Books Like Six of Crows
If you finished Six of Crows and want more found family, morally gray, slow burn, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
For reference, Six of Crows is:
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The picks
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1. The Lies of Locke Lamora
Shares: found family, morally gray
Locke runs elaborate cons on the nobles of Camorr with his crew of Gentleman Bastards, and it's a heist romp for about half the book. Then someone starts killing thieves and the tone flips hard. Funny, filthy-mouthed and crueler than you expect.
- Found Family
- Revenge
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture, Murder, Death of a loved one
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2. Godkiller
Shares: found family, morally gray
Kissen kills gods for a living, which is a good trade in a kingdom that banned worship. Then she's stuck escorting a girl bound to a tiny god of white lies. Grumpy found family, small sharp book, easy entry into darker fantasy.
- Gods and Mythology
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one, Harm to children
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3. House of Earth and Blood
Shares: morally gray, slow burn, found family
Urban fantasy Maas: phones, clubs, angels and a half-fae party girl hunting whoever killed her best friend. The first 200 pages are a slog and the last 200 are a sprint.
- Fae
- Demons
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, Murder, Drug or alcohol abuse, Death of a loved one
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4. The Justice of Kings
Shares: morally gray, found family
Sir Konrad Vonvalt is a travelling Justice, judge, jury and executioner with the power to make people tell the truth. His clerk Helena narrates as a murder in a backwater town turns into a conspiracy. A legal procedural that keeps getting grimmer.
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
- Found Family
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Torture, War
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5. This Savage Song
Shares: found family, morally gray
In Verity, violence literally breeds monsters. Kate wants to be as ruthless as her father, who runs half the city, and August is a monster who'd rather be human. No romance to speak of. YA and the best of Schwab's books for teens.
- Demons
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Murder, Suicide or suicidal thoughts, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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6. A Darker Shade of Magic
Shares: found family, morally gray
Four Londons, one magician who can travel between them and a thief who wants to be a pirate. Lighter than most on this list but White London is properly nasty.
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Assassins
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture
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7. Babel
Shares: found family, morally gray
Robin is taken from Canton as a child and raised to study at Oxford's translation institute, where silver bars powered by mistranslation run the British Empire. Long, footnoted and furious about colonialism. The friendship at the center is the part that hurts.
- Dark Academia
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
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8. Darkfever
Shares: morally gray, slow burn
Mac goes to Dublin to find out who killed her sister and finds out she can see the fae. They're nothing like the stories. The romance with Barrons takes several books and gets very dark. This was dark fae before dark fae was a shelf.
- Fae
- Morally Gray
- Slow Burn
- Possessive Hero
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
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9. Lady of Darkness
Shares: slow burn, found family, morally gray
Scarlett Monrhoe and her sisters were raised to torture and kill on command, and she is very good at it. Book one is long and stingy with the romance. Readers who push on say the later books are where it catches fire, in every sense.
- Assassins
- Fae
- Slow Burn
- Found Family
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Murder, Torture, Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence
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10. One Dark Window
Shares: morally gray, slow burn
There's a monster living in Elspeth's head, and it talks. Gothic, foggy, strange in the best way. Feels like a dark fairy tale someone forgot to tame.
- Curses
- Morally Gray
- Forbidden Love
- Slow Burn
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Murder
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11. The Sword of Kaigen
Shares: found family, morally gray
Misaki gave up her fighting life to marry into a warrior family on a remote peninsula. Then the empire she serves sends an invasion fleet. The first third is quiet family drama, and the payoff for sticking with it is brutal.
- Arranged Marriage
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
War, Death of a loved one, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
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12. Interview with the Vampire
Shares: morally gray, found family
Louis tells a reporter how Lestat made him a vampire in 1791 New Orleans, and how they turned a dying five-year-old into a daughter. Lush, mournful and very homoerotic for 1976. Louis whines a lot, and Claudia is the real horror.
- Vampires
- Morally Gray
- Found Family
Content warnings
Murder, Harm to children, Gore, Death of a loved one
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13. The Black Company
Shares: found family, morally gray
Croaker, the company's doctor and record keeper, writes down what a mercenary band does after signing on with the Lady, who is pretty clearly the villain. Dry, cynical and short. The book half of modern grimdark is quietly copying.
- Grimdark
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Torture, Murder
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14. The Blacktongue Thief
Shares: found family, morally gray
Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a fortune, so a botched robbery turns into a job escorting a knight across a country wrecked by goblin wars. The narrator is a funny, profane liar. Then there are the giants, and the war flashbacks, which are not funny at all.
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Grimdark
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Animal death, Gore
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15. Daughter of No Worlds
Shares: slow burn, found family
A former slave with a talent for magic gets recruited into an order of warriors. Broadbent before Nyaxia, and the slow burn here is properly slow.
- Slow Burn
- Forbidden Love
- Found Family
- Deadly Trials
Content warnings
Physical or emotional abuse, Graphic violence, War
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