Bookdriftopen the map →

Books like Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson · 1999 · Canada · fantasy
Book 1 of 10 in Malazan Book of the Fallen
★ 3.94 Goodreads · 145,602 ratings

The Malazan Empire turns its armies on Darujhistan, the last free city of Genabackis, and Ganoes Paran, a young noble drawn into the games of the gods, is sent to command the Bridgeburners, a battered company the empress may want dead.

Explore books like this on the map

12 books for readers of Gardens of the Moon

Blood Song

Anthony Ryan · 2011 · UK 98% match ★ 4.41 Goodreads · 94,249 ratings
Book 1 of 3 in Raven's Shadow
shares: epic fantasy, secondary world, magic, epic · speculative, deep world-building

A young man with a gift for singing magic discovers that his talent makes him valuable to warlords and dangerous to himself.

Furies of Calderon

Jim Butcher · 2004 · US 97% match ★ 4.06 Hardcover · 556 ratings
Book 1 of 6 in Codex Alera
shares: epic fantasy, magic, series starter, epic · speculative, deep world-building

In Alera, a realm modelled on Rome where nearly everyone commands elemental spirits called furies, Tavi, a fifteen-year-old shepherd with no furycrafting at all, is caught up in a plot against the First Lord as a horde of Marat threatens his valley.

A Game of Thrones

George R.R. Martin · 1996 · US 96% match ★ 4.45 Goodreads · 2,827,310 ratings
Book 1 of 5 in A Song of Ice and Fire
shares: epic fantasy, morally ambiguous, secondary world, epic · speculative, deep world-building

As summer ends in the Seven Kingdoms, the noble houses scheme for the Iron Throne while an exiled princess gathers dragons and something ancient stirs beyond the Wall.

The Way of Kings

Brandon Sanderson · 2010 · US 96% match ★ 4.66 Goodreads · 732,509 ratings
Book 1 of 7 in The Stormlight Archive
shares: epic fantasy, secondary world, magic, epic · speculative, deep world-building

A soldier stripped of his rank and a scholar desperate to save her people bond over ancient magical armour as war engulfs a storm-ravaged world.

The Shadow of What Was Lost

James Islington · 2014 · Australia 96% match ★ 4.14 Goodreads · 105,224 ratings
Book 1 of 3 in Licanius
shares: epic fantasy, secondary world, magic, epic · speculative, deep world-building

Twenty years after the Gifted lost a war and were bound by the Tenets, Davian, a student at one of their schools who can't use his powers, discovers he can do something forbidden, and flees with his friends as an ancient threat stirs in the north.

The Grace of Kings

Ken Liu · 2015 · US 96% match ★ 3.80 Goodreads · 32,330 ratings
Book 1 of 4 in The Dandelion Dynasty
shares: epic fantasy, sprawling, series starter, epic · speculative, deep world-building

In the islands of Dara, held together by a tyrant emperor, Kuni Garu, a charming idler turned bandit, and Mata Zyndu, the giant last son of a deposed noble clan, are drawn into the rebellion that follows his death.

The Black Prism

Brent Weeks · 2010 · US 96% match ★ 4.23 Goodreads · 134,867 ratings
Book 1 of 5 in Lightbringer
shares: epic fantasy, magic, ensemble, epic · speculative, deep world-building

A former emperor imprisoned for sixteen years is freed into a world at war, where his forbidden colour magic is the only hope.

Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden

Jack Vance · 1983 · US 96% match ★ 3.93 Goodreads · 6,227 ratings
Book 1 of 3 in Lyonesse
shares: epic fantasy, sprawling, magic, epic · speculative, deep world-building

In the Elder Isles, before King Arthur's day, King Casmir of Lyonesse schemes for the throne of all the islands, and shuts his daughter Suldrun in a wild garden when she refuses the marriage he arranges.

Promise of Blood

Brian McClellan · 2013 · US 95% match ★ 4.07 Hardcover · 538 ratings
Book 1 of 3 in Powder Mage
shares: secondary world, magic, series starter, military · speculative, deep world-building

Field Marshal Tamas leads a coup against the king of Adro and sends the royal cabal of mages to the guillotine, but their dying words hint at a threat from the gods, and his son Taniel, a powder mage, and Adamat, a retired detective, set out to learn what it means.

Black Sun

Rebecca Roanhorse · 2020 · US 95% match ★ 4.07 Hardcover · 370 ratings
Book 1 of 3 in Between Earth and Sky
shares: epic fantasy, secondary world, series starter, epic · speculative, deep world-building

In the holy city of Tova, as the winter solstice nears, Naranpa, a sun priest of humble birth, faces enemies within her own order, while the ship captain Xiala carries Serapio, a blind young man with a terrible purpose, across the sea towards the city.

The Black Company

Glen Cook · 1984 · US 95% match ★ 3.93 Goodreads · 56,869 ratings
Book 1 of 11 in The Black Company
shares: morally ambiguous, magic, ensemble, military · speculative, morally murky

The annalist of a hard-bitten mercenary company records the year his brothers-in-arms took a contract with a sorceress-empress and found themselves fighting for the wrong side.

The Silmarillion

J.R.R. Tolkien · 1977 · UK 95% match ★ 4.04 Goodreads · 351,554 ratings
shares: epic fantasy, secondary world, dense, epic · speculative, deep world-building

The pre-history of Middle-earth: the Valar's shaping of the world, the theft of the Silmarils, and the long ruin that ends where The Hobbit begins.