Books like “The Way of Shadows”

What to read after “The Way of Shadows” by Brent Weeks: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

About “The Way of Shadows”

Another favorite book?

Or start with a well-known book

1
Nevernight
Jay Kristoff · 2016
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
Mia Corvere survives the murder of her family and is taken in by the Red Church, a hidden order of assassins. To earn her place she must pass brutal trials, while her shadow companion and her hunger for revenge push her toward a choice she may not survive.
2
The Shadow of the Torturer
Gene Wolfe · 1980
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
Severian is raised in the guild of torturers and exiled from his city after an act of mercy. He narrates his own travels across a dying world, but his perfect memory is perfect only in his own account, and the past conceals far more than he admits.
3
Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb · 1995
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
Fitz is the unacknowledged bastard son of a prince, raised in the shadows of the royal court. Trained secretly as an assassin and bonded to a wolf through the forbidden Wit, he must decide where his loyalty lies as the kingdom's politics turn treacherous.
4
The Unspoken Name
A. K. Larkwood · 2020
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
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.
5
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Seth Dickinson · 2015
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
- Dark Fantasy
- Morally Grey Character
When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, Baru Cormorant hides her hatred and joins the imperial civil service. Sent to a restless province as an accountant, she works to rise high enough to free her people, even as her choices cost her the woman she loves.
6
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
N. K. Jemisin · 2010
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
- Dark Fantasy
- Morally Grey Character
Yeine Darr is summoned from her northern homeland to the city of Sky, where she is named an heir to the Arameri throne after her mother's death. As she learns the rules of a court that keeps gods as servants, she finds that the contest for the succession is also a trap.
7
The Rage of Dragons
Evan Winter · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
The Omehi have fought an unwinnable war for generations, where a rare few can call dragons or transform into killing giants. Giftless Tau plans to escape, until betrayal murders those he loves. To avenge them he trains to become the greatest swordsman alive, whatever it costs.
8
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson · 2006
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
- Dark Fantasy
- 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.
9
Best Served Cold
Joe Abercrombie · 2009
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
- Dark Fantasy
- Morally Grey Character
Mercedes Murcatto, a mercenary general, survives an ambush by the duke she served and loses her brother in the same fall. Assembling a crew of killers and madmen, she begins a patient campaign of revenge in which no method is too cruel and no ally is safe.
10
Jhereg
Steven Brust · 1983
Similar plot moves: “Assassin Protagonist” and “Morally Grey Character”
- Assassin Protagonist
- 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
Prince of Thorns
Mark Lawrence · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
Nine-year-old Jorg watched raiders murder his mother and brother. By thirteen he leads a band of killers, and by fifteen he means to take his father's throne. Ruthless and brilliant, he treats cruelty as a tool and will pay any price for the crown he believes is his.
12
The Warded Man
Peter V. Brett · 2008
Similar atmosphere: “Dark Fantasy”
- Dark Fantasy
- Coming of Age
By day the world belongs to people; at night, demons rise from the ground. Three children, Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, grow up in the shadow of the wards that keep the corelings out, and each finds a different way to fight back.