#His father his mother Inej Nina Matthias leading them across the muddy canal

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

A few interesting parallels in the SoC duology that I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about yet

(Analysis/discussion of these parallels/quotes may come later if anyone's interested)

“These creatures were made to be weapons” - Jarl Brum on Grisha, Six of Crows chapter 35

“He looked like what he truly was: a weapon” - Jesper Fahey on the Khergud, Crooked Kingdom chapter 36

“Welcome to the Hellshow” - Kaz to Nina, Six of Crows chapter 6

“Welcome to the Ice Court, Nina Zenik” - Matthias to Nina, Six of Crows chapter 34

“Is this a play?” - Alys Van Eck “Yes love, and you’re the star” - Jesper Fahey, Crooked Kingdom chapter 8 when Alys is taken captive

“What was this but a play Kaz had staged, with that poor sucker Kuwei as the star?” - Jesper Fahey on the auction plan, Crooked Kingdom chapter 36

“he looked like a priest come to preach to group of circus performers” - Inej on Kaz’s appearance in comparison to the rest of the Barrel, Six of Crows chapter 2

“started to preach” - Inej on Kaz leading a coup against Per Haskell, Crooked Kingdom chapter 27

“Whoever he had become, Matthias was not going to shoot someone unarmed. He'd not yet sunk so far” - Matthias Helvar, Six of Crows chapter 29

“I am unarmed” - Matthias Helvar, Crooked Kingdom chapter 38

"I didn't even know the rules of Makker's Wheel" - Jesper Fahey on his first night gambling in the Barrel, Six of Crows chapter ()

"He knew his guns better than he knew the rules of Makker's Wheel" - Jesper Fahey on the concept of aim and its relationship to his life and his zowa/Grisha abilities, Crooked Kingdom chapter 36

“a tiny voice inside him said he should offer to take the drug as well […] maybe he could have helped to draw the parem out of Nina’s system and set her free. But that was a hero’s voice and Jesper had long since stopped thinking he had the makings of a hero” - Jesper Fahey, Six of Crows chapter 44

“Matthias gave you the remaining parem, didn’t he?” “So?” “[…] I can’t let my father down again. I need the parem as a security measure” “No” “Why the hell not?” - Jesper and Kaz in discussion about the auction plan, Crooked Kingdom chapter 30

I'll probably be back to add more, feel free to add your own as well

[jujus-bizarre-blog]

Some of my favourite Crooked Kingdom quotes :)

So I finished Crooked Kingdom and this post is gonna be a lot less articulate than my last one about the series because...

Who the actual fuck let the last 100 pages of that novel happen???

They were so entertaining but aside from that they had some of the most beautiful sentiments and prose. So I am going to share my favourites from each character's POV in Part Six: Action & Echo :3

Nina: Page 455

"But she hadn't been made for shame."

"Nina had grieved for her loss of power, for the connection she'd felt to the living world. She'd resented this shadow gift. It had seemed like a sham, a punishment. But just as surely as life connected everything, so did death. It was that endless, fast-running river. She'd dipped her fingers into its current, held the eddy of its power in her hand. She was the Queen of Mourning, and in its depths, she would never drown."

It's such a beautiful sentiment and moment to watch her fully come to love herself again and her new power. I love Nina as a deeply relatable character and this was just so perfect to see her come back to loving and finding herself.

Inej: Page 460

"But what about the rest of us? What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was how you survived when you weren't chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway."

This gave me chills. Everything about this is utterly gut wrenching and feels incredibly relatable. I reread that line probably 4 times before moving on.

Jesper: Page 471

"It's not a gift. It's a curse. But when it came down to it, Jesper's life had been full of blessings. His father. His mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias leading them across the muddy canal. Kaz--even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home and a family in the Dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole. And Wylan. Wylan who had understood before Jesper ever had that the power inside him might be a blessing too."

Jesper realizing that for all the shit luck he has at tables he has been lucky enough to have amazing people in his life. It's just very sweet.

Matthias: Page 483

"Unnatural, said the old, determined voice. Beautiful, said the voice that had spoken the night he'd helped Jesper and Kuwei escape Black Veil. It was newer, less certain, but louder than ever before."

