Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo writes fantasy with a sharp edge to it. Her worlds are rich and detailed, but what keeps people coming back is the characters. She writes antiheroes and morally complicated people better than almost anyone working in the genre right now.

She's best known for the Grishaverse, a sprawling fantasy universe that started with Shadow and Bone and expanded into the Six of Crows duology, which has its own devoted following. Six of Crows in particular is the kind of book that turns casual readers into obsessive ones. She also wrote Ninth House and its sequel Hell Bent, which are darker and aimed at adult readers.

Bardugo grew up in Los Angeles and worked in entertainment before publishing her first novel. That background shows in how cinematic her storytelling is. Her books move quickly and the dialogue is genuinely good.

If you're new to her, Six of Crows is where most fans say to start, even though it's technically a sequel series. If you want to begin at the beginning, Shadow and Bone is the place.