. I cannot wait to jump into Crooked Kingdom and see where the story and these characters take me.
View all 7 comments. The ensemble cast of characters is also fantastic! They all have interesting backstories and distinct personalities. Writing is great, story is awesome, pacing on point. View all 17 comments. View all 12 comments. Oct 15, Christine Riccio rated it it was amazing. Jun 23, Sasha Alsberg rated it it was amazing. This is the type of book that will blow you away with its words.
Crow's Row
View all 14 comments. Oct 17, Jesse JesseTheReader rated it it was amazing. It was unexpectedly brilliant! View all 19 comments. Mar 14, Katerina rated it it was amazing Shelves: It's a job for thugs and thieves. A bunch of anti-heroes. A nation of witch hunters. They have to break in an impenetrable fortress, free an important prisoner and try not to kill each other. Each of them has his own goals and ambitions, his own agenda, his own life story full of misery and pain.
And everything depends on them. Leigh Bardugo set the standards very high with the Grisha Trilogy, and in Six of Crows she did not disappoint. If you're looking for resemblances between the Grisha and this book you will not find any, besides the fact that both series take place in the same world. Six of Crows is way darker , more mature and a little disturbing. And that's what makes it great. But darkness is not all you get. There is an extremely high dose of sassiness and the dialogues are witty and crack you up.
There is also romance , which doesn't overshadow the story but satisfies the hopeless romantics of the world including me, obviously. There are twists and turns, the world-building is excellent and solid and everything is woven perfectly. The characters All of them are fascinating. They are not righteous or noble, their motives not always pure but you can't help but sympathize with them. He's the leader of this group, also known as Dirtyhands, feared by Ketterdam's underworld and not without a reason. You may cringe at his actions, even feel disgusted by them, his greed and his cruelty, but he is my favorite.
Because he is brilliant, impossibly smart and daring and deep down he suffers, and he's only trying to make the pain stop.
Anyone willing to help? The hype about Six of Crows? It's totally worth it. Instagram Twitter Facebook BookNest View all 98 comments. Aug 20, Ben Alderson rated it it was amazing. Jun 10, Victoria Aveyard rated it it was amazing. I hit myself in the head with this ARC too many times to count. Buckle up, folks, it's going be a razor-edged night. May 22, Steph Sinclair rated it it was amazing Shelves: Excellent novel is excellent. View all 20 comments.
Jan 08, Whitney Atkinson rated it it was amazing Shelves: View all 10 comments. Jun 01, karen rated it it was amazing Shelves: We are all someone's monster this is a very strong series-starter. A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. View all 88 comments. Aug 02, Wendy Darling rated it it was amazing Shelves: All I have to say is, this book is somehow even more awesome than the original series. Don't be nervous about the multiple POVs--every character has history and agency, and you'll care deeply about every single one of them.
All perfectly paced and perfectly thrilling. My full review, plus Grisha prize pack giveaway are on the blog: Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the All I have to say is, this book is somehow even more awesome than the original series. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book that I formatted, too! Get thee to a bookstore--the hardback is gorgeous, and so is the book. The author has outdone herself. View all 31 comments.
Jul 11, C. Drews rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a re-read and just confirmed to me that I am basically absolutely obsessed with the Grishaverse. Kidding, don't restrain me. I'll leave my original review here too, tho, because why not. Omggg all the stars. Best life decision of ever. Although it had like 7 narrators??? Which was kind of annoying because I lvoed Kaz's narrator and absolutely hated Jesper's [he spoke like a slow melon] and Matthias' narratr made him sound like he was fifty-two years old. Like I already knew I loved the little blackhearted demon I no longer hate Matthias!!
See a Problem?
Instead I really don't like Inej!! Considering she used to be my second favourite character Inej is horribly selfish but it gets wrapped up in "I'm actually the best of you lot" sort of attitude and it stinks. Her epiphany as she climbed that chimney and nearly died??? It was so tedious and self-obsessed.
All her prayers and her better-than-thou attitude? It just really rubbed me. And I think she has very little respect for other people's needs. Okay, Kaz is a bastard. But he also has severe PTSD. But to Inej it's this whole "if you're going to wear armour, then there ain't nothing between us".
