History Literature / SixOfCrows

* 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 beloved mother by his side; and Inej is going to live her dream of owning a ship, rescuing sex slaves, and destroying their captors. She even reunites with her lost parents, thanks to Kaz, who bought her the ship she dreamed of having and found her parents on her behalf.]]
* 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.

* 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.]]

* TheChessmaster: Kaz aspires to be one, and though he has his blindspots, he usually is. [[spoiler: Van Eck is one too, but he's OutGambitted by Kaz.]]

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Inej mentions how, at the Menagerie, all the girls would gush about Kaz whenever he would stop by to purchase information from Heleen; hoping ''he'' would request their services at least once because of how hot and mysterious he was.

* AntiHero: All our protagonists, but Kaz in particular. It's amazing how much we root for this utterly ruthless gangster, although it helps that he has a DarkAndTroubledPast and most of his opponents are even worse than he is.

* BadassCrew: The Crows in a nutshell.

** Inej is a former child acrobat and StealthExpert with a [[KnifeNut talent for knives]]. Due to her incredible stealth skills, she's earned the nickname the Wraith of the Barrel.

* KnifeNut: Inej uses a personal set of knives in her work - each one named after one of her saints. Kaz himself always has a few on hand as a backup weapon. Dunyasha is yet another example.

* KnifeNut: Inej uses a set of personal knives in her work- each of which is named after one of her saints. Kaz always has a few on hand. Dunyasha is yet another example.
* LonelyAtTheTop: The only person Kaz has any kind of real contact with is Inej, but even then it's only work-related.

** [[spoiler: Unwittingly, Jesper when he blabs about coming into some planned profit soon to the wrong person.]]
* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Both Inej and Nina are forces to be reckoned with, who can be exceptionally violent if need be. They are brought on as the Muscle of the gang, in contrast to the more physically powerful Matthias, who is the inside man, and Jesper who's a [[spoiler:metal bending Grisha.]]
* MrFanservice: Kaz briefs Inej on his plans all the while casually undressing and washing himself in his quarters, leaving her irritated and flustered. This was possibly intentional on Kaz's part.

** Inej is a former child acrobat and StealthExpert with a [[KnifenNut talent for knives]]. Due to her incredible stealth skills, she's earned the nickname the Wraith of the Barrel.

** Inej is a ninja, spy, and assassin who also functions as the group's grease monkey. Known mainly as The Wraith, Inej quickly proves herself effective and deadly in a fight.
** Nina, as the team's main muscle man, also qualifies. Despite not being particularly physically prone to combat, Nina can cause opponents to slip into comas, throw up, or even have heart attacks.
** Dunyasha, Inej's [[EvilCounterpart even more evil counterpart]].
* AdultFear: Inej was abducted from her family camp by slavers when she was only ''thirteen'', and sold into sexual slavery. Her parents would go on to spend several years with no idea what happened to her or whether she was even still alive. And, Inej herself is reluctant at the idea of reuniting again because she feels she's been [[InnocenceLost horrifically changed]] by her traumatic experiences.

** Kaz, at the age of 17, is one of the most dangerous and powerful crime lords in Ketterdam. He's a criminal mastermind who can plan highly effective strategies that nearly always work in his favor, sometimes in minutes.
** Inej is a virtuoso acrobat, and also a StealthExpert who earned her nickname as the Wraith of the Barrel.
** Matthias survived months of {{gladiator games}} in Hellsgate.

** Jesper is the ultimate crack shot, saving his teammates over and over again.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Kaz keeps his leadership role usually through brokering information, but he simply wipes out the competition in ''Crooked Kingdom'' [[spoiler:to take over the Dregs.]] This seems to be the accepted way of things among the Barrel gangs.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Kaz. Bright patterns are popular and the norm in the Barrel. However, Kaz wears well-tailored, dark-colored suits to mock the merchant class.

* 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 the names, he has at least several other women hired. Not once in the novel are any abilities questioned due to the above characteristics (aside from Wylan's dyslexia). There aren't a lot of objectively "good" guys, but the respectable, lawmaking force of Ketterdam seems to be fairly white and male.

* SlutShaming: Averted, as Inej is never made to feel lesser for her past as a sex trafficking victim and Nina has no problem keeping her heartrending therapy office inside a brothel.

* AdultFear: Inej was abducted from her family camp by slavers when she was only ''thirteen'', and sold into sexual slavery. Her parents would go on to spend several years with no idea what happened to her or whether she was even still alive. And, Inej herself is reluctant at the idea of reuniting again because she feels she's been changed too much by her horrendous experiences.

