History Literature / SixOfCrows

** [[spoiler: Matthias has been hoping to save up a proper kiss for Nina at the right time. Nina disagrees. It's pretty spectacular when it happens anyway.]]
** [[spoiler:Kaz, touch-averse to the extreme, manages a chaste kiss on Inej's shoulder. It's a pretty big deal.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:As ''Crooked Kingdom'' ends, Matthias is dead, and his teammates don't know who killed him or why. On the other hand, they've gotten their revenge on Rollins and Van Eck, Wylan takes over the family fortune with both Jesper and his mother by his side, and Inej is going to live her dream of rescuing sex slaves and destroying their captors. She even reunites with her parents, thanks to Kaz.]]
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Crows are plenty anti-heroic, unafraid of maiming and even killing their enemies to make sure that their goals are achieved. The people that they face however? The gang usually ends up confronting slavers, con artists, hitmen, and other nefarious figures that are ''far'' worse than they are, so they end up being {{Asshole Victim}}s.

* ConsummateLiar: Pretty much every Crow is lying about something.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The Crows are gang of criminals (sans Wylan for most of the first book) who are willing to shoot, loot, maim, trick, gamble and even go so far as to actually murder their enemies so long as they get to their goal. Despite this, the Crows usually go after people ''much'' worse than they are and they usually help keep Ketterdam relatively out of trouble because of their actions.

* DownerBeginning: ''Crooked Kingdom'' is this. New terrors have descended upon Ketterdam, Nina is sickly, the Crows' relationships are fraying, and any hopes of redemption for Kaz are fading as he terrorizes a little girl into silence (so he won't have to kill her) and drowns a man (albeit an AssholeVictim) in the first chapter.

** Kaz rips out Oomen's eyeball after Inej gets hurt.

** Kerch is clearly [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands Dutch]], with the capital of Ketterdam a clear stand in for [[FreestateAmsterdam Amsterdam]].

** Inej and Kaz have both created dangerous alter ego identities--Dirtyhands and the Wraith. They are both largely motivated by revenge against specific people (Tante Heleen and Pekka Rollins), and they both have an aversion to human contact due to exceptionally traumatic experiences. To top it off, they both have unsaid feelings for the other.
** Kaz and Wylan are both natively Kerch, disabled, brilliant prodigies. Both were almost killed in the canals around Ketterdam, and were "reborn" as different people. The difference is that while Jordie wasn't street smart and strong enough to take care of Kaz, Kaz could watch out for Wylan.
** Matthias and Nina are both patriotic soldiers who would originally do anything for their country, but have to come to terms with the things their country has done.

** [[spoiler:Dunyasha]] for Inej. Inej is a relatively grounded former acrobat-turned spy and assassin who has a good set of morals on her and fights for justice in any way that she can, [[spoiler:eventually becoming a pirate that hunts down slavers.]] [[spoiler:Dunyasha, on the other hand, is an AxCrazy, [[LargeHam hammy]] assassin who claims decent from royalty, hiring herself out as a killer because she gets off from the high of killing.]]

* FunctionalAddict: Jesper is a [[TheGamblingAddict gambling addict]] who still gets his job done most of the time, but his functioning can be put into question. He did drop out of university, and is having to resort to more and more desperate smoothtalking to keep himself and his father safe.

** The Dregs, and presumable other gangs of Ketterdam, also seem to follow this principle. Most notable are Inej and Nina, handpicked by Kaz to be part of the Dreg's inner circle based on skill alone. A cursory look at names of minor Dregs features some women as well, and later on one of the snipers that ambushes the Crows at the docks is a young woman. It is mentioned Nina could have become a mercenary.

** Kaz's rise to power in the Dregs is in order to get revenge on Pekka Rollins for conning him and Jordie out of their money and leaving them for dead.
** Notably, most of Kaz's more violent and impulsive episodes are due to harm befalling Inej.

** While fired up about almost losing Inej, Kaz cuts out Oomen's eyes to learn about who lead the ambush, then drowns him.

* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: done by Nina, to express how ridiculous Kaz is being.

