Here are 70 books that Time of the Twins fans have personally recommended if you like
Time of the Twins.
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Children have vivid imaginations, and while mine was initially drawn to science fiction, I discovered my true passion for fantasy upon reading The Hobbit as a teenager. Since that day, escaping into fantasy worlds—whether it be through books, movies, TV, roleplaying, and video games—became my passion and hobby, leading me down many roads, including writing game reviews, a short story, a novel, and an extensive collection of fantasy-related replicas and statues. Ultimately, that endless feeling of wonder and exploration, adventure and danger is what convinced me to become an author; these five books sitting at the top of a long list that inspired me to reach that goal.
There is a "realness" and melancholic quality to this story that immediately drew me in because every element, even the more fantastical ones, felt immensely believable.
Set in the richly detailed and lived-in world of Osten Ard, this first volume in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Williams took its time to get the main plot moving, but I want to stress just how much I found that to be a good thing. It truly afforded me an opportunity to get to know the setting and characters intimately, so that by the time the plot kicked into high gear, I was well and truly committed to caring about what happens.
Despite its hefty length, this was one of the fastest page-turners I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
The first book of the trilogy "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" tells the story of Simon, a kitchen boy and sorceror's apprentice, who must find the solution to the riddle of the long-lost swords of power, in order to combat the evil of the undead Sithi Ruler, the Storm King.
At five years old, Kasiel was found with the pointed ends of his ears cut off. Despite that brutal start, he’s lived twelve peaceful years with the man who took him in. Keeping his hair long over his mutilated ears helps him hide the fact that he is Vanrian, a…
I’ve been reading fantasy novels since around 1989, when I was twelve. I actually – stupidly! – thought it would be much easier to write a fantasy novel than a historical fiction one. Well, after writing about eighteen historical novels, I turned my hand to fantasy with Singers of the Sword Song and finally discovered just how hard it is to create a compelling new world completely from scratch. The books in this list are the ones that have inspired me for decades and continue to do so as I work on my second fantasy novel with a newfound appreciation, and love, for this magical genre.
I was always on the lookout for new fantasy books when I was younger, and found this in the library one day. So glad I did!
I know it’s a familiar theme to have a young person coming of age and being super powerful, but it’s a good theme, and done brilliantly in Magician.
I appreciate it when authors don’t waffle too much, keep things to the point, and let their characters breathe in an interesting world. Krondor is certainly an interesting world, and I ended up loving quite a few of the books in this series.
In the westernmost province of the Kingdom of the Isles, upon the world of Midkemia, an orphan kitchen boy named Pug was made apprentice to the magician Kulgan.
Here starts an adventure that will span lifetimes and worlds. Discover where the story begins.
The world had changed even before I discovered the foreign ship wrecked on the shore below Crydee Castle, but it was the harbinger of the chaos and death that was coming to our door.
War had come to the Kingdom of the Isles, and in the years that followed it would scatter my friends…
I’ve been reading fantasy novels since around 1989, when I was twelve. I actually – stupidly! – thought it would be much easier to write a fantasy novel than a historical fiction one. Well, after writing about eighteen historical novels, I turned my hand to fantasy with Singers of the Sword Song and finally discovered just how hard it is to create a compelling new world completely from scratch. The books in this list are the ones that have inspired me for decades and continue to do so as I work on my second fantasy novel with a newfound appreciation, and love, for this magical genre.
I listened to the audiobook edition of this story and was completely blown away.
The narration is superb, with the reader performing songs and really making the story come alive, but the prose was just wonderful. Seriously, I would hear lines and think, “Oh my God, I wish I could write like that!”
I haven’t read much fantasy that was written in the past 20 years, but I can see why this is regarded as a modern classic. I loved it and wish he would finally complete the trilogy!
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…
Throne of the Bandit Lord
by
Derick William Dalton,
In defiance of her city's culture, Miri Oliva travels the realm with shield and spear seeking adventure. By recovering stolen gold for a village, she kindles the wrath of two tyrants, one vicious and spiteful, the other cold and cunning. But Miri is no stranger to trials of will or…
The child’s immersion into nature is a most relevant theme for me as an environmental educator, but it is critical to America as a whole. Our future depends upon it. We continue to live in a culture that shoves nature into the background, something viewed as pleasant scenery but not truly interactive in our lives. The “store” has become the source of things to many young people. The current generation of American parents is not equipped to teach children about nature and its indelible place in our survival as a species; therefore, books must become surrogates in this mission.
