⇒Featuring magic, squad goals and dangerous cities

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Reminiscent of Six of Crows, Into the Crooked Place features a badass, diverse group of misfits who have to put up with each other (they love each other really??) whilst they go on a quest to save the Realms and the city they hold dear.
My favourite thing about this book had to be the characters. I love them. LOVE. Tavia is a badass b*tch who isn’t afraid to stand up for who she is. Despite being a busker – someone who sells illegal magic for the Kingpin – she hasn’t lost sight of her love for her friends and family. I loved that despite being so kickass and cool, she was also kind and loving. What a great main character.
My favourite character by far was Saxony. Not only was she a queer Crafter, but I also loved her story most of all. Saxony came to Creije to find her sister, and she’ll stop at nothing to get her back.
Karam was a kickass underground fighter with a heart of steel – except when it came to Saxony – and a fierce sense of loyalty.
Wesley reminds me of Kaz Brekker, in a very good way. With eyes only for Tavia, a tragic backstory and a terrible reputation as underboss of Crieje, he was hard not to grudgingly love.

“Sometimes it felt like she had nothing to hold on to. But if she lost everything, surely all she had left to do was gain. And there was so much Saxony wanted. Peace. Justice. Revenge.”
The world-building was pretty cool! Creije especially felt so real and atmospheric! It was such an awesome background for the story and really made the first part of the book come alive. It fitted seamlessly into the plot of the story and I’d totally love to visit (I’d probably die, not going to lie here).
However, the other places the crew travelled felt a little underdeveloped. There wasn’t enough description for me to really soak in the culture and feel of the other places.
This book was really well-paced! It introduced us to the characters well at the start without getting boring, then built up the tension more and more towards the end. Amid all the great action scenes, there was a lot of time to flesh out the characters. For some people, that might get a little boring, but I adored the characters and I hope that once the duology is resolved there’s a spin-off featuring Karam and Saxony where they get married. The plot was super interesting, full of twists and turns! I was caught up in this book.
Whilst Into the Crooked Place was good, it wasn’t without fault. A lot of the tropes in this book have been done before. They are some of my faves – gangsters, heists, black magic, magical disease, “secret” powers, ruthless boys with sad backstories – so I wasn’t complaining, but I think this book could have been a teeny bit more original in order to gain all of 5 of my stars!
Overall, Into the Crooked Place was a little cliché but a very good book. I’d absolutely recommend it to fans of Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic, and generally those who love YA fantasy!