* BuriedAlive: in ''Crooked Kingdom'', [[spoiler:Kaz convinces Pekka Rollins that he's done this to Pekka's son. Kaz is lying, but he gets Pekka to [[AintTooProudToBeg beg for his son's life]] in front of his {{Mooks}}, then sends Pekka on a wild goose chase to find the grave just when Jan Van Eck needs him to undo Kaz's ''other'' revenge plot.]]

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Kaz's crew includes people of color, women, disabled and gay people, including within his inner circle. We don't know much about his other underlings, but from a cursory look at names he has at least several other women hired. Not once in the novel are any abilities questioned due to above characteristics (aside from Wylan's dyslexia in the finale). There aren't a lot of objectively "good" guys, but the respectable, lawmaking force of Ketterdam seems to be fairly white and male.

* EyeScream: Kaz rips out Oomen's eyeball after Inej gets hurt.

* {{Foil}}: Kaz has FOUR all to himself: Inej, Wylan, Pekka Rollins, and Jan Van Eck. Five, if you count him becoming the big brother to Wylan that Jordie couldn't be to Kaz.

** Later applies to [[spoiler: Nina]]

* GoodParents: Colm Fahey. He's made mistakes, but always had Jesper's best interests at heart. He may not be proud of where his son's ended up or everything he's done but makes clear that he still loves and supports Jesper.

* MeaningfulName: Subverted in-universe for Kaz. He took his surname off of a piece of machinery. It does sound like "breaker", though. Fittingly "kaz" has similar connotations in the slavic languages.

* MilitaryMage: All Ravkan Grisha are some form of this.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Kaz outright slaughters most of the Black Tips at the end of the first act in order to save Inej.

* ShedTheFamilyName: [[spoiler: Kaz's real last name was Rietveld, which he shed when he became the infamous Kaz Brekker.]]

* WretchedHive: Ketterdam. The Barrel in particular.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Kaz's specialty.

* AdultFear: Inej was abducted from her family camp by slavers when she was only ''thirteen'', and sold into sexual slavery. Her parents spent several years with no idea what happened to her or whether she was even still alive, and Inej herself is reluctant to find them again because she feels she's been changed too much by her horredous experiences.

* BadassBaritone: Kaz, though it's a rough gravelly subtype.

* BedTrick: Kind of. [[spoiler: Wylan had his face tailored so that he and Kuwei can almost pass for twins. Jesper can usually tell them apart and he kisses Kuwei, thinking it's Wylan, and wonders where the fireworks are. Then Wylan walks in.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Everyone. You're hard pressed to find a single character without a moment that qualifies, leading to a WorldOfSnark.
%%* DeliberateValuesDissonance

** [[spoiler: Dunyasha]] for Inej.
** In ''Crooked Kingdom'', Inej mentions the Suli belief that a person who commits enough bad deeds creates a shadow who follows them. [[spoiler: She believes Dunyasha is hers and Kaz is Pekka Rollins'.]]

* HatesBeingTouched: Kaz absolutely abhors being touched by others, namely due to an incident in his youth where he had to [[spoiler:use his dead brother's body to float by to shore after being abandoned at sea.]] It's so bad in fact, that he ends up getting a panic attack at one point late in the first book when he touches a prisoner without his gloves.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[TheGunslinger Jesper]]. While Matthias is also a good shot in keeping with his military background, Jesper just doesn't miss a target he has any sight on. [[spoiler: Justified, as Jesper is a Fabrikator who uses his powers to guide his bullets; a hint of Fridge Brilliance as well since all Grisha need to see their targets to use their powers, and the one limit Jesper mentions is he must have ''some'' visual to work with.]]

** In ''Crooked Kingdom'', Jan Van Eck has this technique used on[[spoiler: Wylan]]. He's not doing the actual "interrogation", but seems to enjoy directing it.[[spoiler: It was part of Kaz's plot, but Anika and Keeg don't hold back.]]

** The second-to-last chapter of ''Crooked Kingdom''. [[spoiler:Matthias gets shot by an unknown person (presumably another Drüskelle) and dies shortly after.]]

* WrongNameOutburst: Kaz accidentally calls Jesper by the name of [[spoiler: Jordie, the name of Kaz's dead older brother]] during a confrontation in ''Crooked Kingdom''.

** [[spoiler: Special mention goes to Jesper when he sees Wylan after being tailored back to himself. He'd mistakenly kissed Kuwei and wondered why it doesn't feel right, but when he kisses the real Wylan he gets the fireworks he expected.]]

