10 books like Gideon the Ninth

I love magic and mystery and this book has plenty of it, along with a river of death. The first of three books, we meet the main characters here and become embedded in their world. Once started I couldn’t put this (or its sequels) down. I fall in line and live in the strange lands depicted here. Ride the river of death to bring back a lost soul. I became anxious about the fate of Sabriel and absorbed in a tale of a land I could never visit

Climate change aside, what scares me the most about technology today is the capacity for bioengineering to run amok.

What happens when scientists monkey around with deadly viruses—and one escapes from the lab? What if some rogue researcher creates an entirely new lifeform that proves toxic to humans? Or some experimental microbe—an effort to save the world’s butterflies, for instance—proves to kill off bees instead?

This novel, which won major awards, depicts a frightening future world wrought by bioengineering. And you wouldn’t want to live there anymore than I do. 

The world-building in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms explores how the powering of societies can come at a human cost—though in this case, the humans have outsourced that cost to the gods. Enslaved by the Arameri aristocratic family that rules over the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, gods and godlings power the Arameri’s control of the city of Sky, allowing the city to flourish but at the expense of the common people’s or the gods’ agency. Compared to the other books listed here, this tale is more concerned with the structures of class and authority (and less so utility) that help turn the gears of society, but its examinations of these aspects of civics are still insightful and, ultimately, optimistic.

There is not a thing about this book that I don’t love. Marshall (a pseudonym for Jesse Bullington) tells the story of Zosia – Cold Cobalt, The Banshee with a Blade, First Villain – who is just a few steps past her prime. Twenty-some years have passed since she led her notorious band of generals – The Five Villains – in a war that put her on the throne. A throne she walked away from. She was done with it all, until fate and mistake shatter her retirement, drawing her back into the world and war. Marshall does some really cool things with gender norms, looks aging right in the face with an unvarnished mirror, and gives readers a cold religion, bug-drugs, and all the violence you could want. But he also gives readers the sort of anti-heroes that you can’t help but cheer for, a cast of minor and… show more.

I loved this book since before it was published.

I gave a quote for the cover of the first printing of it, in fact. Fifteen years later, it still remains a book that can carry me away to a world where magic is not a gift but a challenge to overcome.

Kristen had a fresh idea here, but it still folded into my love of adventure and magic and finding out who we are inside.

That’s a story that will always get my attention, and the writing in this one is also lush enough to make me want to pause and re-read lines.

Who doesn’t want to right the wrongs committed against them? I try to be a grown up and move on with my life when someone antagonizes me, but sometimes I wish there was justice in the world. Who doesn’t, even if sometimes we know we are not being mature? Revenge is the ultimate ending, and Abercrombie’s clever stand-alone novel examines just how cold it really can be. It turns out, not at all. Monza has been screwed over bad. She has every reason to want to get even—which means everyone who tried to kill her needs to end up dead. The bodies certainly pile up but when she reaches victory, Monza finds it more absurd than cold. Entertaining, thought-provoking, and more than a little darkly humorous. Take it with a shadowy laugh.

Ursula K. LeGuin was a writer before her time.

In The Left Hand of Darkness, LeGuin tackles gender issues creating a people who are at times sexually neutral but can change to either feminine or masculine during mating season. Humans are seen as freaks because they are trapped to one gender.

It was a mind-blowing book back in 1976, when it came out, winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best science fiction. The Left Hand of Darkness is worthy reading for its story and for its audacity, being penned almost fifty years ago. A great read!

The Bear and the Nightingale expertly intertwines folklore into the real world.

Set at the edge of medieval Russia, Arden infuses the novel with fairy tales and folklore told by the hearth. After her mother dies, Vasilisa’s father returns with a new wife from the city. She quickly forbids Vasilisa and her grandmother from honoring the old spirits or sharing legends of the forest. But as omens start to befall the town, Vasilisa realizes the old stories are more than just fables; they hold truth.

Arden uses history, lore, and cold winter nights to create such a strong sense of place. I frequently thought of this novel as I weaved Irish folklore into my own. Arden has made her world so dense and alive by filling it with centuries of history and allowing the reader to decide what is real and worth believing. 

Murderbot is a cyborg security unit, or SecUnit, that has secretly hacked the internal governor module that allows humans to control it. Despite wanting to do nothing but watch soap operas, it needs to keep its current clients alive, so as not to give itself away, losing what little hard-won autonomy it has. The problem is, Murderbot once malfunctioned and killed 57 people, and because of gaps in its data memory, doesn’t understand why. It’s also at risk of being counterhacked and put under hostile control, endangering the survey team it’s protecting. In Murderbot, Wells has created one of the most original SF characters in recent memory, a beautiful portrayal of a neurodivergent being that resists its own humanity all while behaving unfailingly humanely. I couldn’t help but love Murderbot.

I chose this book because I have a love of Asia, especially Japan and this story has a rich Asian setting with martial arts, yakuza-like elements, and a magic system based around the precious stone, jade that provides the wearer with special abilities. I also like how the story is centered around a family and the complex relationships between the different members which you don’t see very often in fantasy novels. This complicated family saga had me engrossed as it racked up the tension with great pacing, awesome characters, and dialogue.