#same goes for aditi hilli

[lunarthecorvus]

Grisha!Kaz Brekker Alternate Universe fanfiction recommendations

part of Lunar's soc fanficiton rec series

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The Etovost Plague by Spikey44

Wordcount: 139k Chapters: 37/37

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Kuwei Yul-Bo

Tags: Grisha Kaz Brekker, Post-Canon, Dead Matthias Helvar, Sorry, Not KoS/RoW canon compliant, Kaz is a Tidemaker. Sort of, some gore, scenes of plague, Don't worry only characters no one cares about die, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm

Author's summary/notes: Twenty-eight months after Kuwei Yul-Bo was shot dead and the plague sirens sounded throughout Ketterdam a new and terrifying sickness sweeps through the Barrel: a plague with a unique connection to Jurda Parem. But this time it’s not the Grisha who need to fear. It’s everyone else. This becomes that, and like no longer calls to like, forcing old crows to wing back to Ketterdam as chaos unlike anything they have seen before erupts through the Barrel, threatening to destroy all of Ketterdam and plunge the world into war. But it's a more personal fear that haunts Inej, Nina, Jesper and Wylan when Dirtyhands goes missing at the start of the plague outbreak. Now the Crows must grapple with the sorrow that Kaz may be dead and the even greater terror that the Etovost scourge has turned the Barrel's resident monster into a living nightmare hell-bent on destroying them all. Post-canon AU where a new Jurda Parem variant transforms normal people into Grisha. Starting with the Barrel Bosses. Uh-oh! My summary/notes: Having Kaz turn into a grisha is such an intruiging concept and I ate it up, at the same time its tragic because of the way being a tidemaker effects him and triggers his trauma. It will get real intense so be prepared. The villain in this fic is so interesting. An unexpected intersting part of this fic was reading the crows be a team without having Kaz as their leader sometimes. I love Inej in this fic so much. BAMF's Inej and Anika. Inej and Kaz have some cute moments. The ending eeee. My quick summary is the barrel goes to shit when a plague enters.

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On Black Feathered Wings by @martinakl13

Wordcount: 139k Chapters: 37/37

[this fic is also a grisha!Inej and grisha!Matthias au]

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Jan Van Eck, Alys Van Eck, Pekka Rollins, Jordie Rietveld, Aditi Hilli, Tante Heleen, Councilman Hoede, Imogen, Per Haskell, Doughty, Dregs Ensemble, Dime Lions Ensemble, Kaz Brekker's Father, Original Characters, Inej Ghafa's Mother, Inej Ghafa's Father, Matthias Helvar's Mother (mentioned), Matthias Helvar's Father (mentioned), Matthias Helvar's Sister (mentioned), Anya, Joost Van Poel, Gert Van Verent, Mikka, Kuwei Yul-Bo, Anika, Pim

Tags: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Grisha Kaz Brekker, Grisha Inej Ghafa, Grisha Wylan Van Eck, Jordie Rietveld Lives, Aged-Up Character(s), Forced Prostitution, Human Trafficking, Misogyny, Racism Violence, Sexual Content, The Menagerie, Flashbacks, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, Lovers To Enemies, unexpected relationships, Angst, POV Alternating, Jurda Parem, First Meetings, Bad Parent Jan Van Eck, Grisha Matthias Helvar, Abuse, Dyslexia, Rape, Humiliation, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Beating, Heist, Sexual Tension, Kaz constantly giving Inej flowers, Mutual Pining, Soulmates

