Books like The House in the Cerulean Sea, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with The House in the Cerulean Sea, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

Mort

Terry Pratchett

A gawky teenage boy becomes Death's apprentice and starts taking the job more personally than Death ever did.

3 shared threads · mixed

#2

Legends & Lattes

Travis Baldree

An orc mercenary retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop in a city that has never heard of coffee.

3 shared threads · praised

#3

The Goblin Emperor

Katherine Addison

An exiled half-goblin prince inherits a throne he never wanted after an airship 'accident' kills his father and half-brothers.

5 shared threads · mixed

#4

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

A man alone in an endless house of statues and tides slowly realizes he isn't who the House says he is.

8 shared threads · praised

#5

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Becky Chambers

A ragtag crew takes a multi-year tunneling job to punch a wormhole through space and mostly just has to get along with each other for the ride.

12 shared threads · praised

#6

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.

10 shared threads · praised

#7

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)

Martha Wells

A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.

15 shared threads · mixed

#8

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

An envoy is sent alone to a planet where everyone is genderless most of the month, and he has to unlearn who he assumes is in charge.

11 shared threads · praised

#9

Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy

A teenage runaway joins a scalp-hunting gang across the borderlands, shadowed by a hairless giant who never loses an argument.

3 shared threads · praised

#10

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.

4 shared threads · praised

#11

The Blade Itself

Joe Abercrombie

Nine-Fingers the barbarian just wants to survive one more winter, but a torturer's investigation and a prince's war have other plans.

4 shared threads · praised

#12

The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss

An orphaned actor's son claws his way toward becoming a legend by the University's fire-and-sympathy magic — a story stuck at book two for over a decade.

3 shared threads · mixed

The overlap, in numbers

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

1. #1 Mort by Terry Pratchett — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison — 5 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke — 8 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers — 12 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 10 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells — 15 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin — 11 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF