Six of Crows

Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo, 2015

Premise: A mysterious drug that affects people with special abilities could change the world. Young thief and gangster Kaz Brekker takes on an impossible task to change his life and the lives of his crew.

I don't remember why this book was on my library hold list, but it had been there for a while. It's ... good, maybe? Although I was unsatisfied by the end.

Overall, the book has a brisk pace; the world is interesting. The individual characters are mostly neat. The fantasy element of people born with control over matter or weather or the human form is intriguing, if not that special. Their status as a persecuted and enslaved minority made for some uncomfortable passages, particularly around one of the core character relationships.

The book tried to explain the obvious romance growing between Nina (one of the powered people) and Matthias (a soldier trained to believe it was right to commit atrocities and genocide against said powered people), but his redemption came far too late for me. I thought there were also some other character choices that seemed based on where the characters would be at the end of the book or in the next book and not where they were right now.

The plot concerns a caper. It tried to include several unexpected reversals and twists but I thought most of the reveals were poorly handled.

But it was fine. Rather standard modern fantasy, really: grim urban fantasy world, minor LGBT characters, one badass chick and one femme fatale. I don't know. I enjoyed it fine for most of the time.

However.

It ends in a serious cliffhanger, and I just don't have the patience for those right now.

2 Stars - An Okay Book