六只乌鸦

This novel features both a brilliant heist and a great cast of characters. What more could you want? I finished it quickly and it compares very favorably to similar books.

Kaz Brekker aka Dirtyhands the baddest boy in the baddest part of Ketterdam (a thinly veiled Fantasy disguise for Amsterdam, since I haven't been to either that's a guess though). He does a credible job as (more or less) evil mastermind.
Inej, the Wraith, his personal master spy, knife artist and acrobat.
Jesper the risk-addicted, gambling sharp-shooter, and Kaz' right hand. I seem to imagine him wearing a floppy hat (which he doesn't at least not in the book).
Nina, the witchy witch who literally breaks people's hearts.
Wylan, the slumming merchant's son who makes stuff explode. Also he has a nice singing voice.
And an unnamed "tank" they'll have to "recruit" first. Matthias the northern giant with the moral qualms

I like the opening chapters in which Kaz and his gang get to "negotiate" with another gang. There's crossing and double crossing and it gives the reader a nice introduction to the way Kaz thinks and plans. There's several nice turns that are more or less surprising depending on how many heist stories one has recently read.

The actual story begins when Kaz' himself is offered a very lucrative job. Of course the job is impossible and dangerous and nobody but him would even attempt it.

What I liked most about this book were the characters with their strengths and weaknesses. There were emotions and tough decisions, success and failure for all of them. Sacrifice for some. I liked the way Kaz' made his plans and most of the time it felt like all of that had been planned ahead of time and there wasn't too much luck involved.

What I did not enjoy as much was the amount of romance intertwined with the story. So there are 6 young people going on a trip and surprise surprise it looks like there are going to be several couples by the end of the series Jesper and Wylan being the obvious third. The signs are all there. Yes it makes for nice tension and is also needed as plot device ... but ... you should have heard the sigh that escaped me when the group arrived at their destination and the triple romance became more apparent and I realized only nobody was going to be left out.

Besides this I seem to prefer my protagonists a little older these days. They all seem to be around 18 years old and in some places this stretches my willingness to suspend disbelief concerning their competence a little.

Last but not least the book ends on a terrible cliff-hanger. It could have been resolved and I would still have wanted to read a second book. The finale was good and I am guessing the book should just have ended a little earlier to give me the closure I want at the end of a novel. A good ending point in my opinion would have been when they sail away from Fjerdan ... it would still have left the reader wondering about Nina's fate but instead we get to peek into the start of the next story with the whole double cross by van Eck I books with a real ending, even if that leaves openings for more.

But all of this is not taking away a lot from how much I did enjoy reading this book. I will definitely read the next one because this one was a well-written enjoyable read. I love interesting characters! And that's really where this excels the most.