Six of Crows
core novel 2015 The Grishaverse
Record
| First published | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.45 (1,213,341 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 465 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781627792127 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Six of Crows opens in the criminal underworld of Ketterdam, where a dangerous new drug called jurda parem has been developed that can enhance a Grisha's powers to dangerous, mind-controlling extremes. Wealthy merchant Jan Van Eck secretly hires Kaz Brekker, a young criminal prodigy with a ruthless reputation, to assemble a crew capable of infiltrating the Ice Court, an ostensibly impregnable fortress in the frozen nation of Fjerda, to extract the drug's imprisoned inventor, Bo Yul-Bayur, before the formula can spread. Kaz recruits five other outcasts with specialized skills, including the spy Inej, the Grisha soldier Nina, the former Grisha-hunter Matthias, the sharpshooter Jesper, and the demolitions expert Wylan, each carrying their own grievances and secrets.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Grishaverse
- Series: Six of Crows Duology core; position 1 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Leigh Bardugo
Awards (verified)
- Readers' Choice Award (Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction), 2015: finalist; Corrected from an assumed win: the award body's own announcement post shows the winner was Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas.
Notes
- From the series record (Six of Crows Duology): A closed 2-book heist-crew sequence set in the same world one year after the Shadow and Bone trilogy, with light narrative connections (shared world and later crossover appearances) rather than a direct sequel to Alina's story. Registered `duology` (added 2026-08-07) rather than `sequence`, since the author and publisher have consistently treated this as a genuinely closed 2-book set.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Six of Crows Duology: position 1 of 2: next Crooked Kingdom (2016)
- Internal chronology, within The Grishaverse: position 2 of 7: previous Shadow and Bone (2012) · next King of Scars (2019)
Sources
- leighbardugo.com - Reading Order
- Wikipedia - Six of Crows
- Readers' Choice Awards 2015 winners announcement
← The Grishaverse dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.