Read-alikes
Books like The Blade Itself, according to Reddit
Not an algorithm's guess and not an editor's opinion: these are the books Redditors bring up in the same discussions as The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. It appears in 225 indexed threads — the overlap below happens mostly in r/printSF.
The read-alike list
Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with The Blade Itself, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.
#1 The Black Company
Glen Cook
A mercenary company's own physician keeps its journal through the Vietnam War on peyote, one contract and one dead wizard-lord at a time.
#2 The Lies of Locke Lamora
Scott Lynch
A gang of con artists is three months into robbing the city's nobility when a rival crime lord starts murdering their kind for sport.
#3 Gardens of the Moon
Steven Erikson
An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.
#4 Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb
A bastard prince trained as an assassin narrates sixteen books of loss, loyalty, and one very long grudge against fate.
#5 A Game of Thrones
George R. R. Martin
A direwolf litter found beside a dead stag opens a decades-spanning war for the Iron Throne with no guaranteed survivors.
#6 Red Rising
Pierce Brown
A miner's son fakes his way into the ruling class's brutal war-games academy to bring down the system that executed his wife.
#7 The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
A suicidal bridge slave assigned to the war camp's deadliest crew starts hearing storms answer when he gives orders.
#8 A Wizard of Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin
A prideful young mage summons a nameless shadow to prove his power, then spends years learning to face it instead of running.
#9 The Eye of the World
Robert Jordan
A farm boy's village burns in one night, and the Aes Sedai who saves him says the Dark One marked him before he could walk.
#10 Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson
A street thief gets recruited into a heist crew plotting to overthrow a god-emperor who has ruled unchallenged for a thousand years.
#11 Prince of Thorns
Mark Lawrence
Jorg Ancrath watches his mother and brother die, then spends four books becoming exactly the kind of monster who did it.
#12 The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
A woman searches a dying continent for the daughter her husband stole, while the world ends again on schedule.
The overlap, in numbers
Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.
- #1 The Black Company by Glen Cook — 40 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #2 The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch — 27 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #3 Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson — 53 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #4 Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb — 28 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #5 A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin — 42 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #6 Red Rising by Pierce Brown — 61 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #7 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — 32 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #8 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin — 45 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #9 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — 35 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #10 Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson — 28 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #11 Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence — 17 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
- #12 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 51 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
Books like The Blade Itself — frequently asked
What do Redditors read after The Blade Itself?+
The books most often brought up in the same discussions as The Blade Itself are: The Black Company by Glen Cook; The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch; Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. This ranking counts 459 shared thread appearances across 225 threads — it reflects what commenters actually pair together, not editorial picks.
How is this list ranked?+
We scan Reddit comments for book mentions and count how often two titles appear in the same thread. Books that keep showing up alongside The Blade Itself — mostly in r/printSF — rank higher. A minimum of 3 shared threads is required, so one viral thread can't fabricate a match.