Here are 80 books that River of Shadows fans have personally recommended if you like
River of Shadows.
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I love fantasies that dream up totally new worlds! Some people condemn the fantasy genre as formulaic, and sometimes they’re right—but it shouldn’t be so! Fantasies can explore worlds as wide and wild and wonderful as the human imagination itself! Anything’s possible! But I also love a fantasy world that’s as real, coherent, and consistent as our own real world. I think that’s the ultimate challenge for any author: to create it all from the grassroots up. And for any reader, the trip of a lifetime! My personal preference is for worlds a bit on the dark side—just so long as they blow my mind!
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!
A stunning anniversary gift edition of the second in the bestselling Old Kingdom fantasy series.
Sabriel has spent most of her young life far away from the magical realm of the Old Kingdom, and the Dead that roam it. But then a creature from across the Wall arrives at her all-girls boarding school with a message from her father, the Abhorsen - the magical protector of the realm whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those that won't stay Dead. Sabriel's father has been trapped in Death by a dangerous Free Magic creature.
I can’t lay claim to expertise in the fantasy genre, but I am passionate about it! My best friend introduced me to fantasy a few years ago, and my life has never been the same. As a nerdy kid, I read high-brow books like Wuthering Heights and War & Peace, but it wasn’t until I started reading, writing, and watching fantasy stories like LOTR that my imagination really ignited. I’m a woman with picky tastes, so finding a good story that I can relate to is an ongoing and satisfying quest. Most importantly, if I can make even one person’s day brighter with my own writing, it’s all worth it.
Returning was a short and sweet read that I happened on by chance. It’s a prequel novella about a siren who’s searching for her very own ‘The One’. With a romance story at its heart and an edgy tone, it’s a fast-paced urban fantasy that I ate up in a couple of days.
I liked the worldbuilding, the crisp dialogue, and the intriguing premise. The book is a little old-fashioned in theme, but oh-so-satisfying in a nostalgic way as you hustle to survive and fall in love right alongside Mira, the main character of Returning.
I’m giving it bonus points because it’s set, in part, in Canada, which is where I’m from. Any time I see even a smidge of my beautiful home country in fiction, it makes my heart smile.
It’s time to leave the ocean. Mira Belshaw has been at sea for… well, she doesn’t know how many years. It’s hard to keep track of time when you live in the ocean. But after enough time, the salt water triggers the desire to procreate, and her time is up.
For weeks, she’s been swimming north. Finding a mate is the most important thing to her right now, and to do that, she has to return to the place where she was last human - the coastal city of Saltford.
I can’t lay claim to expertise in the fantasy genre, but I am passionate about it! My best friend introduced me to fantasy a few years ago, and my life has never been the same. As a nerdy kid, I read high-brow books like Wuthering Heights and War & Peace, but it wasn’t until I started reading, writing, and watching fantasy stories like LOTR that my imagination really ignited. I’m a woman with picky tastes, so finding a good story that I can relate to is an ongoing and satisfying quest. Most importantly, if I can make even one person’s day brighter with my own writing, it’s all worth it.
This story starts with Harper getting kicked out of a foster home before being sent off to the spooky Shadowford Home for Girls in the fictional town of Peachville, Georgia. Things go from bad to worse when a local cheerleader is found dead, and Harper gets sucked into a small-town mystery.
The book reads like a paranormal detective story, with a touch of romance. Harper is no P.I., but she is magic, and the twin mysteries of her origins and the town’s history dovetail nicely as the story progresses.
I particularly sympathized with the heroine’s plight as an outsider at a new school, something I’ve experienced many a time myself. The good thing about it is, it makes for some moving storytelling.
Harper Madison isn't like other girls. She has extraordinary powers, but her inability to control them has gotten her kicked from so many foster homes she's lost count. Shadowford Home for Girls is her last chance, and she hopes Peachville High will be the fresh start she needs.
At first, life appears to be looking up for Harper. She's making new friends and is strangely drawn to the guy next door. But when evidence ties her to the gruesome murder of a Demons cheerleader, Harper discovers this small town has a big secret.
