10 books for fans of Ruin and Rising
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Crooked Kingdom
Six of Crows • Book 2
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Betrayed and broken after their heist, Kaz's crew faces enemies from all sides while planning their most impossible con yet. Bardugo's finale delivers emotional payoffs and explosive action sequences.
★ 4.57 Goodreads (779.9K ratings) - 2
Six of Crows
Six of Crows • Book 1
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Seventeen-year-old crime boss Kaz Brekker recruits five dangerous outcasts for a heist that could make them rich—or get them killed in Ketterdam's magic-soaked underworld.
★ 4.46 Goodreads (1.2M ratings) - 3
Hell Bent
Alex Stern • Book 2
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Alex Stern defies Yale's Lethe Society to mount a rescue mission into hell itself, determined to save Darlington from purgatory. Bardugo's sequel dives deeper into occult academia with higher stakes and bloodier consequences.
★ 4.10 Goodreads (183.8K ratings) - 4
Ninth House
Alex Stern • Book 1
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Yale's secret societies practice actual occult rituals, and Alex Stern—sole survivor of a multiple homicide—monitors them for the university. Bardugo crafts a dark academia where privilege literally costs blood.
★ 4.00 Goodreads (407.3K ratings) - 5
Demon in the Wood
Grishaverse
by Leigh Bardugo, Dani Pendergast
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Before the Shadow Fold and Ravka's Second Army, the future Darkling was just a boy fleeing with his mother — the rarest and most feared Grisha alive.
★ 4.09 Goodreads (51.7K ratings) - 6
Buried Deep and Other Stories
by Naomi Novik
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Thirteen stories span Novik's fictional universes—from dragon-bonded aviators to magical academics—plus a preview of her next novel's setting.
★ 4.02 Goodreads (6.8K ratings) - 7
Knaves: A Blackguards Anthology (3)
Tales of the Otori #4.9 - Wine, Knife, Sword
by Melanie R. Meadors, Alana Joli Abbott, Maurice Broaddus, Cullen Bunn, Toiya Kristen Finley, Shanna Germain, Lian Hearn, Walidah Imarisha, Mercedes Lackey, Dennis Lee, Cat Rambo, Linda Robertson, Clay Sanger, Anna Smith Spark, Kenny Soward, Anton Strout, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Howard Tayler, Linda Robertson Reinhardt
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Anti-heroes and morally complex protagonists populate stories ranging from medieval cons to futuristic schemes, where heroic people face impossible ethical choices.
★ 3.50 Goodreads (30 ratings) - 8
Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Dungeon Crawler Carl • Book 2
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Earth's survivors are trapped in a deadly dungeon game show, and Carl just wants to keep his cat alive through the next level. Dinniman's LitRPG satire skewers both gaming culture and reality TV with gleeful violence.
★ 4.51 Goodreads (187.5K ratings) - 9
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter (Full-Cast Editions) • Book 2
by J.K. Rowling
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Rowling deepens her mythology with Tom Riddle's diary and a basilisk lurking in Hogwarts' pipes, proving the school's dark secrets run deeper than anyone imagined.
★ 4.43 Goodreads (4.5M ratings) - 10
Men at Arms
Discworld • Book 15
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Pratchett's City Watch gets diverse recruits just as someone introduces the Discworld's first firearm, forcing Vimes and his motley crew to prevent both revolution and the end of sword-and-sorcery warfare.
★ 4.42 Goodreads (113.8K ratings)