More like The Eterna Solution
anchored on:19th century
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- George Dower / Infernal Devices
series3 books1987
similar by19th centurysteampunk+1 more
K. W. Jeter's trilogy, whose 1987 original helped coin the term 'steampunk,' follows clockmaker George Dower as he's dragged into escalating Victorian conspiracies involving mechanical devices, secret societies, and inventions that shouldn't work but do. Infernal Devices, Fiendish Schemes, and Grim Expectations mix dark comedy with the gears-and-brass aesthetic the series helped establish before it had a name.
- The Raven King
series13 books1996
similar by19th centuryhistorical fantasy
Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell reintroduces magic to an alternate nineteenth-century England, centering on the prickly rivalry between the two title magicians as they revive a lost English tradition. The linked collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which includes the earlier story "Mr Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower," explores the same magical history from other corners of England and refers back to the legendary Raven King, said to have created English magic centuries before. The two books share a setting and mythology rather than a single sequential plot.
- Newbury & Hobbes Investigations
series23 books2008
similar bysteampunk19th century
George Mann's steampunk series follows Sir Maurice Newbury, an occult investigator working for the crown in an alternate, more mechanized Victorian Britain, and his assistant Veronica Hobbes, as they take on cases blending supernatural threats with the era's mechanical marvels. The Affinity Bridge, the opening novel, entangles them with a crashed automaton airship and a spreading plague of the reanimated; later books deepen Newbury's struggle with addiction and Veronica's search for her institutionalized sister. It combines detective procedural with alternate-history steampunk London.
- The Anubis Gates
series3 books1983
similar bymysterious19th centuryhistorical fantasy+1 more
The Anubis Gates is a single time-travel fantasy novel by Tim Powers, following a present-day academic who takes part in a time-travel experiment and ends up stranded in early nineteenth-century London. It won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1983 and the Science Fiction Chronicle Award the following year.
- Queen Sheba's Ring
H. Rider Haggardstandalone novel1910
similar by19th century+2 more
Queen Sheba's Ring is a 1910 adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard set in central Africa. It resembles the author's earlier works King Solomon's Mines and She, featuring plotting priests, beautiful women, and daring British adventurers.
- The Prestige
Christopher Prieststandalone novel1995
similar bymysterious19th century+1 more
A magician called Borden (at least in private) writes his own version of his life as a magician. There's a lot of focus on a trick, where he seems to move across any width of stage in an instant, and on a feud with another magician, Angier. The account includes passages, where he can't decide what exactly to write, arguing with himself. 3 generations later a Borden (at least biologically) learns about his ancestor. He's also convinced, he somehow has a twin brother, who's happy about this development.
- The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club
series3 books2017
similar by19th centuryhistorical fantasy+2 more
- Ayesha
series8 books1886
similar byimmortality19th century+1 more
The Ayesha books follow H. Rider Haggard's immortal sorceress-queen Ayesha, introduced in his 1887 novel She as the ruler of a hidden civilization who has waited millennia for her lost love to be reborn. Haggard continued her story in later novels, including the 1905 sequel Ayesha: The Return of She, which reunites her with characters from the first book, and further installments tracing her earlier history. Later reissues and retellings continue to build on the same character.
- The Invisible Library
series12 books2014
similar by+4 more
Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series follows Irene, an agent of an interdimensional Library that collects rare and dangerous books from across a multiverse of alternate worlds touched by varying degrees of magic and technology. Beginning with The Invisible Library (2014), the eight-book series continues through The Masked City and The Lost Plot on to The Untold Story (2021).
- The Waterworks
E. L. Doctorowstandalone novel1994
similar bymysterious19th century+1 more
The Waterworks (1994) is a book by American writer E. L. Doctorow. It was his eighth published novel.