I can’t lay claim to expertise in the fantasy genre, but I am passionate about it! My best friend introduced me to fantasy a few years ago, and my life has never been the same. As a nerdy kid, I read high-brow books like Wuthering Heights and War & Peace, but it wasn’t until I started reading, writing, and watching fantasy stories like LOTR that my imagination really ignited. I’m a woman with picky tastes, so finding a good story that I can relate to is an ongoing and satisfying quest. Most importantly, if I can make even one person’s day brighter with my own writing, it’s all worth it.
This book is right up there with Sabrielas one of the first female-led fantasy books I read and loved. It’s an epic fantasy for adults, but I can see younger readers enjoying it, too. It’s wholesome and optimistic, with vivid descriptions of the natural world.
Daleina is an academy student learning elemental magic. She partners with Ven, a former champion, to save the land of Renthia from spirits bent on cleansing the land of humans. As you might imagine, that’s no simple feat.
This book resonated with me because I’m a nature child at heart. (Some might say a wild child… LOL). There is a sparkling magic in the great outdoors, and this book captures it beautifully.
Winner of a 2017 ALA Alex Award! A Tor.com Best of 2016 pick! Set in the magical world of Renthia, The Queen of Blood is Sarah Beth Durst's ambitious entry into adult epic fantasy. With the danger of Peter Brett's The Warded Man, heart of Naomi Novik's Uprooted, and lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind, this is the first chapter in a series destined to be a classic. Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow ...But the spirits that…
I’ve been making up magical worlds ever since childhood, when I populated the creekbanks and vacant lots in my hometown with ghosts, fae, Land of Oz residents, and other creatures from my imagination. Fantasy and forbidden love have always been my two main allures in reading, and different varieties of sexuality and gender identity also fascinated me once I became more aware of such issues in college, through books as well as my anthropology classes. I was recently pleased to learn there’s at least one cool label for me as well—demisexual—and nowadays I love populating my fantasy novels with queer characters. Everyone deserves adventures in the otherworld!
The story of Persephone and Hades is my favorite Greek myth—and a lot of other people’s, to judge from how many of us have written about it. Therefore I’ve read lots of the novels that retell it, but The Dark Wife stands out for being the only Sapphic version I’ve found! Here Hades is a goddess rather than a god, and rather than abducting Persephone, she shelters her in the Underworld, where Persephone can avoid the sexual predators among the gods above. (Of which there are a lot, in canonical myth; let’s be honest.) Though set in the deliciously spooky land of the dead, the romance between the two goddesses is sweet and comforting, and the writing is as lyrically pretty as a classical poem.
Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie. Now, only a goddess can tell the truth. Persephone has everything a daughter of Zeus could want--except for freedom. She lives on the green earth with her mother, Demeter, growing up beneath the ever-watchful eyes of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. But when Persephone meets the enigmatic Hades, she experiences something new: choice. Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the…
I’m going to date myself horribly here, but…I’m an old-school fan of the guy in the grey hat. Think Kerr Avon ofBlake’s 7.The guy you could never quite predict. Or Han Solo until about halfway throughThe Empire Strikes Back. Are they going to do the right thing? Are they going to follow their heart? And it’s so satisfying when they do! Of course, it’s equally satisfying when they go right ahead and sucker punch the bad guy, ‘cuz hey—only the good guys give warnings, right?
The King of the Underworld must be a bad guy, right? And those folks up on Olympus are the good guys? Yeah…maybe rethink that a bit. There’s more to this Hades than you’ll find in dusty old mythology. He cares for his realm and its denizens, and he’s looking for a queen to share his kingdom and be his equal partner.
Held in Demeter's overprotective grip, power burns deep and seductive in Persephone. She will do whatever it takes to win her freedom and the Olympian Duel of Yule.
When Hades, King of the Underworld, swaggers into the baking competition, Persephone's competitive spirit rises to meet his challenge. The two clash over more than cookies. Until a little chaos interrupts the competition. She shouldn't trust Hades, but a fiery death with Ares doesn't appeal. An escape to the Underworld leads to a passion that burns hotter than Tartarus.
Persephone is all too aware of Olympian rules. Loving Hades comes with a…
I’ve been writing poems since an inspirational period of study in Stirling in my twenties, when I did a lot of hill walking in the Scottish Highlands. For me, poetry that doesn’t move you, that doesn’t make you feel, is just words on a page. I love poems that make you shiver as they incongruously bear the full load of life’s mystery. I like all kinds of poetry but have a special place reserved for nature poems, poems that find the heart and soul in the landscape, rivers, and wildlife.
