Books like The Black Company, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with The Black Company, 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.

53 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.

40 shared threads

#3

Assassin's Apprentice

Robin Hobb

A royal bastard trains as the king's poisoner and assassin, and readers fifteen books later still call the ending emotionally devastating.

19 shared threads

#4

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.

35 shared threads

#5

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.

24 shared threads

#6

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.

22 shared threads

#7

The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss

A legendary hero narrates his own rise from orphaned street kid to feared arcanist over three days, except Rothfuss never wrote day three.

16 shared threads

#8

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.

16 shared threads

#9

Red Rising

Pierce Brown

A low-caste miner surgically altered to pass as the ruling elite infiltrates the academy that killed his wife, planning to burn the system down from inside.

33 shared threads

#10

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.

32 shared threads

#11

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.

17 shared threads

#12

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.

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 — 53 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie — 40 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb — 19 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien — 35 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin — 24 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — 22 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 Red Rising by Pierce Brown — 33 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 32 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — 17 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF