Universe

Books like Forgotten Realms: 9 series to read next

Forgotten Realms is fantasy and epic fantasy, about dragons, set in secondary world, adventurous in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Forgotten Realms is 526 books across 77 series, 1987–2026.

“Come in from the cold and mind the door — the wind off the Sword Coast has teeth.”
from the catalogue description

The Forgotten Realms page →Narrow this list →

Tolkien's legendarium
World of Ice and Fire
Malazan
Grishaverse
The Circle of the World
The Old Kingdom / Abhorsen milieu
Earthsea
Cosmere
Sparhawk

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 →

World of Ice and FireUniverse

universe19 books1980

Epic fantasy and 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 →

MalazanUniverse

universe36 books1999

Epic fantasy, dark in tone, about war, set in secondary world.

“Pity the historian who tries to map this world; pity more the god who thinks he rules it.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

GrishaverseUniverse

universe19 books2012

Fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Saints are canonized here the way soldiers are buried elsewhere — quietly, and too often.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Circle of the WorldUniverse

universe29 books2006

Grimdark.

“What sets it apart is the honesty of its cynicism — close, sardonic points of view, gallows humour, and a flat refusal to let anyone stay clean.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Blade Itself →

The Old Kingdom / Abhorsen milieuSeries

seriesGarth Nix11 books1995

Fantasy, set in secondary world.

Start with An Essay on Free Magic: (A manuscript fragment from the Great Library of the Clayr) →

EarthseaUniverse

universe19 books1964

Fantasy and epic fantasy, reflective in tone, about wizards, set in secondary world.

“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 →

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 →

SparhawkUniverse

universe6 books1989

Epic fantasy and fantasy, adventurous in tone, about quests, set in secondary world.

“Sir Sparhawk is not a young man, and he has little patience for the pageantry his order pretends to.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

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 Forgotten Realms?: Tolkien's legendarium — the closest match to Forgotten Realms on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Forgotten Realms?: Forgotten Realms: The Legend of Drizzt. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Forgotten Realms, which is a whole world rather than one run.
How big is Forgotten Realms?: Forgotten Realms is 526 books across 77 series, 1987–2026.

Books like Forgotten Realms: 9 series to read next

Read next in Forgotten Realms

Why these

Questions readers ask

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