Just look at those gorgeous red stained pages!

 


"What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was how you survived when you weren't chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway."

Crooked Kingdom is going straight to the top of my 2016 favorites list! I love how different the storylines are, all the impossible situations, the heists, the cons, the perfectly imperfect characters. Bardugo is a genius!

There are no chosen ones, no royal blood lines. Each character is flawed, battling their own personal demons. They have all done things they are ashamed of, suffer from self doubt, carry scars from the past, both internal and external, and because of all that, they are real and beautiful.

 I don't want to talk too much about the story because it is so easy to accidentally spoil this book, but I will say that Bardugo knows exactly how to rip your heart out and put it back together. That ending surprised me in many ways.

I don't know what I enjoyed more, the ending or the mentions and fun appearances of some of my favorite characters from the Grisha trilogy. I was probably far more excited than I should have been! I loved seeing old friends again and the humor was perfection. 

This 546 page monstrosity was book one of four that I am attempting to finish before Yallfest next month. I desperately do not want to leave this world knowing it was the last book in the duology, but sadly I must press on and hope that Bardugo takes us back in the not too distant future. She has said that there are still plenty of stories left to tell and I would love to read them all!

Loved It!