After reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas it could feel as though you’ve been left without a book or book series of a similar caliber to pick up and enjoy wholeheartedly. Fortunately the award winning author Leigh Bardugo has written a plentiful bounty of books for those looking for another spectacular read, and more specifically one of her newest installments Six of Crows.
The Throne of Glass is a work of masterful fantasy mainly taking place from the eyes of one Celaena Sardothien a famous assassin who had been arrested for her crimes against the kingdom. Six of Crows takes place in the world of Bardugo’s other book series The Grisha Trilogy although no prior knowledge is needed to read the novel. It mostly takes place in Ketterdam a city where anything and everything can be had- for a price, and shifts its point of view around quite often. The novel mainly focuses on a small group of thieves and rogues who risk their lives for the promise of riches and for some, much much more. The novels share an untold amount of similarities from the plot and the world to the characters and the dark humor, and if you’ve read and enjoyed one you would almost certainly enjoy the other. The novels both feature a plot line based on a task that was originally perceived to be impossible. With Celaena, the only woman, participating in a tournament of sorts to become the King's own royal assassin. In Six of Crows a small group of specialists are hired to break into the fantasy equivalent of Fort Knox. In the two novels they also share some darker underlying themes with the hatred and discrimination to the peoples blessed each universes own forms of magic. In Throne of Glass it is stated that the king had destroyed those gifted with abilities beyond comprehension, and had the grand creatures of myth slaughtered for sport. In Six of Crows one of the members of the main characters Matthias used to be a hunter of those with abilities called the Grisha, well another one of the Cast a girl named Nina is a Heartrender grisha which not only creates a very interesting dynamic, but also provides an easy way to give the reader information about the world. The two tomes also have characters who share quite similar traits. For example both novels feature a strong female lead in the forms of Celaena who has been previously introduced, and Inej who is well known within Ketterdam as a spy or “Spider” as the book tends to call them. This also ties them together in that they both specialize in daggers or short blades, and tend toward the shadows when faced with a conflict. Another character that Celaena shares something with is Kaz a gang leader and con man who is the defacto leader of the ragtag gang of thieves. They both seem to have similar personalities as both favor sarcasm, and have a rather morbid sense of humor. Other characters also to tend to view them in the same way: With respect, and a healthy dose of fear as they are both known as criminal prodigies. Finally there is Nina, who much like Celaena had a magical background, and both seem to have the same views on the hunting of those with abilities- disgust. If the main thing about Throne of Glass that kept the readers attention was it’s deep and well rounded characters then they would most certainly enjoy Six of Crows and its colorful cast. One thing that always stood out about Throne of Glass was it’s morbid humor, expert use of sarcasm, and conversations that were beautifully and realistically executed. After all the plot may have been what got a person to pick up the book, but they most certainly stayed for the writing style. It so happens that Six of Crows has a similar love for in depth and beautifully built conversations to make both novels stand out greatly from their peers. For example in Throne of Glass Celaena starts off the novel describing how lax the security around the prince was and how easily she could’ve ended his life, “In less than a second she could get her arm over the prince's head and have her shackles crushing his windpipe.”, within the first chapter the reader would already start to see the direction the narration was taking. Six of Crows begins with a confrontation with another important member of a gang, and how the criminal protagonists handle the situation. It manages to show a very dark sense of humor through the dialogue from the lead male character Kaz. Both of these masterfully crafted works seem to almost go hand and hand with their plentiful similarities and intriguing plot lines. Whether it be within the confines of the magical worlds the authors have created within Throne of Glass or Six of Crows, or in the spellbinding word choice that ties it all together, these novels are most definitely something special. If you truly did enjoy Throne of Glass then you are almost guaranteed to love Six of Crows in all the same ways.
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