Author's summary/notes: Inej Ghafa is a talented acrobat, but only her closest family knows that she uses her special power during her performances. Wylan Van Eck was sent to Ravka to be trained as a Grisha, but when he returns years later, his home is no longer his home. Matthias Helvar has powers he never asked for, and his family wants to keep him safe. What is the best way to hide Grisha in Fjerda? Among the drüskelle. Nina Zenik is a soldier of the First Army, gifted with excellent language skills. Jesper Fahey moves with his mother to Ketterdam after the tragic death of his father and the loss of their farm due to debts. Kaz Brekker has powers that no one has seen before. Or? My summary/notes: This fic is part of a series so there is a part 2 that is being regularly updated. Be prepared for this fic to simultaneously destroy and heal you. I live for the use of flower symbolism, its so adorable. I loved learning about the kind of grisha Kaz is, and reading Inej as a grisha is just so cool I need more grisha!Inej. Matthias being a grisha is so interesting, and reading Nina + Jesper as normal is so fascinating. Aditi is queen and this fic has Pim and Anika, I love those two so much.

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The Bastard's Brother by FlatApple

Wordcount: 214k Chapters: 66/66

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Dregs Ensemble, Jordie Rietveld, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Jan Van Eck, Original Background Characters, (they're not important don't worry)

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Kaz is a Grisha, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Starvation, Touch-Averse Kaz Brekker, Haphephobia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Organized Crime, Whump, Kaz Brekker is Bad at Feelings, POV Kaz Brekker, (mostly), Paranormal, Graphic Description of Corpses, Kaz Brekker is a feral orphan for large portions of this, Corpsewitch Kaz, Warning for strong language, Gang Violence, Heist, Slow Burn, Kaz Brekker-centric, Canon Rewrite, Ghost Jordie Rietveld, Good Sibling Jordie Rietveld, BAMF Kaz Brekker, Pining, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Sickfic, Hurt Kaz Brekker, Fever Dreams

Author's summary/notes: Kaz Brekker’s Mother was Ketterdam. His Father was profit. But Kaz Brekker’s Brother? That was Death. Or, the one where Kaz has been a Corpsewitch all along. My summary/notes: Reading Jordie as a ghost was so sad, the author managed to write him so well, this fic answers the question of what would Jordie's reactions be to Kaz's ruthless actions. We get to see young struggling feral kaz (it will break your heart) and we get to see Kaz grow. Every dynamic between the crows is explored and its so interesting to read. This fic part of a series and there is more.

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The Bastard Saint of the Barrel by Spikey44

Wordcount: 152k Chapters: 46/46

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Jesper Fahey, Jordie Rietveld, Pekka Rollins, Wylan Van Eck, Jan Van Eck, Kuwei Yul-Bo

Tags: Grisha Kaz Brekker, Jordie Rietveld Lives, Kaz is Corporalnik this makes everything worse, Kaz is a Dime Lion, Pekka Rollins owns Kaz's indenture, Jordie is Dregs, Kaz has a new alias, A Kaz by any other name is still a bastard, Inej remains awesome in all realities, Jordie makes the deal with Jan Van Eck, Matthias is probably gonna live, Elements of Six of Crows reworked with Living Jordie/Grisha Kaz, Canon Disabled Character, Touch-Averse Kaz Brekker, warning for drug use eg: Jurda Parem and its effects, warning for mild depersonalisation and dissociation in ch 8

Author's summary/notes: In a story of star-crossed brothers, where Kaz's grisha powers save Jordie but don't save him from Pekka Rollins, Kaz becomes the Bastard Saint of the Barrel; Rollins personal Healer and the most feared Grisha to haunt Ketterdam's seedier streets. This upsets Jordie quite a bit. In an attempt to pay off Kaz's indenture, and save his brother from the threat of Jurda Parem, Jordie Rietveld, Dregs Lieutenant and confidence man, makes a deal with Jan Van Eck to perform an impossible heist. Naturally, Kaz, busybody extraordinaire, is not about to let his brother screw up in a foreign land alone. He's going to steal his brother's heist and one Bo Yul-Buyur --or his nearest relative, whatever works best --and save his idiot big brother from a Fjerdan prison. And if this means running out on Rollins -well, thirty thousand Kruge should be more than enough money to pay his way out trouble. Right? My summary/notes:

[lilisouless]

