Fantasy · Similar reads
Books like The Silmarillion
The best books like The Silmarillion are The Alchemist, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, and War and Peace. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien is about creation and destruction, pride and hubris, loss and grief. 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.
- The Alchemist
01
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 fantasy read.
Read the summary → - The Divine Comedy: Inferno
02
Dante Alighieri · Philosophy
The Inferno is the first of three canticles in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, written between approximately 1308 and 1320.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - War and Peace
03
Leo Tolstoy · Literary fiction
War and Peace follows five aristocratic Russian families across fifteen years of Napoleonic war and peace, from the drawing rooms of St.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
04
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary → - A Court of Thorns and Roses
05
Sarah J. Maas · Fantasy
Feyre Archeron is nineteen, hunting in winter to feed her family, when she kills a wolf in the forest and is taken by a creature from Prythian — the land of the fae — as payment for a life.
Both dig into light and darkness.
Read the summary → - The Grace of Kings
06
Ken Liu · Fantasy
The Grace of Kings is the first volume of Ken Liu's Dandelion Dynasty, an epic fantasy set in an archipelago empire that maps broadly onto the fall of the Qin dynasty and the rise of the Han.
Both dig into fate and free will.
Read the summary → - The Night Circus
07
Erin Morgenstern · Fantasy
Le Cirque des Rêves appears overnight, with no announcement — black and white striped tents that smell of caramel and bonfire smoke, open only after dark, filled with impossible things.
Both dig into fate and free will.
Read the summary → - Blood Meridian
08
Cormac McCarthy · Literary fiction
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West is set along the Texas-Mexico border in the 1840s and loosely follows a teenage runaway known only as the kid, who falls in with the Glanton gang — a historical band of scalp hunters hired by the Mexican government to kill Apache raiders.
Both dig into fate and free will.
Read the summary → - Kafka on the Shore
09
Haruki Murakami · Literary fiction
Kafka on the Shore runs two parallel narratives that eventually, obliquely, converge.
Both dig into fate and free will.
Read the summary → - Moby-Dick
10
Herman Melville · Literary fiction
Moby-Dick opens with one of the most famous sentences in American literature — "Call me Ishmael" — and immediately establishes a voice that is learned, digressive, sardonic, and strange.
Both dig into fate and free will.
Read the summary → - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
11
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin · Literary fiction
Sam and Sadie meet as children in a hospital, bonded by Mario Bros.
Both dig into loss and grief.
Read the summary → - A Court of Mist and Fury
12
Sarah J. Maas · Fantasy
A Court of Mist and Fury begins where A Court of Thorns and Roses ended: Feyre is back in the Spring Court with Tamlin, but she is not the same person who left.
A kindred fantasy read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Silmarillion: quick answers
What are the best books like The Silmarillion?
The best books like The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien are The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante Alighieri, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Silmarillion, such as creation and destruction, pride and hubris, loss and grief.
What should I read after The Silmarillion?
A natural next read after The Silmarillion is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. A kindred fantasy read. Other strong choices are The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante Alighieri, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
What books are similar to The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien?
The Silmarillion centers on creation and destruction, pride and hubris, loss and grief. Books with a similar feel include The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante Alighieri, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
