If I had to sum up my feelings about this book in a single sentence, I would say this book is passable. I read a lot of fantasy and there was nothing about INTO THE CROOKED PLACE that really made it stand out to me, as it follows the typical formula of many best-selling YA titles coming out these days, to the point that over-saturation has rendered them virtually indistinguishable from one another. INTO THE CROOKED PLACE is not a bad book, nor is it an exceptionally good one. It's an okay YA fantasy with decent writing and some interesting but two-dimensional characters.
As I said, the characters were fine. I felt like they checked a lot of boxes, to be honest. Wesley and Tavia are the childhood friends who still care about each other but pretend not to. Wesley is the smooth-talking dapper criminal who seems to have been created with the intention of fan service. Karam and Saxony were an F/F couple who broke up but still have feelings for each other, which is refreshing to see, but their sexual tension-fueled constant bickering started to get a little old, after a while. You could pick up this cast and drop them into virtually any other fantasy novel that came out within the past five years, and whether it's SIX OF CROWS or THE GILDED WOLVES, they could still fill out virtually the same roles, in a virtually similar storyline, without much change to the plot.
I also feel like it's hard to suss out the target audience for this book. The cover and writing style feel like this is geared towards younger teens/older middle grade, but the writing itself is peppered with swear words and the characters appear to be older teens. I don't know if it's gritty enough for older teens to really enjoy, but the subject matter might be too dark for younger kids.
As I said, the characters were fine. I felt like they checked a lot of boxes, to be honest. Wesley and Tavia are the childhood friends who still care about each other but pretend not to. Wesley is the smooth-talking dapper criminal who seems to have been created with the intention of fan service. Karam and Saxony were an F/F couple who broke up but still have feelings for each other, which is refreshing to see, but their sexual tension-fueled constant bickering started to get a little old, after a while. You could pick up this cast and drop them into virtually any other fantasy novel that came out within the past five years, and whether it's SIX OF CROWS or THE GILDED WOLVES, they could still fill out virtually the same roles, in a virtually similar storyline, without much change to the plot.
I also feel like it's hard to suss out the target audience for this book. The cover and writing style feel like this is geared towards younger teens/older middle grade, but the writing itself is peppered with swear words and the characters appear to be older teens. I don't know if it's gritty enough for older teens to really enjoy, but the subject matter might be too dark for younger kids.