40 books like Last King of Osten Ard

There is a "realness" and melancholic quality to this story that immediately drew me in because every element, even the more fantastical ones, felt immensely believable.

Set in the richly detailed and lived-in world of Osten Ard, this first volume in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Williams took its time to get the main plot moving, but I want to stress just how much I found that to be a good thing. It truly afforded me an opportunity to get to know the setting and characters intimately, so that by the time the plot kicked into high gear, I was well and truly committed to caring about what happens.

Despite its hefty length, this was one of the fastest page-turners I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

This entire series was amazing. Okay, a few of the books were a bit slow, but overall, it was great. The new worlds, the political intrigue, everything about this story was great. There were histories that drove the characters that were only hinted at or mentioned in passing, but they brought life to them. Just like we are all shaped by our past, our countries, and our places in society, so are all the characters in this book.

My favorite character wasn’t Paul, though; it was Duncan Idaho. I was so sad when he was killed, but I was fascinated when they brought him back from the dead in the second book and others because Herbert made it so interesting. The bodyguard programmed, created even, to kill the one he once died to protect. Now, that’s some drama right there. 😊 

The twists, turns, and world-building were amazing. I learned… show more.

When I was twelve years old, I never understood why people cried over the death of a fantasy character. After all, the characters weren’t believable like in fiction.

Then I read the Dragonlance Legends Trilogy, and the ending devastated me for days. I cried, and I understood, and that moment has never left my heart.

Fighting off alien invasions has become a passé, so I’ve wondered what living on a conquered Earth, one where resistance was gone, would be like. How would we live? Way of the Pilgrim showed me that, along with what humans are willing to do to survive and, in some cases, thrive in such an environment. 

While I like reading about our better natures, it has always been our baser desires that have always enthralled me. Shane Evert is a cross between a selfless hero and a man with his own interests at heart, and his plans for humanity clash with his desire for comfort. In the end, he leads his own conspiracy and finds one among the aliens he never imagined could exist.

I always hear that disaster brings unity, but what if that “unity” was all a manipulation for power? Hidden Empire reminded me a little of the immediate aftermath of 9/11. I’ve wondered if, given our political divisions, we could ever come together like that again.

Orson Scott Card created a world where someone manipulates our division and desire for unity, and I loved seeing how someone could play us on so many levels. Reading about the use of a common enemy to wipe out national leadership and then playing up our political differences to create chaos, I became engrossed in a story about political intrigue and whether or not a savior was the hero we really wanted or the hero he wanted us to believe he was.

Alternate history has always fascinated me, and the speculation about what the world would’ve been like without the American Revolution is one of the most intriguing concepts out there. Two hundred years ago, the coming together of the two Georges—George III, King of England, and George Washington, Commander of the Continental Army—inspired the creation of a painting showing how the British Empire and the American Colonies worked out their differences.

Now, that painting has gone missing just before the visit of King Charles III, and the thief has plans of his own to reignite the fight. What was most intriguing to me was that the fight wasn’t for the liberty I imagined but rather looked to trade one master for another.

In some ways, this is an odd choice for this list because the protagonist, Charlie, is really on a solitary journey for much of the story. I enjoyed the book because I liked how the character dealt with the strange and fantastic world that was revealed to him. He is a bit of a reluctant hero navigating a somewhat broken home life, but he doesn’t give up despite the daunting trials he faces.

I feel it fits this list because of the connections he makes with the people who help along the way, particularly the ones who join him in facing the final conflict, even though these connections won’t be lifelong ones. I also felt it belonged here because of the bond he builds with the dog, Radar because found family can be more than just the people around you.

Some people familiar with the series may think it doesn’t belong on this list. The main character, Jorg, is an extremely broken individual and not likable in so many ways. In fact, there are plenty of moments through the Broken Empire series in which you truly despise him, but he is also irritatingly clever at times.

I found myself compelled forward through the simple desire to see how he would accomplish his goals and get out of the many difficult situations he often found himself in. One of my favorite aspects of Jorg’s story is the complicated relationships he builds with his Brotherhood of often equally despicable misfits that are, despite their differences, something of a family.

I will advise readers that this series is grimdark and includes a lot of unpleasant content. It is a dark, gritty fantasy with an almost villainous protagonist that won’t appeal to everyone.

When I think of Heaven, I think about angels, bliss, and no more sorrow. I don’t usually think about political machinations, rivalries between angelic factions, and alliances of convenience with demons. However, in this book, I found that the afterlife isn’t what we necessarily think it is, and I loved that both Heaven and Hell have their own agendas.

Doloriel, an agent of Heaven, navigates a delicate balance of keeping his boss angel happy while not losing his own soul. This task becomes more difficult when he meets a demon consort named Casimira. I found it riveting that he and Casimira discover that their bosses have their own plans, plans that might not always match the images we know of Heaven and Hell.

When a book in a beloved and lengthy series like the Shannara novels starts off with a tantalizing promise of finally exploring beyond the borders of the familiar map of the Four Lands, I simply couldn’t resist the lure of delving deeper and farther into Brooks’ world than ever before.

I absolutely love fantasy maps, finding them to be a critical component of any novel in that genre, and as fun as it is to methodically visit each location on them, I’m always wondering about what lies beyond the edges.

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy, which begins with Ilse Witch, accomplishes that in a way that left me begging for more, and not a little sad when it was over, and the heroes finally returned to the Four Lands.