Books like Tinker

I love how weird and dark this book is. Carolyn and her siblings were raised by their abusive, adopted father, who trained them each in a single portfolio of magic.

When their father goes missing, Carolyn and her allies explore the truth of his disappearance. I was with Carolyn every step of the way of her journey to claw back her identity from her abusive past. And I can’t stop thinking about the explosive ending, even years after I first read the book.

Charles de Lint is one of my favorite authors, and this book of short stories is set in Newford, his fictional city. It’s a fully-formed universe where there's always more to discover. You can read any of his books at any time; there’s no order they must be read in. I guarantee that the more you learn of his worlds—and especially Newford—the more you’ll want. I read Pixel Pixies (my favorite short story of all time) to my mom and dad when my mom was dying of cancer. I could barely read the last paragraph for wanting to cry; not because the story is sad, but because it's so beautiful, so hopeful, so abso-freaking-lutely wonderful. I still get teary-eyed thinking about that evening of reading that story to my mom and dad.

That’s what de Lint does. He transports you not only to a world, but indelibly marks the feelings… show more.

This steampunk sci-fi fantasy is exciting, hilarious, dangerous, full of twists, turns, break-neck action, daring escapes, and chock-a-block with outrageously fun and memorable characters in a fully realized and unique universe. Retribution Falls follows the crew of the airship Ketty Jay and its incredibly rag-tag crew captained by two-bit smuggler/cargo hauler/wanna-be pirate Darien Frey, and hoo boy! When presented with a job that Frey’s instincts tell him is too good to be true but offers riches, he plunges his crew into several worlds' worth of trouble. Their escapades as they try to dig themselves out are exciting, unpredictable, and laugh-out-loud funny.

If you like Firefly but want something original rather than a cheap knock-off, you’ll love this book. And if you don’t like Firefly, you’ve got more going on than I can help you with! ;-)

This book was a surprise to me in many ways. While I love Zombie Apocalypse books, they can become a bit samey after a while, and that’s why I’m always on the lookout for something fresh and unique. Boy, did I get that in spades with this book!

Not only was I introduced to the fascinating world of long-distance running, but I also loved the characters, especially the main character, Kate. She’s both strong and vulnerable. A woman who would fight to the death for her loved ones but cry in secret for her lost husband.

I became so engrossed in this story that I even contemplated taking up long-distance running, a feat of epic proportions, considering I’ve never run anywhere in my life. 

From childhood, hearing and reading stories and folk stories with my parents and grandfather to reading Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I have always had a passion for the hearing, reading, and telling of tales, which strongly stimulates my love for fantasy as it is rich with symbolism.

Tolkien’s The Silmarillion took that love to new levels as it is the book I find myself always returning to, almost as though in its study. While it is commonly a difficult read for many due to its slow build for establishing its own context, I love how this book is a rich library of stories bespeaking themes of tragedy, despair, courage, hope, and nobility, where we get to see their fruits in the story’s conclusion.

Despite Tolkien’s decision to refrain from allegory as he kept the story purely ambiguous in nature as the fictional world feels both… show more.

About as classic as modern fantasy gets, Rise of the Ranger nevertheless breathes fresh air into the genre. Both an epic and a quest story, it features characters spread out across the entirety of the world, yet their fates slowly become connected in the grand war that is only beginning. Witness the conflicts between elves, assassins, mages, and dragons all navigated by a host of likable and interesting protagonists, and enjoy a quest as it was meant to be.

Another one of Ariana Nash’s books. This one about a dragon shifter and an elf.

The elves are at war with the dragons. Their kind do not mix, which is the major conflict in the story. The elf hates the dragon while the dragon continues to prove that he’s not evil. It’s heartbreaking at times and satisfying in others.

A slow burn with an eventual HEA which is satisfying. 

This is a box set containing the complete Daughter of Shadow series. Four full-length books filled with spellbinding fantasy romance. The Daughter of Shadow series is a slow-burn and slow-build romantic fantasy that will have you on the edge of your seat sometimes. This is absolutely perfect for those who love reading about unique worlds combined with supernatural creatures such as elves and dragons. This series will draw you into a fantastic world of pure fantasy featuring strong, fiercely protective men who will do anything for the story's heroine, who just so happens to be the centre of their world. The story's heroine is a strong, mighty, magical woman who is a well-written and relatable character. 

When a book in a beloved and lengthy series like the Shannara novels starts off with a tantalizing promise of finally exploring beyond the borders of the familiar map of the Four Lands, I simply couldn’t resist the lure of delving deeper and farther into Brooks’ world than ever before.

I absolutely love fantasy maps, finding them to be a critical component of any novel in that genre, and as fun as it is to methodically visit each location on them, I’m always wondering about what lies beyond the edges.

The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy, which begins with Ilse Witch, accomplishes that in a way that left me begging for more, and not a little sad when it was over, and the heroes finally returned to the Four Lands.

Harrier, son of a harbormaster, and Tiercel, nobleman’s son, make for exactly the kind of friendship you often see in real life, where one of the pair’s a dreamer and the other a pragmatist, and they need one another for balance. Their friendship remains central to all three books of this series, keeping them sane as they take on an impossible world-saving task.