Books like “The Spirit Thief”

What to read after “The Spirit Thief” by Rachel Aaron: 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 Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch · 2006
Same genre: “Fantasy”
- Gentleman Thief
- Trickster
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.
2
Bridge of Birds
Barry Hughart · 1984
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Trickster
In an ancient China that never was, a plague falls on the children of a village. Number Ten Ox seeks the sage Master Li, a scholar with 'a slight flaw in his character', and the two set off through ghosts, gods and bandits to find the one cure that can save the children.
3
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Brandon Sanderson · 2023
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Tress lives on an island where the seas are made of deadly spores. When the man she loves is taken by the Sorceress, she leaves her ordinary life, gathers an unlikely crew and sails toward the midnight sea to bring him home.
4
Anansi Boys
Neil Gaiman · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- 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.
5
The Princess Bride
William Goldman · 1973
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Buttercup and farm boy Westley are parted when he sails away to make his fortune and is reported killed by pirates, and she is promised to a prince she does not love. A swordsman, a giant and a scheming noble chase the pair across a kingdom of pirates and wonders, in a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale of true love.
6
The Last Unicorn
Peter S. Beagle · 1968
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
A unicorn learns she may be the last of her kind and leaves her forest to search for the others. With a bumbling magician and a sharp-tongued woman she travels to a king's castle, where love and loss wait at the end of the road.
7
The Thief
Megan Whalen Turner · 1996
Same genre: “Adventure”
- 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.
8
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow
Jessica Townsend · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Morrigan Crow is blamed for every misfortune and is marked to die on her eleventh birthday. Instead she is spirited away to the secret city of Nevermoor to compete for a place in an exclusive society, against rivals and a curse that still hunts her.
9
The Colour of Magic
Terry Pratchett · 1983
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Rincewind, a wizard who failed out of magic school, is saddled with guiding Twoflower, the Discworld's first tourist, on a chaotic tour. Their journey drags a naive optimist, a walking luggage chest and a very unwilling hero through one disaster after another.
10
The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
A black-and-white circus arrives without warning and opens only at night. Behind its rivalry of illusions stand two young magicians, Celia and Marco, bound by a contest neither chose. As they fall in love, the circus and everyone in it becomes the stakes.
11
Howl's Moving Castle
Diana Wynne Jones · 1986
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Cursed by a witch into an old woman's body, Sophie takes shelter in the moving castle of the vain wizard Howl. Amid a fire demon, a scarecrow and Howl's tangled contracts, she finds a home and a way to break her own spell.
12
Stardust
Neil Gaiman · 1999
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
A young man promises to retrieve a fallen star for the girl he loves and crosses a wall into the land of Faerie. There he finds the star is a woman pursued by witches and princes, and his errand becomes a journey of its own.