Crooked Kingdom

Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts 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 badly weakened, 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 the Grisha world.

 Honestly, when I first started reading this book I was slightly apprehensive. I enjoyed the first book (six of crows)so much and I was afraid that as it was part of a duology the second book wouldn't be quite so I depth or enjoyable - fortunately I was wrong.

One of the really strong points of this book is that it really took our main protagonists and fleshed them out more,giving more details about them as characters , telling us about their backstories and making them feel less fictional and more like friends. I loved how Wylan's back story was explained and how we got more chapters from his perspective as it really helped us to understand his motivations more and gives me so much more sympathy for his character as a whole. It also made for some absolutely gut wrenching moments as well.

“Wylan summoned every bit of bravado he'd learned from Nina, the will he'd learned from Matthias, the focus he'd studied in Kaz, the courage he'd learned from Inej, and the wild, reckless hope he'd learned from Jesper, the belief that no matter the odds, somehow they would win. 'I won't talk,' he said.
In the end, he was not Nina or Matthias or Kaz or Inej or Jesper. He was just Wylan Van Eck. He told them everything.”

This half of the duology also did a great job of exploring Inej and Kaz's relationship/situationship in further depth as well. It did a great job at acknowledging both of their individual traumas ,while still showing a functional relationship. Also, the emotional and mental torture Inej experienced when she tough Kaz wasn't coming back had be sobbing.

“I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”

Finally, the plot throughout the entire book was so rich and complex without feeling like it was trying to do to much all at the same time(although parts of it where slightly hard to follow at times).It really felt like all the treads came together organically without being forced to create this emotionally devastating nuanced and complex plot that left me in a book hangover for days.

Overall, it was highly enjoyable(I'm still crying)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