Books Like The Black Company
If you finished The Black Company and want more grimdark, found family, morally gray, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
For reference, The Black Company is:
Last updated
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It doesn't change what we recommend. How we make money.
The picks
-
1. Gardens of the Moon
Shares: grimdark, morally gray
Erikson drops you into the middle of an empire's war with zero explanation and expects you to swim. Sorcerers level cities, gods meddle in Darujhistan's politics, and the Bridgeburners just want to survive. Book one is the roughest. It gets much better.
- Grimdark
- Gods and Mythology
- Morally Gray
- Assassins
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one
-
2. The Blade Itself
Shares: grimdark, morally gray
A torturer, a barbarian and a vain nobleman walk into a war. Abercrombie is funny, which is the only reason the darkness goes down so easily.
- Grimdark
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
Torture, Graphic violence, War
-
3. Perdido Street Station
Shares: morally gray, grimdark, found family
A scientist in the filthy city of New Crobuzon takes a commission from a birdman whose wings were cut off, and accidentally releases something that feeds on dreams. The city itself is the star. The prose is thick, so give it 100 pages.
- Morally Gray
- Grimdark
- Found Family
Content warnings
Drug or alcohol abuse, Gore, Graphic violence, Sexual assault
-
4. The Blacktongue Thief
Shares: found family, morally gray, grimdark
Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a fortune, so a botched robbery turns into a job escorting a knight across a country wrecked by goblin wars. The narrator is a funny, profane liar. Then there are the giants, and the war flashbacks, which are not funny at all.
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Grimdark
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Animal death, Gore
-
5. The Grey Bastards
Shares: found family, morally gray, grimdark
Half-orcs riding war hogs patrol the badlands like a biker gang, and Jackal thinks his chief has gone soft. Crude, violent and a lot of fun if you can handle the language. The other two books in the trilogy are better.
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Grimdark
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Sexual assault, Gore, Murder
-
6. Interview with the Vampire
Shares: morally gray, found family
Louis tells a reporter how Lestat made him a vampire in 1791 New Orleans, and how they turned a dying five-year-old into a daughter. Lush, mournful and very homoerotic for 1976. Louis whines a lot, and Claudia is the real horror.
- Vampires
- Morally Gray
- Found Family
Content warnings
Murder, Harm to children, Gore, Death of a loved one
-
7. Babel
Shares: found family, morally gray
Robin is taken from Canton as a child and raised to study at Oxford's translation institute, where silver bars powered by mistranslation run the British Empire. Long, footnoted and furious about colonialism. The friendship at the center is the part that hurts.
- Dark Academia
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
Content warnings
Murder, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
-
8. Between Two Fires
Shares: grimdark, found family
France, 1348. The plague is killing everyone, and a disgraced knight ends up protecting an orphan girl who says angels speak to her. Fallen angels are making war on the world and the imagery is straight out of a medieval nightmare. Proper horror.
- Demons
- Grimdark
- Found Family
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Sexual assault, Harm to children
-
9. Jade City
Shares: morally gray, found family
The Godfather with martial arts magic. The Kaul family's warriors draw power from jade, a rival clan wants their territory, and a new drug lets anyone use it. Slow start while it builds the city, then the clan war hits and it doesn't let up.
- Morally Gray
- Court Intrigue
- Revenge
- Found Family
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Drug or alcohol abuse, Death of a loved one
-
10. The Fifth Season
Shares: found family, morally gray
It opens with a woman finding her son beaten to death by his father, on the same day the world ends. Orogenes can move the earth and are feared, enslaved and bred for it. Parts are in second person, which pays off. Won the Hugo three years running for a reason.
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Harm to children, Genocide, Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
-
11. The Gunslinger
Shares: grimdark, morally gray
The man in black fled across the desert, and Roland followed. A weird, dusty, half-dreamed western that King revised years later. It's the thinnest book in the series and the strangest. The Tull chapter is still one of his nastiest.
- Grimdark
- Morally Gray
- Demons
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Harm to children, Dubious or non-consent
-
12. The Library at Mount Char
Shares: morally gray, grimdark
Carolyn and her adopted siblings were raised by a godlike man called Father, who taught each of them one catalog of forbidden knowledge and punished them horribly. Now Father is missing. Go in blind. It's deeply strange, very upsetting and weirdly funny.
- Gods and Mythology
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
- Grimdark
Content warnings
Torture, Physical or emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, Harm to children, Murder
-
13. The Sword of Kaigen
Shares: found family, morally gray
Misaki gave up her fighting life to marry into a warrior family on a remote peninsula. Then the empire she serves sends an invasion fleet. The first third is quiet family drama, and the payoff for sticking with it is brutal.
- Arranged Marriage
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
War, Death of a loved one, Graphic violence, Physical or emotional abuse
-
14. The Warded Man
Shares: found family, morally gray
Every night demons rise from the ground, and people survive behind magic wards. Arlen watches his mother die because his father froze, and decides he'll fight back. Great first half. The handling of sexual violence in the back half is a common complaint.
- Demons
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Revenge
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Physical or emotional abuse
-
15. We Ride the Storm
Shares: morally gray, grimdark
Three narrators in a crumbling empire: a princess forced to marry for alliance, a soldier from the plains, and an assassin who hears the voices of the dead. The first chapter has a severed head and it sets the tone. Starts confusing, then locks in.
- Assassins
- Court Intrigue
- Morally Gray
- Grimdark
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War, Torture, Murder
Read more than just The Black Company? Tap everything you've loved and we'll build a reading list around all of it, not just this one book.