ignite the books discussion

This month's book is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (by a hilarious huge margin im crying). It's currently available on kindle and in bookstores but probably not libraries because it was released like four days ago GODSPEED.

This post is for the all purpose discussion of Six of Crows. You can post thoughts as you go, or save it all up for one big review. You are not required to like the book - feel free to say you loved it, hated it, everything in between. Be as general or weirdly specific as you like.

Obviously, this post will have spoilers, so if you prefer to go into books blind, don't read past this post until you're done! Otherwise, venture forth and nerd out.

Just a brief note before we get into it - I wanted to reiterate that you're definitely not required to like the book! And also that you can read it even if you have not read the Grisha trilogy - it works very well as a stand alone book. It won't spoil the first series for you if you want to read it, and doesn't rely on it if you have no cares.

I blazed through it on the day it came out and came away with a glow but I'm rereading now more slowly, so I can actually talk about it in-depth. :B

Solid plan tbh, I need to do the same thing.

Like i'm clearly in love with this book, but there were a couple parts where i thought it fell down, or at least could have been stronger too. just gotta think about how i want to word things

CAN I SAY IM SUPER GLAD ZOYA WAS THE CAMEO THOUGH? i thought it was going to be Nikolai for some reason, and while that also would have been lovely, i'm super here for Zoya being a crossover point between these two series

i'm just going to bullet point this sucker:
short story: loved it, duh.

-i loved kaz and inej way, way more than i expected to. i feel like they are both super unique characters for bardugo, and that she went outside of her personality type comfort zone and was super successful at it. i was fully prepared to hate the shit out of kaz, but i loved him because he was less arrogant genius/sherlock holmesy and more Holy Shit He's Just That Ruthless

-in general this book was a lot darker than i anticipated, but i think it worked well (kaz using his brother as a raft wtf wtf)

-the heist itself was a little meh for me. it's one of those plots that i think is incredibly difficult to pull off without visuals. while there were parts that i really enjoyed, i was more interested in the character arcs than the plot

-jesper and wylan i think have a ton of potential, but i didn't really connect to either of them so i'm hoping they get more focus in part two. i'm especially interested in jesper because i want more of the grisha who is not here for grishaing

-that ending was perfect

-inej not indulging in manpain was perfect

-inej was perfect, hands down my favorite character of them all (HER KNIVES)

-i love that ravka/the events of the grisha trilogy were still present but also not in the foreground. there was Just Enough to give me Sad Feelings (inej's knife, the banner, the pyres, zoya!!!!)

i'll probably have more later. im like y'all in that i pretty much inhaled it the first go

Like everyone else I think I'm going to have to digest before I review. But as a sort of Pre-review I'm going to say that I'm making pepper cookies because of this book...(though not in the shape of wolf's heads because I'm not that good a baker)

(Also shouldn't this be in 'book of the month' not 'general'?)

(YES it should be i have no idea how that happened)

My rambling thoughts, as typed without my glasses because prescription has changed again.

- Like in the case of The Darkling, I wasn't expecting Kaz to be so magnetic. He's like the love child of Nate from Leverage and some demonic, criminal mastermind.
- INEJ! Okay, she was a great connection to Rakva, and her knives!!!! Her entire characterization blew me away, and I would love to read some short stories about her being the Wraith.
- Nina and Matthias. I wasn't expecting to like their romance, but then they were all 'yeah, we should probably kill the McGuffin'. Nina and Zoya's interactions were wonderful, and I can't wait for the Squallor to maybe meet Matthias, too. Hello, awkwardness.
- I agree with Leah about not forming much of a connection with Jesper and Wylan. The twists, though, were A+. I hope we get to see more of their POVs in the next book. I would really like to see how Wylan's dealing with everything after the ending of the first book. I mean, he looks nothing like himself and he knows for certain how much of a bastard his dad is. This calls for a lot of angst.
- Kaz had to bodysuft his brother's corpse. I just.
- That whole chapter with Inej climbing the inside the the incinerator has to be one of my favorite parts. I love how she's very, idk, introspective? In terms of TV/movies when it comes to flashbacks, hers would be the most visual appealing to me. And heartbreaking.
- That ending killed me.
- HOW DARE YOU, BARDUGO.

So I think I'm coherent enough about this book to talk about it now. The cookies definitely helped. xD

So yeah, this book was pretty much amazing.

