I want to hear about your favorite books that include heists as a major element. Bonus points if it’s set in a fantasy, sci-fi, or non-contemporary setting. (Basically I want something like Gentleman Bastards that’s not just rereading Gentleman Bastards)
Mistborn: The Final Empire! If I’m not mistaken, “heist book in fantasy setting” is literally one of the main things that inspired Brandon Sanderson to write this.
THESE WORDS ARE ACCEPTED!
Seconded! Great book and a freakin awesome trilogy. This was my first introduction to the Sanderson universe, and boy, was it a treat!
Y’know, I’ve heard a lot about Sanderson’s books, but have never heard about any heisting. Maybe it’s time to finally get into his books. Thanks for the rec
Gonna take a moment to make a shameless plug - if you’re a podcast-listening type of person, some of my friends and I make There’s Always Another Podcast - my sister and I (who are both big Sanderson fans) take two of our friends through reading his books for the first time. We just finished the first Mistborn trilogy, so it’d be a perfect opportunity for a listen-along as you read.
Leigh Bardugo - Six of Crows. Multiple heists, fantasy setting and nice YA vibe.
Not usually into YA but multiple heists might have won me over. I’ll check it out, thanks.
Her Ninth House books are adult and, while the first isn’t primary focused on its few heist-esque components, the second definitely is. Dark Acadamia in a modern setting.
Does The Hobbit count? 🙂
6 of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - YA heist novel in fantasy (17th century?) Amsterdam.
Sometimes a heist is just a maltese falcon. But sometimes it’s a heist proper!
A good classic is Neuromancer – might feel a bit anachronistic now, but super fun. I’m personally due for a re-read as it’s been a while.
Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks. The object of the heist is a bit silly – a somewhat sentient weapon. But it’s quite fun, and quite a novel setting. It’s a fully developed solar system around a star that’s too far from a galaxy to permit interstellar travel. So imagine if all of Star Wars was contained to a single solar system. Or similar.
Might as well plug !printsf@lemmy.ca – this would be a good question there as well.
I need to read Neuromancer. I recently read Consider Phlebas and was…less than wild about it, but it looks like Banks wrote this one a while after that, so I’m willing to give it a shot.
Have you read Brent Weeks books? He wrote a trilogy called the Night Angel trilogy, and just released a fourth novel called Nemesis. I admittedly haven’t finished the book yet, but I’m 75% through it and find it so much better than than the original three books. His writing has improved substantially over the years (side note: the Lightbringer series is incredible).
But all this is to say that Nemesis is about a heist. Weeks wanted to write a book about a heist and to try first person perspective, and Nemesis is what came from that.
I have not! I’m guessing Nemesis can’t really be read as a standalone? I’ll look into it regardless
Unfortunately you’re right - while the author does a decent job explaining things to refresh your memory (characters magic, relationships, etc.), there is a mountain of world building required for Nemesis to really make sense, and what he does is definitely at the “reminder” level.
I only have poor recommendations after wracking my brain:
The Tower of the Raven by Ann Leckie is the closest I’ve come to a fantasy heist that’s accessible. The heist component is present, but that’s not a tag I’d add to the book without stretching. It does some deeply fascinating things, though.
Then in completely inaccessible fantasy heists we have Skin Game. Book FIFTEEN in the Dresden files. While the series has some other decent heist-like moments, this is a HEIST. And it’s one of the top 5 books of the last few years for me, maybe #1.
But in 3-4 years of my records, that’s about it for heists I’ve read.
I loved The Tower of the Raven. I’m not sure I’m willing to commit to as big of a series as Dresden files, but I appreciate the rec!
Dresden is pretty great and worth it in general, moreso with Skin game to work towards. But it’s absolutely long and it doesn’t sound like what you’re after at the moment.
Mistborn?
Man… I should reread gentleman bastard. Is there a new book out yet?
Edit: Book four appears to be out but I’m wondering if I should reread the series or will I understand enough to be fine just diving in.
I looked it up and amazon says book four isn’t coming out until October of next year? I guess that leaves plenty of time for rereading…
Ope! I just saw an order on amazon button on goodreads (ik, ik goodreads bad but it was at the top of my search) so I thought it was out. I’m going to wait until it’s closer to that date to see if it’s real (I believe there have been false dates from this author before).
I hate to burst your bubble but TToE (4th book) is not out yet. There will be three novellas released first then book 4. All still have no set release date AFAIK
https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2023/01/scott-lynch-releases-excerpt-from-new.html?m=1
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. Our protagonist thief accidentally steals a talking key, but I don’t want to spoil too much. Plus it’s been a while so I don’t remember a lot of details. I liked how the magic was like logical programming. How do you make a carriage sitting on an even surface roll forward? Tell it that it’s now on an incline.
Edit: Oops. Flipped the author’s name
Oh yeah, I’ve read that one before. Definitely a really neat magic system.
Both of the major plots of Iron Gold are heist plots. It’s the fourth in the Red Rising Series, but you can theoretically pick it up as the first one since it’s the start of the second trilogy. Its a soft sci-fi, but not starwars levels of soft. The first trilogy is also fantastic, Golden Son might be the best scifi book Ive read.
For fantasy, A Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by CM Waggoner isn’t quite a heist but it is in that vein. WIthout spoiling too much, a group of witches are hired as bodyguards to protect a noblewoman from assassination and wind up embroiled in quite a bit of skullduggery as a result
For sci fi, the classic and quintessential rec would have to be Neuromancer. A down on his luck hacker is hired to put together a team of cyberpunk trope characters to pull off a digital heist from the metaverse.
I haven’t read any Gentlemen Bastards but for a fantasy heist story, the first thing that came to mind is The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey. It couldn’t be more different to his Sandman Slim series, hinging on outright batshit shenanigans. Highly entertaining though ;)
Riyria chronicals might scratch the itch. A little clunky in spots but I found it to be a great read.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. Sci-Fi heist.