Book · 2015
Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
Kaz Brekker recruits five other criminal teenagers for a heist inside a supposedly impenetrable ice fortress.
What does Reddit think of Six of Crows?
Twelve thousand five hundred forty mentions is a lot of raw volume, and by itself it proves nothing except that people keep bringing this up. r/Fantasy's displayed comments converge on one structural claim: Shadow and Bone, Bardugo's own prequel trilogy, gets flagged for blandness (↑560), while Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are treated as such a jump in quality that one commenter wonders if the same author wrote them. Another (↑288) admits disliking Shadow and Bone outright but loving what came after, framing the first series as a toll you pay to get here. There's a genre-positioning move too: one comment (↑663) offers it as the accessible alternative to ASOIAF and Kingkiller Chronicle, alongside Foundryside and Nevernight, for readers who want heist plotting without doorstopper commitment. r/suggestmeabook leans on a different pitch: no chosen-one arc, just a crew of teenagers stealing for money (↑256). Nothing displayed here argues against the book; the friction is Bardugo versus her own earlier trilogy.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · A heist crew of criminal teenagers, not a chosen-one protagonist
- · Positioned as the payoff after a weaker prequel trilogy (Shadow and Bone)
- · An entry point into epic fantasy for readers tired of ASOIAF/Kingkiller-length doorstoppers
- · Platonic and romantic relationships among a flawed, non-idealized cast
Common praise
- + Gets used to redirect Locke Lamora fans waiting on the next Gentleman Bastards book toward something with actual heists in it (↑319).
- + r/suggestmeabook keeps recommending it specifically because nobody in the crew is a chosen one; they're just teenagers stealing for money (↑256).
Common criticism
- − Getting here requires sitting through Shadow and Bone first for some readers, and at least one commenter says they didn't even like it (↑288).
- − The volume is inflated by list-comment culture; several of the top excerpts are multi-book roundups, not standalone reviews of this book specifically.
- − Nothing in this sample pushes back on the book itself; the closest thing to criticism here targets its own prequel series, not Six of Crows.
Who it's for
The Grishaverse's own fans treat Shadow and Bone as a toll you pay, not a reason to stop; several commenters here disliked it and loved this anyway (↑288). If ASOIAF and Kingkiller Chronicle are gathering dust because you're tired of waiting on the next installment, r/Fantasy is routing people here alongside Foundryside and Nevernight as the finished, shorter alternative (↑663). High school teachers recommending YA to skeptical students show up in this data too, which says something about where the book gets used outside fandom circles. A crew story beats a lone-hero one for you, and you're fine with the author's own earlier trilogy being, by her fans' account, the weaker warm-up act.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Six of Crows?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“More: platonic male/female friendships and strong ride-or-die platonic female friendships. More: women written with noticeable *flaws* that impact her and inform her actions and sometimes make her deeply unlikeable or in need of growth. As an example, I noticed this while reading Six of Crows- the…
“Actually, it is very very probable, because the S&D books have serious issues with the blandless of their main characters. And the author KNOWS that, because her sequel series (Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom) is so much better than you wonder if it is written by the same author. That is why the…
“iirc Lynch has an anxiety disorder and was stuggling to release what he has written, but had actually completed a draft. I think it's likely that we will see the book eventually. The Six of Crows books might be worth a look if you haven't already. Gang of thieves actually pulling heists in a cool,…
“I wasn’t a huge fan of Shadow and Bone, and struggled to get through parts of it, but I *loved* Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, and enjoyed King of Scars and Rules of Wolves too. The first series is definitely worth it for the later ones.
“Six of crows is my go-to YA fantasy recommendation! No chosen one narratives, just a bunch of teens in an incredible fantasy world using their smarts to steal stuff and get rich
“I enjoyed the books, but I honestly thought they were pretty average. They were a perfectly decent vacation read, but I probably would never have thought about them again had Bargdugo not gone on to write better and better books since then. IMO, Shadow and Bone < Six of Crows < Ninth House. I am *…
“It’s based off of the YA Fantasy universe called Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo. Which includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology (?) Shadow and Bone is a good trilogy to read for YA Fantasy. But Six of Crows was more spectacular in every way. For Netflix, they decided to combine t…
“Oh boy. Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows for me. He Mary Sue, all right? And all dangerous or interesting situations in the book are resolved by 'you thought the heroes were in danger, but *actually* Kaz foresaw this exact events when he was just a toddler and prepared plans B, C, D in advance!'. Tru…
“Shadow and bone trilogy....it's some of her earliest work and it definitely shows. Read six of crows duology before going to read s&b trilogy and the visible downgrade was insane. The duology is leagues ahead and her writing improved so much between the two series. The writing in s&b is so elementa…
“Listen, I DNFed **Six of Crows** because it Italicised the word *nachtwatch*, it just hurt my eyes, if you're going to try and use dutch words and concepts, and italicize them, go the proper way and name it the freaking *nachtwacht* you only needed to switch two more letters around. I dropped that …
“this was my ONLY complaint with Six Of Crows. I had to age the characters up in my head, and would roll my eyes at the mention of their *actual* ages. it doesn’t make sense any other way, but LOVE the story so much so I couldn’t DNF it for that.
“The Hunger Games was really just that good, even if the media imitated the themes the book was against. Also the Six of Crows duology, the story is engaging and somehow balances a big cast of characters perfectly (in my opinion).
“I find Six of Crows works a lot better if you mentally add ten years to the characters' ages. It doesn't feel like a YA novel except that the characters are teenagers and it's technically part of a YA series. It's actually pretty similar to the Gentlemen B******* series in terms of vibe and world-bu…
“Have you read the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo? If that doesn’t feel heisty enough I don’t know what will - the protagonists are a band of criminals each with their own skill-set who are hired to break into a maximum security prison and break out one of the prisoners, a feat that no one has…
“I’m a middle aged man, and while I think the author did the story a disservice by making the characters so young canonically (gotta chase that Y.A. Money though) Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom were both solid stories with intriguing characters in a setting that I enjoyed. Edit, verb noun agreemen…
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Readers also mention
All books like Six of Crows →Books that share discussion threads with Six of Crows — counted from the comments, not curated.
Six of Crows — frequently asked
Is Six of Crows better than Shadow and Bone?+
By the account of Bardugo's own fans in this sample, yes, decisively. One r/Fantasy comment (↑560) says the jump in quality is big enough to make you wonder if the same author wrote both. Another (↑288) admits disliking Shadow and Bone outright but loving Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, framing the prequel trilogy as something you get through, not a reason to stop.
Do I need to read Shadow and Bone before Six of Crows?+
Not necessarily, per this data, but people disagree on the honest sequencing. One r/Fantasy comment (↑288) says the first trilogy is worth it mainly to set up what comes later, which reads as reluctant permission to skip ahead rather than a firm recommendation to start there. Nothing displayed argues you'll be lost without it.
Is Six of Crows a good alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire?+
As a shorter commitment, yes, according to one r/Fantasy comment (↑663) that names it directly alongside Foundryside and Nevernight as options for readers waiting on GRRM or Patrick Rothfuss. It's framed as an alternative, not a replacement; the comparison is about pacing and heist plotting, not scope or worldbuilding depth.
Is Six of Crows appropriate for teenagers, or too dark for YA?+
The data leans toward appropriate: a self-described high school English teacher (↑322) recommends YA fantasy generally as more capable of handling adult themes than people assume, in an r/suggestmeabook thread this book appears in. That's a general defense of the genre more than a specific content rating for this title, so parents wanting a scene-by-scene breakdown won't find one here.