I think we need to talk about mental illness and how Kaz is a pretty prime candidate for trauma. He can't even let someone touch him even when he freaking wants to. I thought Inej was pretty unfair and not understanding. And I didn't, um, notice his big crush on Kaz the first time. I thought he just liked Wylan. Daaang that boy puts up a lot from these hooligans.
I do so like him a lot better in this re-read too. Omg how did I hate Matthias before? And has the collective thinking skills of a very small grapefruit! But yet his character development makes my heart beat omg. The priorities here are life. Um, let's not talk about my metaphor skills. I tried to time my re-read to finish when it released? So off you pop. I love books that say they're going to be "dark and scary" and then they are so dark and scary. It's the kind of fantasy that will leave me doing the evil polka. Although, I have to admit I didn't love it as much as I thought I would for which reasons I'll explain in a second!
I think you'll appreciate the Grisha's themselves more, but this could totally be apart. Firstly, this puts the EPIC in epic fantasy. She's the "spider", acrobat, and hears and sees everything. Shipping her with above very very aggressively. She's also a bit saucy and definitely sassy and EPIC. He is like a bulldozer and hates everything. The dorky comic relief and likes to shoot stuff. He and Jesper would make an adorable couple.
But we're shipping 'em. I loved the characters I so totally did!!! They all had huge backstories and venerabilities and yet they were all icy and coldblooded at times. I particularly loved Kaz because he was the mastermind. I have a thing for clever, tortured, bitter characters, okay?! Kaz also has a limp! Which, as I read in the author's note in the back, is a reflection of her So I felt that was really special that she was sharing her sufferings with a we readers, and b her main character. Buuuuut, the characters is also where the book lost a star for me: Everyone has this massively complex backstory that just There were long pages of "telling" not "showing" their backstories.
And 6 characters with long, complex backstories?! Plus I really don't think we needed to see from ALL their perspectives. It got tedious to me. Plus we didn't even get that much of Kaz!! Nina was awesome, but nunnhg Mattias. I wanted to read more about Kaz's story And the book is looooong.
I think if we'd had less backstory that would've helped move things along. Like I loved reading it, but often times when I put it down I just felt exhausted from trying to keep up and I wished it'd been more concise. I crave concise, okay?! Concise and I are my ultimate OTP. I have such a thing for heists, and I'm endlessly pleased it was such an epic plot! There is blood and villainy and things go wrong and characters nearly break in two. And of course it does NOT have a good conclusion. All in all, I loved it, but it lacked tightness for me. I loved the witty banter and the world building though omg this is world building done exquisitely right and I loved the nail biting ending.
Definitely one of my favourite fantasies! That's why I'm still alive. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favourite flower, your favourite song, your favourite sweet. Only that boy earns your heart.
- Crow's Row (Crow's Row, #1) by Julie Hockley.
- Comme un cadavre... (French Edition).
- Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo?
- Get A Copy!
- New Testament Tithing and the Parable of its Validity.
I'm wondering if we can find some common ground. You should have drowned. Three million krunge waiting for you in Ketterdam? View all 43 comments. Jan 03, emma rated it it was amazing Shelves: Which is me screaming. I have no idea how to review this book. I barely even knew how to read this book, due t this full review is now POSTED, and my lifelong quest to never stop freaking out about this book continues!! I barely even knew how to read this book, due to the fact that it was so devastatingly cool and exciting and unique and addictive that it almost made me illiterate. When I first read this book, I loved it.
I five-starred it and participated in the hype and probably googled fan art exactly one time, which is as far as I ever get in terms of joining a fandom. That guaranteed absolutely nothing. As I have said times, any opinion of mine older than approximately 18 months cannot be trusted. I am on a continual process of growth and I am very stupid. Here is where I always list a hot take younger me had such as thinking the television program "Degrassi" was the apex of cinematic art , or something dumb younger me did such as literally never eat a salad even once , in order to illustrate just how stupid that was.
- King Dido?
- Grundkurs Mobile Kommunikationssysteme: UMTS, HSPA und LTE, GSM, GPRS, Wireless LAN und Bluetooth (German Edition)!
- Warum ist Demografie, Alterung und Gesundheit ein wichtiges Thema für das Gesundheitsmanagement? (German Edition)!
- Little Black Crow.
This is the person who read and loved Six of Crows. Obviously I went back and surreptitiously changed that rating. The plotline is nearly nonstop exciting. There is a MAP. Although maybe I should talk more about that too. In a different format. The characters in this book are so fantastic.
