Short stories · Similar reads
Books like The Last Wish
The best books like The Last Wish are Stardust, The Things They Carried, and The Alchemist. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is about moral ambiguity, fate versus choice, fairy tale subversion. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Stardust
01
Neil Gaiman · Fantasy
Stardust begins with a simple bargain: young Tristran Thorn promises a girl he fancies that he will bring her a fallen star, and to find it he must cross the wall at the edge of his English village into Faerie.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - The Things They Carried
02
Tim O'Brien · Memoir
Tim O'Brien served as a foot soldier in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - The Alchemist
03
Paulo Coelho · Religion & Spirituality
The Alchemist is a Brazilian novel first published in 1988 and translated into 80 languages, making it one of the most translated books in history.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - American Pastoral
04
Philip Roth · Literary fiction
American Pastoral opens with a narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, learning at a high school reunion about the life and death of Seymour "the Swede" Levov — a man who embodied postwar American success so completely he seemed almost allegorical.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - Murder on the Orient Express
05
Agatha Christie · Mystery
A man is found stabbed in his sleeping compartment on the snowbound Orient Express somewhere in Yugoslavia.
Both dig into moral ambiguity.
Read the summary → - The Blade Itself
06
Joe Abercrombie · Fantasy
The Blade Itself is the first book of the First Law trilogy, a grimdark fantasy that opened with a deliberate challenge to the genre's conventions: the barbarian is not particularly heroic, the noble knight is not particularly noble, and the crippled torturer employed by the Inquisition is probably the most interesting person in the room.
Both dig into moral ambiguity.
Read the summary → - The Maltese Falcon
07
Dashiell Hammett · Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade is hired by a woman calling herself Miss Wonderly to find her missing sister — a lie within thirty seconds of the novel opening.
Both dig into moral ambiguity.
Read the summary → - Dubliners
08
James Joyce · Short stories
Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories set in Dublin in the early twentieth century, published in 1914 after nearly a decade of rejections and publisher disputes over its frank treatment of Irish life.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - Exhalation: Stories
09
Ted Chiang · Short stories
Exhalation: Stories is Ted Chiang's second collection, containing nine stories written between 2005 and 2019.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - Ficciones
10
Jorge Luis Borges · Short stories
Ficciones collects seventeen short stories and fictions by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, first published in two parts in 1941 and 1944.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - Interpreter of Maladies
11
Jhumpa Lahiri · Short stories
Interpreter of Maladies is Jhumpa Lahiri's debut short story collection, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary → - Stories of Your Life and Others
12
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang · Short stories
Eight stories, all of them rigorously thought-out, many of them devastating.
A kindred short stories read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Last Wish: quick answers
What are the best books like The Last Wish?
The best books like The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski are Stardust by Neil Gaiman, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Last Wish, such as moral ambiguity, fate versus choice, fairy tale subversion.
What should I read after The Last Wish?
A natural next read after The Last Wish is Stardust by Neil Gaiman. A kindred short stories read. Other strong choices are The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, American Pastoral by Philip Roth.
What books are similar to The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski?
The Last Wish centers on moral ambiguity, fate versus choice, fairy tale subversion. Books with a similar feel include Stardust by Neil Gaiman, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
