The terror of writing Six of Crows
Bardugo explains that Six of Crows was her first book sold on proposal, which terrified her because she had never written a heist story, prison break, or five separate points of view.
Reviewed
Read Time
9 min read
Our age bandAges 14+ · Young adult
Reader rating
4.5 · 53,627 Amazon ratings
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Our review
Six of Crows
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Review: A Masterfully Plotted YA Heist Fantasy
Six of Crows is a YA fantasy novel by Leigh Bardugo, first published in 2015 by Henry Holt and Co., following criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker as he assembles a crew of misfits to infiltrate the Ice Court — an unbreachable Fjerdan stronghold — and rescue the inventor of a world-threatening drug. Holly Black has called it "a twisty and elegantly crafted masterpiece," and the book's ensemble depth and intricate plotting make that praise easy to understand.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who love morally complex ensemble casts, intricate heist plotting, and fantasy worlds with genuine economic and political texture — particularly those already invested in the Grishaverse or drawn to grimdark-adjacent YA.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you enjoy tightly constructed, character-driven fantasy heists where each member of a misfit crew carries their own interior weight and the stakes feel genuinely consequential.
Skip if
Skip it if you prefer a single sustained narrator and fully self-contained stories, as the five rotating viewpoints can disorient in the early chapters and the narrative arc requires Crooked Kingdom for resolution.
What readers & critics say
The Guardian called it a joy to read, praising Bardugo's "fascinating prose and stunning characterisation" as placing it among the reviewer's best books ever read. Grimdark Magazine ranked it alongside The Lies of Locke Lamora, calling Bardugo a "grimdark Scott Lynch" and urging readers to add her to the genre's elite; Fantasy Book Review echoed that as "one of the best fantasy heist books going around," while leighbardugo.com carries Holly Black's verdict that it is "a twisty and elegantly crafted masterpiece."
“Leigh Bardugo's fascinating prose and stunning characterisation have placed Six of Crows right up there as one of the best books I have ever read.”
— The Guardian4.5from 53,627 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Six of Crows is Leigh Bardugo's 2015 YA fantasy heist novel, following criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker as he assembles a crew of misfits — including spy Inej Ghafa, Grisha Heartrender Nina Zenik, sharpshooter Jesper Fahey, and former Grisha-hunter Matthias Helvar — to infiltrate the Ice Court and extract the inventor of a world-threatening drug called jurda parem. Its intricate multi-viewpoint structure and high-stakes ensemble plotting have earned widespread critical acclaim, with Holly Black calling it "a twisty and elegantly crafted masterpiece." The key caveat: readers who prefer a single sustained narrator may find the five alternating perspectives disorienting, and the story is unambiguously the first half of a duology — full resolution requires Crooked Kingdom.
- Is it worth reading?
- Six of Crows has earned a strong critical reputation since its 2015 debut, with Holly Black praising it as 'a twisty and elegantly crafted masterpiece that thrilled me from beginning to end' and critics describing it as continuing 'Leigh Bardugo's streak of smart fantasy novels.' LuvemBooks finds the ensemble depth and structural discipline particularly impressive — Bardugo commits to every layer of the heist conceit, and Bookish Wayfarer observed that 'there really aren't any subpar characters in Six of Crows.' The primary friction points are the five alternating viewpoints (which can disorient readers early on) and the open-ended duology structure, but for readers willing to commit to both, the novel delivers exactly what its reputation promises.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to Six of Crows' ensemble heist plotting and morally complex characters have several strong options nearby. Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora is the most direct adult-fantasy parallel — an intricate con-and-heist narrative with a richly built criminal underworld. Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn: The Final Empire shares the elaborate magic-system plotting and a crew-based heist premise. For readers who enjoy Bardugo's dark, atmospheric fantasy with unusual pairings, Rachel Gillig's One Dark Window (in our catalogue) offers a gothic YA fantasy with a morally complicated edge. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens (also in our catalogue) is a lighter tonal match, but shares the beloved ensemble dynamic and sharp wit that makes Six of Crows' character work so satisfying.
- Who should read this?
- LuvemBooks identifies readers drawn to morally complex ensembles, intricate plotting, and fantasy worlds with genuine economic and political texture as the ideal audience for Six of Crows. The Ketterdam setting — modeled on a Dutch Republic–era city-state of mercantile ambition and organized crime — rewards readers who enjoy worldbuilding that feels historically grounded rather than decorative. Fans of heist narratives in any genre will find the Ice Court infiltration premise consistently satisfying. Readers who prefer a single sustained narrator, or who want a fully self-contained story, are the likeliest to find friction.