Rachel I'm so glad I'm not the only one who had some Leverage thoughts, because I totally did, especially at certain points in the book get some pretty strong vibes, if with a lot more killing. Not a bad thing mind you, because I love the shit out of Leverage, it was just interesting. Now there's a crossover for you

Unlike everyone else I actually really felt/connected with Jesper (though yes, Wylan needs a bit more I think); his addiction to gambling really struck me, but his sort of madcap air is what really drew me in.

I kind of love Nina (and Inej too, well everyone really), though I didn't realize she was that Nina until she mentioned Zoya. But I love that she's kind of broken, and doesn't really attempt to fix herself.

And actually I think that's going to be a sort of theme in the series? That the whole crew is broken in some fashion but their circumstances demand that they stay broken (or even become more broken) or risk dying. That sometimes, no matter how much you want to, you can't fix yourself.

Which is pretty much Kaz, LBH. (whom I also love, you unmitigated bastard you.)

And I definitely love all the Grisha trilogy smatterings, little nuggets of deliciousness that made the book so much better.

I also love that we got to see a lot more of this world. In the original trilogy we only got hints. But SoC was a lot more expansive than I expected it to be and had such a flush of references to the rest of the world's cultures that I want books in all the other countries now. Can that just be the Dregs' thing? Travel to other countries, perform daring heist, escape back to Ketterdam?

And yeah, that ending.

It's gonna get a lot darker in here before it gets any lighter I'll bet.

I loved the book a lot SO MUCH but I didn't feel as emotionally connected as I did with the Grisha trilogy. Idk if that's because it's a new set of characters or because it slipped into third person instead of first. But I'm really excited to see where the sequel is going to go and if there will be any cameos from the old crew since Kaz is trying to get in touch with the Ravkans.

THAT SAID:

- Nina and Inej were absolute perfection. Inej easily could have been a silent stoic character whose personality was really only doing Kaz's bidding, but I thought she shined. She had dreams and fears and humor. But I mean, it is Bardugo. She's good at this.

- Matthias and Nina OTP holla

- I kind of agree about Jesper and Wylan and kind of don't. There really wasn't any time devoted to Wylan and only a little more for Jesper, but I also felt a connection to him. Not as strong as the others but I'm hoping that will be rectified in the next book.

- On that same thread, I really hope she does do more with Jesper and Wylan because while I appreciate the queer characters here and in Grisha, mentioning gay characters and then not actually doing anything with them isn't exactly representation. Like I know that Nadia and Tamar were side characters and the first series was in Alina's pov, but I really hope she will devote more attention to Jesper and Wylan.

- dead brother rafting is not on my to-do list ever :(

I really loved Jesper and Wylan, so I wanted lots more of them too. I was also concerned/confused that Wylan didn't have any viewpoint chapters? PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD IN THE NEXT BOOK, LITTLE RICH BOY DARLING.

Ok, so THIS BOOK. I loved it. I have such a book hangover. There is no cure.

I may or may not have a huge crush on Kaz, and I don't know how I feel about that. Can I just say 'eyeball scene'. Because, eyeball scene. I mean, he's a bastard..but a beautiful one.

Inej is my beautiful killer baby and I just want to hug her. I agree with Leah, her not indulging in manpain was awesome, I just felt my heart break a little. Her character could easily have been a background love interest, but she stands on her own and I love it.

Matthias. I had my doubts about you, son. You go, you.

Nina, I understand why you did the thing BUT WHY DID YOU DO THE THING?

And Jesper...sigh. *winces* you might be my second favorite. Totally wasn't expecting his reveal. Usually I expect these things. Was I not paying attention? Was I you caught up in the beautiful bastard above? I get the sense that great things are going to come from you, sir. In the meantime, keep flirting with Wylan. It gives me life.

Wylan should be protected at all costs. Jesper will probably be more than happy to do this. Had anybody else had the dyslexic thought? Just wondering. I agree with Diana, though. Why no Wylan POV? Don't die, don't die, don't die.

I just finished, so this is mostly me rambling. Bardugo might be otherworldly with these skills, man. She's set up for an amazing sequel. Personally, I can't wait for the crows to bring hell to Van Eck's front door.

- I think we're lacking the Wylan POV in part because of his function in the plot - if we'd had his POV, it would have been impossible to avoid knowing that his father is a gigantic douche. I'm looking forward to his getting a POV in the next book though. I didn't especially connect with him this time around, but I feel like I could, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to see more of him.

