In Crooked Kingdom, 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.

Crooked Kingdom is the NYT #1 Bestselling sequel to Six of Crows, and a spinoff series to The Grisha Trilogy. I reviewed Six of Crows last year, so go check that out if you haven’t read the book. However, I would not continue reading this review if you haven’t read Six of Crows. There are spoilers for it that I can’t help but mention in this review. 

I’m gonna keep this as spoiler-free as possible, because this book came out a little over a week ago, but the Dregs are back together, and back to fighting. They need to find Inej, figure out what’s happening to Nina after her use of jurda parem and get their revenge on the monstrous Jan Van Eck. So of course, that means that there’s battles, tricks and fun to be had for everybody.

I really enjoyed Crooked Kingdom, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because holy character development, Batman! Six of Crows is eternally focused on one task, and one task alone, and one of my complaints about it was that we didn’t get a chance to really get to know several of the characters. That was completely fixed in Crooked Kingdom. We got to know everybody really well, and it was wonderful, but messy.

There were like 8,000 strings crossing over each other throughout this book, it was so complicated, and every single one of those strings got tied up by the end of the novel, as did my heartstrings. I can’t say that there was a part of this novel I didn’t like, even as it broke my heart.

Crooked Kingdom made me laugh out loud, it made me cry and it had me begging for more. Unfortunately, for now, there is no more. It is the end of the duology, and I know that I’ll be back to re-read this and the Grisha trilogy in the very near future.  This was a five star read for me.

If you’re interested in purchasing Crooked Kingdom, there are two ways that you can do so. You can purchase the hardcover all on its own at Indiebound to support your local indie bookstore, or you can purchase the duology as a beautiful boxed set, also at Indiebound. I purchased the boxed set, since I didn’t already own Six of Crows, and it’s stunning.

Leigh Bardugo is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Grisha Trilogy (Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising).

She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University, and has worked in advertising, journalism, and most recently, makeup and special effects. These days, she’s lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band.

She would be delighted if you followed her on Twitter, elated if you visited her web site, and downright giddy if you liked Shadow & Bone on Facebook.

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through that link, I will make a small amount of money off of it.