Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo starting March 15, 2018.


The group did a BR for this book in April 2017. Here's a link:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks Niki! :) excited for this!

Siobhan wrote: "Thanks Niki! :) excited for this!"

Me too. Can't wait to see my wonderfully immoral Kaz again!

I never heard of this book until this week but after all the rave reviews I've been reading about it I kind of have to join.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I never heard of this book until this week but after all the rave reviews I've been reading about it I kind of have to join."

Yay Diana. Well this duology are two of my favourite books so I'm biased in their favour. But I'm sure if the fun plot doesn't draw you in the cast of characters sure will!!

I just googled this book. Do I need to read the Grisha trilogy before reading this one? Or will it enhance my experience if I do? Like how you don't NEED to read Warbreaker before reading Words of Radiance or Oathbringer, but... do it anyway.

Hi funnily enough we were actually just talking about this on the invite thread.

I haven't actually haven't read The Grisha trilogy either. but a lot of people who have read both agree that the Six of Crows duology is much better. I still might read the Grisha trilogy at some point but I'm much more excited to re-read Six of Crows!

But Leigh Bardugo was always clear that although they are set in the same world she wrote the duology so that they could stand on their own. Although there are apparently "easter eggs" included for those that have read the grisha trilogy.

I'm usually a big advocate of reading "connected" books in order but I didn't regret not reading the grisha trilogy first but you might feel differently.

Thanks guys. I'll def do this buddy read with you, and if I have time (HA!) I might try to squeeze Grisha in first, but if I don't aw well.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I just googled this book. Do I need to read the Grisha trilogy before reading this one? Or will it enhance my experience if I do? Like how you don't NEED to read Warbreaker before reading Words of Radiance or Oathbringer, but... do it anyway."

Taking into account that reference; yes reading Grisha does enhance the reading experience of Six of Crows, because characters and inside references pop up here and there, particularly in Crooked Kingdom. Similar to Warbreaker and Stormlight Archive.

However, I would not recommend reading The Grisha Trilogy. Bardugo puts in interesting concepts, but it's pretty clear that she's thinking more in terms of "YA market" than "writer". Six of Crows has explorations of interesting and conflicted characters. Shadow and Bone has a love triangle with confused teenage feelings that forms a large part of the books and it gets dragged on. And on. And on. I did not find the experience enjoyable.

And yeah, everything relevant is explained in Six of Crows. The setting is also entirely different, as are the themes ans scope. The Grisha Trilogy is "the world is in danger, ancient enemies" etc. Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom is more "fuck people, steal stuff", and the romance (THANKFULLY) takes a backseat to the plot.

Sha wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I just googled this book. Do I need to read the Grisha trilogy before reading this one? Or will it enhance my experience if I do? Like how you don't NEED to read Warbreak..."

Thanks for that. Seeing as I loathe love triangles, I'll probably skip that one.

Urgh I didn't know there was a love triangle. @Diana I also despise love triangles so that's that trilogy struck from the tbr!

Thanks for the heads up Sha.

I have recently finished the Grisha trilogy so that I could read this without spoilers. It was very tropey and the love triangle and brooding male characters drug on and on. I am glad that I read it in anticipation for King of Scars though because of all the Nickolai scenes and background! Will hopefully be able to buddy this with you guys!

I'm in. I've had this on my kindle for about a year now. Really need to read it :)

I think i may hit this while im in Jamaica on vacay!

Jess wrote: "I think i may hit this while im in Jamaica on vacay!"

I think Six of Crows is the perfect book to read bbc on vacation. Have a great time in Jamaica!!

I wonder how Inej is pronounced.

I say it like “E-nej” (soft J).

Jess wrote: "I wonder how Inej is pronounced.

I say it like “E-nej” (soft J)."

That is how I pronounced it when I first read it.

Can't remember if this is right or not but I seem to remember there was a pronunciation guide in Crooked Kingdom. I'll look up my copy when I get home from work.

Sharene wrote: "I would love to join and discuss but I have already finished this book just last month.. didn’t know there would have been a buddy read the next month .. but I would love to love join in with the c..."

