Leigh Bardugo reflects on how the crowded YA market has changed since ‘Shadow and Bone’

In 2012, Leigh Bardugo released her debut novel, Shadow and Bone, and readers couldn’t get enough of it. This YA fantasy adventure novel spent weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was eventually adapted into a Netflix series. This was also the beginning of the Grishaverse, a common continuation of Bardugo’s YA novels.

Bardugo is delighted to have published Shadow and Bone in 2012. Because I feel that such a book would never be supported in today’s market. “I think with every book we try to make sure there’s some value to the opportunity we’re given,” Shadow and Bone author Lee Bardugo said during the New York Comic Con 2022 spotlight panel. “If I were trying to sell ‘Shadow and Bone’ now, I think it would be a very different market. I think it’s a much more crowded, much more competitive market. I’d like to think we’re growing with each book, but that’s why we keep chasing ourselves.”

“‘Shadow and Bone’ is the story of the chosen ones. It’s really the story of the chosen ones. And ‘Six of Crows’ is not that at all. It was a direct response to the question of what happens to people who don’t have a great destiny, who don’t have royal blood, who are considered disposable in the world.”

I’m glad Shadow and Bone was published at that time. If this book hadn’t been successful, we wouldn’t have the Grishaverse, and the YA section of bookstores would be a dull place.