Here are 49 books that Shroud fans have personally recommended if you like
Shroud.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
This book resonated with many thoughts I've had after immigrating to the USA over a decade ago. It is a story of how, when it comes to policy, good intentions can often lead to bad outcomes, from work shortage to the housing crisis, and from infrastructure to clean air. It is an engaging and insightful discussion, from which both liberals and conservatives can learn a lot.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025
“A must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people.” —Barack Obama • “A terrific book...Powerful and persuasive.” —Fareed Zakaria • “Spectacular...Offers a comprehensive indictment of the current problems and a clear path forward...Klein and Thompson usher in a mood shift. They inspire hope and enlarge the imagination.” —David Brooks, The New York Times
From bestselling authors and journalistic titans Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a once-in-a-generation, paradigm-shifting call to renew a politics of plenty, face…
“A non-stop action thrill ride of fantasy meets sci-fi meets cyberpunk.”
Camber Maypole was human once, an avid climber and chief medical officer aboard the Vera Rubin, a colony ship headed for a distant planet. But the day before launch, she was scrubbed for "insubordination." Against her will, her consciousness…
I'm an engineer, so the work of artists is mysterious to me. I've spoken at length to several and while there is overlap with my process, there are also remarkable differences. This book extends those conversations by providing in-depth interviews with an extraordinary variety of artists talking about how each created a signature piece. It shows examples of their work, from draft to publication. The book was enlightening and oftentimes quite moving.
The New York Times bestseller and one of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2024
"The gift book of the year, a volume that should have broad appeal and deliver many hours of pleasure to the recipient. The Work of Art is a gorgeous book.” —John Warner, The Chicago Tribune
From former editor of New York magazine Adam Moss, a collection of illuminating conversations examining the very personal, rigorous, complex, and elusive work of making art
What is the work of art? In this guided tour inside the artist's head, Adam Moss traces the evolution of transcendent novels, paintings, jokes, movies,…
An astoundingly good novel. Well-researched, well told, and well-narrated in audio. I had a slightly harder time getting into the spider timeline—I kept waiting to get back to the human one—but in the end I was engaged by that one too, and of course deeply impressed by the sheer power of the author's informed imagination in creating this entirely new species, tracing its rapid evolution, and giving us its point of view in an entirely plausible way. But the human story is even more amazing, in my view, in part because of the way it uses time. Highly recommended!
Winner of the 30th anniversary Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed, stand-alone novel Children of Time, is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.
Who will inherit this new Earth?
The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the…
Space Ants: Never Say Die is a collection of serialized short stories following one colony. Each segment zooms in on a single ant from different castes—from tireless handmaidens and brave scouts to valiant soldiers and the indomitable queen mother—as they explore, extract, expand, and sometimes exterminate the deadly threats lurking…
Here's this coerced to go on a one-way mission with two others and they both are dead when he wakes up in his space ship. And it's all about this man alone overcoming every obstacle one could imagine. His persistence, the way he solves one issue after another, was fun and entertaining. The story is clever and smart.
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through…
I received the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Red Box as a kid, and I have been hooked on all things fantasy fiction since. It has become a part of my life so much that each character takes on a special importance for me. Some characters exist in worlds full of swords and magic, while others live in realms that are dirty, bleak, and on the brink of utter ruin. As a writer, I enjoy seeing the different perspectives these characters bring to fantasy settings. It makes them unique, each in their own way. Some want to right the wrongs of the worlds they reside in, while others don’t care if it all burns down around them.
I’ve read The Name of the Wind twice, and each time it feels like sitting down to hear a bard weave his life into song.
Kvothe isn’t perfect—he’s brilliant, arrogant, reckless—but that’s why I believe him. Rothfuss’s prose has a rhythm that lingers in my head like music. What struck me most wasn’t the magic or mystery, but the small human moments: playing the lute for coins, hungering for knowledge, fumbling through mistakes.
For me, it was less about answers and more about the act of telling one’s story, flaws and all.
The lyrical fantasy masterpiece about stories, legends and how they change the world. The Name of the Wind is an absolute must-read for any fan of fantasy fiction.
'This is a magnificent book' Anne McCaffrey
'I was reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and J. R. R. Tolkein, but never felt that Rothfuss was imitating anyone' THE TIMES
'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University…
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child - not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens…
Forthcoming eclipses coming up in Australia include that of 22 July 2028, which will cross Australia from the Northern Territory to Sydney, home of the internationally famous sights of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Eclipse Chasers will act as a guidebook for both locals and international visitors, giving…
One of the very best must-read novels of all time - with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle
'A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again' THE TIMES
'The book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin' Roddy Doyle
'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power' OBSERVER
The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous…
I’ve always loved the darker side of fantasy. While heroes, knights, and handsome kings can occasionally be enjoyable, I want to know the other characters who have suffered, hurt, lost, grieved, and been hardened by grim circumstances and cruel fate. Those characters demonstrate the resilience of human nature and how goodness truly can exist even in the harshest environment. I love using this darkness in my own novels to show that even the tiniest spark can shine immensely bright—a true testament to the indefatigability of our spirits.