- What age is it for?
- Best for readers 14 and up. Six of Crows is published as a YA novel, but its morally grey characters, themes of exploitation (Inej is rescued from a pleasure house), addiction (Jesper's gambling, and the drug jurda parem's hold on Grisha), and the political complexity of Ketterdam's criminal underworld make it most appropriate for high-school-age readers and above. The prose and multi-viewpoint structure also demand more reading stamina than younger YA titles. Adult readers frequently cite it as a strong YA crossover.
- Tell me about the adaptation
- The characters of Six of Crows — Kaz Brekker, Inej, Nina, Jesper, and Matthias — were woven into an original storyline for the Netflix series Shadow and Bone, which ran from 2021 to 2023. Rather than adapting the duology directly, the show introduced the crew alongside the Shadow and Bone trilogy's storyline in its first season, giving Grishaverse newcomers their first look at Ketterdam's criminal world. LuvemBooks notes the adaptation 'introduced the characters to an audience well beyond existing Grishaverse readers,' significantly expanding the books' reach.
- What are the main themes?
- Scatteredbooks.com identified survival, friendship, and morality as the novel's through-lines — 'none of them resolved easily,' which is characteristic of the book's refusal to offer tidy answers. Each crew member embodies a distinct moral tension: Kaz's ruthless pragmatism against Inej's ethical convictions; Nina and Matthias's history of mutual betrayal set against their complicated loyalty; Jesper's self-destructive gambling against his genuine courage. Hypable also singled out the duology's diversity and inclusivity as setting a new standard for the genre. The jurda parem plotline raises questions about power, exploitation, and who controls weapons of mass destruction — themes with obvious real-world resonance.
- What order should I read the series?
- Six of Crows is Book 1 of a duology completed by Crooked Kingdom (2016) — LuvemBooks is explicit that the story's arc is not self-contained and requires the second book for full resolution. Within the broader Grishaverse, threads from the Six of Crows duology continue in the King of Scars duology. Bardugo's Shadow and Bone trilogy predates Six of Crows and establishes the world's Grisha lore, but Six of Crows functions as a viable entry point on its own.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
What age is it for?
Tell me about the adaptation
What are the main themes?
What order should I read the series?
Summarize this book
Set in Ketterdam — a city modeled on Dutch Republic–era Amsterdam — Six of Crows opens when wealthy merchant Jan Van Eck hires criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker to break into the Ice Court, the most heavily fortified stronghold in Fjerda, and extract Bo Yul-Bayur, the inventor of jurda parem: a drug capable of amplifying Grisha magical abilities to a terrifying, mind-controlling degree. Kaz assembles a crew of five: spy Inej Ghafa, Grisha Heartrender Nina Zenik, Zemeni sharpshooter Jesper Fahey, and former Fjerdan drüskelle Matthias Helvar. The novel unfolds through five alternating third-person viewpoints, giving each crew member meaningful interiority while sustaining the momentum of an elaborate, high-stakes heist. It is Book 1 of a duology completed by Crooked Kingdom (2016).
Follow up
What is jurda parem?
Do I need to read Shadow and Bone first?
Does it have a satisfying ending?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
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Our Review
We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.
Six of Crows earns its reputation as one of the most propulsive entries in contemporary YA fantasy — an opinion backed by strong critical reception since its 2015 debut.
The Premise: A Heist at the Edge of the World
Set in Ketterdam, a city loosely inspired by Dutch Republic–era Amsterdam, Six of Crows opens with a crisis: a drug called jurda parem, tested on a Grisha Healer by Councilman Hoede, proves capable of enhancing magical abilities to a terrifying degree — including the power to control and manipulate human minds. Wealthy merchant Jan Van Eck tasks criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker with a seemingly impossible mission: break into the Ice Court, the most heavily fortified stronghold in Fjerda, and extract Bo Yul-Bayur, the drug's inventor, before the formula can be weaponized.
The novel's premise is essentially an elaborate, high-stakes heist engineered around a weapon of mass magical destruction, and Bardugo commits to every layer of that conceit with impressive structural discipline.