* 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 and Jesper is [[OhCrap horrified]].]]

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Jesper likes to joke, in fact one of the first things he does is tell too many jokes during Kaz's meeting with Geels. He's [[ImprobableAimingSkills the team's sharpshooter]] and useful in a fistfight as well.

** [[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: Matthias has been hoping to save up a proper kiss for Nina at what he deems to be the right time. Nina disagrees and is annoyed that he's waiting for the "proper moment". It's still pretty spectacular when it finally happens.]]

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Kaz's whole life and the sole reason for him becoming a crime lord has been entirely rooted in exacting revenge. And, at the end of ''Crooked Kingdom'', [[spoiler: he confronts Pekka Rollins with the horrific claim that he's kidnapped and buried his son alive. However, if Pekka can simply remember the name of Kaz's late brother, he'll offer mercy. A desperate Pekka can't do this because, to him, they were just a couple of random marks years ago. He ''can'' somewhat remember them, but not their names or anything significant about them.]]

** Nina is hired on as a Muscle Man (due to her skills as a heart render), but doubles as the Roper and the Con Woman as the heist wears on.
** Matthias, who despite being the most physically muscled acts mainly as The Inside Man.

* EmotionallyTongueTied: Kaz ''cannot'' tell Inej how he feels about her, sometimes opting to say ridiculous things. In one instance Kaz names in his narrative, when Inej was seated in an open window in his office during a sunny day and feeding the crows, he remarked how she shouldn't feed the birds. She asked him why and when he looked up to respond, he lost his train of thought because of how beautiful she looked in the sunlight. Tongue-tied, he randomly said that crows have no manners. But he can't admit ''this'' of course!

* 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 the names, he has at least several other women hired. Not once in the novel are any abilities questioned due to the 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.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Kaz knows this fact, and exploits it to tip battles in his favor by threatening his enemy's loved ones. Even if he doesn't actually mean it, he says the trick is to make them ''think'' he'll do it in order to make them desperate from simple fear.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Kaz is repulsed at a minor clerk for blackmailing a trafficked prostitute into sex, something which can very easily get the girl killed. (On the basis that she is "servicing" a man that doesn't earn profit for her boss, which is a known fact in the work of prostitutes.) He drowns him in retaliation.

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

** Kaz, at the age of 17, is one of the most dangerous and powerful crime lords in Ketterdam. His success comes from highly effective strategies that nearly always work in his favor.

** Wylan's talents are numerous, but his explosives in particular are more than anyone bargained for.

* WrongNameOutburst: Kaz accidentally calls Jesper by the name of [[spoiler:Jordie, the name of Kaz's dead older brother,]] during a heated confrontation in ''Crooked Kingdom''. Kaz is left all but kicking himself for the slip-up.

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

** [[spoiler: Matthias has been hoping to save up a proper kiss for Nina at what he deems to be the right time. Nina disagrees and is annoyed that he's waiting for the "proper moment". It's pretty spectacular when it happens anyway.]]
** [[spoiler: Kaz manages a chaste kiss on Inej's neck during an especially private and intimate moment between the two. Coming from [[HatesBeingTouched Kaz of all people]], the small gesture is a 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 owning a ship, rescuing sex slaves, and destroying their captors. She even reunites with her lost parents, thanks to Kaz, who bought her the ship she dreamed of having and found her parents on her behalf.]]

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Kaz's whole life has been about revenge, and at the end of ''Crooked Kingdom'', [[spoiler: he confronts Pekka Rollins, claims to have kidnapped his son, and offers mercy for the boy if Pekka can simply remember the name of Kaz's brother. Pekka can't do this because, to him, they were just a couple of random marks years ago. He ''can'' somewhat remember them, but not their names or anything significant about them.]]

** Jurda Parem. [[spoiler:Nina eventually gets some of it to use, and she become exceptionally more powerful than she usually is.]]

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: It's hard to deny that the book presents a certain allure to Kaz and his lifestyle.

** Kaz, at the age of 17, is one of the most dangerous and powerful crime lords in Ketterdam.

** Jesper is the ultimate crackshot, saving his teammates over and over again.

** Inej is a ninja, spy, and assassin who functions as the group's grease monkey. Known mainly as The Wraith, Inej quickly proves herself effective and deadly.
** Nina, as the team's main muscle man, qualifies. Despite not being particularly physically prone to combat, Nina can cause opponents to slip into comas, throw up, or have heart attacks.

