Here are 2 books that Too Like the Lightning fans have personally recommended if you like Too Like the Lightning. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The First Man in Rome

Jennifer Burke Author Of Sub Rosa: A Valerius Mystery

From my list on bringing Ancient Rome alive.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve loved history ever since I was a kid when I first had the realisation that it was made up of stories. Ancient Rome has always fascinated me, not the battles or the emperors or the big picture stuff, but the daily lives of the ordinary people. You only need to read some of the rude graffiti from Pompeii to realise that people have never really changed where it counts! I studied English and History at university, neither of them as thoroughly as I could have, but at least now when people ask me what I’d ever use an Arts degree for, I can point to my book. 

Jennifer's book list on bringing Ancient Rome alive

Jennifer Burke Why Jennifer loves this book

Just like the Falco mysteries showed me that you could have fun with your historical detectives, this book showed me that there’s more drama in Ancient Roman history than in any daytime soap opera, and this novelisation of Marius and Sulla packs a lot more of an emotional punch than any textbook ever could. 

I don’t know enough about Marius and Sulla to say how much poetic license the author took, but this really does read as a seamless and in-depth exploration of the bloody power struggles between two very different but equally ambitious men in the time of the Roman Republic.   

The whole series is fantastic!

By Colleen McCullough ,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The First Man in Rome as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With extraordinary narrative power, New York Times bestselling author Colleen McCullough sweeps the reader into a whirlpool of pageantry and passion, bringing to vivid life the most glorious epoch in human history.

When the world cowered before the legions of Rome, two extraordinary men dreamed of personal glory: the military genius and wealthy rural "upstart" Marius, and Sulla, penniless and debauched but of aristocratic birth. Men of exceptional vision, courage, cunning, and ruthless ambition, separately they faced the insurmountable opposition of powerful, vindictive foes. Yet allied they could answer the treachery of rivals, lovers, enemy generals, and senatorial vipers with…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Mordew

Noah Lemelson Author Of The Sightless City

From Noah's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Teacher History buff Wannabe primatologist Biology nerd

Noah's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Noah Lemelson Why Noah loves this book

I’ve always disliked the double meaning of the word “fantasy,” both as a signifier for a world with supernatural elements but also as something one desires.

For I do not desire to be in the world of Mordew. It is a grim place, a city built on the corpse of God, where children spawn deformed from the rotting muck. A city protected from the battering sea by a great wall and ruled by the cruel, magic-wielding master of Mordew.

It reads like a Charles Dickens novel, but twisted, infected by foul magics, and run through the mud. There’s nothing else quite like Mordew.

By Alex Pheby ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Mordew as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


GOD IS DEAD, his corpse hidden in the catacombs beneath Mordew.
In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud and the half-formed, short-lived creatures it spawns. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew.
The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength and it is greater than the Master has ever known. Great enough to destroy…


Book cover of The First Man in Rome
Book cover of Mordew

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