Books like “The Thief”

What to read after “The Thief” by Megan Whalen Turner: 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 Amulet of Samarkand
Jonathan Stroud · 2003
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Trickster
Nathaniel is a young apprentice magician who summons the djinni Bartimaeus to steal a powerful amulet from a politician. The djinni is clever, sarcastic and far from willing, and the theft sets off a fight that neither of them expected to survive.
2
The False Prince
Jennifer A. Nielsen · 2012
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Adventure”
- Unreliable Narrator
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.
3
The Spirit Thief
Rachel Aaron · 2010
Same genre: “Adventure”
- 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.
4
American Gods
Neil Gaiman · 2001
Similar plot moves: “Trickster” and “Reluctant Hero”
Fresh out of prison, Shadow Moon takes a job with the smooth-talking Mr. Wednesday. Their road trip across America draws him into a quiet war between the old gods brought by immigrants and the new gods of media and technology, with Shadow caught in the middle.
5
Kings of the Wyld
Nicholas Eames · 2017
Similar plot moves: “Reluctant Hero” and “Quest”
- Reluctant Hero
- Quest
Clay Cooper left his days as a mercenary behind for a quiet life. Then an old bandmate arrives to say his daughter is trapped in a besieged city, and Clay must round up the ageing, out-of-shape heroes of Saga for one more job.
6
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch · 2006
Similar plot moves: “Trickster”
- 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.
7
Bridge of Birds
Barry Hughart · 1984
Similar plot moves: “Trickster” and “Quest”
- Trickster
- Quest
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.
8
Eragon
Christopher Paolini · 2002
Similar plot moves: “Quest”
- Quest
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.
9
Rebel of the Sands
Alwyn Hamilton · 2016
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy” and “Adventure”
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.
10
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater · 2012
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
- Quest
Blue has grown up in a house of psychics and is warned she will cause her true love's death. Drawn into the search for a lost Welsh king with a group of boys from a prestigious school, she finds her life tangled with theirs and with their dangerous families.
11
Going Postal
Terry Pratchett · 2004
Similar plot moves: “Trickster”
- 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.
12
Sky in the Deep
Adrienne Young · 2018
Same genre: “Young adult fantasy”
Eelyn is a warrior of the Aska clan, raised to fight the rival Riki in a war older than anyone remembers. Captured and forced to live among her enemies, she begins to see them as people, and finds herself drawn to a young man she was always taught to kill.