Books like 'Those Above'

Readers who enjoyed Those Above by Daniel Polansky also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

fantasy  high fantasy  dark fantasy  grimdark  epic  dystopia  dark  aliens  historical-fiction

  • The God is Not Willing by Steven Erikson

    The God is Not Willing by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Many years have passed since three Teblor warriors brought carnage and chaos to the small lakeside settlement of Silver Lake. While the town has recovered, the legacy of that past horror remains, even if the Teblor tribes of the north no longer venture into the southlands. One of those three, Karsa Orlong, is now deemed to be a god, albeit an indifferent one...
    Categorized as:
    dark  epic  adult  audiobook  book  dark-fantasy  fiction  grim-dark
  • The Drowning Faith by R.F. Kuang

    The Drowning Faith by R.F. Kuang

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    A collection of scenes from Nezha's point of view throughout the first two novels in the trilogy, and in an opening scene of the final novel in the trilogy...
  • Defiance of the Fall 3 by TheFirstDefier, JF Brink

    Defiance of the Fall 3 by TheFirstDefier, JF Brink

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    After traversing the dangerous Dead Zone, Zac has finally managed to save his sister and bring her back to Port Atwood.But Zac knows he can't relax. Not if he wants to keep her safe. The foreign factions keep spreading their influence, and ancient foes have set their sights on Earth...
  • Deadhouse Landing by Ian C. Esslemont

    Deadhouse Landing by Ian C. Esslemont

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    After the disappointments of Li Heng, Dancer and Kellanved wash up on a small insignificant island named Malaz. Immediately, of course, Kellanved plans to take it over. To do so they join forces with a small band of Napans who have fled a civil war on their own home island...
  • The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized by ErraticErrata

    The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized by ErraticErrata

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The southern half of Callow is in open rebellion against the Empire.As she had a hand in starting that fire, it’s only fitting that Catherine’s own legion is being sent into the fray. The Lone Swordsman and his posse of heroes are out for her head on a pike but her most dangerous enemy might just be on the same side: the Heiress has escalated their rivalry to a new level of deadliness...
    Categorized as:
    epic  dark  dystopia  fantasy  fiction  young-adult  lgbtq  magic
  • The Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley

    The Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    One soldier will bear the hopes of an empireThe Kettral were the glory and despair of the Annurian Empire – elite soldiers who rode war hawks into battle. Now the Kettral’s numbers have dwindled and the great empire is dying. Its grip is further weakened by the failure of the kenta gates, which granted instantaneous access to its vast lands...
  • The Wolf's Call by Anthony Ryan

    The Wolf's Call by Anthony Ryan

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Anthony Ryan's debut novel Blood Song - book one of the Raven's Shadow series - took the fantasy world by storm. The sequels, Tower Lord and Queen of Fire were both New York Times bestsellers. Now, Anthony Ryan returns to the world of this acclaimed fantasy series with The Wolf's Call, which begins a thrilling new story of razor-sharp action and epic adventure...
  • Queen of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

    Queen of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Her life burned to ashes. Her city under siege. She will sacrifice everything she has for bloody vengeance.Ilanna has lost everything: her friends, her home, her family, her dreams of freedom. All that remains is a burning desire to find the bastards who burned down her city and tried to kill her.But a traitor hides among the ranks of the Night Guild, poisoning her friends and allies with lies...
  • Fulcrum of Light by C.J. Aaron

    Fulcrum of Light by C.J. Aaron

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Freedom has come at a price.Stranded on the coast of an uncharted land, Ryl will be tested as the world outside the Palisades proves darker than within.With little to no direction save the cryptic information from a mysterious stranger, Ryl must rely on his new-found skills and place his trust in his new companion. Together they forge onward into the barren wastes of the Outlands...
  • Nightblade's Honor by Ryan Kirk

    Nightblade's Honor by Ryan Kirk

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    In the riveting sequel to Nightblade’s Vengeance, the nightblades must choose a side, and the Kingdom will either rise again… or shatter into pieces.With the realm on the brink of war, the once-celebrated blades have become an easy target for the rage of its devastated citizens...
  • The Free Bastards by Jonathan French

