Crooked Kingdom

This was a fun and satisfying ending to the story begun in [b:Six of Crows 23437156 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459349344s/23437156.jpg 42077459]. The characters are so vivid, I felt like I knew them as real people. There was a good balance of camaraderie and humor, action, drama, and romance. And a skosh of tragedy, but not too much. I was really impressed with Bardugo's crafting of characters with trauma that continues to impact them. These people have Stuff that goes far beyond a Mary Sue's “tragic backstory” and that causes them practical and interpersonal difficulty. And things don't get tied up with a “they won/fell in love and then everything was All Better!” bow. The places everyone ends up are mostly optimistic, but not Pollyanna-level.A specific shout-out should go to the plotting, with plenty of fun and surprising (but mostly earned) reveals. Kaz pulls off gambits that seem improbable unless you're a genius who's spent their entire life learning the workings of a whole city to serve an obsessive need for reven– oh, yeah. Kaz believably pulls of amazing gambits.Another area that stands out is LGBTQ+ representation. I'm an Old so maybe I'm easy to impress, but it's lovely to see a queer romance get equal billing (including kissing scenes) with the straight ‘shipping. Overall, it was fun, I feel like the Dregs are my friends, and I am going to check out more of Bardugo's work!