Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first. (Taken from Goodreads.com)
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first. (Taken from Goodreads.com)
I DNF'd this book 342 pages in (73%)
I know I am in the minority with this review...HUGE minority. I have seen nothing but 3-5 star rave reviews.
*a la Linkin Park* I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end I just couldn't do it.
A lot of people said this book was slow going in the beginning, but once the heisty stuff starts, it is really good. I read adult fantasy, I am used to slow going books, so I wasn't too worried. I had enjoyed Shadow and Bone, but when people were buzzing this book saying it was Bardugo's best book yet, I was pretty excited to pick up this beautiful book. I was let down...hard.
Let's start out with something positive: World building, again, I thought was pretty good. I really liked getting to know Kerch and the other countries that weren't Ravka. The world was expanded and I was hungry for more information about this world. I still wanted a lot more, but what I got was fine.
I also thought there was some good quotable moments and nice images that she had created though her writing, but these were the only things that were positive...unfortunately.
On to the negatives: Characters. Everyone says this is a character driven novel and that the characters help you get through the first half of the book (the tedious bits). I really didn't like any of the characters. Everyone was a cliche of a character that has been written multiple times in YA literature. There was not one character that I liked even a little bit. Their dialogue was dull and their emotions didn't seem real to me.
The flashbacks. Oh the flashbacks...These were the most annoying parts of the entire book. At first I didn't mind them because I had hoped that they would get me interested in the characters more. I hoped that they would give me insight to the characters and that it would make me feel for them when others didn't understand them...or just make me feel things in general. Well, needless to say, they didn't make me feel any different about the characters. Then there were flashbacks mixed in when things were getting started. By the point that things start moving, you want them to hurry up and go already, but then something would be happening and you would be all, "oh wow! Now what?!" turn the page, flashback....It totally took you out of the moment and totally quelled whatever excitement you may have started to get. The flashback were usually noted by a little crow that split the page up...I began to hate those little crows, and I would get annoyed every time I saw one, even if it didn't lead to a flashback.
ROMANCE: Dear YA authors, not every book needs a romance. If you are going to add romance, make it bloody good, or something to move the story along. Don't just put it in there to have it in there. K thanks, bye. This book had two separate romances and maybe a third? or a triangle? I don't know what was up with that, as I didn't get that far, and personally I don't really care. But they were both angsty and full of dumb sexual tension that I found super annoying. It totally took away from EVERYTHING that was going on. The romance between Nina and Matthias was kind of a plot point...but I hated every moment of it. I am sure younger audiences might have enjoyed this, but I hated it.
I was so bored and annoyed with everything, that when I got to the actual heist-y, action-y part of the book, I didn't care. I was skimming, and even while skimming I was annoyed and bored. I hated the characters so much, I didn't care what happened to them. I just wanted them to stop. Everything they did annoyed me and things that were supposed to surprise me or frustrate me (as in frustration for the characters' situation), didn't. They only left me rolling my eyes and counting pages/chapter to see how much more I had to read.
I really really REALLY wanted to like this book....Not only is it gorgeous, but I did enjoy Shadow and Bone. Oh well...
This is very surely becoming the year of the DNF. What a crappy trend...
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