The Fantasy 101 › Books Like

Books Like Grendel

Gardner, 1971 · #17 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 93/120 · adapted for screen

The monster from Beowulf tells his own story. He is lonely, mocking and searching for meaning in the meadhall's songs.

Its strongest scores: mood and theme. The five books below have the closest scores across all eleven criteria.

If you liked Grendel, read:

1. Watership Down

   Adams, 1972 · #6 on the list · 100/120

   A handful of rabbits flee a doomed warren on a seer's warning and cross the Berkshire downs to found a new home. They must outwit the tyrant General Woundwort to survive.

   Close on mood, theme, further reading, creative details.

2. Mythago Wood

   Holdstock, 1984 · #15 on the list · 94/120

   In an English wood after the Second World War, a man finds the forest bringing myths to life from his family's unconscious, including the woman his brother loves.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

3. Three Hearts and Three Lions

   Anderson, 1961 · #29 on the list · 87/120

   A Danish resistance fighter in 1943 is thrown into a world of Carolingian legend, where he is a hero he has forgotten.

   Close on structure, creative details, real-world blend, divine influence.

4. The Magicians

   Grossman, 2009 · #38 on the list · 85/120

   A brilliant, unhappy Brooklyn teenager is admitted to a secret college of magic. He then finds that the land from his favorite childhood books is real.

   Close on theme, structure, creative details, real-world blend.

5. Bartimaeus

   Stroud, 2003 · #41 on the list · 84/120

   In an alternative London run by magicians, a boy summons a sardonic five-thousand-year-old djinni to settle a grudge. He sets a revolution in motion.

   Close on structure, creative details, real-world blend, climax and fights.

How the scores work: each book is rated 1 to 10 on eleven criteria; real-world blend and climax and fights count double, for a maximum of 120. See the full Fantasy 101.