 So, I just want to know if the hype is justified or not. Six of Crows and Cookingdom are I think like the most hyped geology on BookTube, on the book internet. Hahaha! He's like, the hype is justified! And I want to know, are they overhyped or is the hype justified? Like, is it legit, that good? So I'm gonna be putting them to the test and I'm gonna be reading them in this reading vlog and sharing all of my thoughts with you and then we'll come to a conclusion together over whether or not they're overhyped. This video is going to be non-spoilery so don't worry if you haven't read them yet and you want to know the answer yourself. I will do my best to give you a solid answer but there won't be any spoilers so you don't need to worry about that. So if you don't know this series is about like a gang of thieves and criminals led by Kaz Brecker and they're planning like this major heist I believe that's what I really know it's set in the Grisha verse I have read the entire Shadow and Bone trilogy um I didn't wasn't really a fan wasn't really a fan what's gonna happen gonna shoot me I doubt it you have to catch me first I'm like a wippet I think I gave them like three two point five two or maybe even a harsher than that I don't think it was I think it was three two point five two in terms of my rating of the series but I also read Night House by Lee Bardugo and I gave that five stars and it's one of my favorite books of all time so this could go either way this could go either way I can't predict it but with the Netflix show for Shadow and Bone which the Crows also feature in I've just decided it's time to stop taking this video off and to finally read the series and to decide whether they are worth the hype or not I'm hoping for good things I'm hoping for good things so I'm gonna go start six of Crows and I'll check in with you when I'm a little bit of the way through I feel like today the future starts so it's a good day I'm excited so initial thoughts it's really good isn't it it's really good it's really good it's like so good why why have I waited this long to read it firstly carrying it carrying it on her shoulders I am obsessed with her she's a businesswoman a TV star a host a producer an actress a philanthropist she's one of the most influential popular wealthy women in the world also Nina but mostly the women the women are in control here the women who have has my heart in nage like when it's described basically don't know nage is really good at being silent and like sneaking around like a spy but she's also really good with her knives and when it's described like how she's like I fall in love a bit like I'm a little bit obsessed with her in a way that I don't usually get obsessed with characters like I don't usually get connected to characters but like a nage I love her I love her I love her so if you don't know which I'm sure everyone knows but to sum it up quickly Kaz Brecker has united this kind of like motley crew to break into this prison I guess yeah high security prison for a lot of money because this guy is being held captive there who has created this potentially very dangerous drug to people with Grisha powers so they've been hired to do this and like it's just incredible like I can't I can't emphasize true enough how much I'm enjoying it yeah I what I have to say is an edge that's all I have to say I'm obsessed it's really well written it is ninth house level of writing already not shadow and bone level of writing it's night and day night and day I feel like oh she just does something with like how the story moves I it's something I can't put into words and it it's only done very occasionally and it's only done where a book is five stars but like some authors just know how to make the words flow I have a very particular thing about how the words flow how everything comes together and some people just can't do it I think it's a name I don't think it's something that can be learned at Leigh Bardugo has it she has it she has it I'm only a third of the way in by the way I realize I haven't said that I'm a third of the way in I don't really want to be sitting here talking to you I just want to be reading it and in edge she is exquisite I love her I love her and I love her even more yeah I really love the the cutthroatness and like the harshness of the world that we're in what I can think about as an edge it's like my brain is like in edge in edge in there I can't I can't say anything else to you I'm also really loving the audiobook for this so I'd really recommend the audiobook so far I've done a lot of the reading by the audiobook and I think when I carry on reading physically now I will listen to the audiobook as well it's a full cast so when we switch perspectives because each chapter is in different perspective it switches the narrator I'd heard some people like say that the audiobook wasn't for them so that made it and that made me wary of it but I'm really enjoying it some of the writers are better than others like the Jesper one I think I've only heard once but I was only feeling him but the Kaz and the next ones are the best you guys this is some good shit it's really good I'm really enjoying it also I've just come to cook dinner and I had another thought my washing machines on I'm making my potato wedges I just listening right and I've seen people say we're not supposed to shit Kaz and a niche and I do currently I do I mean I'm only a third of the way in we've just had that spoilers we've had like a boom boom boom boom scene I don't know what that was and and I ship them like I my mascara is melting I ship them so why am I not supposed to questions okay so firstly apologies for I've had pretty bad eye strain the past couple days with like pain and like my eyes twitching so I didn't want to put anything around my eyes to fuck with it but even this ring light I'm like no thank you it's a night for me anyway I am two thirds of the way into Six of Crows and I'm still really enjoying it and Nez still has supremacy for me but I've got to admit Jesper is starting to climb the ranks of it I thought Nina would be my favorite character she's like up there they're all up there in their own ways it is very different than what I thought I thought it was gonna be like money well it is kind of money heists but I thought it was like robbing banks that's not what it is it's like a mission they've been sent on as a group the one thing I would say not like negative but you constantly getting back stories of the characters which is very valuable in many ways like I almost cried hearing Kaz's backstory but sometimes I