* AdultFear: Inej was abducted from her family camp by slavers when she was only ''thirteen'', and sold into sexual slavery. Her parents would go on to spend 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 horrendous experiences.

* AdultFear: Inej was abducted from her family camp by slavers when she was only ''thirteen'', and sold into sexual slavery. Her parents will have 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 horrendous experiences.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Inej mentions how, at the Menagerie, all the girls would gush about Kaz and how hot he was; hoping ''he'' would request their services at least once because of how hot and mysterious he looked.

* HealingHands: Nina, although partially subverted in that Grisha with her set of skills are meant to use them for violent purposes. She admits to wishing to use them for good, though, and tries teaching herself to heal others.
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Kaz takes this approach when questioning a suspect. He is about to pull his suspect back up after he's provided with information, until the suspect panics and reveals that he's been blackmailing a girl who works at the Menagerie into servicing him; to which, Kaz drops the man to his death.

* TheManBehindTheMan: Per Haskell may be the face of The Dregs, but it's no question that the Dreg's successes are due to the machinations of Kaz Brekker.

** 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.

** [[spoiler: Unwittingly, Jesper.]]

* MrFanservice: Kaz briefs Inej on his plans all the while casually washing himself in his quarters, leaving her irritated and flustered. This was possibly intentional on Kaz's part.

* AppetiteEqualsHealth: Nina Zenik (whose introduction in the book is marked by her wolfing down a slice of cake, and bringing toffees when told to pack essentials) is a noted Big Eater. After she takes the jurda parem, she loses her appetite from withdrawal. In ''Crooked Kingdom'', her regaining her appetite is a sign that she's recovering.

* AppetiteEqualsHealth: Nina Zenik (whose introduction in the book is marked by her wolfing down a slice of cake, and brings toffees when told to pack essentials) is a noted Big Eater. After she takes the jurda parem, she loses her appetite from withdrawal. In ''Crooked Kingdom'', her regaining her appetite is a sign that she's recovering.

* 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.]]

** [[spoiler: Matthias has been hoping to save up a proper kiss for Nina at the right time. Nina disagrees and is annoyed that he's waiting for the "proper moment". It's pretty spectacular when it happens anyway.]]
** [[spoiler:Kaz, touch-averse to the ''extreme'', manages a chaste kiss on Inej's shoulder. Coming from him, 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 owning a ship, rescuing sex slaves, and destroying their captors. She even reunites with her lost parents, thanks to Kaz, who bought her the ship and found her parents on her behalf.]]

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Kaz's whole life has been about revenge, and at the end of ''Crooked Kingdom'', [[spoiler: he confronts Pekka Rollins, claims to have kidnapped his son, and offers mercy for the boy if Pekka can remember the name of Kaz's brother. Pekka can't, because to him they were just a couple of marks. He ''can'' remember them slightly, but not their names or much of anything about them.]]

* {{Flashback}}: Numerous in both books.
* FlawExploitation: Kaz relies heavily on this. It does seem to be something he has an innate knack for; his first crime was stealing another child's candy and trousers, relying on the boy's shame to keep him from calling for help before Kaz could get away.

** [[spoiler:Dunyasha]] for Inej. Inej is a relatively grounded former acrobat-turned spy and assassin who has a good set of morals and fights for justice in any way that she can, [[spoiler: eventually becoming a pirate that hunts down slavers to protect families from the traumas she was afflicted with.]] [[spoiler:Dunyasha, on the other hand, is an AxCrazy, [[LargeHam hammy]] assassin who claims descent from royalty, choosing to hire herself out as a killer because she gets a twisted thrill from killing.]]
** 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 a traumatic event in his youth where [[spoiler: he had been mistaken for a street corpse during an epidemic and was thrown into the ocean to be disposed of along with a massive pile-up of dead bodies, including his own brother. His physical weakness further forced him to use his brother's rotting corpse to swim back to shore.]] The trauma from this was so bad that he ends up having a panic attack and fainting late in the first book when he's in a crowded prison carriage during a mission. [[spoiler: Inej has to talk him out of his panic attack and he all but begs her to keep talking so he can keep his focus off of his phobia.]]

** 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.

* 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''.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The things Kaz uses as leverage at the beginning of the book end up being used against him and ultimately lead to his downfall.

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

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:Matthias turns his back on the Drüskelle when he realizes the Grisha aren't inherently evil. He pays for it when he's killed by a teenaged Drüskelle who's as brainwashed as Matthias once was.]]

