As someone who read Six of Crows first, I don't think you need to read the Grisha books beforehand. It just means a learning curve with the world and magic system, some characters have minor appearances in the second book, that's it. And Nikolai is one of the main POV characters of the books the author is putting out now, if you're interested.
You definitely don’t have to read all of the Shadow and Bone books to understand what happens in Six of Crows, especially not the first one. However as someone who absolutely ADORES Nikolai (I liked Seige and Storm because of him as well), the second book, Crooked kingdom, has a cameo from him, and knowing where Nikolai’s at after Ruin and Rising makes seeing him in Crooked Kingdom all the more fun, so I would recommend pushing through the last book to have that extra enjoyment in SoC (which have SUCH better characters than SaB)
It's totally understandable why Mal (and Baghra and Alina herself as a matter of fact!) does not want the "all powerful" Sun Summoner! It is discussed in Siege and Storm how the hunt for such power and possessing power that no other Grisha has ever possessed (except Ilya maybe?) will make her grow hungry for more and possibly turn her into another Darkling. Of course, I would never want that for a loved one. I wouldn't want to lose my loved one to a power hungry curse. That's where Mal's coming from. He intuitively saw some of those small changes in Alina and he could feel that she was changing not necessarily for the better, because he's known her all his life. What I wonder about is how you (readers) are not concerned that being "all powerful" and wanting to be "all powerful" could go totally wrong. Being "all powerful" is not the same as being "empowered" and Mal definitely doesn't have a problem with the second one.
Six of crows is one of my favorite books of all time and I don't like the shadow and bone series for the same reason you do. If you like nikolai You don't have to wish for him books he has it it's king of Scars I don't read them yet so I don't know if they're good or bad.
As someone who read Six of Crows first, I don't think you need to read the Grisha books beforehand. It just means a learning curve with the world and magic system, some characters have minor appearances in the second book, that's it. And Nikolai is one of the main POV characters of the books the author is putting out now, if you're interested.
You definitely don’t have to read all of the Shadow and Bone books to understand what happens in Six of Crows, especially not the first one. However as someone who absolutely ADORES Nikolai (I liked Seige and Storm because of him as well), the second book, Crooked kingdom, has a cameo from him, and knowing where Nikolai’s at after Ruin and Rising makes seeing him in Crooked Kingdom all the more fun, so I would recommend pushing through the last book to have that extra enjoyment in SoC (which have SUCH better characters than SaB)
Nikolai and the sporadic appearances of the Darkling were the only redemption of this book. I had to listen it at 1.5 speed to not fall asleep.
I love Nikolai. Alina and Mal were getting annoying 😂
It's totally understandable why Mal (and Baghra and Alina herself as a matter of fact!) does not want the "all powerful" Sun Summoner! It is discussed in Siege and Storm how the hunt for such power and possessing power that no other Grisha has ever possessed (except Ilya maybe?) will make her grow hungry for more and possibly turn her into another Darkling. Of course, I would never want that for a loved one. I wouldn't want to lose my loved one to a power hungry curse. That's where Mal's coming from. He intuitively saw some of those small changes in Alina and he could feel that she was changing not necessarily for the better, because he's known her all his life.
What I wonder about is how you (readers) are not concerned that being "all powerful" and wanting to be "all powerful" could go totally wrong. Being "all powerful" is not the same as being "empowered" and Mal definitely doesn't have a problem with the second one.
Six of crows is one of my favorite books of all time and I don't like the shadow and bone series for the same reason you do. If you like nikolai You don't have to wish for him books he has it it's king of Scars I don't read them yet so I don't know if they're good or bad.
Love Your Review. I hate Mal in the books so much the story would have been greater if he died in book 1.