Book Review: Six of Crows
I love novels that tell narratives through multiple perspectives. I think back to when I first started George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels and getting lost in certain character stories and hurriedly rushing through others. Six of Crows is a novel told through, you guessed it, six different characters perspective. But before the book gets there, it starts with a prolonged prologue to set up the world that nearly had me put the book down. The entire first quarter of Six of Crows I found to be both dull and confusing.
It wasn't until we were introduced to the gang of six that I finally became invested in both the story and the world. Six of Crows can be best described as the movie Oceans Eleven set in a fantasy world. The six team up to rescue a scientist from a highly fortified prison that no one has ever broken in or out of. The team has to do both. Once things get moving the book is actually really good. I especially enjoyed how Leigh Bardugo was able to weave present day happenings with the back story of the characters. It's not always the easiest thing to do and the balance of backstory versus moving the plot forward was really impressive.
The other piece of Six of Crows I enjoyed was the narration. I listened to the audiobook which was read by six different narrators and the voice work was phenomenal across the board. Each of the narrators not only captured the voice of their character but were able to relay a similar tone of the other five narrators when dialogue was spoken.
Although the journey of Six of Crows was enjoyable, the conclusion left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. I couldn't help but feel slightly let down not only by how straightforward the tale ended up but how predictably it set up for another book. I'm all for book series but this felt like it could have easily been one great novel rather than spreading it out over multiple books. And that's really where I left Six of Crows. I enjoyed it but am not rushing out to by the next one.
