i love how much thought and care you put into your analysis and videos but also i love how despite us suffering through the grisha trilogy you keep drudging it back up again. it's like we came back from the war and you keep talking about all the horrible things we've seen
I've just finished the Grisha Trilogy, and I seriously hope Six of Crows is as good as people say because the Grisha trilogy was so bland and mediocre.
The world building in the Six Of Crows is so amazing, there’s so much detail and so many interesting tidbits that aren’t necessary but enhance the experience.
I agree, but I do still think there were elements that were hazy or unclear. It's very hard to pinpoint what technologies they do have. In one instance, lights are mentioned - do they have electricity? In another, they ride an elevator - what does that look like? They also call down to the kitchens at the hotel in CK - is it a phone? A pipe? A bell? Not only that, but the magic system could be explained with more clarity/have more rules in my opinion!
whoa. you're good. you're like REALLY good. i only just found you, but this is what i hoped booktube would be like when i first discovered the community years ago. your intelligence is like medicine for my soul.
One of the lessons I got from this video: stick to your own rules. And if you are going to break them make sure it is a huge cost that will come back to haunt the characters later. Thanks Jordan, this video was really helpful, and very engaging. Can't wait for the next one. I only every read the first book of the Grisha trilogy but never felt compelled enough to continue. Six of crows and Crooked Kingdom I loved because the settings were a direct representation of who the characters were in some way. It shows how much the setting has impacted the characters.
"There are a lot of things in the magic system and in the world that are hazy or unclear; and, as a writer, that could provide a lot of freedom. But as a reader, that can be extremely frustrating." I didn't read the book, but I see it a lot of times in new writers material. The thing is, they know how their world (and everything within it) works. But they don't show it. On paper, they don't really examine or even refernce it. When one sits down to write a story, he or she usually thinks about how his\her world works; not how it doesn't. So I don't think it's about freedom in worldbuilding, rather, more about technique and execution. Don't get me wrong, it bothers me as well as it does anyone else. I always point it out to writers that I comment to. I just wanted to emphasize and clear what you said.
When I read the Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology I was amazed by the magic system and the mythology the author had built. It did have flaws but it was still so much more developed than other YA settings. I was really sad that King of Scars none of it proves to be true. I did like some elements in KoS but the wordlbuliding became so chaotic that I wish she would have just stuck with the rules she had created so far..
Yeah, I think a lot of people felt that way. To me it just felt really tonally off for the world she had created, and also really cheap to have all of that power with no reprecussions
One thing that put me off from continuing the Grisha trilogy after the first book is the way Russian elements were dealt with. This book was clearly intended for a Western audience considering how poor of a research Bardugo did. But when you come from a Slavic country and speak a language very similar to Russian it’s extremely cringy to get through this book. Is Six of Crows based on Imperial Russia too? Because if not I might give it a shot
I’m not Russian but I consider myself a “fan” of Russian culture and the mistakes she made bothered me too. I cringe every time I see Alina’s full name because I know it’s wrong. Bardugo did an awful job with researching and it makes me wonder if she researched at all.
This is such a great idea! I DNF’d the first book of the grisha trilogy because it was so mediocre compared to the six of crows duology, so I’m very excited to see you compare them and analyze them!
