This 2nd book completes the “Six of Crows” series where we follow the adventures of Kaz, Inej, Nina, Matthais, Jesper and Wylan as they attempt to undo the wrong they received at the hands of a crooked “merch” at the end of the last book. I’ve been struggling to find time to read, but I finally had some time and read the last quarter of it last night. It got to the point I love to get to in a book where you can’t put it down. I was ready for bed but had to stay up to finish it. I love reading a book like that. I hope to someday write one!
The main things I took away from this book are keeping the multiple POV characters separate in voice, and making sure to show the action from the best possible POV character. The climactic scenes (no spoilers) are each seen (at least in part) from at least two characters so you can see the beginning from one perspective and the end from another. That is a good trick and one I have tried to do in my own novel.
This series was recommended to me by one of my writing partners specifically to see how multiple POV characters are handled. I don’t think that I needed to read this series to see this example, since modern space opera (at least the ones I’ve been reading, most recently by Scalzi, Tchaikovsky and Powell) all have multiple POV characters who do similar things with their stories. However, it was interesting to read a book aimed at a younger audience, although some of the subject matter is pretty tough, with several characters having been raped or sexually assaulted, lots of murder and violence, and some child abandonment themes as well. I guess YA is really teenagers and I suppose reading that sort of thing in fiction at that age is not uncommon. It certainly is not middle grade!
I definitely enjoyed these two books and my child has suggested to me that I read the trilogy that precedes it: Shadow and Bone. I will consider it, but for now I am looking forward to finally starting the third book in the “Final Architecture” series which I have been saving as a reward for submitting a short story. While I am still working on the story, it is slowly moving forward and I do hope to get it finished soon. I am struggling with it and have completely torn apart the first 1000 words, so here’s hoping I can figure out how to tell this story and get it out into the world!