62 books like The Summer Tree

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.

Gaiman doesn’t just incorporate one myth into his story; he goes for them all and brings all the gods to America.

This novel defies categorizing. I have always been interested in probing the nature of religion and humanity’s invention of gods. How did we first encounter them, and are they still relevant in today’s world? How does the nature of story itself relate to the lives of the gods?

All of these points are dealt with in this unique and entirely new introduction to some very old gods. I found it not only highly entertaining but thought-provoking.

This book begins with a broken and scorned man, his world having come apart at the seams after contracting leprosy.

Donaldson’s craft at portraying Covenant’s bitterness and vitriol toward life because of his plight is a palpable thing. When Covenant is transported to “The Land” by the magic of his wedding ring, which he refuses to part with despite the emotional pain it engenders, he is hailed as the second coming of Berek Halfhand, a legendary figure in this realm he considers to be a dream.

Such is his weakness, confusion, and rage at his plight in the real world, that when he begins to be healed by the natural powers of “The Land,” he ravages the people around him, even as they push him toward their belief that he is there to save them from The Despiser.

From the moment I spied the cover, I knew I had to read this book. 

It featured an armored soldier on horseback leading a group of weary travelers on a dark, foreboding night. It whispered of danger and mystery–two things all good fantasy contains. The group, inspired by prophecy, battles against unworldly creatures, eyeless monsters, and enigmatic foes in their quest to defeat the dark one.

I loved the clear delineation between the creator and the dark one and their contrasting visions for the world.

I love a mix of fantasy and reality. This book (and the following series) has changed the way I look at almost everywhere in London.

Unbeknownst to most policemen and nearly all members of the ordinary public, the Metropolitan Police have a unit that deals with magic in the city. Seemingly-innocent events are often caused by vampires, magicians, or the rivalries between the gods and goddesses of the River Thames’ tributaries.

Here, it is not just the Thames that is important; all the little, often overlooked, waterways have a role to play. Peter, the Detective Constable at the heart of the story, is also a trainee wizard; the plot moves at breakneck speed, and I found it funny, exciting, and surprising all at once. 

This is less a romance novel and more a high fantasy novel with romantic elements, but the romance subplot is exceedingly strong.

(I can highly recommend a mental fan-casting of either Arhys or Ilvin as Pedro Pascal, because he’d absolutely knock one of those roles out of the park if this was ever made into a miniseries).

Ista is over 40, a queen, a new grandmother, a recovered madwoman, and…wait for it…a living saint. Seeking to get away from the suffocating (yet loving) arms of her family, she goes on a pilgrimage (Road Trip!) with a group of younger people and ends up getting into multiple adventures and a more than near miss with outright war. It’s an absolute romp and one of my all-time favorites.

Odalisque blew me away. I did not expect this author to produce such a raw and dark series. Set in a time where brutality was the norm, I loved exploring Ana’s journey as she fought to regain not only her freedom from slavery, but the epic lengths she went to—to gain power in a world ruled by strength and deception. Fiona draws out the reader’s emotions and will cast you into a scene right out of history. Revenge and honour, sex and murder all take place in the desert, so keep your eye out for this book.

Is this a nine-book series? Well, yes. Sort of. It’s also a four-book series, then a duology, then a trilogy.  And the first four are set in the Pleistocene. Stay with me. 

May commits to world-building that encompasses ESP—but taken to 11; time-travel; international, intergenerational, and intergalactic political intrigue; powerful familial and romantic relationships; gut-wrenching tragedy, and the transcendence that compassion can make possible. 

To say there is a large cast of characters doesn’t begin to convey how many richly imagined, memorable creatures (not all human) populate these books; the main characters, in particular, are absolutely indelible, by turns terrifying, seductive, tortured, and quietly extraordinary. 

What if there was a computer program that reduced every single thing in the world down to a set of numbers? Sounds mathematically boring. But what if by changing one number you could suddenly be six feet tall? Or levitate? Martin Banks has, by spending far too much time on the internet, discovered that program. And made himself rich. Which gets the authorities snooping around and next thing you know he’s fleeing to the middle ages, where several other mathematical types have taken up residence. They know the secret of the program and have made themselves wizards. And Martin becomes a wizard in training to learn these skills. Which is all well and fine, until one wizard starts to turn evil. I am a geek. I admit it. And this send up of geek culture had the perfect geekish vibe for me.

I went into this book expecting a lengthy god-chase through Lagos, but it quickly spirals into a much larger story with implications for the stability of the entire city. David is a phenomenal character torn between two worlds (human and god) and surrounded by an equally compelling supporting cast, including cranky mentor Papa Udi, ambitious and over-the-top wizard Ajala, beleaguered state god-hunter Onipede, and more. Desperate stakes, and seriously fluid pacing – I find a lot of fantasy novels lengthier than they need to be these days, but Suyi doesn’t waste a single paragraph. Loved every chapter.