This book has been all over bookstagram for years and I have been wanting to read it but there was something I had to do first. Although this duology stands alone from the Grisha trilogy, I was aware there was a spoiler contained in the pages, so I was determined to finish the trilogy first. And I finally did last year.

Six of Crows is the grown-up, darker cousin to the Grisha trilogy. It follows Kaz Brekker as he prepares his gang for the biggest job of their lives, an almost impossible heist which will pay enough for them all to retire to a life of luxury. Although the job is kinda of a prison break, it follows the formula of a heist story, with the team being assembled and the ensuing disagreements you can come to expect from such a motley bunch.

The characters are fantastic and I enjoyed revisiting the Grishaverse further down the timeline. Although things still aren't peachy for Grisha, many are still slaves and in Fjerda they are hunted down by Drüskelle and face unfair trial for their "crimes". Nina is a Grisha Heartrender, who plies her trade in a brothel, soothing hearts rather than other things. She remains in Ketterdam to right a wrong, to help free Matthias, Grisha hunter who had captured her. You need to read the whole book to get their whole story and the reveal is interspersed throughout.

oth Nina and Matthias end up recruited for Kaz's job-of-a-lifetime, and they are forever at each other's throats. Matthias wants his freedom and Nina wants to protect Grisha. The others are more motivated by the money; Inej was freed from her indenture in a brothel by the Dregs and is now Kaz's right hand woman and Jesper is a sharpshooter with his own secrets. Then there's Wylan, the job's insurance policy, who could do with toughening up.

Kaz is an anti-hero and it makes the book stronger that he's not immediately likeable. His backstory is tragic and by the end you will understand what drives him. Like the author, Kaz walks with a cane, but that doesn't stop him being an excellent criminal.