I love this part because it shows just how much Matthias has changed through the two books. It's beautiful and sweet and heartwarming.

Wylan: Page 427

"Wylan summoned every bit of bravado he'd learned from Nina, will he'd learned from Matthias, the focus he'd studied in Kaz, the courage he'd learned from Inej, and the wild, reckless hope he's learned from Jesper, the belief that no matter the odds, somehow they would win."

Okay... I cheated with Wylan's it's from his chapter just before Action & Echo... BUT, I think this sentiment is much more telling than anything in his Part Six chapter. I love this quote because it shows just how much his found family taught him. They're messy, they're brutal, and they're awful, but they are everything to each other. They teach each other, they help, they care, they tease, and that's way more than Wylan ever had at home.

Kaz: Page 480 & 529

"'I also had her stop at the Menagerie.'

She smiled then, her eyes red, her cheeks scattered with some kind of dust. it was a smile he thought he might die to earn again."

"'That's the laugh,' he murmured."

The second quote isn't from his chapter, it's from Inej's final one, but it conveys the same thing as the first quote. It shows what Kaz could have been, that somewhere in there he wants to show Inej can take his armour off, that he is willing to do it for her and I think it's just really gratifying to see.

That all being said chapter 42 was so evil. It had me going from sobbing of joy to sobbing of sorrow and back to joy in the span of 3 paragraphs istg. What the actual fuck Leigh Bardugo???

[marvelousgeeks]

Portrayed by: Kit Young Book | Show: Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, and Netflix’s Shadow and Bone

“But when it came down to it, Jesper’s life had been full of blessings. His father. His mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias leading them across the muddy canal. Kaz—even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home and a family in the Dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole. And Wylan. Wylan, who had understood before Jesper ever had that the power inside him might be a blessing too” (Bardugo 311).

The common denominator between each of the six crows amid their differing personalities is the desire to belong somewhere. To be a part of something bigger than they are. Each of them is flawed in ways they can’t accurately confront, but they give themselves to what matters most—protecting their friends. Jesper Fahey is many things: a sharpshooter, a Grisha, a gambler, but most importantly, he’s loyal. He’s devoted, and he’s good, and he’s brave enough to be himself.

Continue Reading

[crowshoots]

Jesper’s life had been full of blessings. His father. His mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias leading them across the muddy canal. Kaz—even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home and a family in the Dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole. And Wylan. Wylan who had understood before Jesper ever had that the power inside him might be a blessing too.

[friendlyneighborhoodpsyop]

Quotes about Jesper Fahey:

He held a grudge as well as he held his liquor, and he had a gift for making Kaz’s victories sound like they belonged to everyone.

This was the skill that kept him in the Dregs even after his debts mounted and it became clear Jesper loved the cards more than luck loved him.

“Close your eyes!” “You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan.”

His hair was messed, his pupils dilated. He seemed almost drunk, or like he’d just rolled out of someone’s bed. He always had that look after a fight.

“Everyone knows you can’t keep away from a fight or a wager, not matter the odds.”

It cost Jesper something to admit that. Would Kaz have gone off on that kind of a mad-dog tear if it had been Jesper with a knife stuck in his side?

“Like a hive of bees in your dresser drawer.” Jesper barked a laugh. “Just like that.” “So what are we doing here?” Jesper turned back to the sea, feeling his cheeks heat a little. “Hoping for honey, I guess. And praying not to get stung.” “Then at least we’re both the same kind of stupid.” “I don’t know what your excuse is, Wraith. I’m the one who can never walk away from a bad hand.” “That makes you a rotten gambler, Jesper. But an excellent friend.” “You’re too good for him, you know.” “I know. So are you.”

“Facts are for the unimaginative.”

Jesper just grinned and whispered, “Well, we’ve gotten ourselves locked into the most secure prison in the world. We’re either geniuses or the dumbest sons of bitches to ever breathe air.”

Part of him wanted to ask, but he knew that was the stupid part, the hopeful farm boy who picked the worst possible person to care about, who searched for signs in things that meant nothing—when Kaz chose him for a job, when Kaz played along with one of his jokes.

