Universe

Books like Thieves' World: 9 series to read next

Thieves' World is fantasy and epic fantasy, about war, set in secondary world, adventurous in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Thieves' World is 157 books across 7 series, 1979–2012.

“Down at the wrong end of the Maze, where the Rankan Empire's writ runs thin and a cut purse is the least of what can happen to you, sits the town men call Sanctuary — with a straight face, because irony is the cheapest thing on offer here.”
from the catalogue description

The Thieves' World page →Narrow this list →

Malazan
World of Ice and Fire
The Riftwar
Cosmere
Forgotten Realms
Grishaverse
The Circle of the World
Sparhawk
Moorcock's Multiverse

MalazanUniverse

universe36 books1999

Epic fantasy, dark in tone, about war, set in secondary world.

“Pity the historian who tries to map this world; pity more the god who thinks he rules it.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

World of Ice and FireUniverse

universe19 books1980

Fantasy and epic fantasy, dark in tone, about war and political intrigue, set in secondary world.

“Winter is coming, and the men who forget it die first.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The RiftwarUniverse

universe44 books1982

Fantasy and epic fantasy, set in secondary world.

“On the world of Midkemia a tear opens in the air itself, a rift hung between stars, and through it march the armies of an empire from another world entirely.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

CosmereUniverse

universe54 books2005

Fantasy and epic fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Before the worlds, there was Adonalsium, and then there was not.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Final Empire →

Forgotten RealmsUniverse

universe526 books1987

Fantasy and epic fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Come in from the cold and mind the door — the wind off the Sword Coast has teeth.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

GrishaverseUniverse

universe19 books2012

“Saints are canonized here the way soldiers are buried elsewhere — quietly, and too often.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Circle of the WorldUniverse

universe29 books2006

Fantasy and grimdark, set in secondary world.

“What sets it apart is the honesty of its cynicism — close, sardonic points of view, gallows humour, and a flat refusal to let anyone stay clean.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Blade Itself →

SparhawkUniverse

universe6 books1989

Fantasy and epic fantasy, adventurous in tone, about quests, set in secondary world.

“Sir Sparhawk is not a young man, and he has little patience for the pageantry his order pretends to.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Moorcock's MultiverseUniverse

universe102 books1961

Set in secondary world.

“The Multiverse is not one world but an endless lattice of them, worlds folded within worlds, each a variation on the last — and through every one of them walks a single conscripted soul.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Thieves' World?: Malazan — the closest match to Thieves' World on what it is about, not on what sells.
How big is Thieves' World?: Thieves' World is 157 books across 7 series, 1979–2012.

Books like Thieves' World: 9 series to read next

Read next in Thieves' World

Why these

Questions readers ask

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