Books like Assassin's Apprentice, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with Assassin's Apprentice, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson

A continent-spanning empire's mage-soldiers besiege a city that might already be doomed by gods playing a board game with human pieces.

40 shared threads

#2

The Blade Itself

Joe Abercrombie

A crippled torturer, a vain swordsman, and a berserker haunted by his own alter ego get pulled into a war none of them understand yet.

28 shared threads

#3

The Eye of the World

Robert Jordan

Trollocs burn a village hunting for one of three farm boys, so an Aes Sedai spirits all three out before anyone learns which.

30 shared threads

#4

A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin

A proud boy on a poor island learns real magic, casts one spell out of arrogance, and spends the rest of the book hunted by what it let loose.

35 shared threads

#5

Mistborn: The Final Empire

Brandon Sanderson

A street thief who can swallow metal and burn it for power gets recruited into a heist crew whose actual target is the immortal emperor who's ruled for a thousand years.

21 shared threads

#6

A Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin

Ned Stark's family gets pulled into a succession war for the Iron Throne while an unkillable winter creeps south.

25 shared threads

#7

The Black Company

Glen Cook

A mercenary company signs a contract with an undying sorceress they call the Lady, on the losing side of a war where the villains already won.

19 shared threads

#8

The Way of Kings

Brandon Sanderson

A bridgeman slave carries spears through a warzone he's not allowed to fight in, until he decides to become the soldier no one will follow.

21 shared threads

#9

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Susanna Clarke

England forgets it ever had real magic, until one book-obsessed magician brings the practical kind back from decades of theory-only study.

19 shared threads

#10

The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien

A gardener and three friends carry a cursed ring across a continent at war, because the only way to destroy it is to walk it into the volcano that forged it.

33 shared threads

#11

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

An orogene comes home to find her son beaten to death and her daughter gone, the same day a continent starts splitting apart.

34 shared threads

#12

Storm Front (The Dresden Files)

Jim Butcher

Chicago's only professional wizard takes a case involving black magic and a mob boss, with a police captain who wants it solved fast or him gone.

16 shared threads

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

1. #1 Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson — 40 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie — 28 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — 30 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin — 35 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson — 21 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin — 25 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 The Black Company by Glen Cook — 19 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — 21 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — 19 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien — 33 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 34 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 Storm Front (The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF