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would like this video, because as a criminal he's always picking locks and getting into places he knows he shouldn't be. There hasn't been a lock yet that Kaz can't pick.

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How to Pick a Lock | The Art of Manliness

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No one's going to read Leigh Bardugo's newest book, Six Of Crows, without thinking about Ocean's 11. No one's going to hear the premise - six young criminals hired to break into (and then out of) the most secure prison in the world - without thinking of Danny Ocean and his crew. Certainly no critic is going to write about the thing without making the connection. It would be stupid not to.

Because Six Of Crows is a heist story. It is so purely and simply a heist story that comparisons to one of the best heist stories ever told are inevitable. If Ocean's 11 was a textbook exercise in plotting, character development and the ol' bait-and-switch reveal, then Six Of Crows is a thesis on how these lessons can be deployed in genre fiction.

We begin with Kaz Brekker, 17-year-old criminal prodigy and second in command of a gang called the Dregs. He has a mysterious past, a cool nickname (Dirtyhands), and Danny Ocean's knack for misdirection and covering all his bets. The first time we get a good view of him, he's having one of those brain-on-brain showdowns with another gang leader where he shows his mastery of the situation by never moving from the mark on which he stands while, all around him, a plan carefully laid off-page comes clicking together with clockwork precision. It's a nice set-piece, hobbled only by the fact that while it acts as the beginning of the tale, it isn't actually the beginning of the book.

No, Bardugo tacks on a long-ish (and dull) first chapter that serves both as a prologue and a gentle drop into her world for those not already familiar with the universe she writes in. And while I understand the utility of such a thing - particularly in the YA sphere, where this book ostensibly lives - it's one of those things that most readers will just have to suffer through in order to get to the good stuff that follows.

If 'Ocean's 11' was a textbook exercise in plotting, character development and the ol' bait-and-switch reveal, then 'Six Of Crows' is a thesis on how these lessons can be deployed in genre fiction.

And yes, there is a lot of good stuff. I mean, how could there not be? Second only to submarine stories, the heist story is the most compact and driven of all possible plot frames. There's a thing in a place (in this case, a scientist/magician with the secret formula for a kind of magical super-drug, locked away in a supposedly impenetrable prison), then a team of thieves who have to go to the place and steal the thing. Complications, of course, arise.

Bardugo does not stray far from these mechanics - no good heist writer does. Where the joy comes is in the interaction between the team of thieves, the brains of the boss and the machinations of the law. There are courtships and betrayals among Brekker's crew, long-simmering lusts, dark motivations laid out one by one as Bardugo bounces from one narrator to the next to the next, handing off the point of view with each chapter. And, always and forever, there's the Big Job there waiting at the end of the long trail - breaking into the Ice Court in the far North, grabbing Professor Maguffin and getting out again in one piece.

So sure, Six Of Crows has a muscle car's drive and a cast that hangs with you like they were made of magnets, but the one thing that bothered me throughout? The characters' ages. Pretty much the entire crew are 17 years old (with, I believe, one notable exception). And that's fine. Bardugo is aiming straight for that YA sweet spot, and 17 is the magic number.

But if you're going to write about 17-year-old characters, it's your responsibility to make them think and act like 17-year-olds, which none of Bardugo's six crows do. Save the young demolitions expert (who is shy and easily embarrassed and mystified by pretty much everything happening around him), there's not one who couldn't suddenly age up to 32 and be more believable for that one cosmetic change. Brekker, in particular, talks (and thinks) like a 50-year-old criminal mastermind pulled out of retirement for one last job, his absolute surety of all human motives and seemingly bottomless bag of felonious tricks (and occasional murderous impulses) just way too hard-bitten even for this world.

But it's still an impressive world. Bardugo has created a grimy fantasy with a thin blank-punk veneer laid over the top. There are knives and rifles, magic and technology - everything mashed together in a jumble of influences that is wickedly attractive because (and not in spite of) the characters inhabiting it so fully. It's a slick trick of world-building that eschews the info-dump (save that first regrettable chapter) in favor of making the world simply the world, defined by the way the characters move through it. The smell of coal smoke in the morning does more to set a scene than 10,000 words describing the industry that produces it.

And Bardugo certainly knows how her world smells.

Jason Sheehan is an ex-chef, a former restaurant critic and the current food editor of Philadelphia magazine. But when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about spaceships, aliens, giant robots and ray guns. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book.

