60 Books Like The Fifty Year Sword

I‘ve always been fascinated by the dividing line between human and monster. Because, what is a monster?

I know, this kind of question will usually get a quick answer, but I have been thinking about this particular question for quite some time now. I am Legend revolves around this question, and I love it for that. I also love it for the somewhat unexpected twist in the end, and that one can be interpreted as an answer.

Anyway, for me, this book got me thinking about morale and ethics and other stuff. I just like it when a book gets me to that point where I think: wait a moment, but what if…?

This is another book that really hit me right between the eyes as a kid, and revisiting it with my kids as an adult, it’s nothing short of just creepy weirdness.

Guillermo Del Toro once said that kids' stories should be frightening, and this definitely fits the bill. The best part about it is how short the stories are, too, so I was able to break it up with my kid into a number of sittings.

This horror novel about a haunted IKEA-like store is playful and fun in every way—from its inventive narrative structure to the book’s mimicry of an IKEA catalogue, complete with a store map and advertisements for furniture that become increasingly deranged.

During daylight, Orsk is a regular furniture store in the suburbs of Cleveland, but when several employees attempt to stay overnight to find out why products keep getting damaged, the building’s dark history begins to bleed into the present. This book perfectly captures the uncanny way nighttime makes familiar landscapes, such as stores and schools, seem entirely unfamiliar, a phenomenon that has always fascinated me. 

I love this book’s original take on the “spore” or “fungal” zombie outbreak. It feels like the author took The Last Of Us (which I also adore) and flipped the story on its head. Melanie is this unique character, at once the snarky, hilarious child of the piece and its terrifying monster.

She’s the threat, battlefield, and hope—and I find that combination so compelling. While it’s a grim, often bleak tale set in a decimated UK, this thread of unexpected hope and unusual connections kept me hooked. This story might not give me the future I wanted at the start of the story, but it offers a different vision with its own version of hope for humanity, and because of that, it has a special place on my shelf.

Researchers/writers today make great use of the Internet, but perhaps no one does it better than Peter Brand.

Living in Australia, he can make only infrequent trips to America, yet he seems to be able to mine records on the Internet to find the nuggets that others have missed. His revelations about the loyal men who attached to Wyatt Earp in his quest to avenge his assassinated brother, Morgan, have expanded our knowledge of the Earp story to a tremendous degree.

Brand is also a personal friend of mine. Each new publication of his throws new light on the shadowy episodes that Earp aficionados want to understand better. It is quite an accomplishment for Peter to gain the status he has achieved among historians.

Who would believe that an Aussie could become one of the vanguards of Western research?

Dannika Dark’s Crossbreed is just one of her many spin-off series but has quickly become my favourite. The relationship between Raven and Christian is slow-burn, with the books mainly focusing on Keystone, an organisation they are both apart of. In the first book Keystone, there is very little romance other than hints and teases, but when they do get together further in the series it’s intense and full of passion while still remaining true to the storyline. I find with many series that once a couple gets together their individuality disappears, but with the Crossbreed series you find Raven is still the main protagonist, and Christian only adds to her character arc. Heat level: 3/5

Simon Kernick is a master at keeping the reader engaged. His books have an amazing pace, and you will 100% commit to the story. Relentless moves you seamlessly through an array of emotions, as you read. You feel desperately for the protagonist, willing him to escape his torment and tormentors. This book twists and turns and gallops you from the first page, right to the last. Prepare to feel exhausted!  

This is a book written in its own language: one that is derived from Old English. It is written from the viewpoint of a Saxon native, a freeman, whose liberty is threatened by the outside world, invaders who respect no moral laws. Through this method, we enter the minds of the protagonist – Buccmaster of Holland – and a worldview is constructed in which the local is in a shifting balance with external sources of power. The book demonstrates how our thoughts and worldviews are realised by, and dependent upon, the language through which they are articulated. Without explicitly intending to do so, it also provides insight into much of the psychology behind Brexit.

Filled with magic, prophecy, and ancient goddesses, Hunted By the Sky transports you to a world where a girl with a star-shaped birthmark seeks revenge for the murder of her parents, and a boy who is willing to do anything to save his father will soon meet. In this beautiful novel, you will find thoughtful worldbuilding and fantastical mirrors to our own reality, exploring identity, class, and love. 

An amazing and surprising read. When a madman is buried alive by five teenagers who take the law into their own hands, it is hardly a new idea for him to come back for revenge upon them. But Jim Brown takes it several stages further with more dark twists than you could possibly think of.