Books like Mistborn

By Brandon Sanderson

For a carefully assembled crew, powers used tactically and a plan to challenge an entrenched ruler.

For a crew attempting the impossible

Leigh Bardugo

Shares a specialist crew attempting an audacious scheme, but trades overthrowing a ruler for a dangerous heist across rival interests.

The difference: More alternating viewpoints and less explanation of magical mechanics.

Scott Lynch

Shares a thief crew’s ambitious planning, but makes confidence tricks and underworld loyalties the tools of survival in a rich port city.

The difference: More profanity, adult violence and elaborate cons than magical combat.

N. K. Jemisin

Shares gifted people constrained by an oppressive order, but follows a mother through a catastrophe instead of building toward a crew’s heist.

The difference: Darker, structurally less straightforward and less playful.

Sources and book details

Collected’s editorial comparisons, informed by the descriptions and reading profiles.