Sherry Ross is an American poet who writes about loss, motherhood, and rebirth. Her nature poems reverberate with extraordinary detail and imagery, for instance, the running girl who finds the field has ended in a "party dress of hunter green," where "the trance of sunlight breaks, brings forgetfulness of open fields, distant voices, summer games." She ventures into the forest, with its ‘palate of light and dark’. Read these poems for their aching blend of sadness and joy.
POET magazine says of Ms. Ross' poetry that she is able to "extend the everyday moment into deep mythology, using the commonplace as an avenue into the emotions." In SEEDS OF THE POMEGRANATE, Sherry uses the ancient Greek myth of Persephone as a metaphor for her own life. In the myth of Persephone, which is retold in the book's forward, Persephone is abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld. Her mother, the earth goddess Demeter, is both grief stricken and enraged at her daughter's disappearance. Obsessed with finding her daughter she neglects her duties and the land dries up…
As a woman who comes from a culture that normalizes arranged/forced marriages, turning it into a more delicious fantasy in books rather than a bitter harsh reality has become an obsession of mine. Now, as I’ve written an entire series in the trope, I read and enjoy many by other awesome authors, too. I hope you enjoy the books on the list as much as I have.
It’s amazing to see a new author soar high like this. I loved the darkness of this book, the viciousness of the antihero, the taboo, and, of course, the high steam dosage. Promises and Pomegranates is a Hades and Persephone modern retelling turned into a sizzling forced marriage mafia romance worthy of your time.
I’m an Egyptologist by training and a storyteller by nature. Fascinated by the origins of patriarchy since I was a small girl raised by strong women in a patriarchal context, I turned to Greek and Roman history for answers. I earned an MA and a richer understanding of the civilizations that influenced the classical period, which led to the study of Egypt and Mesopotamia and finally to a Ph.D. in Egyptology. At heart, I’m more creative than scholar. Telling stories that bring ancient Egypt to life and leave readers better informed of the challenges women have faced, and sometimes overcome, is my passion.
I love how Lynn shows you the story first through Demeter’s eyes, then Persephone’s. The vastly different perspectives of mother and daughter resonated.
But my favorite thing about this book was the unique and empathetic picture it drew of Hades. Lynn managed not only to challenge my idea of the goddesses but of the god at the heart of the story as well. Unexpected but appreciated.
A daughter pulled between two worlds and a mother willing destroy both to protect her... Demeter: a goddess of life, living half of one. Demeter did not always live in fear. Once, she loved the world and the humans who inhabited it. After an act of devastating violence, though, she hides herself away among the grasses and wildflowers. Her only solace is her daughter... Before she was Persephone, she was Core. Core is as bright as summer and devoted to her mother, even during their millennia in exile from Olympus. But she craves freedom. Naive and determined, she secretly builds…
I especially love reading fantasy stories and stories based on actual historical events. I've been an avid reader since I was a little girl; while my siblings were playing outside or inside with toys I was the one sat curled up in the corner reading. I've also worked hard and gained qualifications in creative writing. I've also had a passion for writing and have written my own fantasy novels; being an author is simply amazing because you can create characters that are unique and special as well as true to life, plus you get to create worlds that are entirely different to our own.
I loved this book because it is both captivating and well written with different worlds and forbidden romance. This story is based not only on enemies who become lovers but also has sizzling tension and an epic dark mystery element, all beautifully written and combined.
This book immediately pulled me into the author's world. The tension inside was just as unique as the storyline itself. There is nothing quite like reading a book that has you on the edge of your seat but melting your heart at the same time; definitely, a surprising and unique twist combining many elements.
Marry him. Kiss him. Kill him. But never love him.
The goblin prince killed my sister. For years, I've waited for justice, and I've finally found the perfect opportunity: Kier Kollastus, the prince himself, will agree to peace with his human enemies if a sacrifice is given. A human bride.
With my face veiled and my knives hidden, I offer myself as the prince’s sacrifice, wearing a liar’s smile as I wait to cut his throat when he sleeps.
But Kier is indestructible except for one night every year. And worse—he’s not the barbarian goblins are supposed to be. He's…
