Here are 30 books that The Daughters' War fans have personally recommended if you like
The Daughters' War.
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This was a LONG book - 774 pages, with a fairly small font.
I thought it was excellent. Really enjoyed it.
I've known about the book for a long time but was put off by knowing that there are a great many (20?) point of view characters. I tend to prefer a small number of (often singular) points of view, and to get to know that/those character/s very well.
Contrary to expectations, the large field of points of view worked very well for me. The eponymous Red Knight's point of view gets a significantly larger number of pages than any of the rest, and helps glue it all together, as does the fact that all of the points of view are involved in the same drama, many of them in the same place, the rest converging on it.
Forget George and the Dragon. Forget Sir Lancelot and tales of Knightly exploits. This is dirty, bloody work. This is violent, visceral action. This is a mercenary knight as you've never seen one before. Twenty eight florins a month is a huge price to pay, for a man to stand between you and the Wild. Twenty eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern's jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company…
In Renaissance Venice, the deadliest weapon isn’t a blade… it’s a secret.
Angelo Mascari is a master swordsman whose greatest battle isn’t fought for crown or country, but for love. When treachery strikes and the Republic turns against him, Angelo is forced into a desperate flight that leads him across…
A fine book. Set in alternate reality modern(ish) times with TVs, aircraft etc but with the power in the hands of clans that have personal combat magics that make them the dominant force in the setting.
Constantly engaging with a great portrait of "crime family" dynamics in a non-western setting. Shades of The Godfather and other Mafia tales, but also very much its own thing.
The jade-based magic system is both simple and interesting.
I wasn't particularly moved on an emotional level but the story with exciting, entertaining, and had lots of fascinating detail both on the small scale (street fights, family arguments, training school scenes) and the large (nations vying for power, government vs clan interactions etc). And the story has great potential to expand.
This will have to be a brief review - finished the book while sitting up all night with my daughter…
'An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book' KEN LIU
'Gripping!' ANN LECKIE, author of Ancillary Justice and The Raven Tower
'Lee's astute worldbuilding raises the stakes for her vivid and tautly-described action scenes' SCOTT LYNCH, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora
*****Shortlisted for the Nebula Awards, the Locus Awards, the Aurora Awards, the Sunburst Awards and an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month*****
I’ve been fascinated with history and adventure for as long as I can remember. Nothing thrills me more than an epic quest, particularly if the hero is flawed. As an author of historical fiction, I’ve read countless books and spent thousands of hours researching topics and places, from South America to Europe to Asia. I hope you enjoy these epic historical adventures as much as I have! If you have recommendations of your own, please share!
The only fantasy book on this list, Between Two Fires, is one of the most haunting and original novels I've ever read.
Set in plague-ravaged medieval France, it blends historical fiction, horror, and dark fantasy into a story that’s both epic and deeply personal. What stayed with me most was the unsettling atmosphere. Every ruined village, abandoned cathedral, and lonely stretch of road carries an almost unbearable sense of dread.
Yet amid the horrors, Christopher Buehlman crafts characters whose courage, sacrifice, and humanity shine through the darkness. The supernatural encounters are genuinely terrifying, but they're balanced by moments of hope, redemption, and surprising tenderness, all set against a backdrop of real historical events.
It's a novel that challenged, unsettled, and captivated me from beginning to end, and long after I finished the final page, I found myself still thinking about its unforgettable journey.
His extraordinary debut, Those Across the River, was hailed as “genre-bending Southern horror” (California Literary Review), “graceful [and] horrific” (Patricia Briggs). Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age—one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth… And Lucifer said: “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…” The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that…
India Muerte and the Ship of the Dead
by
Set Sytes,
India Muerte and the Ship of the Dead is the first book in a pirate fantasy adventure series, featuring the thrilling exploits of India Muerte in an exotic yet dangerous world.
After a night of misadventure, a roguish street lad from Mexico Island wakes up aboard a legendary ship crewed…
A simple story of good vs evil, but I enjoyed the heroes being heroes and good.
Terrible stuff would happen to the protagonist, but he would always do what was right, and wasn't constantly punished for being a good person. It was refreshing.
A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions.
But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a…
Thoughtful Science Fiction! Ok, this book might get shelved as fantasy, but the fantastical elements are so well constrained by logical systems, and the underlying causes and behaviors of seemingly-magical events explored with such an investigative and scientific vigor, that I must call it science fiction! Woven throughout this adventure story of Tress’s search for her kidnapped love are funny and philosophical insights into the foibles of human nature and society. Tress in Wonderland perhaps? Tress’s Travels?
Gemmel has such a distinct writing style where he has this fast pace and surprisingly detailed story. So much happens with few words and you don't feel like it could be so few words. Like a magic trick. He makes you like characters and root for them but isn't too worried about making them do awful things or even die.
Fierce and proud, the Rigante dwell deep in the green mountain lands, worshiping the gods of air and water, and the spirits of the earth. Among them lives a warrior who bears the mark of fate. Born of the storm that slew his father, he is Connavar, and tales of his courage spread like wildfire.
The Seidh--a magical race as old as time--take note of the young warrior and cast a malignant shadow across his life. For soon a merciless army will cross the water, destroying forever the timeless rhythms of life among the Rigante.
Wolf Magick is a contemporary Gothic dark-fantasy tale of wild darkness and haunted love.
Marc Sexton, charismatic and bold, refuses to accept his supernatural destiny—his spiritual calling of wolf magick. This man harbors olde secrets: he denies the shapeshifting “gift” he inherited from his father, a powerful Celtic realm walker…
From Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated novelist Robert Jackson Bennett—an unforgettable new Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with an irresistible mystery twist.
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.
Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all…
The Fury of the Gods is the earth-shattering final book in John Gwynne's bestselling Norse-inspired epic fantasy series, packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance
THE FINAL BATTLE FOR THE FATE OF VIGRID APPROACHES
Varg has overcome the trials of his past and become an accepted member of the Bloodsworn, but now he and his newfound comrades face their biggest challenge yet: slaying a dragon.
Elvar is struggling to consolidate her power in Snakavik, where she faces threats from within and without. As she fights to assert her authority in readiness for the coming conflict,…
The classic tale that everyone knows but there is a lot more depth to the novel than in the many adaptions. There is high Victorian melodrama here but also interesting social details and an ingenious writing style combining diary entries, letters and newspaper reports. A real page turner but with psychological depth.
31
authors picked
Dracula
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
17.
What is this book about?
'The very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years' Arthur Conan Doyle
A masterpiece of the horror genre, Dracula also probes identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire. It begins when Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, and makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England - an unmanned ship is wrecked; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his 'Master' - and a determined group of adversaries…
I write and read fantasy that doesn’t play safe—where magic is messy, divine, rotten, or reborn in mud. I’m obsessed with stories that walk barefoot through forgotten folklore, eerie townships, and mythic detours. The Fallow Swallow grew from this exact craving: for fantasy that’s personal, poetic, and just a little unwell. I gravitate toward tales that embrace magical realism, morally grey characters, and dark humour—and these books helped shape my voice as a writer.
Reading this was like drinking tea with a ghost in a dusty library—charming, eerie, and wonderfully slow.
Clarke's ability to mix historical fiction with brooding, folkloric magic was inspiring. I admired how it builds tension not with battles, but with manners, contracts, and impossible choices. It taught me patience in worldbuilding and in life.
Two magicians shall appear in England. The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of…