feel like it messes with the pacing a bit of the rest of the story you're like listen we're in this high stakes exciting moment and then I'm just like hearing someone's backstory and it just like breaks the story up oh my god I'm shocking to think my eyes I feel like I need to turn the light down and up the camera okay we're just gonna deal with like poor lighting for a sec because I actually can't think well the light is bright in my eyes and it's hurting another thing I thought of was I here's a thing I read Shadow and Bone Trilogy to like have an enhanced reading experience of this to fully understand the Grisha verse Grisha powers and listen I when I finished the Shadow and Bone Trilogy I was like I still don't quite understand it like how it works like the whole like corporate Rowney all different words for the same thing I don't I still don't really understand that I was thinking how's that actually enhance my reading experience to the extent that I would recommend reading that trilogy because I didn't enjoy the trilogy but I do think if I hadn't read it I wouldn't understand some of the context in this of what it means to be Grisha it's quite a big theme of like the burden of being Grisha of yeah having those powers and the position it puts you in the society and I don't think if I was just here reading this I don't think I would fully have such like a well-rounded understanding of what that means for someone you know to be Grisha I'm glad I did it I'm glad that I have read the Shadow and Bone Trilogy for going forward like reading this reading King of Scars however I don't know if I'd recommend you do that if you haven't read any of them yet because the trilogy isn't good the step up in terms of like writing quality from that to this is so incredible like I don't understand how someone would do that like literally ruin and rising Lord Lord it wasn't for me if it came on I wouldn't necessarily skip it well that's not true I would it wasn't for me but Leigh Bardugo in this the way that every scene serves a purpose with like developing these characters developing the story the pace at which it goes out this is like masterful writing this is like some of the best YA writing ever like Leigh Bardugo is an amazing writer so the step up is just incredible it's really good I think this is gonna be five stars I don't speak too soon but I think it's gonna be five stars that was not how I was expecting this to end I was a bit shook about a few things that happened at the end there I enjoyed it but something about that last third I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood it was like a four star so like I feel like the thing as a whole is a 4.5 star I think I like the vibes of Keterdam as a place and like the toxicity of it and the the harshness of it and so I think I think Corky Kingdom is predominantly set in Keterdam so that's what I'm most excited for but anyway I love these characters these are some of the best well written characters I've ever read particularly in terms of dialogue like writing good dialogue funny dialogue is not easy like that's not something a lot of people can do but Leigh Bardugo completely managed to do it and the way that they bond and like the way that you can see their relationships growing throughout the book is really just so good it's so good I really loved how flawed they were I wouldn't say they're like morally gray that's a term that people like like throw around a lot but I wouldn't say they're morally gray they're just like flawed and they have struggles and they have so many dimensions to them each of these characters yep I really like Kaz I really like Nina like Nina oh my god Nina Nina Nina Nina Nina Nina came into her own in this last third she was really the highlight of it for me she was like a fucking queen Jesper and Wylan I understand now why it's so loved because these characters are so so easy to fall in love with and at the same time the plot is just so fast-paced and so well done so it's like a perfect amalgamation of everything you want from a book essentially but I think yeah for some reason like the last bit didn't hit it for me as much as I wanted it to although it was amazing just like my personal like this is a five star feeling went away a bit so I'm gonna give it 4.5 stars I completely understand the hype I'm so happy I finally read it yeah it's just such a good book I understand now I understand so I'm gonna start Crikey Kingdom now tonight I don't know how much of it I'm gonna get through this is longer than this one was but oh my god look we've got a map of Keterdam I'm so excited that it's gonna be well hopefully it's gonna be mostly set here because that is like the 1.5 that I felt like was missing from Six of Crows for me so oh my god I'm so excited to also go into a series straight away like I never read series one after the other but this is one of the only series of actually I mean obviously I was gonna be doing it for the video so like good thing I feel like this but I rarely feel like that was series where I want to go into the next one straight away but because of how Six of Crows left off I want to read this straight away and the characters like I just have to know the answers to so many questions that they've already raised so I'm so excited okay I'm gonna go start it but I don't know if I will check in tonight because it's long and I've already read loads today so we'll see right so I am a third of the way through Cooker Kingdom and I'm really enjoying it the album's amazing song to song I can't stress it out what I really love about this is that it is more of what I expected from the first book in that it is lots of planning and plotting and like figuring out almost lots of different heights there's lots of steps to the plan in this book and that's more what I was expecting like them sitting around in the room together going we've got to do this this and this and like making like a plan as a team whereas Six of Crows is more one big plot one big heist Wyland Wyland is starting to become almost my favorite no and there's still my favorite then probably Nina then Wyland and Jasper but Kaz is like the thing that holds it all together without Kaz it wouldn't be a thing so like he here's the thing Kaz is an incredibly interesting well-rounded character but like he's never going to be your favorite character because firstly he is the most cutthroat and secondly it's almost like I like to call it Alice in Wonderland syndrome where like when you have this big cast of characters who are also interesting the main character the one who holds it