Book · 2015
Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo
Six criminals with nothing in common but debt attempt an impossible heist inside the world's most guarded fortress.
What does Reddit think of Six of Crows?
Six of Crows shows up 777 times across four subs, with r/suggestmeabook doing most of the recommending (485 mentions) and r/Fantasy running the deeper threads (280), plus a trickle in r/printSF (11). Volume peaked early, 181 mentions in 2019 and still 172 in 2020, then settled into a mid-70s plateau since 2022. The consistent pitch, repeated across suggestmeabook threads, is 'no chosen one narratives, just a bunch of teens... using their smarts to steal stuff and get rich' (↑256). r/Fantasy keeps drawing the Gentleman Bastards comparison for the heist-crew structure, and one thread argues the book reads better if you 'mentally add ten years' to the cast's ages (↑187), calling the YA classification a marketing artifact more than a tonal fact. A publisher-interference story circulates too: Bardugo reportedly wrote it as an adult novel before being pressured to age the characters down (↑135). Entry-point confusion shows up as well, with readers unsure whether Shadow and Bone should come first.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · heist-crew mechanics
- · no chosen one narrative
- · YA label vs. adult original draft
- · Gentleman Bastards comparison
- · Grishaverse entry-point confusion
Common praise
- + r/suggestmeabook treats it as the safe YA rec because there's 'no chosen one narratives, just a bunch of teens... using their smarts to steal stuff and get rich' (↑256).
- + r/Fantasy groups it with Gentleman Bastards, Foundryside, and Nevernight as episodic enough to read without waiting on GRRM or Rothfuss (↑663).
- + One top comment calls the crew 'a gang of thieves actually pulling heists in a cool' setup worth checking out on its own terms (↑319).
- + A commenter argues Six of Crows was 'more spectacular in every way' than the Shadow and Bone trilogy it spun out of (↑219).
Common criticism
- − Fans admit the book only clicks once you 'mentally add ten years' to the cast, which is itself a complaint about the YA characterization (↑187).
- − A widely upvoted thread claims Bardugo wrote it as an adult novel first and was pushed by her publisher to de-age the characters for the YA shelf (↑135).
- − One reader who started with Six of Crows before knowing Shadow and Bone existed asks outright whether they'd have had a better time reading the trilogy first (↑126).
- − r/printSF barely engages with it, just 11 mentions across seven years, so the heist-fantasy pitch isn't crossing over to harder SF crowds.
Who it's for
Pick this up if you want competent thieves pulling a job instead of a farm boy discovering he's chosen. Fans of Gentlemen Bastards will recognize the crew dynamics once they, per r/Fantasy, add ten years to the cast in their heads. If the YA label is a dealbreaker, know that a widely upvoted thread claims Bardugo wrote it as an adult book first, so the tone often outruns the marketing category. Newcomers to the Grishaverse should decide upfront whether to start here or with Shadow and Bone, since even longtime readers argue about the order. Hard SF loyalists are less likely to bite; r/printSF logged only 11 mentions in seven years.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Six of Crows?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“I always tell people that, contrary to Asoiaf & KKC, Gentleman B******* is episodic enough that it can stay where it is without issue. Having said that, Six of Crows (though YA) is an alternative, as also Foundryside and maybe Nevernight
“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,…
“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
“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…
“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…
“Speaking of *Six of Crows* specifically, I've heard that Leigh Bardugo originally wrote it as an adult novel, then was pressured by the publisher into making the characters younger, specifically so it could be marketed as Young Adult. So this revision is actually restoring the author's original inte…
“Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
“I read six of crows before I knowing sab existed. Would I have had a better time with it if I read sab first.
Convinced? Pick up Six of Crows
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Six of Crows — counted from the comments, not curated.
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Mistborn: The Final Empire
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A street thief gets recruited into a heist crew plotting to overthrow a god-emperor who has ruled unchallenged for a thousand years.
Piranesi
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A man alone in an endless house of statues and tides slowly realizes he isn't who the House says he is.
The Martian
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A botanist gets left for dead on Mars and has to grow food on a planet that wants him gone, one duct-taped fix at a time.
Project Hail Mary
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A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
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A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
Six of Crows — frequently asked
Is Six of Crows just YA, or does it read older?+
Depends who's asking. r/Fantasy's top thread on this says Six of Crows 'works a lot better if you mentally add ten years' to the cast (↑187), and a separate thread claims Bardugo originally wrote it as an adult novel before her publisher pushed her to de-age the characters (↑135). The label is technically accurate; the tone regularly reads older.
Should I read Shadow and Bone before Six of Crows?+
Not necessarily. One reader on r/Fantasy admits starting with Six of Crows before knowing Shadow and Bone existed and asks whether the trilogy first would've been better (↑126). r/suggestmeabook, which drives 485 of the book's 777 mentions, recommends Six of Crows on its own merits rather than as a sequel, so starting here isn't treated as a mistake.
Is Six of Crows worth it if I don't normally read YA fantasy?+
Yes, per r/suggestmeabook's most-upvoted rec, which pitches Six of Crows precisely because it drops the chosen-one plot for 'a bunch of teens... using their smarts to steal stuff and get rich' (↑256). r/Fantasy separately groups it with Gentleman Bastards, Foundryside, and Nevernight as an episodic alternative to GRRM or Rothfuss (↑663).
Does Six of Crows compare to The Lies of Locke Lamora?+
Loosely. A top r/Fantasy comment says Six of Crows is 'actually pretty similar to the Gentlemen Bastards series in terms of vibe and world-building' once you age the cast up mentally (↑187), and another comment separately lists Locke Lamora alongside it as comparable episodic fantasy (↑663). The overlap is crew dynamics and heist plotting, not prose style.