Feel free, and even if you aren't reading along you can still join in with the discussions. This is a re-read for me so I'll be able to read spoilers for any part of the book :-).

We haven't committed to the date for CK yet but when Siobhan and I were organising this buddy read we mentioned a tentative date for CK as 15th April depending on if people were interested/had the time to continue.

I kind of want to do a reread...Don't think I have time though.

Jess wrote: "I wonder how Inej is pronounced.

I say it like “E-nej” (soft J)."

Photo of one page from the cast of character guide at the back of my copy of Crooked Kingdom:

 

Plus the authors tumbler post of her pronouncing the first names of the six main characters on camera:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/lbardugo...

I think I'm going to start this tomorrow. Both the books I am reading at the moment are more like a chapter or two a day kinds of books so I want to start something that I can read as much in a day as I want to.

I am going to join in and I will start early (mostly because I am trying to fit other reads on March 15!).
I am ready to go!

I started a little early. Started this morning and am already 25% in. So far I'm enjoying it. It kind of reminds me a bit of Gentleman Bastards, but not really.

Ok, I'm about 40% in. It started off a little tentative for me. I liked it but wasn't stunned. Now I'm hooked. I'm really enjoying it. I'm a big fan of good characters and I love the characters.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Ok, I'm about 40% in. It started off a little tentative for me. I liked it but wasn't stunned. Now I'm hooked. I'm really enjoying it. I'm a big fan of good characters and I love the characters."

I feel like I went through something similar. I am 55% in right now but I am being bored again by some characters.
I think the story is okay - nothing too innovative here - and some characters offer something interesting (namely Kaz and Inej). That’s it for me so far.
I think this book also got unluckily between great fantasy books so the test it is going through it is harsher than usual.

Aristea wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Ok, I'm about 40% in. It started off a little tentative for me. I liked it but wasn't stunned. Now I'm hooked. I'm really enjoying it. I'm a big fan of good characters an..."

It's all about expectations. I know this has great reviews, but I've been so unlucky with buddy reads that I had low expectations going into this one. It's not like my favoritest book ever, but I am enjoying it. About 50% in now.

I'll be making a start tomorrow guys! Looking forward to it. XD

Listening to this on audio. One issue I'm having is that there's like 6 narrators, one for each main character. Which at first I thought was cool, but there's a problem. It's not a graphic audio, so it's not like the person voices that character throughout the book. Each chapter is a diff POV and there's only 1 narrator per POV. So say Narrator A does Nina, B does Inej, C does Jesper. But Kaz is in each of these chapters. There's a new Kaz voice for each chapter. It's a little confusing.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Listening to this on audio. One issue I'm having is that there's like 6 narrators, one for each main character. Which at first I thought was cool, but there's a problem. It's not a graphic audio, s..."

Although I don't really get on with audiobooks anyway, that does sound particularly confusing!

Im 32% in, and Im not really (view spoiler)[ buying this Nina-Matthias thing. I like Nina’s chs, so I think that I mostly cant see the love-hate line between them yet. Maybe it gets better! (hide spoiler)]

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I started a little early. Started this morning and am already 25% in. So far I'm enjoying it. It kind of reminds me a bit of Gentleman Bastards, but not really."

I know what you mean, except for me it was the other way around. I read The Lies of Locke Lamora and it reminded me of Six of Crows. In fact I think me mentioning this in the Lies of Locke Lamora thread is how this buddy read came about lol

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "It's all about expectations. I know this has great reviews, but I've been so unlucky with buddy reads that I had low expectations going into this one. It's not like my favoritest book ever, but I am enjoying it. About 50% in now. "

I agree actually, but I had a bit of a stronger reaction to it. I read this in 2016 because I gave into the hype because everybody and their dog were reading it. But I went into it not expecting it to live up to the hype but ended up falling in love with it and it is now one of my favourite books, and definitely my favourite YA. Mainly because of the characters of Kaz and Inej I have to admit.

Jess wrote: "Im 32% in, and Im not really [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[It definitely gets better in my opinion, I can understand where you are coming from but throughout the duology you get a lot more of their backstory. (hide spoiler)]

Malak wrote: "I'm at page 89 already, but I'd love to join this group. I like it more than I thought I would ! =)
I've always liked anti-heroes heroes , so far I'm liking Kaz a lot."

