Crooked Kingdom Review: I Pray The Hangover Doesn’t Last Long!

Okayyyyy.

fgjaerbvbearbversvlsebhdfsbgyegvugkguxdrgkvvxk. That is my emotional state right now. This book has had cute moment, epic fight scenes, explosions, tense af chapters and made me cry and laugh.

IT WAS PERFECT AND ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE. . . WELL BYE.

I’m just kidding about that last bit. . . partially. . .

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 left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, 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 magic in the Grisha world.

(GOODREADS)

The characters in this book were phenomenal. I thought that they were perfect in the last book, but oh. my. gosh. This book got me loving them even more. For Six Of Crows I did a mini review of all the characters, which you can check out here (to see how it’s changed, etc. . .).

KAZ:

He was even more scheming and devilish than the first book. His brain is a marvellous creation that can out think anything. At the time when you think that everything has gone to sh**, nope, Kaz Brekker is on that! In the beginning of the book he was so sassy (people who’ve read this’ll know why 😉 ) and is literally slayyyying everyone else. He’s so bad-ass and classy I love it.

INEJ:

She’s even feistier, stronger, and better than ever before. Certain things happen (shhh I wont say until we reach the spoiler section) that instead of damaging her, make her so so much stronger. As a character I think that she really represents faith. She believes in her Saints, and that they’ll protect her and I love how she’s this moral character but she isn’t condescending or hypocritical either. Here faith is is unwavering, and it’s such an admiring quality.

NINA:

MY NINA. Okay, Nina. Where to start with you? You think that she’s this power woman in Six Of Crows, but then you read Crooked Kingdom and you are blown away by her. She is so strong, and so caring and so powerful. If she’s knocked down she gets back up again. If someone needs saving, she’ll save them. And though this book it was so touch and go with her as there were so many complications (which I wont mention because, duh, spoilers!!) and the way that she recovered form them was amazing.

JESPER:

Sassssssyyyyyyyy. I honestly love him. His humour and come-backs are amazing, and I couldn’t love a characters sense of humour more. He’s the same in this book. He thinks that he’s the same ol’ Jesper that we meet in the first book, but then slowly overtime he’s noticing these changes in himself and he starts thinking about things rather than acting straight away. It’s difficult to explain. He’s more conscientious. Is that the proper word? Anyways, in this book my love for JESPER multiplied by a thousand.

WYLAN:

Like Jesper, he was hilarious, but in this book he worried so much and it was so cute to read and I was surprised by his larger role. I didn’t expect it at all! But did I love it? ABSOLUTELY! Wylan reminds me of a prancing leprechaun. He really does. I don’t even know why since the whole experience for him was horrible. Wylan was faced—like many of the characters—with a lot of challenges in this book and I feel like for being the longest of the group, he fought those challenges so well and became much more of an independent character in the book.

KUWEI:

Okay, I have no idea how to say his name, but though this book I kept on calling him “Kiwi”. He’s a really cute character and I feel like he was portrayed really well as someone who had no idea what was going on (unless it was science-based) and was bossed around by the rest. He is the Wylan in Six of Crows in Crooked Kingdom. I liked his presence though, at times he was really sassy and I was sitting there, reading with my fist in the air saying “gooo onnnnn Kiwi! You tell ‘em!” He’s not really in the crew, but I still like him.

MATTHAIS:

Matthais. . . Matthais. . . Matthais. . . He saved everyone countless times and was such a consistent character. He battled with himself at times, and was there for Nina and was so pure and just so amazing. He was so trustworthy in this book and really became a part of the team. I just love him more than I ever thought that I would!

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THE PLOT & WRITING:

The book didn’t hang about. We were straight in there with the action, almost picking up right after the end of Six Of Crows. Momentum and tension grew and grew with the book and kept on escalating. The book—I find—was fast paces and oh, so gripping!! I couldn’t put it down. I was so determined to finish and I wasn’t forcing myself to finish, I was just hooked. I made breakfast reading. I ate WHILE reading. I was awake until 2 am one day READING THIS BOOK.

It was even cleverer than the first one. I mentioned it briefly above, but there were moments when you thought, damn, they’re done for!, but then BAM! And the whole book was put together in this amazing and witty way. It kept things from us and made it such an engaging, thrilling read.

The wring style was fabulous too. I feel like everything to do with the book was so fluid, especially the writing. It wasn’t over complicated and was pretty casual in some areas, which was so great! And don’t even get me started on the description, wow! It followed the writing rule “show don’t tell” AHHH it was amazing.

FIGHT SCENES:

This book was explosive. Literally. There were brawls, guns, bombs and anything you could imagine. And they were all so detailed and easy to picture, and were exactly as you imagined them to be. Leigh Bardugo really went crazy with the fight scenes and it paid off. While reading this book I felt like I was IN it! That’s how good the fight scenes were.

ROMANCE:

This is something that I really wanted to talk about as yes, in this book there is romance, but it didn’t influence the plot like so many romances do. The romance added to it, but didn’t prevent the characters from doing what they needed to do. It was such a great addition to the book. Some fun the moments were so cute I was literally melting and felt all warm and fuzzy, and some just tore me apart!

GOSH THIS BOOK WAS SO PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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SPOILER SECTION REAL QUICK BECAUSE I WANT TO WRAP THIS UP. 

SOOO…

FINALLY the Matthais-Nina Kiss!!

The Kuwei and Jesper kiss confused the hell out of me, I was as crushed as Wylan!

Then Finally the Wylan-Jesper kiss!! And I smiled so much when at the end Wylan basically told Kuwei to get on the boat and go, but in different words!

And at the auction when you think that Wylan told his father everything, but then it was Kaz’s plan all along?!? Just brilliant!!

Chapters 39 and 40 made me so sad, how could you do this to us Leigh Bardugo?!?

And then the second to last chapter when Kaz wasn’t wearing his gloves and they held hands and then there was the ship, and then the parents and Kaz saying “is my tie straight” because he was going to meet her parents!! It was so cute!!

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END OF THE SPOILERS!!

I have no idea what I’m reading next, and I just pray that the book hangover from this book isn’t too bad!! Feeling the AHHH’s of reading right now!!!

So I hope that you liked this review. Have you read this book? Let me know!

Lu x