all together is never going to be your favorite character like Alice Alice is the most boring character not saying Kaz is boring but Alice is never going to be your favorite character I don't think Kaz is ever going to be your favorite character in my opinion there's nothing wrong with my views or beliefs because I have freedom of speech and everything I'm saying is true so I still love him but he's just the thing that helps all the other ones shine I think oh my god also Nina Matias I'm falling for it I am falling for it I'm falling for it but I don't know if it's going to be a five star again like it's feeling like a 4.5 like so close but I am just very strict with my five stars so like a 4.5 is probably a five like other people would probably just give it a five but I'm very strict so it's feeling like a 4.5 at the minute I'm gonna go play some sims and listen to the audiobook I am now two-thirds of the way into Kruger Kingdom and objectively I think this is better than Six of Crows however Six of Crows was still a 4.5 that doesn't make this a five this is maybe like if we're being picky this is like a 4.75 but I think I'm just gonna give it a 4.5 like unless it pulls it out the bag in this final third but I haven't had that five star feeling where it just feels like oh my god this book was meant for me but it's still when it's a 4.5 that means I can completely understand why this is a five for other people and why this is so popular it's just like a five star feeling is a very specific feeling I'll get over yourself love silly car but I am loving the way that the relationships are developing I think that that has been done so well across the geology the way that we care for all the different relationships within the the gang I cannot emphasise to enough I know I keep saying this but how happy I am that this is in Ketterdam I really just love the setting of Ketterdam and yeah exploring it and going into it in much more detail it's what I wanted like it's what I wanted from this second book and it's done that so well but I don't know how I'm about to be fulfilled by there only being two in this series like I don't I know we have King of Scars after this and we're following some of the or like maybe it's just Nina I know we're following Nina in that but I don't know how I'm gonna deal with not being able to follow all of these characters for more than remaining 170 pages like I just want to be with them and I don't understand why there's only two I'm not looking forward to how it's gonna end because I have a feeling I'm not gonna be happy because I want more and there's a reason why there's not more there must be anyway I'm gonna go finish it and then I'll come back to my final thoughts and my final thoughts on the series as a whole as well it was coming I still cry even though I knew even though I knew what was gonna happen even though I've known for years what was going to happen I still cried a fucking clown we are a bitch we are a fucking clown I loved it I'm not gonna give it a five star but it's like a 4.75 like it's really close and I don't know maybe if I was to reread these books or something I may give them five stars there's something almost about the Grisha world that I feel like I keeps me a separate moved is that 2.5 I'm not fully sure if I love in a way I can't quite articulate because perhaps I didn't love Shadow and Bone I think that's why I loved Ninth House by Lee Bodgy ago because it had her writing her characters which are incredible but it wasn't that grishiness which I always feel like I almost just don't understand like it I'm always like I should understand you but for some reason I don't you know it's not like say the fifth season for example by N.K. Jemisin where like I can just accept that I'm not gonna understand this like I feel like this world isn't that complicated but I still don't kind of get it maybe that's the 2.5 but it's like a 4.75 it's very close one thing that this series does so well but particularly in this book I feel like it almost did its success in this book but it definitely did this in this one is the characters leaving you five steps behind them I love that I know some people don't like it but I love when the characters know so much that I don't know particularly with like the highest D mission sections of these you would not know the plan that Kaz and the team have and so when the plan is being enacted you're being constantly surprised and like things will happen you're like oh shit really but then something else happened you'll be like oh my god what and then it'll come down come down rather than them saying this is the plan this is what we're gonna do you go into it thinking you know the plan but you don't you don't know the plan and then you see it fall into motion and all the dominoes fall into motion in time with the people who they're tricking yeah I love it when a book does that I love being kept in the dark for so long and all the other characters kind of know this the deal and you don't like I think that's amazing in my opinion these are not overrated they're not overrated I think they deserve their hype they deserve their love I'm so glad I finally read them if you've been thinking about it for whatever reason go read them if you love them let me know down in the comments if you don't love them we can talk to final conclusion I think they deserve the hype that they get but I actually think I prefer Quaker Kingdom which I didn't think after having read Six of Crows really possible but I think Quaker Kingdom is better like the way that all of the characters stories wrap up and it was the perfect ending without saying anything everything ended the only way it could end like it ended so well ended so well and here's the thing I kind of want to read King of Scarlet Shaker way this was never in my plans this was never a book I thought I was gonna read soon but having just read this I'm kind of like I probably won't because this was like not even one of my top books I was planning to read but like I kind of want to I feel like I need because I know this for those Nikolai, Zoya and Nina I need Wyland's story like the way that we leave off with Wyland oh my god I just love him my love for Wyland has been slow but particularly in this book I feel like he's Sean and I need a book on Wyland so who's gonna give it to me? Morley Budugo is? Lee? Pay up. I'm so glad I funny read them leave me your thoughts on this series down below if you've gone to the end comment like a crow is there a crow emoji or a bird emoji one of them and I will see you very soon in another video bye