Bookdriftopen the map →

Books like The King of Elfland's Daughter

Lord Dunsany · 1924 · Ireland · fantasy
★ 3.80 Goodreads · 9,662 ratings

The lord of Erl, told by his parliament that the people wish to be ruled by a magic lord, sends his son Alveric across the border into Elfland to marry the Elf King's daughter.

Explore books like this on the map

12 books for readers of The King of Elfland's Daughter

Thomas the Rhymer

Ellen Kushner · 1990 · US 97% match ★ 3.88 Goodreads · 3,987 ratings
shares: fae, mythic, fairytale · earnest, speculative

Thomas, a charming young harper in the Scottish borders, is taken by the Queen of Elfland to serve her for seven years, and comes back unable to tell a lie.

Lud-in-the-Mist

Hope Mirrlees · 1926 · UK 97% match ★ 3.85 Goodreads · 10,346 ratings
shares: fae, fairytale, secondary world · speculative, unhurried

In Lud-in-the-Mist, a prosperous town that has banned all mention of the fairy country beyond its border, the mayor's son is caught eating fairy fruit, and Master Nathaniel Chanticleer has to go after him.

A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin · 1968 · US 96% match ★ 4.01 Goodreads · 378,902 ratings
Book 1 of 6 in Earthsea
shares: mythic, secondary world, quest · earnest, speculative

A young wizard on an island archipelago unleashes a shadow from the land of the dead and must chase it across the world to make himself whole.

The Last Unicorn

Peter S. Beagle · 1968 · US 95% match ★ 4.16 Goodreads · 128,483 ratings
shares: fairytale, secondary world, quest · rich prose, speculative

A unicorn who has lived alone in her lilac wood since the world was young hears that she may be the last of her kind, and leaves to find out what happened to the others.

The Cruel Prince

Holly Black · 2018 · US 95% match ★ 4.00 Goodreads · 1,889,283 ratings
Book 1 of 3 in The Folk of the Air
shares: fae, fairytale, secondary world, romance · speculative, earnest

Jude, a mortal girl brought to the High Court of Faerie as a child after her parents were murdered, wants a place among the fair folk who despise her, and to get it she must defy Prince Cardan, the cruellest of them.

The Iron King

Julie Kagawa · 2010 · US 95% match ★ 3.87 Goodreads · 219,732 ratings
Book 1 of 4 in The Iron Fey
shares: fae, fairytale, quest · speculative, hopeful

Just as she turns sixteen, Meghan Chase learns that her little brother has been taken and replaced with a changeling, and that she is the half-human daughter of a faery king, and she follows her best friend Robbie into the Nevernever to bring him home.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah J. Maas · 2015 · US 94% match ★ 4.14 Goodreads · 4,653,884 ratings
Book 1 of 5 in A Court of Thorns and Roses
shares: fae, fairytale, secondary world, romance · earnest, speculative

Nineteen-year-old Feyre kills a wolf to feed her starving family, and a beastlike faerie comes to claim her life in payment, carrying her across the wall to his court in Prythian, where a blight is spreading through the fae lands.

An Enchantment of Ravens

Margaret Rogerson · 2017 · US 94% match ★ 3.64 Goodreads · 111,724 ratings
shares: fae, fairytale, magic, romance · rich prose, hopeful

Isobel paints portraits for the fair folk, who pay her in enchantments, and when she paints the autumn prince Rook with human sorrow in his eyes, he carries her off to stand trial at his court for the insult.

Stardust

Neil Gaiman · 1999 · UK 94% match ★ 4.09 Goodreads · 490,157 ratings
shares: fae, fairytale, quest · speculative, hopeful

In Victorian England, young Tristran Thorn promises to bring the girl he loves a fallen star, and crosses the wall from his village into the land of Faerie, where the star turns out to be a young woman.

Wicked Lovely

Melissa Marr · 2007 · US 94% match ★ 3.70 Goodreads · 167,104 ratings
Book 1 of 5 in Wicked Lovely
shares: fae, magic, romantic, romance · earnest, speculative

Aislinn, who has always been able to see faeries and has kept it secret, is chosen by Keenan, the Summer King, as the mortal girl who may become his queen.

The Darkest Part of the Forest

Holly Black · 2015 · US 94% match ★ 3.86 Goodreads · 91,627 ratings
shares: fae, fairytale, magic · speculative, earnest

In Fairfold, a town where humans live alongside the fae, Hazel and her brother Ben have always loved the horned boy asleep in a glass coffin in the woods, until one day he wakes.

A Deal with the Elf King

Elise Kova · 2020 · US 94% match ★ 3.69 Goodreads · 122,684 ratings
Book 1 of 5 in Married to Magic
shares: fae, secondary world, magic, romance · earnest, speculative

Luella, the only healer in her village, is chosen by the Elf King, Eldas, to be his human queen and taken into the Midscape, a land of wild magic that is slowly dying and that only she, it seems, can keep alive.