Books like Six of Crows

Scott Lynch built Camorr as a city of con artists and criminal dynasties, then dropped Locke Lamora into it with nothing but a sharp tongue and a talent for deception. The Gentleman Bastards operate like Kaz's crew on a longer timeline: they run elaborate cons against the nobility, splitting proceeds while dodging the city's crime lord. Lynch writes heists as layered puzzles where each reveal peels back another layer of the plan.

The found-family dynamic between the Bastards carries the same warmth that binds Kaz's crew, though Lynch's characters skew older and more world-weary. The class warfare baked into every con mirrors Ketterdam's rigid social stratification, where money buys everything and poverty kills. Lynch matches Bardugo's plotting precision while adding more graphic violence and a darker sense of humor.

Locke and Jean's friendship anchors the series the way Kaz and Inej's relationship anchors Six of Crows, giving the heist machinery an emotional engine. Readers who want the heist fantasy experience with an adult edge will find exactly what they need here.

V.E. Schwab splits her story across three parallel Londons, each with a different relationship to magic. Kell, one of the last magicians who can walk between worlds, and Lila Bard, a thief from Grey London who would knife you for a good pair of boots, collide when a smuggled artifact threatens to unravel all three realities.

The pairing captures the same dynamic as Kaz and Inej: one character with power and obligation, one with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Schwab writes action with a kinetic clarity that matches Bardugo's pacing, keeping chapters short and tension high. The three Londons function like Bardugo's Grishaverse nations, each with distinct cultures shaped by their access to magic. Red London thrives, Grey London forgot magic exists, and White London is tearing itself apart fighting over what little remains.

Lila's refusal to play by anyone's rules puts her in the same category as Kaz: a character who survives by being smarter and meaner than the situation requires. The series deepens across three books, building toward a threat that tests every alliance Kell and Lila form. Fast, stylish, and emotionally sharp.

Kristin Cashore's Graceling puts Katsa, a woman Graced with the ability to kill, at the center of a political conspiracy that spans seven kingdoms. Katsa has been used as a weapon by her uncle the king since childhood, and the novel opens with her already running a secret council dedicated to undermining his cruelty. The dynamic mirrors Inej's situation in Six of Crows: a woman whose body has been turned into a tool for someone else's power, fighting to reclaim her own agency.

Cashore writes combat with the same efficiency Bardugo brings to action scenes, keeping fights short and decisive. Katsa's Grace makes her nearly unbeatable in a straight fight, but Cashore complicates that power by surrounding her with problems violence cannot solve. The relationship between Katsa and Po builds slowly on mutual respect and complementary abilities, avoiding the instant-attraction tropes that weigh down lesser fantasy romances.

The worldbuilding is leaner than Bardugo's Grishaverse, focused more on character dynamics and political maneuvering than on history or lore. Readers who connected with Inej and Nina's arcs of reclaiming autonomy will find Katsa's story lands in the same emotional territory.