If what kept you grinning in Spellslinger was Kellen’s dry asides, Ferius Parfax’s needling one-liners, and Reichis’s gloriously feral commentary, you’ll love Kinch’s irreverent voice in The Blacktongue Thief. From the botched roadside robbery where Kinch picks the wrong traveler to fleece, to the barbed back-and-forth with a steel-nerved knight he’s forced to accompany, the humor lands as sharply as a well-thrown card. It’s that same breezy, tell-it-like-it-is narration cutting through danger and duels—only here the cons, curses, and creature encounters get even bloodier and funnier.

If Kellen’s struggle to survive Jan’Tep trials, make do with card tricks, and push past a society that says he’s not enough hooked you, The Novice delivers that same heart. Fletcher, a blacksmith’s apprentice, discovers he can summon demons and is whisked to Vocans Academy—where class prejudice, rivalries, and deadly politics mirror the pressure Kellen faces at home. Watching Fletcher bond with his salamander demon Ignatius and fight for a future in a world that insists he doesn’t belong will scratch the exact itch that Kellen’s early, hard-won victories did.

If you loved how Kellen learns the disciplines, leans on sleight-of-hand, and turns constraints into style, Mistborn: The Final Empire is a feast. Vin’s training under Kelsier in Allomancy—burning metals like pewter for strength or steel to Push on coins—has that same satisfying, rules-forward ingenuity as Kellen’s cardplay and spellwork. The heist to topple an immortal tyrant channels the thrill of Kellen outsmarting duels and rituals, while every clever use of metal echoes the joy of watching a tight system reward daring improvisation.

If Ferius’s do-what-works ethos and Kellen’s uneasy compromises grabbed you—like when he navigates Jan’Tep expectations while the shadowblack marks him—then Kaz Brekker’s crew will feel right at home. In Six of Crows, the Ice Court heist forces choices as sharp as an Argosi maxim: Kaz will trade pain for leverage, Inej balances faith with knives, and Nina and Matthias wrestle loyalty against survival. That same blend of loyalty, cunning, and moral knots you felt when Kellen had to pick the least-worst path is the heartbeat of this story.

If Spellslinger kept you turning pages with mage-duels, last-second escapes, and hunters on Kellen’s trail, Shadow of the Fox maintains that sprint. Yumeko, a fox-shifter raised in a monastery, is thrust onto a quest for the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers and teams up with a demon-bound samurai—cue relentless ambushes, rival factions, and monster encounters that mirror the urgent energy of Kellen dodging Jan’Tep schemes and shadowblack perils. It’s the same momentum: new danger every few pages, clever escapes, and friendships forged under fire.