Crooked Kingdom (2016)

Written by Leigh Bardugo

You start off with a cast of characters that you have fallen in love with from the previous book. You then set a story in a setting that was both new and well-established from the previous trilogy. You then stick to your style of writing, playing it closely to your strength—the beat and the tension—that you have highlighted in your first book of duology. And while doing all that, you close off the arcs for 6 different characters in a coherent story. I have high praise for Six of Crows, but with Crooked Kingdom, Leigh Bardugo may have established herself as one of the most influential writers in my life. 

Previously, I mentioned how Six of Crows chose to have a simple plot with a common premise. Well… there was none of that in Crooked Kingdom. The story was set in the city of Ketterdam, something that we had a glimpse of but never truly explored in Six of Crows. From the cultures and rules that Leigh had set previously, Ketterdam became a much more intriguing place for a story to take place. The story no longer took a simple approach of a heist adopted by other media. It felt original and utilised the city of Ketterdam completely well. The story built Ketterdam and it felt more than just a setting. Leigh highlighted the people, the religion, the culture to the tiniest detail. Among all of Leigh’s books, Crooked Kingdom was the closest to a High Fantasy and I love every single detail of it.

Crooked Kingdom is a story about vengeance. Not only for Kaz Brekker—whose theme of revenge had eluded him since Six of Crows—but also for the rest of the Crows. Yet again, all of them each have a different set of goals that they want to achieve. This time, they were willing to compromise for each other to achieve their collective goal and that was amazing.

What impressed me the most was the evolution of Leigh’s storytelling. Crooked Kingdom showed how much Leigh had planned her duology. It started off as a heist but it became so much more in the end. A plot that initially was an overused trope turned into one of the most emotionally driven crime drama I have ever read. Crooked Kingdom was a page turner from the beginning till the end.

Another thing that I really admired about Leigh is her passion for the world she had built. The Grishaverse (when Crooked Kingdom came around) was a series of 5 books. The new duology she had written followed a story completely detached from her first trilogy. However, despite it all, Leigh did not shy away from mentioning characters she had written in the past and utilising her world’s concept—evolving it—to a better and more comprehensible state. At the end of the day—despite the difference in plot, premise and even theme—the Six of Crows duology still added so much value to the enveloping Grishaverse.

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Amongst all the thrilling and heart-throbbing events throughout the book, Leigh did not forget what made Six of Crows special in the first place. The characters. The crows. It is still the heart and the center of her story and the exemplary writing of these characters continued, if not, improved in Crooked Kingdom.

In my previous post, I glanced through my reasons why I really loved the characters Leigh had written. I was… in a sense, a little afraid that it would become a spoiler. But now I realised that it would defeat the entire purpose of me writing this journal. The character aspect of Leigh’s Six of Crows Duology is, after all, what really made me question myself about how I view characters and it is what has inspired me to do better in my work today. Another reason was that just by reading Six of Crows, the character arc still felt incomplete—as if you knew in the back of your head that there is more and you craved for more. So I waited until I finished Crooked Kingdom to give you my full and sincere reasons why I love the Crows so much.

Matthias Helvar — The Stranger That Becomes a Protector

Matthias started off as quite a mediocre character for me. He was a rigid character. One that obviously was going to be the muscle of the team. The only thing that interested me was his background as a druskelle, which was essentially Fjerdan’s special forces. In the Shadow and Bone trilogy, we were not given enough information about the Fjerdans. All we knew was that they were the mortal enemies of Ravka and that they were skilled enough to infiltrate the Ravkan borders.

But he quickly became an interesting character because he possessed a character archetype that I have a soft spot for. Matthias is the sole defender. This is a role that is shared with characters like Ser Jorah from A Song of Ice and Fire and Mikasa Ackermann from Shingeki no Kyojin. Matthias started off with a mentality that prioritises duty over everything else—and without much understanding of what is right and wrong. He was not aware of his own morality. And when he met Nina, it all changed, because for the first time ever he felt love.

That’s when he starts to question his own beliefs. Up to the point where he decided to sacrifice his own nation for the person he loved. He evolved from a character that does things for his country blindly to a character that protects someone he loves. What’s more beautiful is, later on, he grew not only to love Nina but also the rest of the crows and he went on to protect the crew. In the end, his goal becomes the purest among everyone else. Matthias only wanted Nina and the rest of the crows to be safe. I believe what’s tragic is how, in the end, his own past bit him back and it becomes the end of him.

Nina Zenik — The Character That Humanise the Cast

Nina was introduced as the only Grisha among the Crows and that, by itself, already made her more special than the others. Nina was quite a special character for me when she was first introduced. Among the different classes of Grisha that Leigh has introduced, I like the Heartrenders the most. I felt that their ability is the most unique among the rest. That was what Nina is the odds one out. The character that felt the least… human. But as I read Six of Crows I realised that she was more human and, as a matter of fact, the character that humanises the rest of the cast.

Nina was a person who lived for the sake of others. She cultivated a nurturing persona among the cast. She was like a mother and the others were her children. At first she wanted to save Matthias because she believed that she was in the wrong. Then, she wanted to save the Ravkans from the threat of Parem. Then afterwards, she wanted to save the Crows from the threat of van Eck.

In Crooked Kingdom, Nina seemed to be the only character who chooses to stay, even though she needs not to anymore. And that was her gimmick through and through. She was there because she chose to stay. It was not the crazy dilemma of not being indebted, nor was it the threat of not being able to return to Ravka—her hometown. She was simply there because she loved others. If there was something to admire about Nina, it was her pure heart and one driven by righteousness.

