A few posts back, Chris (a new reader) requested recommendations for other Fantasies of like kind to The Wall of Night. They also indicated an interest in more recent publications — and since the “old favourites” and “formative reads” are always easy, I thought I’d better put m’thinking cap on.

The Wall of Night series

The “of like kind” is the important part, because of course there are “all sorts and conditions” of fantasy books oot thar. And many of ’em, too — which is great because tis not good to run short of reading matter. 😀

As a result of these reflections, I’ve come up with a starter list of 5 — but feel free to add more if you believe I’ve missed an obvious contender.

Fantasy Books That Are “Like” The Wall Of Night Series

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.

The Stormlight Archive and WALL series are alike in being multi-book epic Fantasy tales, set in a secondary world where magic is a vital part of the action. Another important similarity (imho) is that both are heroic Fantasy. This is not to say that the characters are all paladins, and in fact most are flawed — but they aspire to be and do better, and most of the heroes do the right thing, most of the time, when the chips are really down. Both are also big stories, comprising large casts of characters, and many machinations within a variety of societies.

You can find out more about The Stormlight Archive here, and Brandon Sanderson here.

The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty

The Daevabad Trilogy is set in a 19th century “this-world” that overlaps the realm of the Djinn, centered on the magical city of Daevabad. The similarities with the WALL series lie in the deep-seated conflicts between the six Djinn clans, including the oppression of half (-human) djinn, and the degree to which Daevabad history is woven into the contemporary story. And like WALL, the Daevabad story is deeply informed by folklore and legend. Middle Eastern lore, in this case, but I believe that readers who enjoy that aspect of WALL will like Daevabad for the same reason.

You can read more about The Daevabad Trilogy here, and SA Chakraborty here.

The Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts

This eleven-book epic fantasy series spans a mighty 40 years, from 1993 to 2024, so I’m including it here. Like WALL, this series comprises a war between once-close enemies (in this case brothers) fought over centuries, and also explores how the perceived lines between good and evil become blurred. The similarities with the WALL series also lie in the indepth worldbuilding, and the layers and complexity within a plot that evolves over the successive books.

To check out The Wars of Light and Shadow, go here, and there’s more on Janny Wurts here.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

The Black Prism is the first book in the Lightbringer series, but you’ll recall that I pressed pause on reading more epic fantasy until I finished writing WALL #4 (The Chaos Gate). So I haven’t got to the rest of the series yet — but I feel  The Black Prism and WALL series are in the same quadrant of the Fantasy universe when it came to knife-edge politics and the rush of action and adventure, including sieges and battles. Both, too, involve characters with significant secrets and societies that believe they’re champions of good, whereas reality suggests otherwise…

You can read more about The Black Prism here, and Brent Weeks here.

The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir

“But-but-but,” I may hear you splutter, “isn’t it science fiction?” Technically, I believe, the series is billed as Science Fantasy, but although the future-space setting is SF-nal, otherwise I consider the story pure Fantasy. And since WALL is pure Fantasy with some SF-nal elements in the backstory, I rest my case. Besides which there are nine Houses, and champions, and magic, some of it with dream-realm overtones, not to mention duels and honour, loyalty and duty, mysteries to be resolved and Byzantine machinations overcome. So if you love these elements in WALL and haven’t checked out The Locked Tomb series yet, I suspect it will repay your time.

To learn more about the series, go here; Tamsyn Muir is here.