Series

Books like Karou: 9 series to read next

Karou is fantasy, set in secondary world, emotional in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Karou is 4 books, 2011–2014.

“From copyright page: Seventeen year old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters - the chimerae who form the only family she has ever known.”
from the catalogue description of Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

The Karou page →Narrow this list →

Fionavar Universe
A Court of Thorns and Roses
His Dark Materials
The Mortal Instruments
Grishaverse
Tolkien's legendarium
The Kiesha'ra
Crave (Tracy Wolff)
Tortall

Fionavar UniverseSeries

seriesGuy Gavriel Kay5 books1984

Epic fantasy and portal fantasy.

“Kay lived in the countryside near Aix-en-Provence, the setting of Ysabel, while he wrote it.”
from the catalogue description of Ysabel

Start with Ysabel →

A Court of Thorns and RosesSeries

seriesSarah J. Maas6 books2015

Romantasy, about fae.

“There are currently five novels in the series, with the sixth scheduled to release on October 27, 2026, and the seventh on January 12, 2027.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with A Court of Thorns and Roses →

His Dark MaterialsUniverse

universe13 books1995

Set in parallel universe.

“In a world like ours and unlike it, every human soul walks outside the body in the shape of an animal — a daemon, who speaks, who cannot be lied to, and who settles into one fixed form only when childhood ends.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Mortal InstrumentsUniverse

universe70 books2007

Fantasy and urban fantasy, set in contemporary.

“There is a world laid over your own like a second skin, and you have been trained since birth not to see 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 →

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 Kiesha'raSeries

seriesAmelia Atwater-Rhodes5 books2003

About shapeshifters.

Start with Hawksong →

Crave (Tracy Wolff)Series

seriesTracy Wolff7 books2020

Paranormal romance, tense in tone, about vampires.

“Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it.”
from the catalogue description of Crave

Start with Crave →

TortallUniverse

universe25 books1983

Fantasy, adventurous in tone, about coming of age, set in secondary world.

“In Tortall she does it anyway — and earns the right the hard way, through bruises, cold mornings in the training yard, and the slow winning-over of people who swore she'd fail.”
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 Karou?: Fionavar Universe — the closest match to Karou on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Karou?: Daughter of Smoke & Bone. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Karou.
How big is Karou?: Karou is 4 books, 2011–2014.

Books like Karou: 9 series to read next

Read next in Karou

Why these

Questions readers ask

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