Wylan van Eck — The Extra That Becomes the Plot

Wylan went from an extra in Six of Crows to one of my favorite characters in Crooked Kingdom. It was pretty apparent that Wylan was not planned to take a Main Character role in Six of Crows. There were no chapters that follow Wylan’s point of view in Six of Crows. I remembered reading the book and only saw 5 names instead of 6 and wondered who the sixth is? I grew to appreciate Wylan’s character by the end of Six of Crows and the book’s ending left me craving for more.

Crooked Kingdom did not disappoint me in this aspect. In this book, Wylan finally have chapters dedicated to him. In those chapters, was one of the most beautiful and tear-jerking chapters ever written. Wylan was an outcast. He was at a point whereby he was afraid of himself, unable to fathom the idea that he could do what people expected of him. But he grew, especially when he found something to fight for—a life for his mother. That journey, when he started to believe in his own potential, and to the extent of guiding Jesper, completed one of the best coming of age storylines for a character. And Wylan, his goal in the end was to find his place in Ketterdam and amongst the Crows.

Jesper Fahey — The Person You Sympathise For

Jesper started (for me) as a comic relief character. He was the weapon of the team. The person who could become the trump card when in need. I found him very charming, and his full-of-banter personality appealed to me. He was also really (and I mean REALLY) cool with his gunslinging skills. I have a soft spot for gunslingers because of The Dark Tower series. As much as Jesper is a fun character, he also seemed quite sidelined in Six of Crows. He was mostly there to make jokes and alleviate the serious mood of the team. His gambling addiction was one of the few things that intrigued me in the first book and, similarly to Wylan, the end of the first book increased the consequences of his gambling addiction extensively. At this point, Jesper caught my attention, and the beginning of Crooked Kingdom painted him in a miserable state, which is the complete opposite of how he had been portrayed in Six of Crows (not a bad thing). And that just made me pity the character so much.

As the story progresses, I could not help but relate to Jesper. Jesper was an addict. And like Jesper, most people in this world are an addict of something—be it games, social media, pornography, drugs, cigars, you name it. Through his addiction, he began to harm his relationships with his friends and family. First with Kaz when he broke his trust. Then Inej, when he felt that he had betrayed her. His father was next, knowing that he had lied to him his entire life in Ketterdam. But despite all that, Jesper’s crew stayed beside him and helped him be a better person. Jesper showed me that everyone can be vulnerable and that everyone has a darkness that they carry with them. Everyone needs help and it is okay to ask for help. Just like Jesper, most people just want to prove that they can be a better person. Jesper wanted to be useful in his own way, and not disappoint others. And to be frank, he is a lot like me in that regard.

Also, that scene during the climax of his story when he shot the bullet that became essential to the mission. Masterpiece.

Inej Ghafa — The Character Who Shows the Dark Side of the World

Inej’s viewpoint was the first among the Crows to be featured. Immediately, I fell in love with her character. She was a badass. That was my first impression of her as a character. As the story progresses, you begin to see the harsh past that made her that way. The harsh past that made her such a formidable individual. All of Inej’s motives stemmed from the darkness of Ketterdam. From human trafficking, slavery and prostitution. The worst thing that could happen to a girl, happened to her. She had no one left in her life that genuinely cared about her. No one but Kaz.

Inej’s role in the story is to introduce the true antagonist of the duology. That is the harsh and cruel elitist society in Ketterdam. Inej taught the audience how to persevere in hard times, to always have faith. To stand back up in the face of adversity. Inej taught me to be powerful. But what was beautiful about Inej was simply the fact that no matter how powerful she was, and how much pain the people around her had condemned her to. She still chooses to trust her friends and those she deems good. She always chooses to see the good in people first. Because at the end of the day, she refuses to become the very thing that had tortured her.

Kaz Brekker — The Character Who The Audience Hates To See Lose

Kaz Brekker is my favorite character in the Six of Crows duology. In the beginning of Six of Crows, Kaz was portrayed as someone incredibly powerful—almost untouchable. He was portrayed as someone that you know should not be trifled with and should not by any means fail. His entire character was filled with charisma, and he was just put up on a pedestal so much that you just could not stop adoring him. The way Leigh paced his beginning was integral to his character—the scene at the harbour, followed by his face off against van Eck. It is important to put Kaz as a powerful figure mainly because of what Leigh had planned for his character. Leigh’s execution could not be more perfect.

As the story progresses, Kaz begins to break up. It started with his fear of people. Kaz was afraid of being surrounded by people. We began to see him tremble for the first time. Then we began to see him distracted by the name “Pekka Rollins”. Then there was the water and the drowning. From then on, we began to see his past, his turmoil and the amount of hell he had gone through to get to where he was. It was at this very moment that I keep telling myself please don’t fail, Kaz has been through too much shit to fail. That’s when you know that Leigh had gotten through your head. Because now, every hint of failure made the scene suspenseful. And every actual failure makes you feel utterly defeated.

Kaz’s story was further expanded in Crooked Kingdom and slowly he began to evolve. He began to trust people—his crows—unlike how he first started. He started to share his plans with his crew instead of opting to hide them for himself. And physically, he attempted to improve himself by trying to make physical contact with others. At the same time, his core character’s purpose stayed through. The audience will keep refusing for Kaz to lose. No matter how evil and how dirty his methods can get, you just want to see Kaz fulfill his promise to Pekka Rollins. Brick by brick, you want Kaz to destroy him.

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There was a screenshot that I took from the Season 2 reveal of Shadow and Bone that became so much more after I read Crooked Kingdom. It used to feel like just an epic shot of the cast. But now I got chills every time I look at it. Because deep in your heart you knew that in this shot, an incredible journey awaits. And I can’t wait to see it translated into a medium that more people can see and experience.

Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.

Kaz Brekker