Six of Crows, Book 1 Book Review
Is that a ranking? Yes it is a ranking. To anyone else that may sound like a fairly low number. By which I mean: Leigh Bardugo is the queen of YA, and also literature and being a person in general. Inej is a spooky lil sneaky gal who climbs around stuff and is the single most powerful creature in all of fictional humankind. Also Inej is just a cool name. Plus shooting at stuff, which adds some excitement and flair to the whole thing.
Love to eat, and also be sexy!!! All new to me. This book united stupid me and current me, which means that people who are dumb and have bad taste and people who are very very cool and like good things only can be united in liking this book. Not for anything creepy, I just want to blow a kiss into an envelope and ship it to her.
Oh, that is creepy? I would still like that address though. Fox while eating peanut butter cup ice cream. View all 28 comments. I just cant get int Dec 16, jessica rated it it was amazing Shelves: View all 32 comments. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm just going to pretend the ending never happened. They completed their mission job, got their money, and lived happily ever after.
Stop it, Kainat, stop it! You must contain yourself.! Remember when i read this book for the first time, i couldn't even do a proper review because i couldn't find any words so describe my love for this book? I am utterly obsessed right now. I don't even want the second book, i don't wanna know what's going to happen next. I know whatever it is, it's going to hurt my soul. Oh, Who am i kidding? To all the ladies fighting over Kaz, i'm friendzoning him, he is all yours. Now, now, don't get me wrong i like him a lot, way more than a lot!!
I love love love love love love him! It's just i get this "best-friends" vibe from him. Like, if I knew him in real life i'd follow him around like a puppy until we became BFFs! Nina on the other hand! These are just my favorite quotes and pictures i really liked. Might even have spoilers, if you haven't read it i highly recommend that you do. I don't want to read any other book now. I just want more Nina and Mathias I love their love-hate relationship! She is so fucking brave!! I am all about them heartbreaking sad endings but not here! Better not happen to these two!
I kinda liked the ending because that means we are going to dark dark places in the next book. But i demand they all get their happy endings! Leigh, i'll even beg you, don't break my heart. How can i not love Kaz and Inej?! That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn't pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her.
He needed to thank her for his new hat. How to begin this review? How to put into words how much I loved these characters and this book? How am I supposed to write down all those many feels? And most importantly, How can I live with this ache in my chest? I have no answer to all of those questions, but I know that I have to write this review! So here I go! You know one of those books that are easy to read and make you laugh. I expected to read a story that was able to enthral me.
A story I would enjoy and classify as intriguing. To me it was so much more than that though. It was a story about life and hate and the choices that we make. It was a tale about the people and experiences that shape us. But most of all it actually was a secret and subtle homage to love. Kaz Brekker is the right-hand man of the leader of the Dregs, one of the many gangs that live in the Barrel territory of Ketterdam and try their best to get by. This is the moment where I take the liberty to inform you that the characters section is going to be full of spoilers.
And yet they hesitated. The knowledge that they might never see each other again, that some of them — maybe all of them — might not survive this night hung heavy in the air. A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.
Kaz shook his head, dark hair glinting in the lamplight. He was a collection of hard lines and tailored edges — sharp jaw, lean build, wool coat snug across his shoulders. XD Alone his scheming face! It was so hard to watch him while he tried to keep his composure and whenever I read his POV it felt like his anxiety choked me. She always wore it tied back in a ruthlessly tight coil.
Even the idea of being this near someone should have set his skin crawling. Instad he thought, What happens if I move closer? Inej is kick-ass and I loved her for it!!! Her back was straight, her tone steady. She looked like someone facing the firing squad and saying damn the blindfolds. What to say about him? At the beginning of the book he was so ignorant and oblivious to his faults but the more I got to know him the more I could see why Nina fell for him.
Nina had blown into his life with the wind and rain and set his world spinning. He knew his mentor could not hear him, but he spoke the words anyway. I can drink it no longer. Nina is so compassionate and lovely and I immediately loved her for it! I just adored her for being so passionate and I was so sad when Matthias rejected her at the beginning. Not that this would have had any visible impact on her, after all she still had a sharp tongue and made sure to use it.
Do not move abruptly.