He could have kicked himself. He’d finally seen the infamous Kaz Brekker without a stitch of clothing, and he’d been too worried about ending up on a pike to properly pay attention.

“You’re cuter when you’re smart.” Wylan’s cheeks went pink.

Flirting with him might actually be more fun than annoying him, but it was a close call.

There was a long silence, and then, eyes trained on the notch they’d created in the link, Wylan said, “just girls?” Jesper restrained a grin. “No. Not just girls.” It really was a shame they were probably going to all die tonight.

“Maybe I liked your stupid face.”

Or maybe Jesper wanted something more than forgiveness from Kaz.

“I don’t want Jesper wandering off to take a spin at Makker’s Wheel.” “This song is getting old,” muttered Jesper. “Then learn a new refrain.”

Wylan had seen a lot of smiles from Jesper, but the one that spread across his face now was new, slow, and as closely held as a winning hand.

He seemed to exude pleasure, as if he’d just walked into a party he couldn’t wait to attend.

“There have been a lot of swindles, but I was usually on the swindling side. A lot of fights—I was usually on the winning side. A lot of card games. I was usually on the losing side.”

“Why don’t you just stop?” “It’s not like that.” There’s a wound in you. “Not for me. I don’t know why.”

“I didn’t raise you to be a gambler, Jes. I certainly didn’t raise you to be a criminal.” “I love you, Da. I love you with all my lying, thieving, worthless heart, but yes, you did. You taught me to lie.”

Guilt and love and resentment were all tangled up inside him, and every time he tried to unravel the knot in his gut, it just got worse.

“I’m dying anyway, Da. I’m just doing it slow.”

He felt greedy for something. He’d wanted to kiss Wylan since he’d first seen him stirring chemicals in that gruesome factory.

Wylan looked like he’d fallen into the wrong story, a prince turned pauper. From then on, Jesper had been stuck somewhere between the desire to taunt the pampered little merchling into another blush and the urge to flirt him into a corner just to see what might happen.

Jesper had felt the tug of something more, something that came to life in Wylan’s unexpected courage, in his wide-eyed, generous way of looking at the world. It made Jesper feel like a kite on a tether, lifted up and then plummeting down, and he liked it.

He understood the barrel. It was always hungry for more—money, mayhem, violence, lust.

This was the kiss he’d been waiting for. It was a gunshot. It was a 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.

“What do you think my forgiveness looks like, Jordie?” “Who’s Jordie?” “Someone I trusted. Someone I didn’t want to lose.”

They’d been not talking about things for so long that actually speaking the truth felt like it had broken some spell—not a curse, but good magic, the kind that kept everyone safe, that might preserve a kingdom under glass.

It’s not a gift, it’s a curse. But when it came down to it, Jespers life had been full of blessings. His father. His mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias leading them across the muddy canal. Even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home with the dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole. And Wylan. Wylan who had understood before Jesper that the power inside him might be a blessing, too.

[dealbrekker]

Underrated Crooked Kingdom Sentence 31

It's not a gift. It's a curse. But when it came down to it, Jesper's life had been full of blessings. His father. His mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias leading them across the muddy canal. Kaz--even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home and a family in the Dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole. And Wylan. Wylan who had understood before Jesper ever had that the power inside him might be a blessing too.

"What did you just do? asked Inej.

Maybe nothing. Maybe the impossible. Jesper never could resist long odds.

He shrugged. "The same thing I always do. I took a shot."

[strangenoquestion]

It’s not a gift. It’s a curse. But when it came down it to, Jesper’s life had been full of blessings. His father. His mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias leading them across the muddy canal. Kaz—even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home and a family in the Dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole.

Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

On today's episode of underrated SoC Duology quotes

It's not a gift it's a curse

But when it came down to it Jesper's life had been full of blessings. His father, his mother. Inej. Nina. Matthias, leading them across the muddy canal. Kaz. Even Kaz, with all his cruelties and failings, had given him a home and a family in the dregs when Ketterdam might have swallowed him whole. And Wylan. Wylan who had understood before Jepser ever had that the power inside him might be a blessing too.

-Crooked Kingdom, Chapter 36: "Jesper"

I am transcribing from my audiobook; punctuation and line indentation may therefore be incorrect.