I read a lot of teen books. Maybe it’s because they tend to be quick reads? Maybe it’s nostalgia toward the emotional turbulence of my teenage years? Maybe it’s because teen books, in the end, mostly skew hopeful rather than bleak? Most likely, it’s because I keep searching for something that makes me feel the way Harry Potter did.

I don’t know if I will ever find a book that rocked my literary world in the way of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but, I can tell you that I found a captivating read in Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.

The morally ambiguous anti-hero (my favorite kind), Kaz Brekker, is a notorious gang leader called Dirtyhands, courtesy of his well-earned reputation. After years spent in the slums of Ketterdam, Kaz has mastered a set of skills that bring him to the attention of the upstanding, and rich, Merchant Council. In an effort to neutralize a threat to their territory, the Merchant Council enlists Kaz’s service in removing a person of interest from a neighboring, and hostile, nation.

Kaz recruits a gang of miscreant ne’er do-wells to assist on the mission. A sharp-shooter. A demolitions expert. A light-footed spy. A tarnished soldier. And a woman who has the ability to stop someone’s heart with the twitch of a finger.

Together they will attempt a heist of epic proportions, to steal from a fortress that has never been breached, and to not get caught in the process.

Six of Crows blends magic, fantasy and even a little romance into an intricately woven tale of deception and revenge.