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Mistborn book cover

Books like Mistborn

What should you read after Brandon Sanderson’s novel? It depends on what you loved most about it.

  • Brandon Sanderson
  • 2006
  • Epic fantasy
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What did you love about it?

Choosing one reorders everything below.

Best books to read after Mistborn

Ranked overall. Pick what you loved above to re-rank them.

  1. Stormlight Archive book cover
    Best overall match

    Stormlight Archive

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sanderson at full scale, same universe, same insistence that magic obey its own laws. If you finished Mistborn wanting more of everything, this is more of everything.

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    • An ending that rewrites the book
    • Magic powered by swallowed metals
    • Ash falling on a dead world
    • Around a thousand pages per volume
  2. The Lies of Locke Lamora book cover
    Best for the crew

    The Lies of Locke Lamora

    Scott Lynch

    A gang of thieves running an elaborate con on a corrupt aristocracy, with the planning scenes you enjoyed most in Mistborn and none of the metals.

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    • A heist crew against an empire
    • A mentor with a plan
    • Fight scenes you can picture
    • No magic system to learn
  3. Red Sister book cover
    Great match

    Red Sister

    Mark Lawrence

    Lawrence trains his heroine the way Kelsier trains Vin — lessons, rankings, escalating danger — and stages his fights as clearly as Sanderson does.

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    • Fight scenes you can picture
    • A mentor with a plan
    • A street thief turned noblewoman
    • Colder tone, sparser explanation
  4. The Name of the Wind book cover
    Great match

    The Name of the Wind

    Patrick Rothfuss

    The other fantasy that treats magic as a discipline with tuition fees attached. Rothfuss is a far better prose stylist and a far less reliable finisher.

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    • Magic powered by swallowed metals
    • A street thief turned noblewoman
    • A mentor with a plan
    • No heist, no rebellion
  5. Nevernight book cover
    Worth a look — with a warning

    Nevernight

    Jay Kristoff

    A thief's daughter trained to kill the men who broke her family: Vin's arc with the restraint removed and the prose turned up several notches.

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    • A street thief turned noblewoman
    • Fight scenes you can picture
    • A mentor with a plan
    • Explicit sex and gore
  6. The Bone Season book cover
    Great match

    The Bone Season

    Samantha Shannon

    A criminal underworld, a girl with an illegal talent, and an occupying power to bring down. The skaa-against-the-empire shape, in a dystopian London.

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    • A street thief turned noblewoman
    • A heist crew against an empire
    • Ash falling on a dead world
    • Heavy terminology early on
  7. Black Prism book cover
    Great match

    Black Prism

    Brent Weeks

    The first Lightbringer book and the cleanest way in: a magic system with a countdown built into it and a leader concealing a substantial lie.

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    • Magic powered by swallowed metals
    • A mentor with a plan
    • An ending that rewrites the book
    • Overlaps with the series entry above

What should you read after Mistborn?

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson works on several levels at once, and which book you should read next depends on which of those levels got you. For most readers the closest match is Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson — sanderson at full scale, same universe, same insistence that magic obey its own laws. If you finished Mistborn wanting more of everything, this is more of everything.

If what stayed with you was a heist crew against an empire, read The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch instead: a gang of thieves running an elaborate con on a corrupt aristocracy, with the planning scenes you enjoyed most in Mistborn and none of the metals. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is the other strong option — lawrence trains his heroine the way Kelsier trains Vin — lessons, rankings, escalating danger — and stages his fights as clearly as Sanderson does.

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