- I'm also really glad that it wasn't a case of his father kicking him out/being ashamed of him because he's into boys. I'm super tired of that plotline, so I'm glad it was completely avoided.

- I started off liking Jesper a lot, especially with the hint of bitterness towards Kaz, but I found that it sort of...fell flat a bit as the book went on? And I'm not even sure it's a problem with Jesper's POV. I think it's more to do with the fact that Jesper's feelings and issues regarding Kaz are not reflected in Kaz's POV at all. I can see Jesper being Kaz's second (or third) in his POV, but from Kaz's POV it's all Inej all the time. WHICH is fine by me, but it renders some of Jesper's motivations/POV hollow, & also Kaz's actions at the end when he gets his petty revenge. That whole thing didn't really gel for me.

- I still like Jesper a lot though and I'm super eager to see him develop with regards to his Grisha abilities. Like he clearly had his perspective blown open a lot, and his unsettled thoughts about why he's okay with putting his life in danger as a thief but not as a Grisha were super fascinating to me (i'm pretty sure it's because being a criminal is something he chose, whereas being Grisha is a part of him that he cannot escape. All the talking and shooting in the world can't get him out of trouble if the wrong person discovers his power, and it also makes him vulnerable to parem)

Zoya. Cameo. I actually thought the cameo was going to be Nikolai (and spent a lot of the ball scene wondering if he was going to show up in disguise), but honestly ZOYA CAMEO WAY BETTER. Bardugo has such a talent for conveying rich detail about characters is small scenes, and I love that we got so much detail about who and what Zoya is these days through the way Nina thinks about her, and even Matthias. Zoya Nazyalensky as the monster Fjerdans tell their druskelle about is everything I ever could have wanted. And I love that she's over-protective of her Grisha in the most Zoya way ever. Just. Zoya Zoya Zoya.

- Nina was perfection. I'm so worried about Nina, because. I mean. Genya. And I want to think that Nina will recover because punishing the pretty girl narratively is a thing that should really only be pulled off once, and even though I hate the trope, she went hard & deep with Genya and did it in the best way it could have been done. So following that story up with another pretty clever soldier having her body ruined would be heartbreaking to me. LIKE I LOVED THE SCENE I love that she could have ruined them all and only made him bald in the end, I love that she held onto her humanity even though she could have wrecked the world. I am so here for girls being stronger than baser urges even as they surrender to them.

- I am hoping that once she purges the parem, she'll remember the power that she held and be stronger/more creative with her abilities for it, rather than weaker.

- The eyeball scene wrecked me. That was the moment that Barudo sold Kaz Brekker for me. I was not really on board until he CASUALLYU AND CALMLY PULLED OUT A MAN'S EYEBALL WHAT THE FUCK she's so good at surprising horror

- The prose in general, just fuck me up

- The callbacks to the Grisha trilogy. They were slipped in in ways that struck me where I wasn't expecting it. Inej's slender, bone handled knife & the Grisha banner were the best/worst parts for me. Like obviously the Grisha trilogy has stuck with me ever since I first read it, but those were both moments where i was like, okay i think my life has actually been changed in some way by these books. Definitely my creative life.

- I'm kind of bugged that Kaz keeps having to rescue Inej. Like the set up for the sequel is great and I'm so jazzed, but I hope it involved more of Inej orchestrating her own damn escape and Kaz & the rest causing the chaos that covers it.

- Like a couple of others have said here, I love so much that Inej is just straight up not here for his man pain. She knows who she is and what she wants and she won't settle for less. I want her to just go off and kill slavers and come back a few years in the future for a booty call when Kaz has dealt with his shit

- Matthias and Nina struck a good balance for me. I think it's a really difficult task to take a dude with a shitty ideology and make him sympathetic without being all 'poor baby tragic backstory'. Matthias has a tragic backstory yeah, but that explains him, it doesn't excuse him. It probably helps that he was only a druskelle in training rather than a hardcore witchhunter. Basically I'm glad that Bardugo covered their different stances thoroughly, giving some weight to Matthias' point of view, but also not claiming that both sides were equal? Matthias had his reasons, and they are understandable reasons, and we're given the chance to see that. But at the end of the day his way off life was still fucked up, and the narrative agrees with that and forces him to see that in no uncertain terms.

