“I was done with hesitation. It wasn't just that we'd run out of options, or that so much was riding on the firebird's power. I'd simply grown ruthless enough or selfish enough to take another creature's life. But I missed the girl who had shown the stag mercy, who had been strong enough to turn away from the lure of power, who had believed in something more. Another casualty of this war.”

American fantasy author

Leigh Bardugo is an American fantasy author best known for her young adult Grishaverse novels, including the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows and King of Scars duologies. She is also the author of Ninth House, her acclaimed adult debut. Her work has reached beyond the page through screen adaptations of Shadow and Bone by Netflix and Ninth House by Amazon Studios. Bardugo serves as an executive producer on both projects, and her fiction is known for building expansive fantasy worlds across young adult and adult genres.