Potential Overshadowed by Poor Performance

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The storyline, world, and characters in Six of Crows were intriguing and had definite potential to grow into an enjoyable science fiction/fantasy series. However, I spent the entire novel wondering why the author hadn't simply written the book in third person omniscient. Especially because stylistically, the writing in the different chapters all sounded the same. Why would you have multiple narrators who speak about themselves in third person? The alternating perspectives added a layer of confusion to the book that was completely unnecessary.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

There were far too many narrators for a story without a great deal of depth. I've listened to quite a few audio books with a cast of narrators who added to the story, but they helped mainly to add clarity to a complex novel. The narrators in Six of Crows made the story more confusing because they attempted vastly different voices for the same characters. Also, the story is about a group of teenagers and the narrators all sound like old men with a bad smoking habit.

Any additional comments?

The reviews of this book seem to be completely skewed by readers who are more concerned with the presence of a fictional romance than they are about story development or writing style. I would suggest maybe reading the physical book, as the voices of the audio book narrators do not meet the expectations set by the fact that this is a young adult novel, nor match the character descriptions.

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too many cooks spoil the soup

I think this audiobook definitely suffered from having so many narrators. While they were all good on their own (for the most part; none of them were *bad*, but Kaz’s narrator could get a little over the top and cartoony sometimes), each one had their own take on everything from pronunciation of the world’s words/proper names to the character’s demeanors (which could lead to a single character being portrayed very differently depending on who was narrating at the time). It just didn't feel like it completely added up to a cohesive whole. It wasn't not really the fault of the individual narrators, and obviously any book with multiple narrators is going to have this issue to some extent, but the differences were far more prominent here than in other books that I’ve listened to. The production team definitely would have benefited from sitting down and hashing out everything from “How do we want to pronounce ‘Zemeni’?” to “Should Kaz sound silky and sinister? Haughty and arrogant? Energetic and punchy?”

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I'm obsessed

So while reading reviews, I saw a lot of people being upset over there being 7 narrators. Personally I loved that every character had a voice to it. Sure everyone's rendition of Kaz was mildly different but I loved every single narrator. A round of applause for their ability to bring the story to life. And now a round of applause for Leigh Bardugo, who crafted this masterpiece. Sure you have to get through a mildly confusing first chapter, but it didn't take me long at all to be completely invested in this story and these characters. I loved every single one of them. The dynamic between Nina and Matthias was pretty hot (seriously, I wanted more!). There are so many little twists to this book, so many character complexities, so much cool world-building. Inej is a freaking ninja! Kaz is a criminal mastermind! I'm suffering a severe book hangover until the second one comes out in FREAKING SEPTEMBER UGH. Seriously, read this book, you'll love it, I promise.

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A struggle to get through.

The story just didnt do anything for me and I listen to a pretty big variety of books.

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Got more ridiculous the further it went

Um, I guess this was too young for me. It read more like a teen romance combined with Hunger Games style grit and violence. I never have liked seeing teens kill and be brutal, so I only got a few hours into it before pulling the plug. I had hoped it would be similar to the Queen's Thief series, but it fell far short of that.

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This book is everything!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The narrators did a fantastic job bringing the story and their characters to life. I easily fell into the world and not just the first time, but every time I had to pause and then pick it is back up later. The story is enthralling and absolutely enjoyable for anyone. It has a lot of action and a little magic. The concept reminds me of Ocean's 11 but with magic and violence. Leigh Bardugo does a fantastic job of bringing these characters together to pull of a heist and the development of the story and characters was well done. I also really enjoyed how she tied in their backstories and how everything just clicked together. I recommend this to anyone, especially those looking for a good kick butt book featuring a seemingly impossible heist and some of the best characters around.

