Books Like Shadow and Bone

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Lauren Fortgang narrates Shadow and Bone with a clarity that keeps the Grisha world's unfamiliar terms and political factions from becoming a barrier — her voice has a natural authority that earns the reader's trust early, and at 9 hours the story moves quickly enough that the worldbuilding never slows the momentum. Four of the ten picks here share Fortgang's , and most are anchored in the same Leigh Bardugo universe — dark fantasy with political texture and narrators who handle ensemble worlds without losing individual character.

10 books for fans of Shadow and Bone

  1. 1
    Crooked Kingdom cover

    Crooked Kingdom

    Six of Crows • Book 2

    by Leigh Bardugo

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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. 2
    Six of Crows cover

    Six of Crows

    Six of Crows • Book 1

    by Leigh Bardugo

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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. 3
    Hell Bent cover

    Hell Bent

    Alex Stern • Book 2

    by Leigh Bardugo

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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. 4
    Ninth House cover

    Ninth House

    Alex Stern • Book 1

    by Leigh Bardugo

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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. 5
    Demon in the Wood cover

    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. 6
    Knaves: A Blackguards Anthology (3) cover

    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)
  7. 7
    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets cover

    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)
  8. 8
    Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief cover

    Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

    Percy Jackson and the Olympians • Book 1

    by Rick Riordan

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    What if ADHD and dyslexia were actually signs you're a demigod? Riordan turns Greek mythology into a clever modern adventure where Percy discovers Zeus's lightning bolt is missing and he's the prime suspect.

    4.31 Goodreads (3.5M ratings)
  9. 9
    The Hobbit cover

    The Hobbit

    Middle-earth • Book 1

    by J.R.R. Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson, Michael Hague, Jemima Catlin

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    Before the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tolkien wrote this intimate tale of Bilbo Baggins learning that even the smallest person can change the course of history.

    4.30 Goodreads (4.5M ratings)
  10. 10
    Expansion cover

    Expansion

    Demon Accords Generations • Book 1

    by John Conroe

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    First-generation colonist Craig Blackmore flees trouble on the magic-starved world Greenacres for Academy training on Earth eighteen years after the Vorsook war. Conroe launches the next Demon Accords generation with interplanetary coming-of-age adventure.

    4.82 Goodreads (886 ratings)