Books like “The Amulet of Samarkand”

What to read after “The Amulet of Samarkand” by Jonathan Stroud: 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 Thief
Megan Whalen Turner · 1996
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Trickster
Gen has been locked in the king's prison of Sounis for boasting that he can steal anything. Freed by the king's magus, he is dragged along on a hunt for an ancient artifact that could settle the fate of three nations, and he schemes, complains and remembers more than he admits.
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
Going Postal
Terry Pratchett · 2004
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Trickster
Moist von Lipwig is a con man offered a choice: be hanged, or revive Ankh-Morpork's ruined post office. With the city's mail piled up undelivered in the crumbling post office and a rival message company sabotaging him, he sets out to make the letters move and stay ahead of his own past.
4
The Spirit Thief
Rachel Aaron · 2010
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Trickster
Eli Monpress is a wizard and a thief who would rather have a larger bounty than a heavier purse. To raise it he kidnaps a king, which brings the Spirit Court's envoy Miranda Lyonette after him. Eli's easy charm hides a plan that puts more than his own bounty at stake.
5
Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo · 2015
Similar plot moves: “Revenge” and “Morally Grey Character”
- Revenge
- Morally Grey Character
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.
6
Northern Lights
Philip Pullman · 1995
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Lyra Belacqua lives among the scholars of Oxford in a world where every person has an animal companion called a daemon. When children begin to disappear, she travels north with a mysterious instrument and a fierce armored bear to uncover a conspiracy about the substance called Dust.
7
Eragon
Christopher Paolini · 2002
Similar plot moves: “Revenge” and “Coming of Age”
- Revenge
- Coming of Age
Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the mountains, and it hatches into a dragon. Chosen as her rider, he is hunted by the king's servants and must leave his village to learn the ways of the Dragon Riders and join the rebels.
8
Anansi Boys
Neil Gaiman · 2005
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Trickster
Fat Charlie Nancy learns that the father he barely knew was the spider god Anansi, and that he has a brother he never met. Spider is charming, magical and trouble, and he turns Charlie's careful life upside down while Charlie tries to bury a past that will not stay buried.
9
The False Prince
Jennifer A. Nielsen · 2012
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
In the kingdom of Carthya, a nobleman gathers orphan boys and tells them that one must learn to pass as the lost prince Jaron, or die. Sage is quick, defiant and unwilling to play the part, but the game he is forced into has rules no one has told him, and a prize worse than a crown.
10
Sabriel
Garth Nix · 1995
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Sabriel has grown up safely across the Wall, far from the Old Kingdom and its dead. When her father, the Abhorsen, vanishes, she crosses into a land where the dead walk and takes up his bells and his duty. With a free magic creature and a trapped soldier, she sets out to find him.
11
Rebel of the Sands
Alwyn Hamilton · 2016
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Amani Al'Hiza lives in Dustwalk, a dead-end desert town, and hides two things: she can shoot like a legend, and she is half djinn. Refusing a blackmail marriage and a future in Dustwalk, she disguises herself and joins a stranger heading into the desert, where a rebellion is gathering.
12
The Blue Sword
Robin McKinley · 1982
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Coming of Age
Harry Crewe, newly orphaned, travels to a remote outpost on the Darian border to live with her brother. Corlath, king of the Free Hillfolk, carries her away from the fort, and she finds an old magic waking in her blood. Caught between two peoples, she must decide where she belongs.