I loved this book for its dissection of the human relationships formed against a background of wilderness.
With survival comes tension, and though this throws discord into the lives of the characters, it makes for a compelling plot. This is one of those books that will form an indelible bond with the reader, who cannot help but imagine his/her interaction with the cast, should he/she have been part of the story.
A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.
First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern…
I’ve always loved dark, thought-provoking tear-jerkers, the way they challenge my mind and elicit powerful emotions. Maybe it’s because I grew up in an age when men couldn’t cry or show emotions. Maybe it’s because I lived such a happy-go-lucky childhood, hiking through woods and catching lizards and turtles, that I grew curious about the darker aspects of life. It could be how I cope with having fought for two years on the front lines of combat and why I found myself in a philosopher’s classroom, studying ethics. All I know is that my heart craves powerful, dark stories that make my eyes leak.
I read it in the 5th grade, and it set the bar for the type of story I yearn to read. It’s such a heartwarming story up until it rips open the heart. It helped me through a difficult loss in my youth.
I found myself walking beside the main character and his two dogs, enduring their cold hunts and sobbing over his loss.
Read the beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man’s best friend. This edition also includes a special note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool.
Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own—Old Dan and Little Ann—he’s ecstatic. It doesn’t matter that times are tough; together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.
Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great…
I’ve always loved dark, thought-provoking tear-jerkers, the way they challenge my mind and elicit powerful emotions. Maybe it’s because I grew up in an age when men couldn’t cry or show emotions. Maybe it’s because I lived such a happy-go-lucky childhood, hiking through woods and catching lizards and turtles, that I grew curious about the darker aspects of life. It could be how I cope with having fought for two years on the front lines of combat and why I found myself in a philosopher’s classroom, studying ethics. All I know is that my heart craves powerful, dark stories that make my eyes leak.
I’ve always enjoyed dark stories, and the first book of The Coldfire Trilogy did not disappoint. I also read this series in high school.
It was the first fantasy series I read that felt more rooted in the dark reality of life, which gave it a familiar grittiness that I hadn’t experienced in the books I’d read.
Over a millennium ago, Erna, a seismically active yet beautiful world was settled by colonists from far-distant Earth. But the seemingly habitable planet was fraught with perils no one could have foretold. The colonists found themselves caught in a desperate battle for survival against the fae, a terrifying natural force with the power to prey upon the human mind itself, drawing forth a person's worst nightmare images or most treasured dreams and indiscriminately giving them life.
Twelve centuries after fate first stranded the colonists on Erna, mankind has achieved an uneasy stalemate, and human sorcerers manipulate the fae for their…
I’ve been reading fantasy novels since around 1989, when I was twelve. I actually – stupidly! – thought it would be much easier to write a fantasy novel than a historical fiction one. Well, after writing about eighteen historical novels, I turned my hand to fantasy with Singers of the Sword Song and finally discovered just how hard it is to create a compelling new world completely from scratch. The books in this list are the ones that have inspired me for decades and continue to do so as I work on my second fantasy novel with a newfound appreciation, and love, for this magical genre.
This was my introduction to fantasy, and wow, what a story!
Of course, I eventually realised what everyone else had already known, that Sword of Shannara is basically a simplified retelling of The Lord of the Rings, but, as a first fantasy novel for a teenager to read, well, it made a huge impression on me. The second in the series, The Elfstones of Shannara, built on the strong foundation and moved away from LOTR as the author let their own imagination run free.
I liked the characters, particularly the giant druid, Allanon (yes, I have a thing for giant druids as readers of my own novels will know!), and the titular magical weapon, the Elfstones. Exciting stuff that really made my young mind full of possibilities, and having listened to it again more recently as an audiobook, I found it was still a really fun book.
Ancient, ultimate evil threatened the Elves and the Races of Man. For the Ellcrys, the tree of long-lost Elven magic, was dying, loosing the spell of Forbidding that locked the hordes of Demons away from Earth. Already the fearsome Reaper was free. Only one source had the power to stop it: the Elfstones of Shannara. And the valiant companions must ride again in an impossible quest to find them.
