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Books like Darkover: 9 series to read next

Darkover is science fantasy and fantasy, about psychic powers and political intrigue, set in secondary world. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Darkover is 608 books across 12 series, 1947–2024.

“Under the great red sun the Darkovans call the Bloody Sun, four moons cross a sky no Terran star-chart names, and a world remembers what Earth has forgotten it ever lost.”
from the catalogue description

The Darkover page →Narrow this list →

World of Ice and Fire
The Broken Earth
Earthsea
Tolkien's legendarium
The Daevabad Trilogy
Cosmere
Kushiel's Legacy Universe
Gor
Iron Widow

World of Ice and FireUniverse

universe19 books1980

Fantasy and epic fantasy, dark in tone, about political intrigue and war, set in secondary world.

“Winter is coming, and the men who forget it die first.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Broken EarthSeries

seriesN. K. Jemisin5 books2014

About ecological collapse and survival.

“N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy is set on the Stillness, a single supercontinent wracked every few centuries by civilization-ending climate catastrophes called Fifth Seasons.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Fifth Season →

EarthseaUniverse

universe19 books1964

About wizards.

“There is a lesson every wizard of Earthsea learns young: to know a thing's true name is to hold its whole being, and to speak it is to move the balance of the world.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Tolkien's legendariumUniverse

universe163 books1923

Fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Before the seas were bent and the mountains raised, there was Music — and from that Music came Arda, and in the west of Middle-earth the long defeat and stubborn hope of those who dwell there.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Daevabad TrilogySeries

seriesS. A. Chakraborty5 books2017

Fantasy and epic fantasy, about political intrigue, set in secondary world.

“Nahri is a con artist and unlicensed healer working the streets of 18th-century Cairo who accidentally summons Dara, a formidable djinn warrior, during a fake exorcism gone wrong.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The City of Brass →

CosmereUniverse

universe54 books2005

Fantasy and epic fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Before the worlds, there was Adonalsium, and then there was not.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Final Empire →

Kushiel's Legacy UniverseSeries

seriesJacqueline Carey13 books2001

Fantasy, emotional in tone, about political intrigue, set in secondary world.

“Since the series features a fictional version of medieval Western Europe, it can be considered historical fantasy or alternate history.”
from the catalogue description of Earth Begotten

Start with Earth Begotten →

GorSeries

seriesJohn Norman41 books1966

About slavery.

“The Gor series repeatedly depicts men abducting and physically and sexually brutalizing women, who grow to enjoy their submissive state.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Tarnsman of Gor →

Iron WidowSeries

seriesXiran Jay Zhao2 books2021

About rebellion and revolution.

“Xiran Jay Zhao's Iron Widow reimagines the rise of Chinese Empress Wu Zetian as a mecha-piloting heroine in Huaxia, a futuristic reinvention of Medieval China.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Iron Widow →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Darkover?: World of Ice and Fire — the closest match to Darkover on what it is about, not on what sells.
How big is Darkover?: Darkover is 608 books across 12 series, 1947–2024.

Books like Darkover: 9 series to read next

Read next in Darkover

Why these

Questions readers ask

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