** [[spoiler: Kaz, touch-averse to the extreme, manages a chaste kiss on Inej's shoulder. It's a pretty big deal.]]

* BuriedAlive: in ''Crooked Kingdom'', [[spoiler: Kaz convinces Pekka Rollins that he's done this to Pekka's son. Kaz is lying, but he gets Pekka to [[AintTooProudToBeg beg for his son's life]] in front of his {{Mooks}}, then sends Pekka on a wild goose chase to find the grave just when Jan Van Eck needs him to undo Kaz's ''other'' revenge plot.]]

** Jurda Parem.

%%FauxAffablyEvil

%%* HatesBeingTouched: Kaz

%%* InsecureLoveInterest

%%NiceJobBreakingItHero

* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler: Jan Van Eck]] tried. Twice.

* RedLightDistrict: The Barrel is of the hostile variety.

** [[spoiler: Nina being imprisoned by Jarl Brum, and seemingly betrayed by Matthias.]]
** The entire last chapter qualifies. [[spoiler: They were set up by Van Eck, there is no money, and Inej has been kidnapped.]]
%%WhamLine

* WouldHurtAChild: Not hurt per se, but Pekka Rollins was very willing to con Kaz and Jordie (and presumably others in a similar situation) out of all their money and leave them for dead.

* BeautyIsBad: Inej, Jesper, and the other girls at the Menagerie all think that Kaz, the Bastard of the Barrel, is hot.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: This book is one epic example of this in the YA fantasy market. The plot centers on a veritable LIST of topics typically deemed too strong for teenagers: gang violence, prostitution, human trafficking, and drugs. Many of the main characters are criminals with checkered pasts. Notably though, despite the various displays of debauchery happening in the background, none of the main characters use recreational drugs, have sex, smoke, or drink very much.

* BadassBisexual: Jesper, although the exact term used by Leigh Bardugo is pansexual. Nina is also heavily implied to be this and according to Leigh this may become explicit in future stories.[[spoiler: As of ''King of Scars'', it is explicit.]]

** Kaz and Jan are both ruthless, brutal, corrupt, ambitious [[{{sociopath}} sociopaths]], but the similarities end there. [[AtLeastIAdmitIt Kaz is aware of his own evil]], actually cares for the other Crows, and has several PetTheDog moments. Jan has a distinct LackOfEmpathy and victimizes anyone who gets in his way (even his own family), but regards himself as a noble, pious businessman; he's oblivious to his own true nature.

* BatmanGambit: Kaz's specialty.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Several times. Kaz is repulsed at a minor clerk for blackmailing a trafficked prostitute into sex. He drowns him in retaliation, though.

* HatesBeingTouched: Kaz

* MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat: [[spoiler:Under the influence of the Jurda Parem]], Nina tells Inej that she can hear Kaz' breath changing when he looks at Inej.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Kaz. Bright patterns are popular in the Barrel; Kaz wears well-tailors, dark-colored suits to mock the merchant class.

* MySensorsIndicateYouWantToTapThat: [[Spoiler:Under the influence of the Jurda Parem]], Nina tells Inej that she can hear Kaz' breath changing when he looks at Inej.

The duology is to be adapted into a Netflix series overlapping with the original ''Grisha Trilogy'' with the first season serving as a prequel to ''Six of Crows'' with Freddy Carter as Kaz Bekker, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, Kit Young as Jesper Fahey, Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik, and Calahan Skogman as Matthias Helvar.

* FlipTheBird: Kaz ends an argument with Jesper using "a time-saving gesture that relied heavily on his middle finger".

''Six of Crows'' is a 2015 fantasy heist novel by Creator/LeighBardugo. Set in the world of ''Literature/TheGrishaTrilogy'', it follows the adventures of six teenage criminals in trying to break into and out of the most secure prison in the world. The sequel, ''Crooked Kingdom'', concluded the duology in 2016; it has the protagonists attempting to rescue a captured comrade and stay one step ahead of their enemies.

* IntroOnlyPointOfView: The first chapter focus on a Stadwatch guard named Joost who witnesses his Grisha friend Anya being experimented on.

* PreMortemOneLiner: '''Nina:''' Let’s see if you’re metal all the way through.