Book Review - Leigh Bardugo's Crooked Kingdom
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: September 27th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 560 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy
Jan Van Eck has to pay. Not just for breaking a contract with Kaz and his crew but for kidnapping Inej. Therefore he must pay in a way he will understand. It's not just the money at stake anymore, it's Van Eck's entire life. His reputation, his wife, his legacy. Everything must be destroyed. Brick by brick. And if Kaz and his crew happen to get rich in the process, well, it's only proper. But the problem is Van Eck's version of what went down has made Kaz and company targets and they've had to go to ground. It isn't safe for them to walk about the city, let alone their beloved Barrel. They are wanted and this makes every plan put in motion that much more complicated because extra precautions have to be taken. Despite Van Eck trying to keep the real reason for the falling out under wraps this is Ketterdam and nothing can remain a secret for long when people are willing to pay good money for it. So the whole world knows that jurda parem exists and that the inventor is in Ketterdam. This means the Shu, the Fjerdans, and the Ravkans, have all sent delegations overtly and secretly to the city. But of those delegations only the Ravkans have a pure intention with regard to Kuwei Yul-Bo. He is Grisha, he is one of them, and they will make sure he is safe. But Kaz isn't ready to just hand over such a valuable asset. He went to a lot of trouble to break Kuwei out of the Ice Court and he lost his Wraith in the process, so he's not about to let go of his asset so easily. But first Kaz needs his Wraith. Which means dealing with Van Eck. Which means knowing how that man thinks and being one step ahead of him. After that, well, brick by brick Van Eck's life will fall. But things never run smoothly...Nina is still in withdrawal from jurda parem and her Grisha powers are acting oddly, Mattias is worried sick about Nina, Wylan has learned his life is a lie, Jesper's dad has shown up in Ketterdam, and Kaz, well, Kaz is just Kaz...It will be a miracle if they pull this off, but they've been known to do the impossible before.
Crooked Kingdom picks up right after the betrayal of mercher Jan Van Eck in Six of Crows and is a headlong rush to the finish, some five-hundred pages later. That level of intensity is hard to bear for that prolonged a period, making it a book that's hard to put down but it's something that needs to be done because you just have to catch your breath every once in awhile. The first time I read this book the pace and plot twists were just too much for me. What I reveled in in Six of Crows were the quieter, more emotional moments, not those requiring a serial killer like board to follow all Kaz's schemes. But so much has already been revealed about our characters in the previous volume it's up to Wylan Van Eck to carry the weight this time around, and luckily he's up to the challenge. Seeing his life and the more rarefied world in which he lived gives further dept to Ketterdam as a whole. We see the city come alive like never before. It doesn't hurt that instead of haring off to Fjerda the entire narrative is contained within the city. And I really appreciated the city more. I recently read The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, and I really connected to Amsterdam and how that political microcosm of merchants worked. While that book let me down it added to my reading experience with Crooked Kingdom, once again proving that even a book you don't like has value. I felt Ketterdam come alive, a city that is Amsterdam at it's heart with just a dash of New Orleans as it's flash. So it might seem odd that I'm saying read the book for the location, but really the location in this instance is just another character, and this book lives and dies by it's characters. And yes, someone dies. In fact, Matthias's death might have been the predominate reason this book pissed me off the first time around. I ship Nina and Matthias so much it is painful. The way Leigh describes Matthias dying in Nina's arms is almost too much to bear. So while I can complain about this or that with regard to this book there is such an emotional wallop at the end that if you are prepared for it you will forgive every flaw that came before and just marvel at the fact you were so moved by a story.
THIS is THE SHOW I've been waiting all year for. Heck, YEARS for, so yes, I might be a tad more critical because I just re-read all the books in the Grishaverse and therefore little things were getting to me amongst the greatness of this epic, like I do not believe there is any way Zoya would have bangs. Yes, she's a Squaller so she could probably maintain them, perfectly balancing humidity and placement, I just don't think they're Zoya... And yes, I admit I've probably thought about this more than was necessary, but that's just me. The grandeur and the beauty and the bangs are all here on display. This is the epic fantasy we've been needing to purge Game of Thrones out of our system, so STOP comparing it to Game of Thrones! Unless you've read all the books then I'll let you call Zoya Daenerys Targaryen 2.0. But that is all. There is so much they go right in this adaptation. I was so wary of Kaz, Jesper, Inej, Nina, and Matthias being brought forward in time I was shocked how well they fit in, merging the original trilogy and the first duology. This led to some wonderful "what if" scenarios like the Darkling and Kaz meeting in an alley. Kaz's exit was priceless. In fact while I feel the casting was so perfect throughout, hats off to Kit Young, he IS Jesper. I don't know if I've ever seen a book to screen adaptation get something so right. He just doesn't play the character well, he is Jesper! And as for the addition of Milo? Dear saints, I didn't know how much this series needed a goat until it happened! The only real issues I took had to do with budgetary concerns. They used beautiful Eastern European locations in Budapest, but Leigh so lovingly describes the Little Palace in detail I wish they had had the funds to actually build it, or at least the dining hall. Also sometimes the CGI was a little off, especially when Mal and Alina were hunting the stage, Mal himself looked like he was CGI right out of a video game and I was fighting some true uncanny valley issues. So in the end my analysis is, they got in pretty damn right, I just feel like I'm more in the world when I'm reading the books. Which now need a goat.
