Date: December 28, 2025
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: young adult fantasy YA fantasy, heist fiction
Bravo! Twisty plot turns and characters to root for abound in this tale! I loved the tension, the pacing was on point, and I flew through these pages.
This tale was of an unlikely sextet, (group of 6) coming together to break into a prison and breakout a very valuable scientist. The one person that knows the exact recipe for a potent drug known to increase a geisha’s (a girl with magical powers) already naturally potent powers.
The downside to this drug was that it only took one use and the user was hopelessly addicted. Physically and mentally.
A lot was riding on Kaz and his gang being able to accomplish their mission. But when one dirty cheat is hired out by another dirty cheat will these nefarious masterminds hold up each of their ends of the bargain? As they say, ‘The deal is the deal.’
Or is it?
This story is grouped in with the YA genre and I wonder if this isn’t on the racier end of the YA spectrum. There were a lot of adult themes being enacted by teenagers forced to grow up too fast in the mean streets of Ketterdam. It’s a made-up place that reminds me of the 5 points neighborhood in New York.