Okay, a little register on the shadow and bone deseased characters

character not listed is because the show hasn't gotten to the events their death develops

Spoilers from both the books and the show

Died in the same (or a similar) way than in the books

-Liliyanna and Lada Garin (implied, we never see them on the show) , killed indirectly by Aleksander Morozova

-Mikhael and Dubrov (implied, we never see them die on the books) killed by fjerdan soldiers

-Vasily Lantsov, killed by a Nichevo´ya (therefore, Aleksander Morozova ,indirectly)

-Aditi Hilli (died saving Leoni Hilli´s life on the books. the show version has yet to have Leoni appearing and comfirming it was her)

-Jordie Rietveld (killed by the plague on both the show and book version)

-The morozova stag (killed by Aleksander Morozova)

-Rulsaye (killed by Alina Starkov)

-Ilya Morozova (not shown but told, killed by angry villagers)

Dies diferently than in the books

-Alexei (killed by the volkras, therefore indirectly by Aleksander Morozova on the books. Killed a little latter by Dreesen on the show)

-Marie (killed by a Nichevo´ya ,therefore indirectly by Aleksander Morozova on the books. Killed earlier on the show by Arken)

-Dominik (killed by a random soldier on the books , killed way much later on the show by Fruzsi)

-Baghra Morozova (killed by herself on the books, on she show: killed accidentally either by a nychevo´ya , therefore indirectly by Aleksander Morozova or by an accident caused by herself)

Died on the show, still alive on the books

-Tantee Helen (killed by Pekka Rollins on the show)

-Pavel (killed by Inej Ghafa, the books never mention Pavel´s demise among the grisha army)

-Alexxander Lantsov: (killed by a Nichevo´ya, therefore indirectly by Aleksander Morozova, never said to die on the books; when it happens the credit goes to Genya Safin)

Died on the books , still alive on the show

-Sankta Neyar (possibly died of natural causes)

Not book characters

-Arken (killed by Aleksander Morozova, on a non book existent storyline)

-Polina (killed by Inej Ghafa, imposible in the book since Inej wasn't present by that time on the books, aslo Pavel is not mentioned to have a sister)

-Vatra (killed by Wylan Van eck, while tecnically Vatra could have existed on the books as a random grisha inferni, the killed would be someone else given that wylan was absent from those events and not even created by then)

-Nisho (killed by Tamar Kir Bataar, tecnically possible on the book since he could be as well be a random squaller and Tamar was present fo the battle)

-Fruzsi (killed by Nikolai Lantsov. Unlikely on the books since there is no register on a tidemaker that close to the darkling and Nikolai was undispossed on the final battle)

-Ahlgren (not mentioned to exist on the books, killed on the show by Pekka Rollins, while there is the possibility of a guy on prision named Ahlgre, the killer is impossible since Pekka Rollins is not a prissioner by that point or at all)

-Mogens (killed by Inej Ghafa, not mentioned on the books or implied to exist)

Implied to be dead

Mr Rietveld: (killed on a farm accident on the books, the show doesn't mention him but his absence implies he dies there as well)

Implied to be alive due to absence

Ana Kuya (killed by Aleksander Morozova on the books, implied to be alive on the show since the book events never got to her and she is shown to exist)

Status or existense unknown

Harshaw: (dead on the book, killed on the final battle. Unknown on the show due to absence, could be alive or unexistent)

Pekka Rollin´s fake son: (dead on the book, killed by Kaz Brekker. Unknown on the show since he doesn't appear, could be dead or unexistent)

Paja: (killed on the books on an accident provoked by Aleksander Morozova, never shows up on the show therefore she is never comfirmed to be alive, dead or non existent)

Sergei Beznikov (Killed on the books by Aleksander Morozova. the show status has two alternatives since there is a character with his first name (but not last name mentioned)

The character is supposed to be him , so he is still alive on the show

The character only has the same name. therefore Sergei Beznikov´s fate is left to be unknown if alive,dead or non existent. If dead, then a diferent dead than in the book)

