64 books like The Last Descendant

I love this book’s original take on the “spore” or “fungal” zombie outbreak. It feels like the author took The Last Of Us (which I also adore) and flipped the story on its head. Melanie is this unique character, at once the snarky, hilarious child of the piece and its terrifying monster.

She’s the threat, battlefield, and hope—and I find that combination so compelling. While it’s a grim, often bleak tale set in a decimated UK, this thread of unexpected hope and unusual connections kept me hooked. This story might not give me the future I wanted at the start of the story, but it offers a different vision with its own version of hope for humanity, and because of that, it has a special place on my shelf.

Jade is a being of mysterious power who has traits of shifter, witch, fae, and others. She serves the police force in Winston, in a world in which supernatural beings are everywhere, but are discriminated against. She must solve a mystery and fight to protect herself and her friends. I enjoyed this story. I think you will enjoy it if you like fantasy.

What a phenomenal novel by Ann Leckie! I came across Ann Leckie’s series as I was working through books about cloning while I was writing my books. What do I love about it? The concepts, for sure: AI ships being negotiated, the entire idea of shipping minds around, a leader who sabotages herself to the detriment of her realm. All of these have been done to some extent before, but not at the scale that Ann Leckie takes on. She also manages to avoid some dead clone tropes and dead or dying AI tropes while she entertains. This novel (and series) were done well and the characters pop with personality. Loved it!

Miri, our protagonist explores her strengths and weaknesses. She has lost her dearest friends, and journeys to Israel, in part to follow the trail of her lost love.

The story has several intriguing side plots. We learn the origin of werecats. We follow Miri's family members as they get caught up in the Nazi persecution of Jews in World War II. We see inside a conservative community in Israel. And, the world of Umbrae is shown to be a wondrous and scary place. I enjoyed seeing the characters, good and evil. Finny, the cat, is fun, devoted, and willing to travel around the world and into Umbrae to help her friends. 

This is another strong entry into the story arc of the P.A.W.S. series.

Lingeria is a sarcastic, humor-infused take on the portal fantasy, which forces the author of a beloved fantasy series into the world that he's written - and come to despise.

It's a solidly entertaining book that appropriately skewers a lot of the tropes of fantasy fiction and the associated fandom.

I enjoyed the world of Lingeria and it's definitely a fun read for people seeking to scratch that Discworld itch.

The only Young Adult book on this list but firmly deserving of its place, this book is the perfect example of how to successfully blend science fiction and fantasy. 

Colfer takes a traditional fantasy fairy society and gives them advanced weaponry, surveillance gadgets, and time-stopping devices. It works incredibly well, and through convincing world-building I was immediately bought into the idea of fantasy creatures with sci-fi technology. 

A standout feature of the novel is the characters, whose backstories, motivations, and behaviours all help to build this science fantasy world. We get an elf “LEPRecon” officer with access to bionic wings, a centaur who heads the technology department of the “Lower Elements Police,” and a dwarven thief who sells stolen human property on the black market. They were all enormously fun to read.

I love this book because it shows a character who starts off as a bit of a wallflower transforming into a warrior queen, and, as someone who isn’t as fierce as she’d like to be, I can definitely relate. In this installment of the brilliant Discworld series, ex-witch Magrat Garlick is engaged to King Verence, and finds the big dresses and court etiquette a bit of a bore. But when the kingdom is attacked by evil elves she comes into her own, channeling the Discworld equivalent of Boudicca (sort of) and rocking a pointy breastplate to successfully defend her fiancé and her home. 

I love a lot of K.M. Shea’s work because her plots involve character growth as well as a mystery to be solved. One of my favorite series begins with The King’s Captive.

The main is a little cat shifter. She is not a powerful shifter or even a powerful person. She’s down on her luck but thrifty, scrappy, and courageous. She’s also a cat, so she’s sneaky and clever, even if she does lose tufts of fur to her enemies now and then. She needs help to survive, but finding it and trusting others, well, that’s all part of the great journey.

What a surprise to savor a first-hand account of sharing a cottage in Ireland with a leprechaun. After the initial shock, intrigue set in, and then the joyous laughter to offset the underlying angst of being ridiculed for even thinking such an experience could be possible. 

As I relaxed into Helliwell’s narrative about her summer in Ireland, I felt my heart warm, and then accept the possibilities of new realities. I realized that if I allowed myself to simply enjoy and pay attention in a different way, I could experience everyday magic that exists as close as my own breath.

In a world where the scientific method demands proof, this book might delightfully upend assumptions regarding elemental beings.

Emma Bull wrote urban fantasy before that was really a thing, and this one is set in a shared world which straddles the human world and the world of the fey. Two unlikely friends are misfits in their own life. The titular character was kicked out of his family because his magic power made him seem too “weird” in the human realm, and his elven friend never felt at home in her fey family because her skill as a mechanic made her an outcast among the magic users. The fragile peace of their community is damaged when a new drug promises to turn humans fey.

This book is about making a home when you didn’t fit in with your family of origin, and the lengths people will go through to find a new identity. It may not feel as fresh as it did in the 1980s, but it will probably… show more.