This book was one of the first assassin books ever written, and it’s a masterpiece of classic fantasy. The character is exactly as brooding and dour as I’d expected, but the moment he saves a young woman and her two orphaned companions, I understood there was so much more to him. And over the course of the book—and all his books—I saw those layers stripped away piece by piece and the grief-stricken man beneath.
The story was action-packed in exactly the way I wanted it to be, but it also profoundly explored nobility, morality, belief, and faith. The final scenes of the trilogy had me in tears, something not easily accomplished.
'THE HARD-BITTEN CHAMPION OF BRITISH HEROIC FANTASY' - Joe Abercrombie
'HEROISM AND HEARTBREAK . . . GEMMELL IS ADRENALINE WITH SOUL' - Brent Weeks
The Drenai King is dead - murdered by a ruthless assassin. Enemy troops swarm into Drenai lands. Their orders are simple - kill every man, woman and child.
But there is hope.
Stalked by men who act like beasts and beasts that walk like men, the warrior Waylander must journey into the shadow-haunted lands of the Nadir to find the legendary Armour of Bronze. With this he can turn the tide. But can he be trusted?…
I've been passionate about Fantasy ever since I found a used copy of the Dragonlance Chronicles in a second-hand book store in India. I was 10 years old and immediately fell in love with the idea of fantasy worlds with magic and dragons. Soon after I read Terry Brooks, Neil Gaiman, Piers Anthony, RA Salvatore, Edgar Burroughs, and a host of other writers from the 1980s. What I like about the books I've chosen is that these characters are memorable. They are stories that can be re-read because the plot doesn't feel like rehashed tropes. The uniqueness of the settings, the challenges they face, and the solutions they engineer are what make them worth reading.
Ten glorious books about deceitful spiders, brave dragonflies, and steadfast beetles. In a world where people possess the traits of different insects, the wasps are expanding their empire. One lone beetle decides to challenge them. Shadows of the Apt turns traditional fantasy on its head by bringing together a whole new set of protagonists - Mantis who are skilled swordsmen beyond compare, Spiders who can craft deceitful webs of intrigue, Ants who can operate within a hive mind, and the like. The storytelling is unique for never before have there been characters like this, on a scale as massive as the insect kingdom.
Empire in Black and Gold is the first instalment in the critically-acclaimed fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
The days of peace are over . . .
The Lowlands' city states have lived in peace for decades, hailed as bastions of civilization. Yet that peace is about to end. A distant empire has been conquering neighbours with highly trained soldiers and sophisticated combat techniques. And the city states are its desirable new prize.
Only the ageing Stenwold Maker - spymaster, artificer and statesman - foresees the threat, as the empires' armies march ever closer. So it falls…
An ancient Roman temple terraforming Mars. An android longing for his human wife. Will their epic clash bring Earth to its knees?
Android Y1 is heartbroken. He was once a neuroscientist who uploaded his own brain to study it. Now he hates watching his human self take his wife and…
I've been passionate about Fantasy ever since I found a used copy of the Dragonlance Chronicles in a second-hand book store in India. I was 10 years old and immediately fell in love with the idea of fantasy worlds with magic and dragons. Soon after I read Terry Brooks, Neil Gaiman, Piers Anthony, RA Salvatore, Edgar Burroughs, and a host of other writers from the 1980s. What I like about the books I've chosen is that these characters are memorable. They are stories that can be re-read because the plot doesn't feel like rehashed tropes. The uniqueness of the settings, the challenges they face, and the solutions they engineer are what make them worth reading.
In a magical world, based in Japan, a young girl needs to rely on her wits to survive. A highly political intrigue-filled thriller. This book is easily one of the best examples of Asian fantasy done right. What I like about the book is the way the characters are brought to life. The female lead Mara of the Acoma starts the story in a desperately vulnerable position and finds a way to work within the rigidly hierarchical and misogynistic system she is part of to effect change from within. The challenges she faces don't appear contrived in any way and her solutions are masterfully implemented.
The world on the other side of the rift: Kelewan, a land seething with political intrigue and deadly conspiracies. Following the opulent panoply of Daughter Of The Empire and the dazzling pageantry of Servant Of The Empire comes the resounding conclusion to the Empire trilogy.
Besieged by spies and rival houses, stalked by a secret and merciless brotherhood of assassins, the brilliant Lady Mara of the Acoma faces the most deadly challenge she has ever known. The fearsome Black Robes see Mara as the ultimate threat to their ancient power. In search of allies who will join her against them,…