Milo ( implied to be killed on the books by Kaz Brekker. The dregs that attack Kaz Brekker remain unnamed on the show and none of them are shown to have died, therefore Milo´s fate on the show remains either Alive or non existent.. Unlike Sergei, the character on the show with his name is not supposed to be him)

Unkown fate on the show, implied to be dead , on a diferent way than on the book

-Ivan (dead on the book,killed by Tolya Yul Bataar) (uncomfirmed yet on the show, if dead, killed by Jesper Fahey , indirectly, also killed earlier than the book events)

-Fedyor Kaminsky (dead on the book,killed by an accident caused by Aleksander Morozova. Unknown on the show but wasn't around to die like on the book events)

-David Kostyk (dead on the books, by the fjerdan army , therefore indirectly killed by Jarl Brum; but chronologically alive by the show events. If dead, killed much early and by a nichevo´ya)

-Botkin Yul Erdene (dead on the books, killed by Aleksander Morozova. Show version is never told to be dead, but like Fedyor he doesn't appear along with the surviving grisha and is not mentioned at all)

Brought back to life

-Malyen Oretsev (both show and book gets revived, killed by Alina starkov on both but book version gets revived by Tolya and Tamar, show version gets revived by Alina herself)

-Aleksander Morozova (gets killed and revived on the books, show version has yet to revive him. Both version gets killed by Alina Starkov. Book version gets revived by Sankta Lizaveta, show version implies the same thing will happen)

-Baghra´s sister (killed by Baghra Morozova and revived by Ilya Morozova in both versions. Her resurection doesn't stick since she is told to by killed again by angry villagers)

.

[but-ter-flie-ge]

Oh well I finished the duology Six Of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo.

Finally since the first book slept in my kindle library for nearly a year now and I hadn't read it.

There's so much to say that it's probably going to be a very messy post. I'm sorry.

Anyways firstly I went to the fanarts after the second book (as everyone would lmao).

Kaz is 17 and Matthias is 18. I don't understand why everyone is able to draw Wylan younger but these two just look like they're in their midtwenties. BUT no hate to any creator or artist I'm really happy to see how other people portray them which kind of brings me to another point:

Them being as young as they are do be tough to imagine.

Matthias doesn't look like 18 at all (at least in my head). The Fjerdan in general always seemed like another type of species which made their hate and prejudice against Grisha kind of funny.

He was just pure muscle, tall as my door with broad shoulders.

While we're already talking about him: I don't like nor tolerate Matthias slander.

I get why everyone didn't like him in the first book. Me neither. Don't get me wrong I absolutely loved that he behaved logical and stuff but you know? His hate against Grisha and his dumb speeches about honour weren't it.

However the fact that he was able to change and that he was able to love Nina so unconditionally was incredible and so unbelievably beautiful to witness.

Another thing would be Kaz. And how the fandom favours him so much.

I like his character. Very much even. He's really interesting. Also his whole personality is really well written and his trauma is crushing your whole life underneath.

But I'm still trying to fully love him like the fandom does because I kind of can't...?

It's not like I hate him. I just feel like maybe I don't understand him? Maybe that's the problem?

The only thing I thought about while reading the first book was: why do Jes and Inej love this dude?

He treats them like sh*t.

Though through learning about his past I came to realize more and more that he is only 17. He's anxious and scared and he was left alone in the dark with these way too big burden life laid on his shoulders when he was only 9 years old.

Inej is wonderful. Doesn't need an explanation. She's just everything you could wish for in a friend. Her keeping the group together was amazing and she's just so brave, strong and argh-- I could go on about her forever. (I also loved her Suli proverbs! (I hope this is the correct term)) And her friendship with Nina was toptier.

