Every reader will always have that small cluster of favorite authors who are the equivalent of King Arthur’s Round Table. These authors supply your go-to reads, and when they release a new book, there is carnage. ABSOLUTE carnage.

Last year when Ruin and Rising, the final instalment of the Grisha trilogy, was released, I thought it would be the final time I’d venture into the rich and vibrant world of Ravka and beyond. This was a bittersweet moment for me, but I embraced it and adored it, and was happy but immensely sad that it was time to say goodbye to one of my most cherished pieces of fiction.

When an author creates such an exciting and exotic world with so many cultures and lands, you hope and pray that they’ll continue to write ANYTHING set in said world. This may or may not have been my mindset for anything do with the Grisha. So when Leigh Bardugo broke the news that Six of Crows, the first installment of a duo-logy set in the world of the Grisha was in the works, I may have been a little bit excited. Okay, VERY excited.

Six of Crows is an intense and rich whirlwind of a ride which whisks readers from the dangerous and broken streets of Ketterdam to the glistening towers of the Ice Court. As a fantasy lover, I devoured this book after a few days of slowing getting used to the world and characters. Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve visited my native land!! On a more serious note, fantasy is one of my ALL TIME favorite genres, but it’s one which can’t be rushed. If you want an awesome experience with fantasy, don’t expect to not be confused when you first start reading. A lot of high fantasy and fantasy in general is built up of places we as readers do not know, magic we don’t understand and different people we do not remember. GIVE IT A CHANCE. After a good few chapters it should be easy, and then you can get to all the bad-ass moments we all know you’ve been dying to read.

Most of the people reading Six of Crows will be veterans of the Grisha world, thanks to the grueling but necessary world building Bardugo paved brick by brick into the Grisha trilogy. Reading Six of Crows felt like coming home, but from a slightly different perspective, a different angle and co-ordinate away from Alina Starkov’s path. I loved that we were able to see more of the world outside of Ravka, especially the country of Fjerda, the Grisha equivalent of hell.

Six of Crows follows six different characters who you really wouldn’t expect to work together. Like ever. From Inej, the nimbly footed Wraith, to Matthias, a Fjerdan (former) witch hunter the size of a small house. Bardugo brings together a cast of misfits and rogues all tied together through a mission deadly enough Black Widow would probably bail. The character development throughout the book is magnificent, and although at the start many of these people want to claw each other to death, their relationships flourish and blossom throughout the book, and by the end I felt like they were on the road to becoming more of a family.

All in all, I adored this book. It was everything I wanted it to be, and I can’t wait for more.

• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
  

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