The Crew: Six Characters, Five Viewpoints
What distinguishes Six of Crows from a straightforward adventure is Bardugo's decision to narrate almost entirely through alternating third-person viewpoints — five distinct perspectives covering the crew Kaz assembles. Alongside Kaz himself, readers follow Inej Ghafa, his spy and right-hand, whom he rescued from a pleasure house; Nina Zenik, a Grisha Heartrender with a complicated history involving the crew's sixth member; Jesper Fahey, a Zemeni sharpshooter whose gambling addiction runs parallel to his loyalty; and Matthias Helvar, a former Fjerdan drüskelle — a Grisha-hunter — whom Nina had a hand in imprisoning and who agrees to guide the crew in exchange for a pardon.
This structure allows Bardugo to build genuine interiority for each character rather than filtering them through a single protagonist's lens. Bookish Wayfarer noted that "there really aren't any subpar characters in Six of Crows," observing that even peripheral figures are carefully drawn.
Craft and World-Building: Ketterdam as a Living System
Ketterdam functions less as backdrop than as engine. Modeled on a Dutch Republic–era city-state, it is a place of mercantile ambition, organized crime, and social stratification — conditions that make Kaz's world of gangs and leverage feel organic rather than decorative.
The Grishaverse, the wider magical universe Bardugo established in her earlier Shadow and Bone trilogy, provides the metaphysical architecture here: Grisha abilities, political tensions between nations like Kerch and Fjerda, and the stakes of jurda parem all draw on lore Bardugo had already built. The result is a fantasy setting dense enough to feel consequential.
Scatteredbooks.com highlighted Bardugo's ability to craft an "imaginative setting" alongside her "intricate plot," noting that themes of survival, friendship, and morality run throughout — none of them resolved easily.
Reception and Cultural Footprint
Since its original publication by Henry Holt and Co. In 2015, the novel has accumulated substantial critical and popular attention. Critics covered it as a YA crossover title; they described it as continuing "Leigh Bardugo's streak of smart fantasy novels"; and Holly Black, writing on Bardugo's own site, called it "a twisty and elegantly crafted masterpiece that thrilled me from beginning to end."
The book's reach extended further when the Netflix series Shadow and Bone (2021–2023) gave Kaz's crew an original storyline in its first season, introducing the characters to an audience well beyond existing Grishaverse readers. Hypable, reviewing the duology, singled out its diversity and inclusivity as setting a new standard for the genre.
The Square Fish media tie-in paperback edition, published in February 2018, aligned the book's retail presence with that adaptation.
Who It's For — and Where It Tests Patience
Readers drawn to morally complex ensembles, intricate plotting, and fantasy worlds with economic and political texture will find Six of Crows squarely in their lane. The multi-viewpoint structure is one of its greatest strengths, but it is also the likeliest friction point: readers who prefer a single sustained perspective may find the frequent perspective shifts disorienting, particularly in the novel's first act before each character's voice has fully differentiated.
The book is also unambiguously the first half of a larger story — it is Book 1 of a duology completed by Crooked Kingdom (2016) — so readers looking for full resolution in a single volume should know the narrative arc continues. Within those parameters, the novel delivers what its reputation promises: a tightly constructed, character-driven fantasy heist that holds its pieces together under genuine pressure.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
en.wikipedia.org
- 2
publishersweekly.com
- Further reading
- 3
leighbardugo.com
- 4
bookishwayfarer.com
- 5
scatteredbooks.com
- 6
grimdarkmagazine.com
- 7
bvtigernews.com
- 8
writewatchwork.com
- 9
The Guardian
- 10
Fantasy Book Review
Age & Reading Level
Our age band
Ages 14+
Reading level
Young adult
Amazon listing
Ages 12–18 · Grade 10–12
Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.
Tropes
found familymorally greyslow burnheist
From how readers describe it, not our own reading.
3 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
romance with closed-door intimacy
gambling addiction
drug dependency and magical coercion
Best for: Ages 14+ — prose complexity, five alternating viewpoints, and themes of exploitation and addiction suit older teens and above.
Skip if you want a self-contained story with a single narrator and a fully resolved ending in one volume.
Leigh Bardugo on Six of Crows
Author Leigh Bardugo speaks at TEDxUCDavis about embracing creative discomfort and discusses the writing of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows.
Uploaded by TEDx Talks, 2025 · Watch on YouTube ·
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