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'Six Of Crows' Is A Well-Turned Heist Tale

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No one's going to read Leigh Bardugo's newest book, Six Of Crows, without thinking about Ocean's 11. No one's going to hear the premise - six young criminals hired to break into (and then out of) the most secure prison in the world - without thinking of Danny Ocean and his crew.

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Inej- A past acrobat with her family, now a spy for Kaz, prefers to fight with knives and daggers
Nina- A Heartrender (Grisha) who heals, and tries not to fight
Matthias- A Fjerdan soldier saved by Nina after a shipwreck, has normal soldier combat skills
Jesper- Went to Ketterdam to go to a university but became addicted to gambling, joining the Dregs to cover gambling debt, prefers to fight with pistols
Wylan- Deserted by his father because he couldn't read, Wylan ends up being the brains of the operation for the Dregs
Kaz- The leader of the Dregs, always has a cane with a crows head on top due to an accident, as a criminal prodigy, he's able to fight in combat and through technicality

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"Quotes About Kaz Brekker". GoodReads. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

"'Six Of Crows' Is A Well-Turned Heist Tale". NPR.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

"Wylan Van Eck". Shadow And Bone Wiki. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

"How To Pick A Lock | The Art Of Manliness". YouTube. N.p., 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

"Six Of Crows". The Grisha Trilogy. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

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And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together- knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting."
(Bardugo, 257).

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the title, represents each of the members of the Dregs and their symbol, the crow. "Crows remember human faces. The people who feed them,  who are kind to them. All the people who wrong them, too. They don't forget. They tell each other who look after and who to watch out for"
(Bardugo, 304).

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is: read Six of Crows. You won't regret it, that I know. I truly hope you enjoy it as much as I did, because if you do it will be an exciting and wonderful journey. If you like fantasy, suspense, crime, sci-fi, and a little romance, this should be the next book you even look at. Bardugo even manages to incorporate humor throughout the story, turing a grim situation into an entertaining one.

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Six of Crows was fantastic. You may think I'm setting the expectations too high, but I don't think there's an expectation this book won't exceed. Towards the beginning, there was a dull chapter or two that set up the background of Fjerda and the Grisha, but those few pages are worth it. It didn't take long for the book to rope me in and finish it in two days.

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was a big part of Six of Crows, for me it was a main theme as well. Although all of the Dregs change and develop, purposely or accidentally, Kaz Brekker showed the most change. He began to show emotion around Inej, and the other Dregs noticed this. Kaz also became even more skilled in his area of interest; thievery. He had more tricks up his sleeve than ever before, and this made him more well known than before. I'd like to think I could be like Kaz (not the emotionless, dark and manipulative part) because of his understanding of human beings. He seems to know what people will do before they do it, and what they want before they announce it. I like to relate to Kaz's observance and his ability to comprehend.

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had many different interpretations, but mine was the idea that people can change. Kaz tried to change to become a better for Inej, and although he might not be considered a "good person", he showed her he was willing to try. Other characters changed as well, like Matthias and Nina. Nina is a Grisha and Matthias was a soldier for Fjerda, who are supposed to hate Grisha. Over the course of the heist, they learn to put their differences aside and truly see each other as human beings.

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This was definitely one of my favorite books I've read in 2016, and I've read a lot. 

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This was definitely one of my favorite books I've read in 2016, and I've read a lot. 

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There were many enjoyable parts in Six of Crows, but one of my favorite parts was when Kaz realized his love for Inej. Kaz is a hard and selfish criminal who never shows emotion, unless it comes to Inej. Not only was this my favorite part, Inej was also my favorite character of the book.

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The Dregs: Kaz's gang's name
Fjerda: The kingdom and castle complex that guards the prison
Ketterdam: The main city where the Dregs reside
Kruge: The form of money used in Fjerda
Grisha: People who posses special powers in Fjerda who are always in danger and ridiculed against
Jurda Parem: The drug that amplifies the Grisha's power
Bo Yul- Bayur: The scientist that created Jurda Parem

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There's nothing  Kaz Brekker wouldn't do 

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There's nothing  Kaz Brekker wouldn't do 

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to have someone in debt or receive a price, no matter the risk. In Six of Crows, that's exactly what he's going to do.  With a gang of five other fugitives, Kaz leads them to the highest guarded prison to retrieve Bo Yul- Bayur. It's no easy task, but he has the best of the best on his side to free a scientist and receive 30 million kruge.

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The character developement of Kaz Brekker