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There's no reason why you shouldn't read this book. At the very least, hold it in your hands, thumb through and feel that velvety black trim. It's a sexy book to look at, and it's an even better book on the inside.

There are a lot of YA books these days set in fantasy or sci-fi settings that are all about revolution and dystopia. This isn't one of them. This is about a heist. This is about the game. This is six kids from a rotten part of the world who have lived rotten lives giving a chance at glory their best shot. Yeah, there's a little bit of political machinations, and the effect a new drug may have on a global war, but for the most part you are neck deep in the criminal underbelly of a bustling, Victorianish city, and the street kids who live and thrive there.

Each one of the six is captivating, rich and well-drawn. Jesper, the sharp-shooter and gambler; Wylan the wayward son; Nina and Matthias, the soldiers and lovers on opposite side of a war; Inej the circus performer, spider, and survivor of trafficking. Six of Crows bounces between each of their perspectives, and no one is boring or unwelcome. And then there's Kaz. Kaz is just enough. He's a brilliant criminal prodigy, looks good in a suit, refined but not flashy, wicked but not cruel. He is bad, though, make no mistake. Ruthless, alarmingly clever, and just fucking mean sometimes. But you know him, you get him. His flaws are deep ones, down to the bone, and his desires are still human. You can feel good getting invested in him, without feeling bad about loving a sexy teenage criminal who is magically good at everything evil. It's not magic - he's just smart and determined and is carrying vendetta, and Leigh Bardugo is a smart enough writer to know how to do that in the right way.

One thing that I found striking about the characters is that while this is YA and they are all teenagers, none of them, with the exception of Wylan and Jesper perhaps, act like it. Which, honestly, is appropriate. For their short amount of years, they have lived very long lives. As such, they treat each other with impressive maturity. Inej and Kaz's relationship, despite all its pining and awkward moments, does not feel like two children experiencing a crush. They love each other, they know that they love each other, but at 17 they're already very grown up and very set on the path of who they're going to be, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for them to be together. Nina and Matthias have more room for pettiness and conflict, but well, he was raised to see her as an animal, and she sent him to prison. They grow in ways that make sense and raise the stakes of the story, rather than slow the story down.

Their epic crime, the one that is so supposed to make them all filthy rich and perhaps even save the world moves fast. There isn't much time spent on maybes. These kids aren't the kind for that anyway. I don't want to say this is filled with twists and turns - like I said, this story is a mature one. Everyone involved knows what they're getting into, and it's hard to say their surprised when they know they have a better chance of dying than succeeding. But they do it anyway. That's what makes this so interesting, and every turn of the page worth your time.