A short life of the author
Leigh Bardugo (b. 1975) was born on 6 April 1975 in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in Los Angeles, California. She studied at Yale University, where her experience of the university’s secret societies inspired her adult fiction. She worked in journalism, copywriting, and makeup artistry before publishing her first novel.
Life and Career
Shadow and Bone (2012) — about Alina Starkov, a mapmaker in a Russia-inspired fantasy world who discovers she has the power to summon light — launched the Grisha trilogy and the Grishaverse. Siege and Storm (2013) and Ruin and Rising (2014) completed the trilogy.
Six of Crows (2015) — a heist novel set in the Grishaverse’s Kerch (inspired by the Dutch Republic), following a crew of six misfits who attempt an impossible break-in — was her masterwork. The novel’s ensemble cast — Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, and Wylan Van Eck — became some of the most beloved characters in YA fiction. Crooked Kingdom (2016) completed the duology.
King of Scars (2019) and Rule of Wolves (2021) returned to the Grishaverse. Netflix adapted Shadow and Bone (2021–2023), incorporating characters from all the Grishaverse books.
Ninth House (2019) — about Alex Stern, a young woman with the ability to see ghosts, given a full scholarship to Yale to monitor its secret societies’ occult activities — was her debut adult novel. Hell Bent (2023) continued the series. The Familiar (2024) was a standalone historical fantasy set in the Spanish Inquisition.
Major Works and Themes
Bardugo writes about outcasts who build power through loyalty, intelligence, and mutual dependence. Her fantasy worlds are richly imagined and historically grounded.
Key Works
- Shadow and Bone (2012)
- Six of Crows (2015)
- Ninth House (2019)
Collecting Bardugo
Shadow and Bone (2012, Henry Holt) brings $50–$150.
Six of Crows (2015, Henry Holt) brings $30–$80. Bardugo signs at conventions and bookshop events.
Bibliography
| Title | Year | Publisher | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crooked Kingdom The sequel to Six of Crows plunges the Dregs into a war with Ketterdam's most powerful merchant — their heist complete but the reward stolen — as Kaz orchestrates an elaborate revenge that requires outthinking the entire city's power structure, while each crew member confronts the personal demons the first book revealed. | 2016 | Henry Holt and Company | English |
| Ruin and Rising The final Grisha trilogy novel takes Alina underground — her power stripped, her allies scattered — as she seeks the last amplifier that might defeat the Darkling, building to a conclusion that subverts the chosen-one narrative by asking whether the hero's greatest act might be to relinquish power rather than wield it. | 2014 | Henry Holt and Company | English |
| Shadow and Bone Bardugo's debut novel introduces the Grishaverse — a world inspired by Tsarist Russia where certain people can manipulate matter and energy — following orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov who discovers she possesses the rarest power of all, one that could destroy the Shadow Fold that divides her nation, launching one of the most successful fantasy franchises of the 2010s and a Netflix series. | 2012 | Henry Holt and Company | English |
| Siege and Storm The second Grisha trilogy novel follows Alina and Mal on the run from the Darkling — their flight taking them across the True Sea to find a mythical amplifier, while Alina struggles with the seduction of power and the question of whether saving her country requires becoming the very thing she fears. | 2013 | Henry Holt and Company | English |
| Six of Crows Bardugo's heist novel — set in the Grishaverse's Amsterdam-inspired merchant city of Ketterdam — follows six outcasts breaking into an impregnable fortress, each carrying secrets that could destroy them, in a novel that combines Ocean's Eleven plotting with Dickensian character depth, widely considered superior to the original trilogy and one of the best YA fantasies of the decade. | 2015 | Henry Holt and Company | English |