100 Books Like Gild

Serpent and Dove is a story about a witch, Lou Le Blanc, who is forced to marry a witch hunter, Reid Diggory. I loved this book because it does a good job of showing the relationship between these two polar opposite characters. But it also shows how even people I thought could never have anything in common can find things that tie them together.

The use of dual POVs in this story is a great way to see both sides of the war between witches and witch hunters so that I could understand why things are the way they are and the methods used to keep things that way.

Although heists and team-driven stories are difficult to mess up, I rarely find a gem with fun, snarky, and interesting characters like those delivered by Bardugo.

Clever banter effortlessly drives the storyline from beginning to end. When you start to feel the characters are proving to be one-dimensional and predictable, they begin to change and evolve (albeit a bit slowly for my tastes), which made for a surprisingly satisfying read (I’m including book two in this observation).

Worldbuilding is intelligent enough to keep you trusting the author when you grow concerned that the ending will be unrealistically implausible. Okay, maybe that last observation is my personal pet peeve with modern authors, but Six of Crows pulled off the credibility factor reasonably well.

Did I mention that I love academies? Yes, this series is immersed in fantasy academics with twists I enjoyed throughout the books. And, of course, what novels about schools wouldn’t be complete without different houses for students with special powers. Throw in two heroines from the everyday world I know today, and the conflicts blossom.

Be forewarned, this, too, is a fantasy romance, so I kept my focus on the rivalries between the houses and enjoyed the fast-paced action.

This was one of my all-time favorite book series. The world-building is well done without pulling you out of the story for being so in-depth or long. But the characters are what really made me fall in love with this story. Kemmerer uses multiple POVs for the main characters, so we get to be inside the heads of both Tessa and Prince Corrick, two very different characters in terms of their values and actions at the start. I love seeing the motivations of each of the characters; it makes me understand and connect with them even more.

Another POV is added later in the series, which helps elevate that book even more, lending to a different side of a character I had overlooked mostly in the beginning. This is one of the reasons I love multiple POVs: the more of the story I get, the more intriguing and exciting everything… show more.

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. 

James Clavell’s first book, King Rat, is the story of allied servicemen trapped by the Japanese in Singapore at the beginning of World War II and held captive for the duration in the infamous Changi prison. The captured consisted of some 10,000 men made up of a British regiment, a few Australian companies, and one small American platoon. After three years of brutal, virtually starvation conditions even the British Commanding General was reduced to a uniform of nothing more than rags. Only one prisoner, an American Corporal, had lost no weight, wore a freshly pressed uniform and spit-shined shoes every day. With physical courage and an understanding of human weaknesses and breaking points he dominated all the other prisoners and many of the guards as well. When the camp was liberated he was the only man among the survivors who left without one friend. Why? The key to both his… show more.

This was a wonderful novel that gave me a sense of how cruel the Spanish occupation was in New Mexico in the 1600s. I loved how Anaya adapted Spanish folktales throughout the novel.

The Spanish treatment of indigenous people can be compared to any occupier, even in present times. The main character in the novel is the Governor of New Mexico and his difficulties governing Pueblo Indians and other indigenous tribes who reject the Spanish occupation and the religious beliefs of the Catholic Church. He is a sympathetic character who has just lost his wife and is lonely.

A group of Pueblo Indians are arrested for plotting a rebellion against the Spanish—the punishment is usually harsh: either death or enslavement. One of the conspirators is a fifteen-year-old girl named Serafina, who speaks Spanish well and is a gifted storyteller. She makes a wager with the governor to tell him a… show more.

I loved this book as it triggered memories for me from my time working as a prison psychiatrist in HMP Cornton Vale, Scotland's female prison.

The scenarios and emotions evoked were very relatable and highlighted the complexities involved in dealing with a population of women with complex trauma histories, who may often be both victims and perpetrators of crime.

The mix of relationship difficulties, mental health problems, personalities, substance misuse, self-harming, and humour is both interesting and sadly very familiar. This book helps to raise awareness.

If Lothar Orbach survived in Berlin by creeping about in the shadows, Freddie did the opposite. This Viennese Jew brazenly entered the lion’s den of Nazi-occupied Paris and hobnobbed with the Wehrmacht. His true story is so amazing it would seem preposterous in a novel. Freddie left Austria after Hitler’s annexation of his country, and aged 20, with a false Aryan identity, he headed for the City of Lights. There he befriended Nazi soldiers and sold them his services as a guide to the red-light district, thereby earning commission from the nightspots and brothels to which he ushered them. "In reality I was a pimp," he writes. "But I didn’t consider it a situation I should be ashamed of. Because it saved my life." His luck ran out when a spurned lover betrayed him to the Gestapo, and he ended up in Auschwitz. Thankfully this remarkably resourceful man stayed alive…but… show more.

This is a shattering account of a man who was forced to work in the gas chambers of Auschwitz for several years. Not only did he see the serial mass murder up close, but he also witnessed the failed rebellion at Crematorium IV on October 7, 1944. Müller’s writing is sparse and harrowing as he describes daily life in the Third Reich’s largest concentration camp. This is an essential document about the Holocaust and it helps the reader understand what it meant to be part of the Sonderkommando—those unfortunate prisoners who were forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoria. This is an unforgettable and vital book.