I read the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo quite a while ago. I liked the trilogy, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it, especially when rereading it. Then I started seeing all these good reviews of Bardugo's new Grisha-world series: Six of Crows. I postponed reading it for a long time (2 years!), but I finally did! And it didn't disappoint :) I definitely liked this book better than the Grisha series.
Onto my review!

Plot

Six of Crows has such an amazing, fast-paced plot, I was never bored while reading it. Probably because the story contains so many plot twists! The story is one big criminal heist - which is of course never simple or boring. Every time you think, 'pfew, the characters are okay', Bardugo inserts a new obstacle, keeping you on edge. The fact that the crew members all have their separate missions keeps the pace up too. Six of Crows is action-packed until the very end!

World Building

Bardugo did a great job of creating several new spots in her Grisha world, including the rigid, cold Fjerdan country and its Ice Court, and the dark slums of Ketterdam. I'm not sure if someone would fully understand the storyworld if they haven't read the Grisha series, as there are a lot of references to Ravka and the Grisha, which are not fully explained in this book.
I'm Dutch, so I absolutely loved the Dutch names and references to Dutch stuff (hutspot!) in Six of Crows. If you aren't Dutch, you should definitely look up the Dutch terms, because often they are very fitting to the story. You can see that the author spent a lot of hours researching this, as she also did with Russian for the Grisha series, and the hard work pays off. To be honest, Kaz is not really a typical Dutch name (Kas with an 's' is though) - but I rolled with it.
Ketterdam's harbour reminds me of the setting of the British TV series Peaky Blinders - the dark slums of an industrial city where all criminal activity happens, with the Dregs gang as the notorious Peaky Blinders, always getting in trouble for wanting more power. Fortunately, I lovePeaky Blinders! Fans of this book should definitely watch this series, and vice versa.

The rest of the review can be found on my external blog Eveline's Books.

https://evelinesbooks.blogspot.nl/2018/02/review-six-of-crows-by-leigh-bardugo.html