#30: Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom (Grishaverse #5)

[kareila]

Surprising and satisfying conclusion to the story begun in Six of Crows. This time the heroes are confined to their home city of Ketterdam instead of embarking on a long, impossible quest across the ocean, so the action is more evenly paced, but both stories ultimately hinge on the success of an audacious plan. Even more so than for the earlier book, I recommend reading the trilogy ending with Ruin & Rising first, because some of the characters from that story make an appearance here as well. I do have a couple of complaints, in the form of random adversaries that pop up without sufficient justification, and a character death that felt completely unnecessary. I hope that later stories set in the same universe might weave these threads a little more tightly into the fabric.