126 books like The Cinder Spires

When I first encountered Harry Dresden, a professional wizard solving a double homicide in Chicago, I was instantly hooked by its noir, fantasy, and traditional mystery with dollops of humor. This novel—the first in The Dresden File series—kept me engaged the entire time with a fast-moving plot and interesting characters.

I could see in my mind’s eye Chicago’s skyscrapers and their reflection in Lake Michigan as Harry dug deeper into the crimes and the supernatural world. This was my first urban fantasy read, and Butcher’s ability to blend a private investigator story with the supernatural ensured it was not my last.

I was looking for a series that caught my attention from the first page, and Jim Butcher’s Furies of Calderon did not disappoint me.

This is another series that uses the Roman Empire as a basis for the story, so I was immersed in Roman legionaries and their use of fighting techniques, but what involved me the most were Butcher’s characters.

I loved the relationship between the main character, Tavi, and the woman he connects with, Kitai, who is also a member of the horse clan and one-time enemy of the Empire. Characters are also connected with earth elements such as wind, fire, earth, and water, my favorite being a wind fury that allows characters to fly.

I love how Richard Cypher, an ordinary woods guide who discovers his profound destiny as a Seeker of Truth, has an extraordinary knack for getting out of one impossible dilemma after another.

I also enjoy how Richard’s chemistry with a beautiful woman known as the Mother Confessor intertwines with his destiny. This writer helped me improve my own writing skills, unlocking my use of more natural language and a deep appreciation for the pursuit of true love. Terry also has a way of building upon one cliffhanger and revelation after another, achieving an epic climax at the end.

While Terry makes no claim to the Christian faith, one can’t help but see many Biblical parallels, symbols, and themes in his work.

This particular book/series by Sanderson is a quickly-paced fantasy heist with a very cool magic system involving different metals. The main character, Vin, is a lowly commoner who ends up navigating the complex social web of nobility. It’s a fascinating progression with a fascinating and satisfying result.

This book has loosely inspired some aspects of action, nobility, and the gem-based magic system found in my Heroes of Time series. One review of my book Murdoch’s Choice called it “Mistborn on a Boat.”

The best fantasy novel you’ve probably never heard of! British author and screenwriter Chris Wooding has been cranking out top-quality material for years, and he’s only just hitting his peak with the ongoing Darkwater Legacy series beginning with this book.

I love how this multi-POV ensemble cast masterpiece takes the best of traditional black-and-white fantasy and combines it with the best of modern shades-of-grey fantasy. With a large and quirky cast of heroes on a thrilling quest to liberate the world from an evil empire, it’s about as close as I’ve found to Final Fantasy in novel form. The characters are a total delight and the plot twists had me whooping and punching the air in satisfaction.

This book is a ‘LitRPG’, a relatively new genre of novel that combines prose with elements from video role-playing games. However, unlike most LitRPGs, this one doesn’t have printed numbers and statistics. As such, it’s closer to a ‘LitJRPG’ (literary Japanese role-playing game) and so to Final Fantasy, and author Andrew Rowe (a former games programmer for Blizzard) is explicit about that influence and other related influences.

I very much enjoyed this book, the first in his Aracne Ascension series in which Corin Cadence needs to figure out how to progress through a tower of traps, obstacles, and monsters in order to find his long-lost brother while training at magical combat school. The magic system and worldbuilding are fascinating, the battles and dungeons are thrilling, and the plot is compelling.

It’s hard to get much more Final Fantasy in novel form than this. (Bonus! You can also read not… show more.

I loved The Book of Three because it was the first story that made me feel like adventure could begin anywhere—even for someone as unsure of themselves as Taran.

I connected with his clumsy eagerness to prove his worth, and watching him grow gave the journey real heart. The companions he meets—Eilonwy, Fflewddur Fflam, and Gurgi—bring warmth and humor, showing that bravery isn’t about perfection but about loyalty and sacrifice.

Lloyd Alexander’s world of Prydain felt alive with magic, danger, and wonder. It made me believe that even ordinary people could rise to do extraordinary things.

I love this book because it’s basically The Blues Brothers combined with Dungeons and Dragons. How did Nicholas Eames ever come up with that concept, and make it work so well?

In this breakneck madcap quest, retired hero Clay Cooper sets out to get his original adventuring ‘band’ back together one by one in order to go on one last mission to save his daughter. The jokes had me guffawing, the action had me riveted, and the structuring left me open-mouthed.

It reminds me of Final Fantasy because once again we have an eccentric ensemble cast going on an adventure quest with magic and monsters galore…but not only that: Eames is also on record as a Final Fantasy fan and names some of his characters after Final Fantasy characters, along with sticking in some other Easter eggs related to the franchise. 

An immortal druid and a talking dog. What’s not to love?

Think American Gods, but funnier. In the Iron Druid Chronicles, the gods are real, and Atticus O’Sullivan loves to piss them off. The immediate blending of humor and suspense pulled me in right from the start, and I didn’t stop reading until well beyond this book and only took a breath when I ran out of books.

When I strapped in to read Red Rising, I was mentally prepared for a modern Dune-style space opera, complete with a chosen-one arc. But what kept me turning pages was Darrow’s humanity.

I was thrilled to discover how he breaks, rebuilds, and keeps fighting to become more than the system that made him. I loved that it refused to give me a perfect hero. Every victory costs something, and every choice leaves a scar.

It reminded me that courage doesn’t always look noble—sometimes it’s messy, angry, and uncertain. But that’s what makes it real.

This book made me feel the weight of change and how hard it is to stay kind while tearing down what’s broken.