- i'm still dead this book killed me

Hannah wrote: "- I think we're lacking the Wylan POV in part because of his function in the plot - if we'd had his POV, it would have been impossible to avoid knowing that his father is a gigantic douche. I'm loo..."

oh that was much longer than i thought LMAO whoops

Jesper being Grisha but avoiding it/not developing it/hiding it is SUPER INTRIGUING to me. The tentative thoughts he has about going to Ravka with Nina were really poignant.

Really this book just made me very interested in the Grisha on a global scale, country to country.

Diana wrote: "Jesper being Grisha but avoiding it/not developing it/hiding it is SUPER INTRIGUING to me. The tentative thoughts he has about going to Ravka with Nina were really poignant.

Really this book just ..."

oh man so much this. like the amount of Grisha feelings I got from this book is just absurd, and I especially want to see more of how Jesper deals.

It feels sort of like...he decided life was just straight up easier if he wasn't Grisha? So he's content to ignore it/not think about it too hard.

And then at first he sees the pyres and Nina's reaction to it, and Nina is someone whose identity as Grisha is her everything so i love the contrast between the two characters there. And then he's confronted with the banner and this abject hatred of something he can't control and he's faced with the uncomfortable knowledge that being Grisha is a part of his identity whether he wants to acknowledge that or not.

It's all so new to him, but in a way it wasn't for say, Alina. Because for Alina, Grisha were strange, but being one wasn't something to be feared, and it wasn't a dangerous option for someone in Ravka in the same way. Grisha are feared and respected there, as opposed to feared and reviled in the same way as outside Ravka. It's new and terrifying for Jesper in a whole different way, and I'm eager to see where she goes with it.

Is there no mention of Kaz's mother? Does anyone think that could be significant or am I just being picky?

Alyana wrote: "Is there no mention of Kaz's mother? Does anyone think that could be significant or am I just being picky?"

I just listened to the book on audio, and there wasn't a mention of her. I'm definitely hoping that it's significant in some way. I really hate the 'absent dead mother' trope, but Bardugo's usually excellent with her ladies? So i am hoping that excellence will continue towards having his mom show up rather than there being no mention of her at all as the series progresses.

ALSO - i'm super curious to know if there are people who are reading Six of Crows without having read the Grisha trilogy, and what you think of it from that perspective.

ok so here’s some of my thoughts on SoC:

-Kaz is literally my second ultimate fave character. I could write a whole paragraph on how awesome he is. I was telling my friend all about his character a few days ago and she said “he sounds terrible!” and I said “I know that’s why he’s so great! If I were a gangster I’d be a Kaz Brekker type” and then she proceeded to tell me that I’m also pretty terrible (lol). I’m just so impressed that he can actually get stuff done. Also, he basically gives no fucks at all. Well, he cares about money and low-key cares about Inej (which becomes very high-key towards the end). My favorite scene in the entire book was when he gouged Oomen’s eye out. That was amazing and if I was there in that scene I probably would have been laughing my ass off (terrible person remember?). I mean that guy was a dead man after he stabbed Inej, and we all knew it. Kaz in general is just a guy you can’t fuck with and that makes me admire him all the more.

-INEJ oh my gosh this girl right here. She’s literally only sixteen. All the shit she’s been through holy hell. And she’s a woc (whoop whoop!) which I appreciated a hecka lot. I snorted when she named one of her knives after Alina, because I never saw Alina as a person who could even wield a knife much less be named after one. Also, this girl is literally not here for any of Kaz’s shit. She’s all “Sort yourself out, Kaz, or nope.” and I can respect that. After all she’s been through, girl deserves to have and uphold her standards. I really hope after the dust settles she becomes a slave trader hunter-pirate like she wants. That’d be straight up badass.

-Also, all the characters in this book were all hella underage. Imagining they were all older or at 20 made the book a bit easier to digest to be honest.

-Ninaaaa. This gurl. Every single time she made a dirty joke, it just made me go “Whelp, there goes Nina again.” (“I can feel just how much you hate sleeping next to me. I feel it every morning.” Classic Nina amiright?) Her relationship with Matthias was half the comic relief for me in this book. Also, hat’s off to curvy women. You go

-Jesper + Wylan was the other half of the comic relief for me. I mean, every time they spoke to each other I was like “Um, is this a thing???” all up till their “Just girls?” “No. Not just girls.” conversation. Ahhhhh, I can’t wait to see their relationship in the sequel

-Matthias was just straight up hilarious to read. His inner dialogue was basically “Nina and her curves, Nina and her laugh, Nina and her dirty jokes” to “I want to kill her”. There was no in between. His “betrayal” in the Ice Court kinda threw me off for a second because I thought they had reached some sort of middle ground when they had agreed to kill Bo Yul-Bayur. But then he decided once and for all to give in to Nina’s wiles and I was content.

