Series

Books like Iron Widow: 9 series to read next

Iron Widow is fantasy, about political intrigue and rebellion and revolution, set in secondary world, dark in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Iron Widow is 2 books, 2021–2024.

“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

The Iron Widow page →Narrow this list →

An Ember in the Ashes
World of Ice and Fire
Grishaverse
Red Queen
The Book of Tea
Stephen King multiverse
New Crobuzon
Song of the Last Kingdom
Cosmere

An Ember in the AshesSeries

seriesSabaa Tahir4 books2015

Epic fantasy.

“Sabaa Tahir's quartet, continuing through A Torch Against the Night, A Reaper at the Gates, and A Sky Beyond the Storm, follows the two toward a reckoning with the empire that trained one of them to enforce it.”
from the catalogue description

Start with An Ember in the Ashes →

World of Ice and FireUniverse

universe19 books1980

Epic fantasy, about war.

“Winter is coming, and the men who forget it die first.”
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 →

Red QueenSeries

seriesVictoria Aveyard14 books2015

Dystopia, about class conflict.

“Victoria Aveyard's debut novel opens a four-book main sequence - Red Queen, Glass Sword, King's Cage, War Storm - plus the interstitial novella Cruel Crown and the epilogue novella Broken Throne.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Queen Song →

The Book of TeaSeries

seriesJudy I. Lin2 books2022

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

“For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault.”
from the catalogue description of A Magic Steeped in Poison

Start with A Magic Steeped in Poison →

Stephen King multiverseUniverse

universe46 books1967

Dark in tone.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Gunslinger →

New CrobuzonSeries

seriesChina Miéville4 books2000

Weird fiction, challenging in tone.

“The New Crobuzon books are three standalone novels by China Miéville set in and around New Crobuzon, a vast, corrupt industrial city in his invented world of Bas-Lag where magic, biopunk technology, and several sentient species coexist.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Perdido Street Station →

Song of the Last KingdomSeries

seriesAmélie Wen Zhao2 books2023

Epic fantasy, about colonialism.

“Lan spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the Elantian colonizers.”
from the catalogue description of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night

Start with Song of Silver, Flame Like Night →

CosmereUniverse

universe54 books2005

Epic fantasy.

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

Start with The Final Empire →

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 Iron Widow?: An Ember in the Ashes — the closest match to Iron Widow on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Iron Widow?: Iron Widow. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Iron Widow.
How big is Iron Widow?: Iron Widow is 2 books, 2021–2024.

Books like Iron Widow: 9 series to read next

Read next in Iron Widow

Why these

Questions readers ask

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