In king of scars, my biggest issue was not that the magic system and the constructs of the world expanded, it's that we got next to no explanation for why leaving us with a lot of questions. Sometimes excessive questions work but it's not very satisfying in this instance
Personally, I was very excited for King of Scars; I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the previous duology, but I was expecting something or relatively high quality. Unfortunately, I had to DNF it because it just wasn't keeping my interest and it's not something I'd want to re-read once the second book in the Nikolai series arrives. I'd rather just power through them both one after the other. I don't think King of Scars was a bad book or even a painfully mediocre one (hello SaB trilogy), and under a certain lens I can see why a lot of people like it and consider it good. Even I thought it had some absolutely fantastic moments until I DNF'd it (think I got to around page 260.) For example, the Nikolai chapter which includes the flashbacks about his brother and that one dude he was friends with was totally reminiscent of the style of storytelling that made SoC so good, IMO - an immense focus on intricate characterisation and engaging personal relationships with a really heavy emotional backdrop that serves to really help the reader relate to the character on the page as if he/she is a real person. This was something SoC managed to capture REALLY well, in almost every chapter; my main problem with King of Scars was that it had the potential to do this, and sometimes did, but it just came at such rare intervals. I've heard Zoya gets moments like these, but I assume they must be in Part 2 because while I found her to be more engaging than in SaB, I didn't think she was on the level of depth and complexity as any singular SoC character. In addition to this, I've never found Leigh Bardugo to be particularly adept at plotting (even in SoC, my favourite series of all time, the main reason it's so striking and fantastic is because of how human the characters are and how amazingly and intricately written the relationships are; the plot isn't exactly anything special, and the manner in which Kaz especially interweaves with the plot can make it feel cheap and predictable, most notably so in Crooked Kingdom), and this was obvious in King of Scars for me. I thought the individual plot lines had the potential to be engaging but Nina's chapters really broke the pace (Nina was a problem for me too; her story as a concept is fine, and I definitely liked aspects of it, but I feel it was too soon for a romantic subplot to start developing after that specific occurrence in Crooked Kingdom.) In addition, a few of the plot points felt quite contrived and not really explained properly...in a way, the plot was more of a mess than even the original trilogy. Characterisation was definitely better, which is more important to me in any case, but it wasn't on the same level as SoC as I said, which is my central reason for disappointment. Anyway, kind of a ramble, didn't see the video yet but felt like espousing my thoughts XD Hyped for this series, I'll need to watch the KoS live show at one point too. I know all the spoilers anyway; speaking of that, really not impressed with that shock twist I've heard is involved in the ending...ooh, really not a fan of it at all.
Yes! I think you make some really great points about King of Scars. There was some elements that were reminiscent of what was great about SOC, but they were too few and far between, or weren't used as effectively!
this is such a great idea, I really like this analysis so far! it really made me think "why DID SoC work but TGT didn't really?" the things you brought up and compared made me think about storytelling/plot structure/etc in general with comparing different aspects of SoC and TGT like this (which is a really good way to analyse them). I definitely agree with the point on worldbuilding (in TGT), where what we see(read) is kind of detached from "the world". I still havent read KoS yet but with the ending twist-thing which I semi-accidentally spoiled for myself (and which I dont like, it feels like a cop out to me) and hearing your comment about the magic system makes me wonder if I should hahaha (would do it for Nina)---- really looking forward to the other parts!
this is kind of more of an assumption but i think bardugo drew inspiration from the opium wars for parem so its creation and use is not far fetched while the whole "would you save your loved ones or the rest of the humanity?" is a theoretical question that everyone and their mothers use to prove the nature of the hero and you won't ever see an everyday person face. the first trilogy really is full of fantasy cliches yikes...
Just like you said i love these discussion videos because these really help me to become a more critical thinker and reader. Loved this episode & can't wait for the rest!!!
sort of going through your backlog, I really like this more video essay kind of video. It's really cool to see analysis of book series looking at something other than characters(though I do still love those)
i love the grishaverse (still think six of crows is better than shadow and bone) but now im scared you're going to tear into the world building lol! rightfully so since it could have been better!
I'm probably the only one who was not that excited for King of Scars because I am not obsessed with any of the returning characters featured in this book. Haven't read it yet but based on what I'm hearing, I will probably only care about Nikolai chapters. Maybe I'll have both my feet in his boat after reading it, let's see. Really good analysis Jordan.
Tbh I really dislike these books, but I like your videos. I think Bardugo is obscenely overhyped. I recently read King of Scars & I literally thought it was written like fan fiction for her other work. It wasn't a complete story, just garbled nonsense about char who are dead, or not dead, or coming back, or did this or that in the war & now have consequences, or don't...
