Grishaverse Reading Order: Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows and King of Scars

Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse spans three series and two companion books, all set in the same world of Grisha magic, war and heists. The Netflix adaptation blended two of those series together, which has left plenty of new readers unsure where to begin. Here's the full order and the shortcuts that work.

The Full Grishaverse Reading Order

Two companion books can be read whenever you like: The Language of Thorns (2017), a collection of illustrated fairy tales from the world, and The Lives of Saints (2020), a short illustrated book about the saints the novels mention.

Start With Shadow and Bone

The Shadow and Bone trilogy introduces the world: Ravka, a country split by the Shadow Fold, and Alina Starkov, an orphan who discovers a rare power. It's the most traditional YA fantasy of the three series and the quickest read.

Can You Start With Six of Crows?

Yes, and plenty of people do. Six of Crows moves to the merchant city of Ketterdam and follows a crew of six outcasts attempting an impossible heist. It works as a self-contained duology and is widely considered Bardugo's best work.

The catch is that Six of Crows, and Crooked Kingdom especially, reference events and characters from the Shadow and Bone trilogy. You'll follow everything, but you'll meet some spoilers for the earlier books. If you don't mind that, starting with the heist is a great choice.

Read King of Scars Last

King of Scars and Rule of Wolves follow a character introduced in the Shadow and Bone trilogy and bring back characters from Six of Crows. This duology is where the threads converge, so it only works once you've read both earlier series.

The Netflix Show vs. the Books

Netflix's Shadow and Bone combined the first trilogy with an original storyline for the Six of Crows characters that doesn't exist in the books. If you watched the show first, expect a different structure: in the books, the Crows' story starts fresh in Six of Crows.

How Long Does It Take?

The whole Grishaverse is very manageable. At our standard pace of about 50 pages an hour, the Shadow and Bone trilogy is around 30 hours and Six of Crows around 20, with King of Scars adding a little more. You can finish everything in a few weeks of steady reading.