Let Me Go All Librarian on You: Fantasy Readalikes

I was getting ready to write up this list of all my recent fantasy favorites---but then I looked at all my friend's posts and realized that we all love the same books!  Which is awesome because the world needs to hear more about these books (hello, Plain Kate) and also because I don't have to secretly wonder if my friends have terrible taste.

So, instead, I thought I would do what I do to a patron I see carrying a stack of books out of the stacks: immediately attack them and coerce them into taking more books.

Liked The Girl of Fire and Thorns?
Try Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst:

Like Rae Carson's excellent book, Vessel, has a stunning world that feels familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.  Like deserts?  Like complicated relationships between gods and humans?  Let Vessel help you while away the hours until you can get your hands on the last installment of Fire and Thorns.

Liked Grave Mercy?
Try Changeling by Philippa Gregory:

I know you like twists on history---who doesn't?  And I know Robin LaFever's tale about nuns of death who assassinate plotting French lords made you wish that every book could have secret societies and secrets and torches in castles.  And look, I know that we all might blame poor Philippa a little...I mean, if she'd never written The Other Boleyn Girl, then Benedict Cumberbatch would never had grown that weird goatee thing.  *shudder*  But putting that aside, Changeling is a wonderful readalike for Grave Mercy: we've got our hero working for the Pope in a secret society, we've got an aristocratic heroine accused of witchcraft, and we've got an fifteenth century Italian setting.

Liked Graceling?
Try Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta:

Like Graceling, the first book of the Lumatere Chronicles feels so richly and deeply imagined that I forgot halfway through that this world didn't actually exist.  Lumatere is under a curse, and exiled Finnikin (along with his guardian) has been wandering the land ever since, searching for a way home.  Then comes along a half-crazy but determined novice with an unbelievable notion: the heir to Lumatere is alive and it's time to go home.  Also, Marchetta wrote Jellicoe Road, which is pretty much the only endorsement this book needs.

Also, lightning round recommendations:
The False Prince by Jennifer Nielson
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and Michelle Rowen
Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

Enjoy!