** Kaz only needs the ''idea'' of [[spoiler: the plague returning]] to plunge Ketterdam into chaos.
** He tricks Pekka Rollins into thinking [[spoiler: he'd had his son buried alive]], knowing that [[spoiler: even after finding him safe, thoughts of what might have happened will continue to plague him. As Kaz says, he could only kill Pekka's son once, but Pekka will imagine his death a thousand times.]]
* OddFriendship: Friendship is a stretch, but Kaz has an unexpected amount of respect and compassion towards Wylan, even arguing that his father would still care for him under cover of a bet, and being a little put out when it turns out he's wrong.
* OfficialCouple: Nina and Matthias by the second book [[spoiler:until his death]], Jesper and Wylan, Kaz and Inej are implied to become this at the end.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Kaz tosses a man off a bridge at the start of ''Crooked Kingdom'' (he had originally planned to let him live) after he offers the services of a prostitute he's blackmailed into sleeping with him.

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: He's actually talking about prison, but Kaz alludes to this when talking to Van Eck. However, Kaz is a virgin due to his aversion to skin-on-skin contact (and how young he was when this phobia came about).

* SexSlave: [[spoiler: Inej was kidnapped by slave traders and sold as one to the Menagerie to Tante Heleen. Kaz paid off her indenture so she could work for him as a spy and assassin. A major part of her character is her desire for revenge against Tante Heleen and to ensure she can never hurt any more children. Furthermore, she decides that once she has earned enough money, she will purchase her own ship to become a pirate to stop human traffickers and do all she can to end slave trade.]]

''Six of Crows'' is a 2015 fantasy heist novel by Creator/LeighBardugo. It is part of ''Literature/TheGrishaverse'' (which also includes ''Literature/TheGrishaTrilogy'').

The story 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.

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 Brekker, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, Kit Young as Jesper Fahey, Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik, and Calahan Skogman as Matthias Helvar.

** 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.

** Inej's parents, too. She says she's grateful they weren't there when the slavers took her because they would have died to save her.
* HatesBeingTouched: Kaz absolutely ''abhors'' being touched by others, namely due to an incident in his youth where [[spoiler: he had been mistaken for a street corpse during an epidemic and was thrown into the ocean to be disposed of along with a massive pile-up of dead bodies, forcing him to use his brother's corpse to swim back to shore.]] It's so bad that he ends up having a panic attack and fainting late in the first book when he's in a crowded prison carriage during a mission. [[spoiler: Inej has to talk him out of his panic attack and keep him focused from his phobia.]]

* EmotionallyTongueTied: Kaz ''cannot'' tell Inej how he feels, sometimes opting to say ridiculous things like telling her that crows have no manners because she's taken his breath and train of thought. But he can't say ''that'' of course!

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Kaz knows this fact, and exploits it to tip battles in his favor by threatening his enemy's loved ones.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The Crows are a 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 usually help keep Ketterdam relatively out of trouble because of their actions.

* 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 the 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.

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

** Kaz rips out Oomen's eyeball with his own fingers after he nearly kills Inej. The others react in shock and disgust.

* FantasticDrug: The invention of ''jurda parem'', a drug that increases a Grisha's abilities but leaves them addicted and puts an enormous strain on their bodies, kicks off the plot of the books. ''Jurda'', the benign form of it, is a mild stimulant made from orange blossoms.

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

* LonelyAtTheTop: The only person Kaz has any kind of real contact with is Inej, but even then it's only work related.

* PregnantHostage: Alys, briefly, in ''Crooked Kingdom''. In this case, it's not the ''wife'' who matters; Jan has made very clear how much he cares for his new heir, with Alys being a means to achieve that.

* ProudWarriorRace: War and honor are a huge part of Fjerdan culture, although looked upon fairly negatively. Ravkan culture too has some aspects of this, as far as grisha are concerned.

* 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 owning a ship, rescuing sex slaves, and destroying their captors. She even reunites with her lost parents, thanks to Kaz; who bought her the ship and found her parents on her behalf.]]

-->[[ComicallyMissingThePoint Matthias:]] There is no princess of Engelsberg. It's a fishing town.

* TheTeam: The tittle of the first book (and the duology as a whole) is named after the six main characters that are recruited for a mission
** Kaz:TheLeader
** Inej: TheLancer ,doubles as TheHeart

** The second-to-last chapter of ''Crooked Kingdom''. [[spoiler:Matthias gets shot by a young Drüskelle and dies in Nina's arm shortly thereafter.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: Per Haskell may be the face of The Dregs, but it's no question that the Dreg's successes are due to the machinations of Kaz Brekker.

