#13 in Young adult
Six of Crows
- 512
- Pages
- about 9 h
- Reading time
- Series 2021
- On screen
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Our view
A heist fantasy that lives on its crew: each of the five viewpoint characters is distinct enough that readers care what becomes of them, and Ketterdam is a rough, teeming city worth visiting. The twists are prepared with care, so the surprises hold up on reflection. Some feel the middle drags and the book could be shorter, but the shifting viewpoints keep it moving. Good for readers who like a whole team to cheer for.
Worth knowing Leigh Bardugo set this heist novel in the world of her Shadow and Bone trilogy, but in Ketterdam, a trading city loosely modelled on Amsterdam, and it can be read without the earlier books. Six outcasts take on an impossible job, and the story is told from five of their viewpoints. Crooked Kingdom (2016) completes the duology. Netflix’s Shadow and Bone (2021–2023) wove these characters into the earlier trilogy’s plot.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Six of Crows is a fantasy novel written by the American author Leigh Bardugo and published by Henry Holt and Co. in 2015. The story follows a thieving crew and is primarily set in the city of Ketterdam, which is loosely inspired by Dutch Republic–era Amsterdam. The plot is told from third-person viewpoints of five different characters.
Reading order · Six of Crows
Full order & progress →- Six of CrowsThis book
8.68.6 / 10 - Crooked Kingdom
8.88.8 / 10
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- SeriesShadow and BoneIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 2,262 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 94% of the weight and the score stays at 8.6 — the Young adult average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.1 | 90 | 4% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 5 | 0% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 2.2K | 96% |
Frequently asked
What age is Six of Crows for?
Six of Crows sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 512 pages — shorter than 57% of the ranked books in Young adult.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Young adult — with scores between 8.4 and 8.6, closest to this book.