-So I basically called most of the plot twists in the book. Kaz’s gloves signaled to me that he either hated germs or hated touching people. And I was right. I was wondering what he felt toward Inej all up until his “You, Inej. You” inner dialogue. Then I was all, “No Kaz! Now something's gonna happen to Inej”. Then the ending. I didn’t see Nina’s accusation actually being her attempt to save Matthias though. That was the only thing that surprised me.

-Also, this book has inspired me to attempt to learn some sleight of hand tricks. And how to pick locks and pick pocket.

-Also,
Van Eck: “Six months ago, a DeKappel oil worth nearly one hundred thousand kruge disappeared from my home.”
Kaz, later: “Move the DeKappel we lifted from Van Eck’s house to the vault.”
This guy.
And another thing: “And for another hundred thousand I’ll throw in an original DeKappel.”
This. Guy.

-One last thing: “When I come for Van Eck, I won’t just take what’s mine. I’ll carve his life hollow. I’ll burn his name from the ledger. There will be nothing left.”
You don’t steal from Kaz. And you definitely don’t steal his money. And you most definitely don’t hurt his girl. Van Eck is so fucked.

I can’t wait for next year. I want the sequel. Wake me up when September ends.

Hannah wrote: "ALSO - i'm super curious to know if there are people who are reading Six of Crows without having read the Grisha trilogy, and what you think of it from that perspective."

I didn't finish the Grisha Trilogy, but I still enjoyed the hell out of this book.

I also noticed something between Inej and Kaz. So after the pseudo-ship blows up, Inej gets stabbed and Kaz finds her and then this happens:

“I can help you,” she said now.

“Help me with what?”

She couldn’t remember.

I think this is supposed to be a hint that Inej is going to be what gets Kaz past his trauma/PTSD. I’ve seen some people wonder whether Kaz will have a “redemption” arc in the sequel, and I think answer is probably no. I feel like Kaz likes being a thief (I mean absolutely loves it) and I don’t think he’s gonna give it up after he gets revenge on Pekka Rollins. I think it’ll end up that Inej becomes a slave trader hunter and Kaz stays in Kerch and becomes King of the Barrel or whatever and Inej comes to visit often/they keep a romantic relationship.

Or Kaz and Inej both become slave trader hunters. Which is fine I guess but it doesn’t fit Kaz’s character at all….

Or Inej stays with Kaz in Kerch…….which would negate her entire character……

So I think the best Kaz can do (and will most likely do in my opinion) is get rid of the gloves at some point in the sequel. This quote is more evidence:

“He needed to tell her...what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn’t pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her.”

And then later he disappoints Inej on the way back to Kerch. I know, but that amount of serious trauma is not gonna go away in a few hours. But he’s definitely gonna try, and that’s what matters to me.

And I’m not finished. So Inej remembers this piece of advice from her father:

“But some day you’ll meet a boy who will learn your favourite flower, your favourite song, your favourite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won’t matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.”

Kaz is not the type of person to give flowers or chocolates (gag), but there is one thing he does that no one else that knows Inej can do. And that’s notice her. Once Kaz had seen Inej at the Menagerie, Inej had never been able to sneak up on him since. I think this is the “know you as no one else does” in the above.

Or I could be terribly wrong. Who knows. Thoughts?

Alyana wrote: "Kaz is not the type of person to give flowers or chocolates (gag), but there is one thing he does that no one else that knows Inej can do. And that’s notice her. Once Kaz had seen Inej at the Menagerie, Inej had never been able to sneak up on him since. I think this is the “know you as no one else does” in the above.

Or I could be terribly wrong. Who knows. Thoughts?"

I think that's a really interesting point. The Inej who sneaks up on people is the Suli girl of the Menagerie, and the Wraith of the Dregs. That isn't who she really wants to be. The Inej of before all of that WAS seen - she was an acrobat performing in front of audiences. Even though she's likewise not sure at all that she can go back to how things once were after all she's been through, I still think it's a very interesting juxtaposition. Kaz 'sees' her in a situation where her trademark is that people don't.