** Kaz and Jan are both ruthless, brutal, corrupt, and ambitious, 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), is a [[{{sociopath}} sociopath]], but regards himself as a noble, pious businessman; he's oblivious to his own true nature.
** [[spoiler:Dunyasha]] for Inej. Inej is a relatively grounded former acrobat-turned spy and assassin who has a good set of morals 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 descent 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.

* GainingTheWillToKill: Kaz killing the clerk at the start of ''Crooked Kingdom,'' because he realizes the clerk was the kind of man who took advantage of trafficking victims like Inej.

* 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 back 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.
* HealingHands: Nina, although partially subverted in that she mainly uses those skills for very violent purposes.
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Kaz takes this approach when questioning a suspect. He is about to pull his suspect back up after he's provided with information, until the suspect panics and reveals that he's been blackmailing a girl who works in the same place Inej used to be enslaved, after which Kaz drops the man to his death.

** Kaz threatens a minor clerk at the start of ''Crooked Kingdom''. He plans to let the man live, but kills him after he finds that he has been blackmailing a prostitute into servicing them.

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

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

** Kaz rips out Oomen's eyeball after he nearly kills Inej. The others react in shock and disgust.

** Kaz's rise to power in the Dregs is to get revenge on Pekka Rollins for conning him and Jordie out of their money, leaving them for dead, and resulting in Jordie's death.

** While fired up on Inej nearly dying, Kaz cuts out Oomen's eyes to learn about who lead the ambush, then drowns him (despite claiming he'd let him live if he gave him the info).
** Kaz threatens a minor clerk at the start of ''Crooked Kingdom''. He plans to let the man live, but kills him after he finds that he has been blackmailing a prostitute.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Kaz cuts out Oomen's eyes and then drowns him.

* SexSlave: [[spoiler: Inej was one at the Menagerie for Tante Heleen. It's how she was forcefully taken to Ketterdam. Kaz paid off her indenture so she could work for him as a spy and assassin. A major part of her character is her desire for revenge upon Tante Heleen, to the point of deciding to become a pirate to stop human traffickers in order to prevent other girls from suffering as she has.]]

** Matthias survived months of {{gladiator games}} in the Hellsgate.
** Nina is a terrifying heartrender, even more so after [[spoiler:consuming jurda parem.]]

* AdultFear: Inej was abducted from her family camp by slavers when she was only ''thirteen'', and sold into sexual slavery. Her parents will have 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.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Inej and the other girls at the Menagerie all think that Kaz, the Bastard of the Barrel, is hot.

* MrFanservice: Kaz briefs Inej on his plans all the while washing himself in his quarters, leaving her irritated and flustered. This might have been intentional on Kaz's part.

** In ''Crooked Kingdom'', Kaz delivers one of these to about ten men at one time, going in with nothing but his cane and a decent suit. Even after losing the cane, he continues doling out crippling if not killing injuries, [[spoiler:assuming leadership of the Dregs when he's done.]]

* OfficialCouple: Nina and Matthias by the second book[[spoiler:until his death]]Jesper and Wylan,Kaz and Inej are implied to become this at the end.

* PrecisionFStrike: There's a surprising lack of swearing in the book, likely due in part to the genre restrictions of fantasy YA. This makes it all the more serious when in the flashback where Kaz meets Pekka Rollins, he says the following:

* PregnantHostage: Alys, briefly, in ''Crooked Kingdom''. In this case it's not the ''wife'' who matters; Jan has made very clear how much he cares for his new heir, with Alys being a means to that end.

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: He's actually talking about prison, but Kaz alludes to this when talking to Van Eck. Kaz is a virgin though, and likely to remain one due to his aversion to human skin.

* SexSlave: [[spoiler: Inej was one at the Menagerie for Tante Heleen. It's how she was forcefully taken to Ketterdam. Kaz paid off her indenture so she could work for him as a spy and assassin. A major part of her character is her desire for revenge upon Tante Heleen, to the point of deciding to become a pirate to stop human traffickers.]]

* StrictlyProfessionalRelationship: Kaz and Inej, though they both slowly get their heads out of their arses during the first book. That's not to say it's enough for an actual RelationshipUpgrade, though.

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Features heavily in both books, as a good portion of the action is watching the crows' plans unfold in real time.