If you don't promise to take it easy, I'll slow your heart and keep you in a coma until I can be sure you've recovered fully. He loved it, and he hated himself for loving it. I loved the way he tried to ease the tension and how he worked as a buffer between all those different characters. It broke my heart when I found out that he seems to be illiterate and that his mean idiot of a father mocked him with it.
Nina batted her glossy lashes at him. Those two gave me a serious headache!!!
I knew they both loved each other but Matthias vehemently refused to acknowledge his feelings for Nina and it almost drove me insane! I have to admit that I also loved the way how Nina and Matthias pushed each other and them playing cat and mouse was just so much fun to hold it against them. She winced, but when he tried to pull away, she clutched him tighter. Tears leaked from her eyes. I want to go home to Ravka. Their love was so bittersweet that it sometimes even caused me to stop breathing. Their emotions were so intense and gentle and yet their circumstances made it impossible to be together.
To touch other people is pure torture for him, yet he still let Inej reach out to him. It cost him so much just to stand there and let her caress his cheek, but he did it because he actually truly loves her!!! It put my heart through the meat grinder and shredded it into thousand tiny pieces…. It caused me to swallow, it made me gasp for air, it simply wrenched my breath away… It caused me to feel a pang in the center of my chest and my heart is still bleeding… Especially now that they took Inej!!! His mind had gone jagged at the sensation, a riot of confusion.
It had been terror and disgust and — in all of that clamour - desire, a wish that lingered still, the hope that she would touch him again. I want you to … I want you. Gently, she squeezed his hand. It was the face he wore when he was fighting. Maybe it was because his back was to her that she could finally speak the words.
Or I will not have you at all. Jesper never missed a chance to tease Wylan and even though Wylan was so innocent and shy he still somehow managed to hit back at him! He scowled and pulled his collar up. So to all of my fellow Dregs, this is the way my review finally ends: View all 57 comments.
Jan 31, Adam Silvera rated it it was amazing Shelves: So happy I waited until I was in the right headspace to read this mammoth of a masterpiece, and that I have the sequel at the ready! I actually got my mother obsessed with my favorite book? This book pulled me in from the beginning, to the point where I knew I'd found a favorite before I was halfway through. Here, Bardugo integrates a creative plot , interesting and morally grey characters , group dynamics and banter , a great writing style, and some really, really prime romance plots.
Goddamn, can Leigh Bardugo write romance. There are very, very few books that I love so wholeheartedly. This series truly is my favorite fantasy series of all time. There's no competition whatsoever. Her plotting is incredibly engaging, with so many twists and turns that the book is hard to put down. This book focuses on mind games and clever plotting. The dregs need to have a thousand backup plans, and everything is brilliantly planned by Bardugo. The Grisha's worldbuilding is very engaging, even though we're thrown in without context; I remember thinking that I would have appreciated a proper map of Ketterdam, and then we GOT a good map in book two!
Bardugo's prose is awesome, and there are some truly gorgeous quotes from here. The latest book from the Caldecott medalist follows a young boy as he wonders about the life of crow.
Common Sense says
The large amounts of white space bring to mind empty late fall afternoons sitting at the window with a cup of hot cocoa wondering about a lone bird in the sky. May 20, Rebecca Ann rated it liked it Shelves: Raschka strikes me as an amazing artist and a below average storyteller. I love his illustrations in this as always. The muted brown, grey, blue, etc give the story a lonely feeling, and the simplistic, watercolor sketches are unique. In the story, a child wonders about the life of a little black crow, but comes to no real conclusion.
I'm not sure it's intended this way, but it seemed to have a double meaning about how even people who seem very different from you can actually be much the same. If that is the case, this book becomes much richer. Mar 21, Bridget R. Wilson rated it liked it Shelves: A boy sees a little black crow. He questions what the crow might wonder about.
The premise of Little Black Crow is certainly a novel one. The questioning format will appeal to my story time crowd. I can just imagine the answers they'd give. I love the illustrations.
Eye of the Crow
I never knew how much I liked watercolor until I looked at this book. My favorite illustrations are the crow family and the boy with the crow. Oct 30, Nari rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a wonderful, watercolored story about a little boy asking a little black crow all sorts of questions. Its a great baby picture book because of the calming illustrations and the few words on the page.
