The 10th anniversary edition of Leigh Bardugo’s hit young adult (YA) fantasy novel “Six of Crows” was released last month, and some eagle-eyed readers have noticed admittedly minor edits. Mentions of the teen characters’ ages were changed to be ambiguous or that of young adults. It was truly just a few sentences, but it grabbed the fans’ attention and did not let go.

“Six of Crows” is the first book in Leigh Bardugo’s second “Grishaverse” duology. Though you wouldn’t guess from the sheer amount of fans who begin the series here, this 2015 novel is technically a sequel to the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy. “Six of Crows” is a story about a rag-tag group of young misfits—The Crows—who come together over a heist, finding love, themselves and a chance to get out of the gutter. It is a heist story, but it is so much more. There is a joke among the fandom that no one can tell you what happened during the Ice Court Heist, but they can tell you every character beat that happened across more than six points of view. These teenagers—well, now young adults—captured the hearts of fans and now, even 10 years later, the book has a strong fanbase.

In the interest of not spoiling any major plot beats, “Six of Crows” is dark and emotionally tense from the start. None of the characters participate in the heist or are in the slums by choice. One of the characters, Inej Ghafa, is escaping sex trafficking. Another, Kaz Brekker, is on a ruthless quest for revenge that led to disability and his status as a mob boss before he reached adulthood. Wylan is cast out by his father, Jesper has a debilitating gambling addiction and Matthias defected from an evil army. None of these kids are alright.

“Six of Crows” is tragic at any age, but the Crows’ ages take it to the extreme. Kaz and Wylan are explicitly 17 and 16, respectively, in the original edition, but now their ages are ambiguous. While changes like “boy” to “young man” preserve some sense of youth, it is a lesser tragedy. With respect to Wylan, a boy cannot handle being completely rejected by his father, but a young man might. Part of what makes “Six of Crows” so special is this crushing sense of unfairness that undercuts everything. Readers root for the teenagers, the children, out of desperation. No one should have to deal with this, but especially not kids. It is crushing that the Crows go through what they do over the course of the duology, and a decent amount of the emotional appeal comes from the tragedy of youth.

There is a phrase that is repeated throughout the novel: “no mourners, no funerals.” This essentially means that if anything were to happen to the Crows, no one will remember them and no one will honor their deaths because they are societal rejects with no bonds except amongst themselves. Now, people remember the Crows. Kaz, Inej, Nina, Matthias, Jesper and Wylan; people remember the tragedy of these children enough to notice a few sentences changing.

That being said, “Six of Crows” is still a worthwhile read. While removing the extremely young age of these characters from the text dampens some of the more horrific and impactful aspects of the story, “Six of Crows” remains one of the best YA fantasies I have ever read. For fans of the duology, I feel your pain. To new readers, do not let these few sentences dissuade you from reading “Six of Crows.” It remains an impactful story, time and time again. And for those of us stuck in the past, the kindle edition remains unaffected. No mourners…