I’ve been reading fantasy novels since around 1989, when I was twelve. I actually – stupidly! – thought it would be much easier to write a fantasy novel than a historical fiction one. Well, after writing about eighteen historical novels, I turned my hand to fantasy with Singers of the Sword Song and finally discovered just how hard it is to create a compelling new world completely from scratch. The books in this list are the ones that have inspired me for decades and continue to do so as I work on my second fantasy novel with a newfound appreciation, and love, for this magical genre.
David Gemmell has created some legendary characters like Druss the Axeman, but the hero in White Wolf is my favourite of all.
Skilgannon does tend to follow Gemmell’s formula of being a near-indestructible warrior who can defeat multiple enemies without breaking sweat, but, honestly, that’s why I love him so much! I really enjoy a good heroic fantasy novel, and White Wolf and its sequel are two of my absolute favourites ever.
I always compare Gemmell to Scottish rock band AC/DC* – people say they only wrote one album and repeated the formula, but it’s such a GOOD formula that you can’t help loving it! Gemmell’s novels are like that, and I think White Wolf is probably the best of them all.
*Angus, Malcolm, and Bon were Scottish, so I’m claiming them!
Sorcery and savagery combine in this heroic fantasy by the Sunday Times bestselling author David Gemmell, perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie, Duncan M. Hamilton and Conn Iggulden.
"The story flows like a torrent..." - THE GUARDIAN
"Gemmell is past the point of needing recommending - he is an institution that becomes more valuable with each new novel." - ENIGMA
"How could you fail to be captivated? Gemmell... always guarantees a blasting good read" - FEAR
"Full of fantastic action scenes with beasts warriors and quirky characters..." -- ***** Reader review
"I enjoyed every minute spent reading this book..." -…
I love writing stories for young people in that “in-between” age: age 12, 13, and 14, when kids are figuring out who they are and who they want to become. For many young people, crushes are a huge part of this coming-of-age process—I know they were for me! When I was this age, there weren’t many books that explored crushes and the first romance for LGBTQ+ kids. I’m thrilled to be part of a wave of authors writing these stories now. And I’m so excited for a future where we have a wealth of books about the joy, heartbreak, and humor of all kinds of young love.
This story brought me to a whole new world I’d never considered before: what’s it like to grow up in a family that owns a pizzeria—and what happens when that business (and family) starts falling apart?
I found it so easy to love Luca Salvatore, a protagonist doing his best to keep his family’s pizza parlor in business and his parents’ marriage together while also trying to figure out if he should confess his feelings to the cute new boy in his class, who’s quickly becoming his close friend…and his crush. There’s a lot on Luca’s young shoulders, and it’s satisfying to move to a resolution where he’s empowered to put himself—and his own feelings—first.
A heartfelt contemporary middle grade novel perfect for fans of Front Desk, following Luca Salvatore, a young gay Italian American trying to save his family’s pizza restaurant and a life that feels like it’s falling apart after he learns that his parents may be separating and his first crush and best friend might be into each other.
Twelve-year-old Luca Salvatore is always running interference: in arguments between his younger twin siblings, in his parents’ troubled marriage, and between Will, the cute new boy in town, and Luca’s best friend, June, who just can’t seem to get along.
The beauty of time travel stories is that under the tech, or the supernatural, they can be anything. And for me, they are everything. Paradoxes, puzzles, that oh-so-delicate space-time continuum: an infinite blank canvas for exploring human emotion, psychology, and choices. Just like everyone else, I have regrets, big and small, things that I wish I could change, sliding doors that may have taken me down the wrong fork in the road. With these books, each deeply personal and therapeutic in their own way, you may be able to see your own life choices anew, just like I did. Enjoy!
This may have been the first time travel book I ever read, though I didn’t anticipate the life-changing significance back in the halcyon days of middle school.
At a time of awkward, pubescent change, its story about identity, isolation, and the pursuit of individuality struck a chord, enough that I still think of it decades later. The sci-fi premise is simple but haunting: a shed where time passes differently becomes the backdrop for a psychological duel between brothers.
Revisiting it recently through adult eyes, the prose is understandably spare—it is young adult fiction, after all—but the introspective core and emotional resolution remain impressively resonant.
Identical twins Barry and Harry Krasner are house-sitting at their great-uncle's Midwest farm. It's peaceful at first, but soon they realize there's something about the farmhouse that makes locals stay far away. The twins are sure that the locked shed out back is their reason why – but what they find there is more shocking than anything they could have imagined.