The kids sat very quietly while I read this book, I think it helped that most of my audience today were boys. Even some parents repeated lines from the book to reinforce the imagery and concepts. Aug 31, Sarah rated it liked it Shelves: I liked the words better then the illustrations, and there was something about the text that was a little off for the age.
The vocabulary seemed a little bit too advanced for the sorts of things that the boy is wondering. But there are moments when the boy and the bird are beautifully evoked. Still this doesn't come close to Henkes' Birds at capturing the spirit of birds and children observing them. Sep 25, Ezekiel rated it it was ok Shelves: Mostly it's questions by a white boy sitting on a fence "to" a crow he sees flying around. I found it too bad also that the crow was gendered by the boy even though there was no indication that it was a boy and that a later picture showing the "who do you love" was drawn so as to indicate femininity in the turtle dove.
While I don't think it's bad, it didn't seem good either. Jun 24, Maggie rated it liked it Shelves: I think the text may be an example of an attempt at using rhyme and rhythm that just falls flat, however. It could still be good for a storytime about birds though, especially for littles. Apr 25, Nancy Jo Lambert rated it liked it. I really wanted to like Little Black Crow more because it has all the makings of a fabulous picture book: I just didn't connect with this book I guess.
I know there are kids out there though that will just love this book and recognize all the beauty it holds. For me, it was just alright. Apr 09, Melanie rated it it was ok Shelves: I'm not a big Chris Raschka fan. I know, I know But that's just me. Children will explore all kinds of relationships through the answers provided by the pictures. Not a good storytime book as the pictures are hard to decipher at any amount of distance.
Jun 25, Samantha rated it really liked it Shelves: A book of wonder in which a boy observes a little black crow and ponders a series of questions. Watercolor and ink illustrations are stellar in this book. I really liked the way the artist created rain; it was incredibly realistic. The color mixes and texture details makes for watercolor artwork at its finest. Oct 01, Peacegal rated it it was ok. The almost Asian-style watercolor illustrations intrigued me I'm not sure the picture book set would be able to follow along with the text.
Mar 09, Allison Fortunato rated it really liked it Shelves: I liked this book because it was a poem. I really like to read to poems. I also liked how the colors of the pages changed into what seemed like a sunset by the end of the story. I thought that was a really interesting feature in the story. Oct 25, Michael rated it really liked it Shelves: Kind of cute rhymes, with nice water color illustrations. The human interest for the crow is a white boy, of course, and the love interest is a dove, so a bit off track on the gender stereotyping, but fun otherwise.
Oct 28, jo rated it really liked it Shelves: I am such a Chris Raschka fangirl. He somehow manages to make his books both simple and complex Little Black Crow is about a child looking at a crow, and a crow looking at a child. But the questions the child asks are true, thoughtful, and universal. Oct 22, Jeanne rated it liked it Shelves: A little boy asks the crow about the things he sees and how he feels, revealing more about the little boy than the crow.
Good for your little question-askers. They can come up with their own answers in this one. Oct 07, Jocelyn rated it it was ok Shelves: My son loves the "Thingy Thing" series by Chris Raschka, so I thought we'd try something else by the author. I liked the illustrations. The writing didn't really impress my son or grab my attention.
Dec 20, Donalyn rated it liked it Shelves: A boy spies a crow and wonders about the connections between the crow's life and his. The prose, guided by the boy's questions, is lyrical. I found the illustrations, particularly the crow himself, heavy-handed and impersonal. Dec 17, Paul rated it liked it Shelves: A little too cute, but Raschka's brush and pen strokes and diffused watercolor patches are so skillful and evocative as to carry the narrative line along.
Slow-paced, restful book that leaves open space for wondering. First read June Jun 25, Stephanie Croaning rated it liked it Shelves: A young boy sits and ponders what life is like for a little black crow he sees. I love how the boy compares his life to that of the crow, and how he applies his reasoning skills to the crow. Very sweet, uncomplicated watercolor-style illustrations accompany the text. Aug 12, Dimity Powell rated it liked it Shelves: A beautifully illustrated introspective look at how nature might perceive us and itself.
I'm not fond of crows per se but enjoyed the way Raschka's gentle simple verse provided plenty of platforms for discussion with young readers. Jan 18, Dylan McHenry rated it it was amazing Shelves: I love the way that Chris Raschka encourages children to explore and ask questions of the world around them. This is a great thing to teach to children.