Favourite quotes: Crooked Kingdom

Today I’m making another post about my favourite quotes. Last month, I talked about quotes from Clap When You Land, and I couldn’t resist making another one after I read Crooked Kingdom for the first time last week.

A warning if you haven’t read Six of Crows or Crooked Kingdom, there will be spoilers!

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Quick overview of my thoughts: Wow. I didn’t think Crooked Kingdom could outshine Six of Crows but I loved it even more (I rated SoC 4.5 stars and CK 5 stars). I could have read anything with these 6 characters in it, but the plot was so good too and Kaz’s plans were mind-blowing, reading the plot twists made me feel so stupid!

Group interactions:

❝“Do you know what Van Eck’s problem is?” “No honour?” said Matthias. “Rotten parenting skills?” said Nina. “Receding hairline?” offered Jesper.❞

❝“Isn’t that how things are done around here?” asked Wylan. “We all tell Kaz we’re fine and then do something stupid?” “Are we that predictable?” said Inej. Wylan and Matthias said in unison, “Yes.”❞

❝“Now will someone feed me before I’m forced to cook one of you?” “Don’t be ridiculous,” said Jesper. “You don’t know how to cook.”❞

The dialogue shows off everyone’s humour and the found family aspect, which just melts my heart.

Friendship:

❝He had no illusions about why Kaz had looked out for him, but he also knew he never would have survived this long without his help. And Kaz didn’t care if he could read. Kaz and the others teased him, but they’d given him a chance to prove himself. They valued the things he could do instead of punishing him for the things he couldn’t.❞

❝“There’s a wound in you, and the tables, the dice, the cards—they feel like medicine. They soothe you, put you right for a time. But they’re poison, Jesper. Every time you play, you take another sip. You have to find some other way to heal that part of yourself.” She laid her hand on his chest. “Stop treating your pain like it’s something you imagined. If you see the wound is real, then you can heal it.”❞

❝She imagined all of them—Kaz, Nina, Matthias, Jesper, Wylan, Kuwei, who’d had so little say in the course of his own life—perched side by side on a wire, their balance precarious, their lives tethered together by hope and belief in one another.❞

❝Kaz watched him for a long moment. “That’s the right move, Jes.” It was a little like forgiveness.❞

Their bond is so strong and these quotes are so precious. One thing I wish there had been more of was Jesper and Kaz. I didn’t feel like their fight really resolved much and I wish there were more scenes with them just interacting. Jesper and Inej’s friendship is the best though.

Romance!

❝“I would come for you,” he said, and when he saw the wary look she shot him, he said it again. “I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together—knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”❞

❝“Why do you keep staring at him?” Kuwei said. “I look just like him. You could look at me.” “I’m not staring at him,” protested Jesper. “I’m … overseeing their work.”❞

❝Nina glanced from Inej to Kaz and saw they both wore the same expression. Nina knew that look. It came after the shipwreck, when the tide moved against you and the sky had gone dark. It was the first sight of land, the hope of shelter and even salvation that might await you on a distant shore.❞

❝Jesper’s mind emptied. He wasn’t thinking of what had happened before or what might happen next. There was only the reality of Wylan’s mouth, the press of his lips, then the fine bones of his neck, the silky feel of his curls as Jesper cupped his nape and drew him nearer. This was the kiss he’d been waiting for. It was a gunshot. It was prairie fire. It was the spin of Makker’s Wheel. Jesper felt the pounding of his heart—or was it Wylan’s?—like a stampede in his chest, and the only thought in his head was a happy, startled, Oh.❞

❝“I’m not ready to give up on this city, Kaz. I think it’s worth saving.” I think you’re worth saving.❞

❝Matthias was dreaming again. Dreaming of her. The storm raged around him, drowning out Nina’s voice. And yet his heart was easy. Somehow he knew that she would be safe, she would find shelter from the cold. He was on the ice once more, and somewhere he could hear the wolves howling. But this time, he knew they were welcoming him home.❞

So, there’s a lot of romance. At first I thought each character being coupled off would be annoying, but it doesn’t distract from the rest of the story, and each relationship is so different and interesting in its own way. I loved Kaz and Inej’s development, Wylan and Jesper’s interactions, and… let’s not talk about Nina and Matthias, it’s too soon.

Extra:

❝He had become a great beast, and yet that beast would devour him. His prayers turned to screams, but both went unanswered.❞

❝Besides, he liked the rhythm of the canals at night, the streetlamps reflected off the water, the silence, the feeling of passing unseen through the sleeping world, glimpsing a light in a window, someone rising restless from his bed to close a curtain or look out at the city.❞

❝Inej remembered the way the sun had caught the brown in his eyes only hours before. Now they were the colour of coffee gone bitter in the brewing. But she was not going to back down.❞

❝Had she really thought the world didn’t change? She was a fool. The world was made of miracles, unexpected earthquakes, storms that came from nowhere and might reshape a continent. The boy beside her. The future before her. Anything was possible.❞

Here are a few other quotes I highlighted, mostly for the writing style: it’s fairly simple, yet beautiful!

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Okay, I’m done gushing about the Crooked Kingdom, for now. Thanks for reading! Did you like these quotes?

—ella♥