67 books like Green Rider

There have been too many novels featuring the story of King Arthur to count; this is my favorite. I found it (and the following two books in the series) really captured the idea of who Arthur was, why he was needed, and why he did what he did at the time for me.

It was the first Cornwell novel I read, and he has become my favourite novellist. I think he writes battle scenes better than anyone–he puts you in the middle of the action and makes you feel the visceral nature of combat (especially in his Arthurian and medieval books). If anyone is looking for a place to start with Arthurian fiction but doesn’t know where to begin, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book and series. 

Game of Thrones, right? This author has created so many characters that fit this category, and they all handle their situations in a different manner. I love the three major ones, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, and Daenerys Targaryen, who could not be more different from each other. Sansa and Arya have grown up in privilege, but one scheme to be a pampered lady, and the other would be happy sleeping in the kennel with her dire wolf.

Daenerys has been hidden much of her childhood to protect her, and suddenly, she is thrown into the game with her arranged marriage to a wild horse lord, where she grows up very fast in order to survive. Sadly, as women in Westeros, they do not control their own fates, and following how their lives evolve and intertwine is fascinating.

Who hasn’t dreamt of being able to converse with a wolf? We get our chance in this intriguing story of Fitz Farseer, my all-time favorite character.

There’s much to enjoy in this series—royal assassins, secret mentors, and family betrayal—but what I love most is the outlawed magic that creates a deep bond between Fitz and a fearless wolf named Nighteyes, allowing them to communicate.

Nighteyes, another favorite character, reminds me of my childhood golden retriever, only with sharper fangs and claws. He reveals exactly how much we’re missing out on when we can’t converse with animals like him—sharing their sharper perceptions, grasping the wolfishly obvious, or having our human foolishness pointed out in their bluntly canine way.

I absolutely love Sharon Shinn’s writing, both her luscious, sophisticated prose and the way she writes relationships between characters. She hits the perfect balance between well-planned, interesting plots, rich fantasy worlds, and the exact right amount of romantic subplot and character development.

This book—which follows a group of magic-wielding mystics and the reluctant, militaristic King’s Riders assigned to protect them as they travel the land, investigating a rise in anti-magic sentiment—is my favorite of her books, not least because it has some of the coziest found family dynamics and campfire friendships to be found outside of classics like The Lord of the Rings!

This book epitomizes what I want in a book! The worldbuilding has a degree of depth, breadth, and imagination that has kept me coming back for multiple rereads. While the world is fascinating, and the magic system is evocative and intriguing, they are not what put this story at the top of my reading list. 

Character. I love it when there is a full cast of complex characters to get lost in, and Sanderson can (and does) teach a master class on how to write unforgettable characters. The character motivations, the “Why” behind what they are doing, is so profoundly believable if not relatable. Every single character has a past that is drip-fed throughout the story, gradually delivering the formative wounds that made the characters who they are. That so many are written well in one book is just a bonus.

And this by no means detracts from the plot.… show more.

While this book is shorter than the others on this list, it packs a lot of worldbuilding and fascinating characters and lore in fewer pages. Inspired by South American geography with towering mesas over dense forest, Two Dark Moons features a detailed astrological system based around the two moons orbiting this world, which determines everything from one’s future vocation to their gender. Sohmeng’s journey brought this world vividly to life and was a delight to get lost in.

There is so much going on in this book that brings it together into a rich, beautiful tale, and there’s nothing else quite like it. Demon and angel analogues combine with casual magic in a retro urban fantasy in a post-apocalyptic eternal winter that goes on an epic quest as good as any classic high fantasy novel. It all weaves together into a story that drew me right in and wouldn’t let go. As if that wasn’t enough, each character’s arc is so natural and smooth that you feel exactly what they feel. It’s a gorgeous piece of writing and there’s a lot of it to enjoy.

The best stories are the ones that inspire us to read more, right? I love history and mythology—something instilled in me by Tamora Pierce's books—so the inspiration for this setting, India's Mughal Empire, appealed to me before I even cracked the book open. Mehr had a strength that didn't falter through the entire story. I wanted her to win, to succeed, no matter what that meant for the rest of her world. This book was not afraid to carry me to some dark places, which I needed to see to push the limits of my own work. Immediately after I finished this, I snapped up everything else Tasha Suri had on the market. I may also need to read some more books about the Mughal Empire.

I can practically hear you protest this choice… But, Christina, that's urban fantasy! Trust me, it's got what you're looking for. Mythologically inspired dragons, cats, spirits, magic, powerful motives, a diverse cast… I love the audacity Rachel Aaron displayed in making her main character a dynamic pacifist. Also, the DFZ is a great lesson in how to make a location into a character. This series traveled with me through one of the most difficult years of my life, and Julius helped me keep my focus while Marcy and Ghost reminded me it was okay to bend the rules. Go check it out!

Forging Hephaestus is a fantastic book about a tenuous treaty between superheroes and villains in a four-color world.

Hephaestus AKA Tori Rivas is a new supervillain and is learning the ropes from the most powerful one of them all, Fornax. Fornax is a lot nicer guy than you'd expect from the most terrifying of all villains, which shows this world is a lot more complicated than it seems.

I love the complexity, deep characterization, and thickness of this book. It’s over six hundred pages and full of fantastic details about a complicated but believable superhero world. By the end, I wanted to read a dozen more giant-sized volumes.