Where to Start with Leigh Bardugo: A Reading Guide

Leigh Bardugo (born 1975) is the American fantasy novelist who — with the Shadow and Bone trilogy (2012–2014) and Six of Crows (2015) — created the Grishaverse, one of contemporary YA fantasy’s most fully realised and most widely read secondary worlds. The Grishaverse draws on Russian imperial aesthetics and mythology, centres magical users called Grisha, and spans four series and multiple short story collections. Six of Crows in particular — a heist fantasy with a morally grey ensemble cast — is among the most beloved YA novels of the 2010s. The Netflix Shadow and Bone adaptation has introduced the Grishaverse to a new generation of readers.

Where to Start: Six of Crows (2015)

The essential Bardugo — and by most readers’ accounts the best entry point and the best book in the Grishaverse. Ketterdam is a wealthy port city, the commercial heart of the continent, where criminal gangs control the harbours and information. Kaz Brekker, seventeen, is the underboss of the Dregs, a gang operating out of the Crow Club. He is offered a job with a payout large enough to remake his future: break into the Ice Court, the most impregnable fortress in the world, and extract a scientist who has discovered how to create a drug that makes Grisha soldiers unstoppable.

He assembles a crew: Inej, the Suli acrobat-turned-spy who is Kaz’s most valuable operative. Nina, a Heartrender Grisha. Matthias, a Fjerdan soldier who hates Nina and everything she represents. Jesper, a sharpshooter with a gambling problem. Wylan, a merchant’s son who is not what he appears.

The heist structure is the vehicle; the characters are what make the novel extraordinary. Bardugo writes each character with specific depth — their histories, their fears, their coded communications with each other — and the relationship dynamics (Kaz and Inej’s slow burn, Nina and Matthias’s enemies-to-allies arc) are executed with precision. The plotting is intricate and the reveals are earned.

Crooked Kingdom (2016)

The second Six of Crows novel — and the conclusion of the duology. Following the events of the first book, Kaz must protect his crew while executing a plan of revenge that requires the same level of planning and audacity as the Ice Court heist. The character development of the ensemble deepens; the emotional arcs of the major relationships reach their conclusions. Most readers find it a satisfying conclusion. Cannot be read before Six of Crows.

Shadow and Bone (2012)

The first book of the Grisha trilogy — and Bardugo’s starting point as a published author. Alina Starkov, an army mapmaker, discovers during a military crossing that she can produce light — a Grisha ability of exceptional rarity. She is taken to the royal court, trained by the Grisha’s leader (the Darkling), and drawn into the political conflict over the Shadow Fold, a swathe of darkness that bisects Ravka. More conventionally plotted than Six of Crows; the Darkling is one of Bardugo’s most effective antagonists. The series strengthens considerably in Siege and Storm (Book 2) and Ruin and Rising (Book 3).

Reading Leigh Bardugo

The Grishaverse rewards reading in this order: Shadow and Bone trilogy first for world context, Six of Crows duology second for the best fiction, King of Scars duology last for resolution of all threads. However, beginning with Six of Crows and reading the Grisha trilogy retrospectively is equally valid. The Grishaverse’s Russian-influenced aesthetics, its morally complex characters, and its ensemble dynamics make it one of YA fantasy’s most distinctive and most rewarding constructed worlds.