Basically every character was very enjoyable and I think this would just end in a gigantic loveletter if I was to mention everything I adored about every single one of them. So I'll stop here. Just know I'd adopt Wylan immediately if I was given the chance. And I'd pay everything just to see the crows sitting in my living room and talk with each other.

Now everyone seems to worship the books and I can see why but at the same time something is missing and I don't know what it is.

I'm incapable of telling anyone why I don't really count these books as part of my top three list.

They have a strong plot with many twists and turns which I love, they have great, logical characters and character development which I see as the most important part in a book. The world building too was interesting to learn about yet I can't seem to be too emotionally invested.

Not that I'm an apathetic person who doesn't react to stuff that happens in fictional media because that certainly isn't the case but these books didn't catch me as others did and I don't know why.

Maybe I need to reread them since there's probably a lot I didn't get in the first sitting?

Though there's also the fact that I found the scenes where sad stuff happens or where you would normally fear for the characters where often too short or just cut off so another pov could take the stage.

For example when Wylan and Jes fight against the Grisha on parem in the ice court.

You'd expect them to struggle and they do but it only takes them about two sentences before Jesper has figured out how to overcome their enemies.

Or Matthias whole death scene.

Everyone cried at that apparently but it was too fast for me to even realize what happened and I was just like: does Nina have an Rapunzel Arc? What's happening?

And then he was dead and I was just: oh... okay?!

Apart from that it was still a very fun read that'll probably stick with me for a longer time but it's still not one of my favourite series...

Ah-- I'm struggling!

It gets even harder since I absolutely love the characters which is contradicting with my reading philosophy that oftentimes only consists of: wonderful characters=wonderful book.

[pistolslinger]

actual b’ton au info that isn’t just me rambling

disclaimer: if u write a character i mentioned here, there’s no pressure / obligation to write that particular dynamic w/ jesper i promise!! we can plot dynamics out instead or smth, this is just my general au setting

born to colm & aditi in.......im gonna say the same year as daphne. anyway. aditi comes from a titled family (her father was a viscount) and was most likely the diamond of her season. she married for love and married out of titled society when she chose colm. her parents were..........shocked, but being good people: there was no real animosity. the only hurdle is weathering the reaction to aditi’s marriage, which.......out of a desire to protect colm from the general caprice of the ton, lead to the faheys moving away and losing contact with the hilli family name :(((

they live very peacefully in ireland until aditi grows ill, and eventually passes away when jesper is about 11

jesper has 1 cousin, leoni, who is a high society lady and after aditi’s death, jesper writes to her frequently. they grow to be very close and jesper looks up to her a whole bunch. she goes from cousin to older sister figure so fast. ok sorry i just had to make it clear: jesper loves n adores leoni and is very protective of her. ty

since the hilli’s had no other named heirs, jesper’s grandfather wants the title and land to go to jesper, which he is. incredibly reluctant to accept, despite caring about his grandfather’s wishes. he’s heard about how restrictive society life is and wants no part in it, honestly

(EDIT TO CLARIFY) he moves from ireland to england for university, as per his late mother’s wishes.

SO. when he reaches university age, he hits that ‘gifted adhd kid hits MASSIVE BURNOUT and crash lands in a pile of woeful grades’ — and thru a combination of deeply unresolved grief / bad coping mechanisms, untreated adhd, and unfortunate gambling habit, jesper almost drops out when a fight over an unpaid debt turns into a duel, turns into jesper shooting someone

he is then recruited into the dregs, when word reaches them about his marksmanship, bc the guy he shot was a (insert enemy gang) and they help him deal with the debt if he promises to run jobs for them

his grandfather steps in and offers to bribe the university to keep him on until graduation, if he agrees to accept the title

knowing that his father will lose their family farm bc of the debt & knowing how disappointed colm & leoni would be to hear he dropped out...... jesper agrees.

enter lord jesper llewellyn hilli, newly minted viscount : / 

( absolutely he spies on the titled folk and hands the info over to the dregs <3 )

i just realised this means jesper with an irish accent......... 😳