Editors Reads Verdict
Crooked Kingdom is a rare sequel that surpasses its predecessor in emotional depth and plotting ambition, delivering on every character thread established in Six of Crows while adding genuine tragedy and the most satisfying heist conclusion in recent fantasy. Bardugo's ensemble is at its finest here.
What We Loved
- Every character's arc reaches a satisfying and emotionally coherent conclusion
- The plotting operates on multiple simultaneous levels that snap into place perfectly
- Kaz and Inej's relationship is the most nuanced slow-burn romance in contemporary YA fantasy
- The emotional devastation is earned rather than gratuitous — Jesper and Wylan particularly
Minor Drawbacks
- The complexity of the cons requires careful attention that some readers find exhausting
- Nina's grief arc is somewhat compressed given its magnitude
- New readers without Six of Crows will be entirely lost
Key Takeaways
- → Trauma shapes people without defining them — the characters can change within their damage
- → The best ensemble casts give each member a wound and a competence of equal weight
- → Revenge and justice are not the same thing, and knowing the difference matters
- → Capitalism and corruption are inseparable in the world Bardugo builds
- → Restraint in a romance can be more emotionally powerful than consummation
| Author | Leigh Bardugo |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Henry Holt and Co. |
| Pages | 536 |
| Published | September 27, 2016 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Young Adult, Adventure |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers who completed Six of Crows and want resolution for Kaz, Inej, Nina, Matthias, Jesper, and Wylan; fantasy fans who prioritize character over world-building. |
The Dregs at Their Best
Crooked Kingdom is the novel that confirmed Leigh Bardugo as one of the most gifted ensemble writers in contemporary fantasy. Where Six of Crows had to build the crew from the ground up — establish each character’s wound, competence, and voice — the sequel inherits all of that groundwork and can use it without restraint.
The plot picks up immediately after the Ice Court heist, with the Dregs back in Ketterdam and thoroughly betrayed: Inej has been taken, their payment is forfeit, and Jan Van Eck has the resources of the Merchant Council behind him. Kaz’s response is not a single heist but a sustained campaign — a series of overlapping cons, each designed to trigger the next, aimed at dismantling Van Eck’s power while extracting maximum personal and financial restitution.
Kaz Brekker’s Architecture
The novel’s formal pleasure is watching Bardugo reveal what Kaz has planned in layers. Readers (and characters) think they understand what Kaz is doing, and then discover they understood a subplot. The actual plan is several levels deeper. This is the heist novel as its own subgenre operating at full capacity: the reader’s pleasure comes from the retrospective click of seeing how everything was always prepared.
What distinguishes Bardugo’s approach is that the planning never feels dishonest to the characters. Kaz is not omniscient — he adapts, occasionally fails, and the emotional consequences of his maneuvering are real. He uses people as instruments, and the novel is clear-eyed about what this costs him.
The Ensemble at Full Depth
Each of the six members of the crew receives arc completion that is consistent with their established characterization while moving them genuinely forward. Wylan’s confrontation with his father. Jesper’s reconciliation with his own history of self-destruction. Nina’s grief over what parem has cost her and what it has given her in exchange. And Matthias, whose arc ends in the most devastating way the story could have chosen — suddenly, at the moment his character transformation was most complete.
Kaz and Inej
The novel’s slow-burn emotional center — Kaz Brekker and Inej Ghafa, two people whose respective traumas make physical touch nearly impossible — is resolved with a restraint that is more affecting than any conventional romance climax. Their final scene is a conversation about futures and a daring single physical contact. Bardugo understands that what these two characters need to say to each other matters far more than anything they could do.
Our rating: 4.6/5 — A sequel that genuinely improves on an excellent first novel, delivering one of fantasy’s finest ensemble resolutions with intelligence, emotional honesty, and plotting precision.
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