Books like Six of Crows
by Leigh Bardugo · 2015
Updated June 2026
Book data: Open Library · Taste signals: BookTaste model
🃏 Six of Crows is a heist fantasy set in the morally grimy port city of Ketterdam, where a crew of six outcasts — thieves, spies, and sharpshooters — attempt the most daring job in history. Fans love it for its interlocking character voices, razor-sharp banter, and the slow-burn tension between people who'd sooner betray you than trust you. The plot is a clockwork puzzle; every chapter peels back another layer of con and counter-con. It's the rare book where the ensemble is the point — you come for the heist, you stay for the crew.
Picked by taste overlap — not popularity alone.
What to read next
Crooked Kingdom
Leigh Bardugo · 2016
🎭 Heist Plot⚔️ Morally Grey🌹 Slow Burn🎭 The direct sequel — same crew, same city, same con-within-a-con structure, and every slow-burn relationship from the first book finally pays off.
- Matches
- same crew and city · escalating heist mechanics · enemies-to-lovers payoff
- Differs
- no fresh-start mystery · smaller in scope than book one · more emotional, less action
- Skip if
- You want a standalone — this is a direct continuation and makes no sense without Six of Crows.
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●●● strong · ●●○ medium · ●○○ light · ○○○ none
Solid = this book · dashed = Six of Crows
Closest match
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch · 2006
🎭 Heist Plot⚔️ Morally Grey⚔️ A grimdark heist in a corrupt fantasy Venice where morally grey thieves run elaborate cons — the closest adult analogue to Ketterdam's street-level criminal genius.
- Matches
- thieves-guild heist structure · morally grey protagonists · dark city underworld
- Differs
- adult, far more violent · no magic system to speak of · no ensemble romance
- Skip if
- You're sensitive to graphic torture and violence — Lynch goes places Bardugo doesn't.
Solid = this book · dashed = Six of Crows
An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir · 2015
⚔️ Morally Grey🌹 Slow Burn🌹 Enemies-to-lovers tension in a brutal Roman-inspired empire, with dual POVs and the same sense that every alliance could collapse into betrayal at any moment.
- Matches
- enemies-to-lovers tension · morally grey cast · brutal political stakes
- Differs
- more romance-forward · Roman setting, not secondary-world Europe · slower heist elements
- Skip if
- You want the clockwork heist structure — this is more war and survival than a coordinated job.
Solid = this book · dashed = Six of Crows
Not similar books. Similar taste.
It reads the grain of every book you've loved — why it stayed with you — and follows that thread to your next read. Not the bestseller list, not the crowd: just your taste. Free, no signup.
Add books you've read; BookTaste builds your taste radar and recommends from it.
Taste radar — read from the themes shared across Six of Crows and the picks below
Strongest taste signals: 🎭 Heist Plot · ⚔️ Morally Grey · 💬 Ensemble Cast
How taste signals are generated
BookTaste's model reads the themes, moods, settings, and reader hooks of the base book, then scores every pick across those same axes — what overlaps, what diverges. Ordered by taste fit, not by popularity.
The Poppy War
R.F. Kuang · 2018
⚔️ Morally Grey🐉 Epic Scale💀 For readers who loved Six of Crows for its darkness and refusal to flinch — The Poppy War takes morally grey to a full grimdark war narrative inspired by 20th-century China.
- Matches
- morally complex protagonist · dark unflinching tone · ensemble of outcasts
- Differs
- no heist whatsoever · extremely graphic war violence · epic scale, no intimate crew
- Skip if
- You want the clever con-artist fun — this is devastating historical-fantasy war fiction.
Solid = this book · dashed = Six of Crows
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Sue Lynn Tan · 2022
💬 Ensemble Cast🌹 Slow Burn✨ A lush quest-fantasy with a tightly knit band of companions and slow-burn romance — readers who loved the crew loyalty in Six of Crows will feel right at home with the emotional core here.
- Matches
- loyal ensemble dynamic · slow-burn romance · vivid fantasy world
- Differs
- no heist plot at all · lyrical and soft rather than sharp and witty · Chinese mythology basis
- Skip if
- You need the con-artist tension and banter — this is quieter and more mythic in feel.
Solid = this book · dashed = Six of Crows
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr · 2014
⚔️ Morally Grey🕰️ A dual-POV literary thriller with the same interlocking structure of two characters whose fates converge — readers who loved Six of Crows for its parallel backstory reveals will find the same pleasure here.
- Matches
- interlocking dual POVs · morally complex world · slow convergence payoff
- Differs
- historical fiction, no fantasy or magic · no heist or crime crew · literary pace, not propulsive
- Skip if
- You're here purely for the heist fantasy and ensemble banter — this is literary WWII fiction.
Solid = this book · dashed = Six of Crows
Frequently asked
- What makes Six of Crows different from other YA fantasy?
- Most YA fantasy follows a chosen-one hero; Six of Crows is built around a found-family crew of criminals with no destiny — just competence, desperation, and loyalty forged under pressure. The heist structure means every chapter is a puzzle, not a prophecy.
- Do I need to read the Shadow and Bone trilogy before Six of Crows?
- No — Six of Crows is a standalone duology set in the same world, but Bardugo deliberately wrote it so newcomers can jump in cold. You'll occasionally encounter references to the Grisha magic system, but nothing essential is gated behind the trilogy.
- Is there a sequel, and should I read it immediately after?
- Yes — Crooked Kingdom (2016) is the direct conclusion. The story ends on a cliffhanger, so most readers go straight from one to the other. 🃏 Do not wait between them if you care about the characters.
- Which of the similar books is the best first read after Six of Crows?
- For the purest genre match, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is the adult answer — same heist-in-a-corrupt-city DNA, just darker and longer. If you want to stay in YA, An Ember in the Ashes has the closest enemies-to-lovers energy.
Book data and covers from Open Library. Picks and taste signals are generated by BookTaste's taste model.