Dregs Books in Order

The Dregs books are Leigh Bardugo's two-part heist story set in the Grishaverse. The action takes place mostly in Ketterdam, a wealthy port city where trade, gambling, gangs, and political power all crowd the same narrow streets. It is a place where almost everything has a price, and where a good lie can be more useful than a weapon.

At the center is Kaz Brekker, a teenage gang leader with a talent for making plans and holding grudges. He is offered a job that could make him rich beyond reason, but it requires breaking into the Ice Court, a fortress that has defeated better-equipped teams. Kaz cannot do it alone, so he gathers five people with very different skills and equally complicated reasons for saying yes.

The crew includes Inej, a skilled spy known for moving unseen; Jesper, a sharpshooter who brings charm and chaos in equal measure; Nina, a Grisha with powerful abilities; Matthias, a Fjerdan soldier with every reason not to trust her; and Wylan, a demolition expert who is more useful than he first appears. Their shifting alliances are as important as the job itself.

This is fantasy with the pace of a crime caper. There are disguises, impossible entrances, double-crosses, and plans that have to change at the worst possible moment. But the books also spend time on what each character has survived, what they want from the future, and why trust can feel more dangerous than any locked door.

Ketterdam never lets anyone off easily.

Six of Crows begins with the Ice Court job and introduces the team. Crooked Kingdom picks up with the consequences, putting the crew under pressure from rivals, governments, and the dangerous drug at the center of their mission. The duology is set after the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but it follows a new cast in a new country, so it can work as a starting point for readers who prefer a darker, more street-level entry into the Grishaverse.

Expect tense teamwork, dry humor, romantic slow burns, and characters who are often trying to outrun their pasts. The stakes are large, but the books keep returning to the small decisions that reveal who people are when no clean choice exists.