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7 Narrators, But That's Not a Good Thing

This isn't a dramatization of the novel -- it's a good novel narrated by different characters whose names lead the chapter (think of George R. R. Martin's books). Each narrator reads the whole chapter, and therein lies the issue: there are multiple different versions of every character's speaking voice. Multiply each by the number of different narrators who interpret that character and it gets a bit muddy. It's certainly distracting, and the story arc is developed in a way that there is very little backstory to explain what's going on until you're about 1/3 of the way into the book.

That being said, after spending a few hours immersed in it, you get used to it, even if it grates. The individual performances are fine... but collectively, it's a bit much.

Still, I enjoyed the depth of the characters once I got there, and by the end of the book, I was deeply invested in the storyline and cared about the core group. I'm going to get the second book in the series for this reason. However, I think the book would have been improved in its audio version by choosing a single talented narrator and sticking with him/her. Any one of the 7 actors who worked on this book could have delivered the story with clarity and consistency and I think it would have benefited from it.

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Threes Across the Board

It took me a while to get through this book. It had a slow beginning. The middle and end are pretty lively. I think this is generally a good heist book. It has some twists and turns to keep you engaged. The perspective characters are solid. The world-building is similarly solid. Bardugo manages to insert enough character backstory into the narrative to really flesh out the individuals' motivations. Just the right amount actually. All in all, a well-executed caper.

I get that this book is aimed at the teen demographic so it makes sense that the characters be around that age. The characters in this book think they are in their mid 30s to mid 40s the only one who disagrees is the author. She thinks they are all late teens. They all make perfect sense in manor, personal backstory, and speech, except when their ages are brought up. One character being wise and hardened beyond his or her years, I get. Maybe two. But every single one of them, by the exact same amount? Come on.

It was also quite ambitious for the author to take on so many perspective characters. I feel that this was a mixed blessing. It does add texture, but it also gets overused to keep you ignorant of what is going on so that the author can bring out surprises.

The many readers was also a mixed blessing. Some were good. The female readers were generally very good. The male ones were much more uneven. The man reading the main character, Kaz, sounded like he was telling a vampire story to 4 yr. olds around a campfire. He wouldn't just read the words as much as sing some of them. Too much over-emoting. The one reading Jesper's tone was solid, but had different pronunciations for many of the in-book concepts. You'd figure the editor would just tell them that they pronounce "X" a certain way.

It looks like this series will continue though as of this writing, book 2 has not been published. I might check it out. Maybe. It is not going into my list of ones to watch out for. I could take it or leave it.

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Not sure how I feel about it

It took me a while to get into this book with its shifting points of view. But once it got going as a caper/heist, it got my interest. I was a bit annoyed with the interruptions for the backstories of the characters, though of course they are relevant. A lot of people have remarked that the crew is unbelievably talented and experienced for teenagers, but I just accepted that as part of the fantasy. Also it's an odd setting, not quite Renaissance and not quite steampunk. At the end, when I was finally engaged in the story, it was just over! You are supposed to go on to the sequel, but I don't think I will.

I usually avoid books with multiple narrators as I'm afraid I won't like them all, but in this case all the performers were good.

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New characters, new adventure, same world...

Not YA age but listen to a lot of YA. First I absolutely loved the Grisha trilogy and it would be hard to beat so if you are considering Six of Crows, I highly recommend reading the Grisha trilogy first. However, I think you can still enjoy Six of Crows on it's own. Going to Leigh Bardugo's website can help fill in information on the Grisha orders and the layout of the world the story takes place in.

Formula for Six of Crows will feel familiar, unlikely group pulled together for a crazy, impossible goal. Leigh does a great job of developing each character as the story goes on. By the end of the story you are attached and invested in all of them and aren't ready for it to end. Which is good because this is the first book in a series.

Different than the Grisha trilogy, Six of Crows is written in multiple character viewpoint style which can be a challenge for audio production. For me this was no exception, I found 7 narrators a bit distracting. I think it could have easily been done with one really good female and male narrator. Maybe that can change for the next book...

Overall all wonderfully written, fun action packed story. Can't wait for the next in the series.

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