Books Like Leigh Bardugo

The original heist fantasy. Kelsier assembles a crew of Mistborn and Allomancers to steal from a god-emperor who has ruled for a thousand years, and the planning sequences have the same energy as Six of Crows — each team member's role, the contingencies, the things that go wrong. Sanderson's magic system is even more rigorously defined than Grisha powers, and the world-building has the same quality of a society shaped entirely by its magic.

Black and Bardugo share a gift for dark romance with real power dynamics and for protagonists who scheme as well as fight. Jude's manipulation of Cardan has the same quality as Kaz Brekker's manipulation of everyone — both are characters who use intelligence rather than power as their primary weapon, and both have romantic tensions built on genuine antagonism rather than instant attraction.

Paris, 1889. A diverse crew of specialists assembled to steal a powerful historical artifact before it falls into the wrong hands. Chokshi builds her crew with Bardugo's attention to individual backstory and her world-building — a fantasy Paris during the World Exhibition — has the same lushness as Ketterdam. The most direct spiritual heir to Six of Crows.

Tahir shares Bardugo's gift for building a world with genuine historical texture — hers draws on ancient Rome — and for romantic tension that builds across multiple books. Laia and Elias's relationship has the same quality as Kaz and Inej's: built on genuine respect between people shaped by trauma, developing slowly enough to feel earned.

Tan's romantasy has Bardugo's gift for building a magical world from a specific cultural mythology — hers draws on Chinese legend — and for a central romance that develops with real patience. The training sequences and the political complexity of the celestial world give it Grishaverse energy in a completely different cultural register.

Six morally grey characters competing for something they're not entirely sure they want — the ensemble dynamic, the shifting alliances, the individual backstories gradually revealed are pure Six of Crows energy in a dark academia setting. Blake writes banter and tension with the same precision as Bardugo, and the question of which characters can actually be trusted keeps you reading compulsively.

If somehow you've read Six of Crows without reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy that precedes it, go back. The Darkling is one of modern fantasy's great antagonists, the Grisha system is established here in its full complexity, and the Ravkan world — inspired by imperial Russia — is as richly detailed as any fantasy setting published this century. The Shadow and Bone trilogy and the King of Scars duology complete the Grishaverse.

Bardugo's standalone dark fantasy set during the Spanish Inquisition shows her range beyond the Grishaverse. Luzia is a scullery maid who uses minor magic to survive and gets pushed into displaying it publicly with dangerous consequences. For Bardugo fans who want to follow their favorite author into darker, more literary territory.