Here is a special message from Six of Crows author Leigh Bardugo herself about today's post...
A few years back, my agent Jo and I were on a bus in Ireland (long story), discussing possible bonus content we could offer fans of the Grisha trilogy. I realised that I really wanted to write something from the point of view of a Fjerdan drüskelle, one of the deadly witchhunters who pursue Grisha. Because as frightening and brutal as they are, I could still understand the fear that would drive them. I wanted to put a Grisha soldier and drüskelle into a survival situation and see what might happen. But was it a short story? A novella? I wasn't sure. Then I got the idea for Six of Crows and I had my answer: Nina and Matthias, two people with some serious history and plenty of prejudice between them, would be part of the team forced to band together to pull off an impossible heist.
As for Kaz, the leader of the crew, his story began with an idea for a character known as Dirtyhands, a boy for whom no deed was too low, no job too dangerous. He's the criminal you go to when you're out of other options, the person you don't want to be indebted to, the guy you never want to hear knocking on your door. As soon as I knew who would be leading the team, the rest of the characters began to take shape."
Six Signs You Have What It Takes To Join Kaz's Crew
To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Resilient
Most Resilient Crow: Kaz
To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Cunning
This crew has an impossible heist to pull off so you need to be ruthless and willing to do anything to see the mission through. Each crew member needs to be cunning enough to make sure that nothing stands in their way.
Most Cunning Crow: Jesper
To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Calm
With all the craziness that comes with being a crow crew member you need to be able to keep your cool in situations where chaos is going on around you. You need to be able to stay calm and focused to complete what needs to be done.
Most Calm Crow: Nina
To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Intelligent
To be part of Kaz's crew you need to think outside of the box. Heist's take a lot of planning beforehand but you also need to be somebody who thinks on their feet to save yourself and your crew from tricky and unexpected situations.
Most Intelligent Crow: Wylan
To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Courageous
Being a crow means willingly putting yourself in dangerous situations as part of the job but as well as risking your life daily you're also going to have to face and overcome some of your most personal demons.
Most Courageous Crow: Inej
To join Kaz's Crew you need to be...Strong
Whilst it's good to have physical strength, as a crew member it's more important that you're mentally strong. To live life as a crow you need to have incredible inner strength in order to face a life of trickery, deceit and risk.
Most Strong Crow: Matthias
Giveaway
From 24/9 - 29/9, bloggers in the US and UK will be paired up to share their own Six of Crows-inspired lists, such as six tips for surviving the Grishaverse, six signs you do/don't have what it takes to join Kaz's crew, and more.
But wait. There's more! Enter to win a Six of Crows prize pack full of US AND UK swag by commenting on all 12 blog posts by 11:59pm EST Friday, October 2.
See Leigh on Tour!
For more of my thoughts on Six of Crows check out my review here.