I highly agree with you Scarlet. The Grisha Trilogy lacked strong world-building and authentic characters. Alina and Mal were just bland, annoying characters. And for me, the Darkling was kind of a cliché villain. I'm not a fan of the Six of Crows Duology either. The magic system was kinda broken and didn't make that much sense. Plus, contrary to popular belief, you actually need to read the Grisha Trilogy to in some-what way understand the SoC Duology universe rules. Kaz Brekker was an annoying, whiny bastard and the other members of the Dregs/Crow Club felt irealistic and boring. Also, a lot of the heist scenes felt expected and irreal and everything went according to plan. King of Scars was a whole lot of cheap fanfic to me. The magic system was AGAIN changed and made Zoya an overpowered character. Nikolai and his friend were boring to read about, and about everything else seemed cliché and pathetic. So yeah. Leigh Bardugo is a ridiculously overrated author.
Yey! I was so ready for this. This was so interesting and it definitely sparked some thoughts on what to/not to do in my own writing. Really love the indepth videos, Jordan.
High Key looking forward to Galethea's conclusion of her sorcerer/sorceries chaos/order series now after the points you made about how magic is built within this world. I wonder if the failure to land the trilogy helped the duology succeed. 🤷♂️🤷♀️
Great analysis! I would really like you to start reading the A Song of Ice and Fire! I am curious to hear your thoughts! Best of wishes from sunny Greece!
@@JordanHarveybooks you give your brain less credit than it deserves imo! Also you will enjoy them no matter how many they are out! Just my two cents 😉
You are def the most intellectual booktuber and have inspired me to want to read more critically though granted my content will never wind up looking near as good as this ❤❣
The one thing that bothers me is that I still dont know who Alina's parents are. Great review btw, really enjoyed it! I can't seem to find part 2 though?
You could do this video series with other popular books like the raven cycle or whatever is popular right now, also i only read six of crows and crooked kingdom and enjoyed it but i don't plan to read more from this world
I haven't read the raven cycle, but I definitely could do more of these! I think I'll need a bit of a break though because writing these has been challenging 😅
I think it’s simply just an author who improved her writing since writing Shadow & Bone. I think she realized her faults in the grisha trilogy and fixed them in SoC.
Oh, for sure! But I think King of Scars shows that she didn't learn from all of her mistakes. It just doesn't capture a lot of the magic in Six of Crows.
Hey, Jordan! R u aware of the Batwoman trailer? To me, I'm not looking forward to seeing the seriees b/c it feels like everything how not to make a strong female character. Do u have any thoughts on it?
I know why SOC's better Magic Heist and everyone loves a good heist. But for real I was like so confused when I had read the first book of the Grisha Trilogy and it sucked so I stopped then everyone was like Six of Crows is it.
I love your videos, and you looked stunning in this one! It always baffeld me how the same person who blessed us with SoC wrote the abomination that is the Grisha Trilogy. Like how can someone as compelling like Kaz come from the same brain as Mal and Alina ....beyond me. I'm really excited to see your take on this subject! If you ask me, it has to do with the characters. Idc that much about the worlds and the plots, the characters made me love soc and hate the ghrisa trilogy. Everything in the ghrisha trilogy feld bland and boring and tiresome. Alina herself didnt want to be in it lol.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's incredible how much she improved from one series to the other! And I think there's a lot to learn from and consider with each element, but I do agree that the characters are what show the most important and drastic change :)
I’m glad I audiobooked Grisha Trilogy, it would have been DNF’d otherwise. I did not connect to Alina at all and overall it was just whining from the beginning to the end. :P
Me neither, but english isn’t my first (or second) language so I’m pretty sure the audiobook made it possible to finish the Grisha trilogy. I think the same narrator read also Six of crows (I read this one) and Crooked kingdom (which I again listened) and her voice (and that “Russian” dialect) wasn’t a factor there so it must be that Crooked kingdom is just better book. 😄
You destroying my favorite part of Leigh’s books which (world building) is breaking my heart. But I understand why. 😂 I’m hoping for the ending of KOS is the necessary path, pays off in the end and not just a cheap “HOLY SHIT,” from the reader.
lmao this video is just old enough that you probably don't remember exactly what makeup you wore but it looks so pretty on you so hit a girl up if you know that lip color 👍🏻
I disagree, I think the Six of Crows duology is masterful in it's handling of characters and themes, and is able to subvert some of the obvious fantasy tropes by it's blending of genres!
@@JordanHarveybooks i look forward to seeing what you think would have made that mess in the fold better! there has to be a better way than what was in the book lol
