41 books like Kushiel's Legacy: Phedre Trilogy

This book is so underrated, it’s painful. A truly engrossing read. Han Alister must rise up from the slums of the city to embrace his magic, and find revenge for his innocent sister’s death. She was his heart, and when her life is extinguished, so is that part of himself. Or so he thought, until Raisa. A princess by birth, she’ll have to overcome her so-called privilege to have a chance at real happiness with someone less than a commoner—a reformed thief and gang leader. Or is he? Will revenge prove a more powerful conviction than love? Magical twists and surprises abound, and the depth of this world will suck you right in. If you’re not cheering for Han by the end, do you even like morally gray heroes? 

This book tore me out of a reading slump and reminded me what good writing looks and viscerally feels like in my body.

It is dark, dangerous, gory, and completely bingeable. I loved the depiction of religion and faith – and the way it was used as both a weapon, shield, and prison by different characters. The romance was spicy and devastating. The stakes, impossibly high. The characters…utterly unforgettable.

One of the few books I will make time to re-read over and over, both to study to improve my own writing, and simply to just ruin myself in – over and over again. 

This book utterly entranced me.

Such a creative concept for the magical lore and religion of the world – tarot magic being a tangible thing anyone with the card can use. The creature in the main female character's head lends both fear and comfort at surprising moments, and the dark gothic setting created an overall creepiness that forced me to keep reading late into the night, just to seek relief.

I loved this book, read it in about a day, and continue to gift and recommend to others. 

Complex worldbuilding and the alternate history genre often go hand in hand, and they’re the part I enjoy most when reading reimaginings of our world. This book intertwines history with spirituality and shows how a small set of characters can enact a large change to the universe, which is something that is shown to be both optimistic (if the characters are good) and pessimistic (if the characters are evil/selfish).

It echoes so much of what I believe—that karma is a real force and depends on how it’s released into the world—so I found it refreshing to see these themes echoed in the storyline. History can change life for the better—or the worse—because of what we believe in.

This one might seem an odd pick at first. I thought so too when a friend gave me a copy. I was surprised there was an Anne McCaffery book I hadn’t read!

This book belongs on the list for its beautiful depiction of what love and community can do for a group of mismatched outcasts, refugees on a dangerous planet—a collection of peoples all very different from one another working together to survive.

Their destiny was to become a cohesive extended family despite all their differences, and to become empowered individuals at the same time. There’s a steamy romance, too. So that’s always yummy. It goes to show that when destiny calls, the love that answers can be with a voice of multitudes.

I never miss an opportunity to recommend this book for its broad scope and human courage.

It’s such an immersive and very human story full of adventure, challenge, will, and passion. Auriane is brought to such exquisite life as a woman born to a destiny meant to free the people she loves.

This book lands on my list for a call to destiny answered by love because Auriane’s life is an example of how we can’t see ourselves, or how we often don’t know where to fit, whom to challenge, and where to connect—but we find our way by being relentlessly devoted to doing what feels right to us, guided by that internal flame until we unite with the force that gives us a purpose, place, meaning.

Often, if not always, that destiny is deeply anchored in love. 

For Auriane, that love is her tribe, and her community, family, friends,… show more.

There is nothing about this book, and the heroine in it, that isn’t fun and hilarious. Jen is mouthy and wild, and more than willing to tempt Decebel—a hunky, dangerous werewolf—to throw all his rules against getting involved with humans to the wind. This grumpy and sunshine book hooked me before the grumpy/sunshine trend was even a thing. But don’t let the fun fool you—dark magic is at work, and they will be up against life-and-death odds if they’re going to make it as a couple. 

Tenebris Rache. I hated him, I really did. But, there was also something niggling at the back of my mind. I devoured all nine books, and by the end, I was cheering for this man, and one of my favorite female characters of the series. Buroker writes the complexities of life and relationships so well, you don’t even see the moment it all changes coming. And then you’re hooked, because deep down, we all know the best bad guys have a wound in need of healing. 

There were so many things I loved about Son of the Shadows when I stumbled upon it in a second-hand book store decades ago.

The story was immersive and intense. But the quality I loved most had to be that, buried beneath its movie-like adventures, its poetic blend of fantasy and history, and its spiritually rich thoughts, was a story of redemption.

I found so few authors allow for the kind of redemption that tempestuous Bran was given. My whispering hope that he would come out at the end of the novel no longer broken blossomed into full-blown wonder as his damaged soul took its first steps towards daylight… and he started living again. I thought to myself, “I'm gonna write just like that when I grow up.”

This is an obvious pick, I know. Still, it’s on record as the greatest adventure, the highest bar of duty and courage—and ultimately love.

Homer’s epic detailing Odysseus’ journey home from the Trojan War is fraught with peril and obstacles that would have made a lesser human give up and call it a day. 

Destiny called him away, but it was love that brought him home from war. At each crossroad Odysseus was offered an alternative, he chose to return to his wife, his son, and his land. He could have been made immortal.

He was offered riches and greater glory, and all the dude wanted was to kiss his wife and sleep in his own bed at the end of the day. Is that so much to ask?

The reason The Odyssey is on my list is to reflect the scale of destiny, and the answering and equal call… show more.