Love Heir of Fire? Readers share 100 books like Heir of Fire...

This book because it drew me in immediately and took hold. I had a love/hate relationship with reading the ending though. I enjoyed it immensely and although I wanted more and I wanted to know the ending, I was bummed when it was finished because I didn’t want to let go of the characters.

At the time I was struggling with the death of my mom and for a while, it took me away and brought me into another world. This book will always hold a special place in my heart.

It was surprising how much a series for children spoke to my heart. I loved the deep worldbuilding that didn’t shy away from the darker things. As I listened with my daughter, I was overcome by the message of truth, transformation, and the power to do good. This beautiful story encouraged us to have value and purpose in this world–one that is more about being than doing.

If we’re talking dragons and just dragons–technically, they’re wyverns, and technically, they didn’t show up until the third book, but I was absolutely captivated by the whole series. It drew me out of a years-long reading slump and left a hole in my chest since finishing. I felt each book becoming part of my being. 

I have an absolute favourite book character and her name is Manon Blackbeak.

No, she’s not the main protagonist in this book (although Aelin Galathynius is awesome), and that’s why I’m recommending the fourth book in this series rather than the first, because it’s really where we start to Manon come into her own. She is vicious, unapologetic, fiercely loyal, and just so cool. Yet for someone so hard and tough, her bond with her wyvern, Abraxos, gives you all the feels. I loved how Manon’s plotline developed further in Queen of Shadows and her showdown fight with Aelin at the end was one of the best I’ve ever read. 

This is a fantastic series by Maas, with a trove of great characters. My experience was that book three – Heir of Fire – was where the story really began to find its footing. By halfway through… show more.

This story is a winner, and I love it for so many reasons. It explores some tough themes in middle grade: poverty and classism, but at the root of the story, there is a boy who doesn’t feel like he’s good enough and a girl who can’t find her way in the world.

Through their eyes in an immersive and vibrant Thai village, you experience their journeys to finding who they really are. The writing is engrossing, and the plot keeps you guessing until the end. 

Eileen is one of the most twisted and unconventional literary heroines I’ve ever read. Behind her quiet demeanor and dull face hides her mind, which is like a killer’s, always furious and seething.

While working at a juvenile correctional facility, Eileen meets Rebecca, another key character far removed from most women of their generation. Seductive and deceitful, Rebecca cajoles Eileen into joining her act of crime–a violent, underhanded plan to restore her idea of justice. 

I think I was born rhyming, and it was all my dad’s fault. He could turn anything into a rhyme, which is probably why I’ve always championed Dr. Seuss. Add in animals, like this book, and you’ve got one of my favorite children’s books.

Parents and teachers who have read the book out loud can’t help but be caught up in the joyful rhythm and inventive rhyme. I love the flights of imagination and wild, crazy animals in this delightful zoo. Little listeners smile all the way through, and when the book ends, their imaginations will continue to soar.

To me, what’s most striking about this book, a queer retelling of “Snow White,” is that in addition to the POV of the Snow White character, Lynet, there’s also narration from Mina, the Evil Queen insert. Only in this retelling Mina isn’t a superficial villain.

In fact, she’s no villain at all. I find her to be a complex heroine, and her relationship with Lynet is equally rich and complicated. I was compelled by Lynet and Mina’s struggles under the weight of feminine and royal expectations. Despite their conflicts, they are more alike than they are different, and their journey to realizing this was so satisfying.

The sapphic romance between Lynet and a surgeon provides a lovely subplot that adds to, rather than distracts from, the main storyline. One of my all-time favorite sapphic retellings.

Three worlds in one book! There’s the not-so-important world of the Ancelstierre, roughly Edwardian or early-20th-Century-ish, and there’s the Old Kingdom, basically medieval, where Charter Magic wars with Free Magic (and how well Nix thinks through the workings of his forms of magic).

But the third world is the one that takes the cake! An underworld of the dead, with its different levels, gates, and sills. Sabriel discovers her own special inheritance and powers—OK, that’s standard fantasy fare, except that Sabriel’s powers are those of an abhorsen. It’s the Abhorsen’s role to make sure that the dead stay dead, and journey on down into the deeper levels of death. Of course, the dead who keep coming back are the ones who drive the narrative!

Do you want a crash course on Japanese yokai and spirits like trickster kitsune fox, grandmother badger, flesh-eating ghosts, tree spirits, and oni demons? Hankering to go along on an adventure tale through samurai-laden alternate historical Japan to find a monk who knows the hidden location of a temple or swoon after a YA romance?

So maybe the story’s main plot is a search for a MacGuffin, and the characters are solid archetypes, but the fun in this book is going along for the crazy ride a la Alice in Wonderland as they meet and defeat various folktale dangers.