Books like “Foundryside”

What to read after “Foundryside” by Robert Jackson Bennett: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
The Gilded Wolves
Roshani Chokshi · 2019
Shared in the plot: steal, magic
Paris, 1889. Severin Montagnet-Alarie, a hotelier and treasure-hunter, is offered the chance to reclaim the inheritance his family was denied. To earn it he must assemble a crew and steal an ancient artifact, a job that takes them into the secret society that rules the city's magic.
2
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch · 2006
Same genre: “Fantasy”
In a city of canals and thieves, Locke Lamora leads a small band of con artists who rob the nobility. A hidden power turns the tables, and the crew find themselves caught in a scheme far larger than any of their own.
3
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson · 2006
Shared in the plot: thief, magic
- Heist
- Morally Grey Character
In an ash-covered empire, a street thief is trained in allomancy, the magic of burning metals. She joins a crew planning to overthrow the immortal Lord Ruler, though the prophecy around her may be a lie.
4
Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo · 2015
Similar plot moves: “Heist” and “Found Family”
A street criminal offers six dangerous outcasts a fortune to break into an impregnable fortress and rescue a captive inventor. The heist needs a plan no one has tried before, and none of the crew trusts the others.
5
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson · 2010
Similar plot moves: “Forbidden Knowledge” and “Found Family”
- Forbidden Knowledge
- Found Family
On a storm-scoured world, a slave carries ancient honours, a scholar chases forbidden knowledge and a soldier guards a war that never ends. Their paths bend toward a returning danger few believe is real.
6
The Atlas Six
Olivie Blake · 2020
Similar plot moves: “Forbidden Knowledge” and “Morally Grey Character”
- Forbidden Knowledge
- Morally Grey Character
Six talented magicians are invited to the Alexandrian Society, a secret fellowship that guards lost knowledge. Only five can be initiated at the end of the year, and the recruits must decide how far they will go to keep their places, and whom they are willing to betray.
7
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss · 2007
Similar plot moves: “Forbidden Knowledge”
- Forbidden Knowledge
Kvothe, once a renowned magician and musician, tells a scribe the truth behind his own reputation. His story moves from a travelling troupe to a brutal city and the magic school where he learned far too much.
8
Kaikeyi
Vaishnavi Patel · 2022
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Forbidden Knowledge
- Morally Grey Character
Born a princess and cast aside by her father, Kaikeyi claims a place at court and wins the love of a king. When war threatens her sons' future, she uses the boons she was granted to change the fate of a kingdom.
9
Red Sister
Mark Lawrence · 2017
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Found Family
- Morally Grey Character
Sold and condemned, the girl Nona Grey is saved from the gallows by the Convent of Sweet Mercy, where young women are trained as warriors and killers. Between lessons in blade and poison she makes friends and enemies and a promise, while the past that marked her comes looking.
10
Jhereg
Steven Brust · 1983
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Morally Grey Character
Vlad Taltos is an assassin who has risen to run a piece of the Jhereg, the empire's crime syndicate. Hired to kill Mellar, a Jhereg boss who has embezzled a fortune, Vlad finds him sheltering as the guest of the Dragonlord Morrolan, whose code of hospitality forbids any harm to come to him—and the Jhereg insist the hit be done before Mellar leaves.
11
The Library at Mount Char
Scott Hawkins · 2015
Similar plot moves: “Forbidden Knowledge” and “Morally Grey Character”
- Forbidden Knowledge
- Morally Grey Character
Carolyn and a dozen other orphans were raised by a man they call Father, who taught them strange arts from a library that may hold the secrets of creation. When Father vanishes, the siblings turn on one another for his power, and Carolyn must decide what she will trade to win.
12
The Unspoken Name
A. K. Larkwood · 2020
Similar plot moves: “Found Family” and “Morally Grey Character”
- Found Family
- Morally Grey Character
Csorwe was raised to be a sacrifice to the Unspoken One, until the wizard Belthandros offers her another life. Trained as his assassin and servant, she is sent to find a lost city and a door between worlds, and begins to wonder whether her second life is any freer than her first.