"Kaz Brekker, an infamous thief known throughout the streets of Ketterdam as "Dirtyhands", is promised a very large sum of money to rescue Bo Yul-Bayur, a Shu scientist, from the Ice Court in Fjerda. Bo Yul-Bayur has discovered jurda parem, a lethally addictive drug that greatly enhances the powers of the Grisha, people with magical abilities. However, the Ice Court is the most highly protected place in all of Fjerda, and Kaz can't infiltrate it by himself; he needs a crew. He recruits several members of his street gang, the Dregs. Inej Ghafa is a nimble and stealthy Suli spy whom Kaz rescued from the Menagerie, a brothel. Jesper Fahey is a sharpshooter with a penchant for gambling. Nina Zenik is a Heartrender from the Ravkan Second Army with the ability to control the bodies of others. Matthias Helvar is a former Fjerdan drüskelle thrown into Kerch jail after being framed by Nina. Wylan Van Eck is a merchant's son with some skill at demolition. The task isn't easy, so in order to win, they'll need to work together and trust in each other."
We learn of each character's back story at some point in the book. What struck me the most was the seemingly constant throughout history hatred for someone different, sentiments we continue to hear to this day. Greed and revenge continue to be the greatest motivators. I did like the two strong women characters - Inej and Nina. I will have to read the second book in this series, as one of my questions was, if Kaz and his crew left Fjerda by destroying walls, bridges, stealing one of their greatest treasures, won't they have a whole army after them? And did they really think Van Eck would hand over huge sums of money if they completed their task? And where would they go with that kind of money? With so many people after them, they would need to move to parts unknown, but since I still don't have a handle on the scope of this world, the characters seemed to think they could just live peacefully as rich folks.
