The Fantasy 101 › Books Like

Books Like The Engineer Trilogy

Parker, 2005 · #82 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 70/120

Ieuan Vaatzes, an engineer exiled for one small improvement to a design, turns his skill with machines into a weapon of revenge against the city that cast him out.

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

If you liked The Engineer Trilogy, read:

1. The Books of Babel

   Bancroft, 2013 · #60 on the list · 77/120

   On his honeymoon, a schoolteacher loses his wife in the crowds at the foot of the colossal Tower of Babel. He climbs ring after ring to find her.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

2. The Long Price Quartet

   Abraham, 2006 · #58 on the list · 77/120

   Poets in the Khaiem cities bind ideas into captive spirits that guarantee their wealth and their safety. Two men's rivalry over one of them reshapes an empire across a lifetime.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

3. The Chathrand Voyage

   Redick, 2008 · #91 on the list · 67/120

   Aboard a six-hundred-year-old ship carrying a peace mission, a tarboy, a young bride and a crew of tiny ixchel are caught in a plot to restart a war.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

4. Greatcoats

   de Castell, 2014 · #86 on the list · 69/120

   The King's travelling magistrates were disbanded when the king was killed. Falcio val Mond keeps the king's final order and keeps judging.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

5. Low Town

   Polansky, 2011 · #98 on the list · 59/120

   Warden, a disgraced former agent who now deals drugs, hunts the killer of a child in the slums he controls.

   Close on mood, structure, real-world blend, divine influence.

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.