On the other hand, he has some other perceptions he needs to get straight about Inej.

On another note, what ends up happening with Kaz and Inej is I think what I'm most nervous about in the sequel. It hits on something really personal for me and as much as I like seeing characters I like have happy endings (happy endings as I see them at least;)), in this case, I so hope Kaz doesn't just "get over it". Because when you have PTSD/OCD/phobias from deep-seated childhood trauma....you don't just "get over it". The moments where he struggled with that were the ones I most empathized with. I thought he was a fascinating character in general, but that aspect was what made me go 'oh shit' and fret a bit about how it would be handled.

I really like Inej too; she is an excellent, strong, evocative character, with her own struggles to get past. I hope she has her happy ending. But I also hope we don't wind up with Kaz flinging off his gloves and being fine with everything after all these years, just because of another person, if it happens too quickly. And all of the Grisha books have moved really fast so far, all things considered (seriously, I've been constructing a timeline...I know).

I think what would be ideal - again, to me - is that at the end of Empire of Crows, we see them on the start to a journey that still has a ways to go. That way there's hope and so forth, but not the gut punch it would be if he just woke up fine one day.

Sorry, I've been on a simmer lately about unrealistic handling of emotional trauma in the main characters in YA novels^^; It hits too close to home.

*

In other news - what a lovely looking book! The design was truly gorgeous. I prefer third person POV, so that was also great. Funnily enough, I feel like you get more of a picture of someone from third person than you do from first, in some ways.

I agree with those that said it was hard to get into Jesper's POV as much. Hopefully that changes in the next book. Nevertheless, his character was really interesting from what we did see. And he and Wylan were quite cute!

Nina was just awesome. I love that she was fun-loving and (mostly - there were understandable exceptions!) cheerful. Some people manage that in the face of hardtimes, but we don't see them so often in fiction. The jurda parem scene...man.

I was really torn about Matthias until later on in the book. Glad he turned over his new leaf, as the druskelle were the most loathsome things in the book. I didn't want him sticking with them.

So who figures that comment near the end about getting a message to Ravka is to notify the Ravkans about parem in order to stir some stuff up? Or, knowing Kaz, make an offer to them to pay out the nose (and perhaps not just in money) to keep Kuwei out of the hands of others? He's in the mode of looking for leverage for helping get Inej back.

Random, but I thought the Komedie Brute was a great cultural detail and loved how it kept showing up throughout the story.

Re Kaz's mother: I spent the time between Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising theorizing just WHO Nikolai's father could be and WHAT IT COULD MEAN and HOW MYSTERIOUS AND SIGNIFICANT it must be and then was totally wrong, so hopefully Kaz's mother does actually have some significance.

Dreams At Dusk wrote: "I really like Inej too; she is an excellent, strong, evocative character, with her own struggles to get past. I hope she has her happy ending. But I also hope we don't wind up with Kaz flinging off his gloves and being fine with everything after all these years, just because of another person, if it happens too quickly."


I completely agree. When I posted about Kaz and Inej earlier, I meant that he'd start to heal from his trauma. What I had in mind was definitely not this - Kaz: "Oh Inej, treasure of my heart, light of my life, my love for you has cured me! It's a miracle!" *flings off gloves and rides off into the sunset*

I mean that's hilarious, but if this or something similar was cannon I'd be pissed off. I 100% agree in that his recovery needs to be realistic, that it doesn't just go away. I mean, even if he does recovery I don't think it'll ever be 100%.

What I probably didn't get across earlier is that if Kaz starts to heal from his PTSD because of Inej, then he'll start with taking off his gloves for Inej first. By that I mean he'll be alright with touching Inej and Inej touching him. I think he's already started on this path before he even fully realized he had feelings for Inej:

"It was his hands that drew her attention as he shucked off his leather gloves and dipped a cloth in the wash basin. He only ever removed them in these chambers, and as far as she knew, only in front of her."

And also this:

"He thought of Inej's hand on his cheek. His mind had gone jagged at the sensation, a riot of confusion. It had been a terror and disgust and - in all of that clamour - desire, a wish that lingered still, the hope that she would touch him again."

So I think in the sequel he'll take the next step and consciously try to be ok with touching Inej. And I'm also pretty sure it'll stop there. I can see Kaz being ok with Inej, but anyone else would be kind of a stretch.