You are very welcome to join, and yes Kaz is wonderful!!!!!!!!! ;-)

I'm all set to start this tonight! Can't wait to get home from work :)

Finished. I really liked it.

Gah!!!!! I want to re read this duology!! I give up. There isn't enough time in the world. Lol

I didn't get very far last night, only 3 chapters in. I'm intrigued. Seems like this might be a type of mission impossible.

It starts off interesting enough. And it continues so far (36% in). The team dynamics is great so far.

YA classic
(view spoiler)[I don't read that much YA, but it always annoys me that teens are smarter and wiser than everybody else. And that they almost always have mannerisms and experience as 30+ year olds. (hide spoiler)]

Oomen
(view spoiler)[I really don't like the graphic image of a 17 year old kid carving an eye out like a pro. Also he probably survives so Inej can kill him herself. (hide spoiler)]

At 42%, it started hooking me.

(view spoiler)[ The fight between the Grisha Squallor and Boy was pretty awesome. I hope there is more of that. Im also enjoying Kaz’s back story of him and Jordie and also finally seeing merit in some of the Mattias/Nina drama. (hide spoiler)]

Lundos wrote: YA classic

EDIT: 69% in.
Well, those kids had a really terrible upbringing. No wonder they are all so messed up.

It does make the heist more interesting. (view spoiler)[Will they betray each other? (hide spoiler)]

Lundos wrote: "It starts off interesting enough. And it continues so far (36% in). The team dynamics is great so far.

YA classic
[spoilers removed]"

I agree that it isn't (view spoiler)[ realistic, but I think I do prefer reading about younger characters like that rather than naïve and unworldly teenagers that just annoy me (both in books and real life) so I think I'd rather read about unrealistic teenage badasses instead (hide spoiler)]

Hailee wrote: "I agree that it isn't [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I hear you. I also prefer to read about badass characters instead of naive and unworldly fools. However, isn't there a middle ground? I know that when you only do two books you have to neglect character development (at least a little bit), but when you deal with 15-17 year olds most teenagers tend to develop a lot in those years. Why not make them 22 or 25?
I guess it's just my pet peeve with YA in general. (hide spoiler)]

Lundos wrote: "It starts off interesting enough. And it continues so far (36% in). The team dynamics is great so far.

YA classic
[spoilers removed]

Oomen
[spoilers removed]"

On regards to the YA-ness of it, I also notice how the characters never seen to grasp that what they are feeling is love. When I was a teenager, I was falling in and out of “love” constantly, so Im having a tough time with them wondering what their feelings are.

Malak wrote: "I agree, I get a bit uneasy every time their age is mentioned, but I try to ignore it.

However, life circumstances force some people to grow up faster than others, so it might not be as far fetch..."

Then again it's fantasy. We should allow for a little imagination, though, I still think experience beats talent most of the time.

Finshed. It was just about as expected.

(view spoiler)[A few easy to see twist and turns and a good setup for the next one. (hide spoiler)]

I will read the next one for sure.

EDIT: When is the next BR set for?

Ooooh this was one of the best series i read last year, trust me people keep reading it gets better and better, and you'll love the 2nd book even more, not to mention you'll fall hard for Kaz Brekker <3

Lundos wrote: "Finshed. It was just about as expected.

[spoilers removed]

I will read the next one for sure.

EDIT: When is the next BR set for?"

When we organised the buddy read a tentative date of 15th April was mentioned but if the people who are planning to read book 2 (including me) want to read it sooner than that then that is completely fine. We haven't asked for a thread for it yet.

Does anyone have a date they prefer over 15th April? Preferably not before the 23rd March if possible.

Malak wrote: "I agree, I get a bit uneasy every time their age is mentioned, but I try to ignore it.

However, life circumstances force some people to grow up faster than others, so it might not be as far fetch..."

That is true. I watched a program about child carers a few years ago and the way some of these 8 - 15 year olds were talking you could mistake them for adult in there 30's. It all depends on the childhood you have and the responsibilities you've had to face I suppose.