    The Free Bastards by Jonathan French

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The long-awaited war has come in the sweeping conclusion to the Lot Lands trilogy--another irresistibly swashbuckling, swaggering, foul-mouthed fantasy.The long-awaited war has come in the sweeping conclusion to the Lot Lands trilogy--another irresistibly swashbuckling, swaggering, foul-mouthed fantasy...
  • God of Broken Things by Cameron Johnston

    God of Broken Things by Cameron Johnston

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    An outcast magician must risk his body and mind to save the world from horrifying demons, in the heart-pounding epic fantasy sequel to The Traitor God.Tyrant magus Edrin Walker destroyed the monster sent by the Skallgrim, but not before it laid waste to Setharis, and infested their magical elite with mind-controlling parasites...
  • To Blackfyre Keep by Anthony Ryan

    To Blackfyre Keep by Anthony Ryan

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    GUYIME—DEMON CURSED WIELDER OF THE NAMELESS BLADE—FOLLOWS THE TRAIL OF THE FABLED SEVEN SWORDS INTO THE TROUBLED NORTHLANDS, A REALM WHERE HE WAS ONCE CALLED KING…AND RAVAGER.Magically guided to enlist in the retinue of a lovesick knight, Guyime and his companions journey to the haunted ruin of Blackfyre Keep, a castle legend tells cannot be held. But a far deadlier threat than mere ghosts awaits...
  • Across the Sorrow Sea by Anthony Ryan

    Across the Sorrow Sea by Anthony Ryan

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    THE SORROW SEA—THE MOST FEARED REGION IN ALL THE FIVE SEAS—PLAGUED BY STORMS, PROWLED BY A MURDEROUS PIRATE KING, AND HOME TO INHUMAN TERRORS.Continuing their quest for the Seven Swords, legendary warrior Guyime and his companions must brave these perilous tides to find the mythic Spectral Isle, where once a demon named Lakorath was captured by a sorcerer of great power...
  • The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate by Michael McClung

    The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate by Michael McClung

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.The third installment in the Amra Thetys series:After surviving Thagoth and returning rich to Lucernis, Amra and Holgren have settled down to a very comfortable, if decidedly unexciting life -- until the night Amra receives an old enemy's head in a box...
  • Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence

    Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    10 short stories from the lives of Jorg and his Road Brothers. Contains spoilers for the Broken Empire trilogy. 5 of the stories have previously been published in anthologies, Contains the short story 'Sleeping Beauty' that is also sold separately. A total of 43.000 words or just over half the length of Prince of Thorns.Cover by Pen Astridge...
  • Assassin by Andy Peloquin

    Assassin by Andy Peloquin

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    All in Voramis know the legend of the Hunter. Relentless. Immortal. Death walking. The greatest assassin who ever lived. Pay the master killer his due and the Hunter will execute any target, carry out any contract, no matter how impossible.But when the Bloody Hand crime syndicate harms the innocents under his protection, they foolishly make an enemy of the one man they can’t afford to anger...
    Categorized as:
    epic  dark  fantasy  fiction  dark-fantasy  grim-dark  assassins  drama
  • The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

    The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Alternative cover editions for this ISBN exist here and here.Beneath the dying sun the disgraced torturer, Severian, at last comes to his place of exile - Thrax, the city of Windowless Rooms.But Severian's journey is not ended, and high in Earth's ancient mountains he draws closer to his destiny...
  • Ravencry by Ed McDonald

    Ravencry by Ed McDonald

    Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Four years have passed since Nall’s Engine drove the Deep Kings back across the Misery, but as they hurl fire from the sky, darker forces plots against the republic.A new power is rising: a ghost in the light known only as the Bright Lady manifests in visions across the city, and the cult that worship her grasp for power even as the city burns around them...
  • The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell

    The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    A century has passed since the heroic defence of Dros Delnoch. But the people of the Drenai face a new terror: a mad emperor kept in power by two forces of unsurpassed evil. The Joinings are werebeasts of awesome power. The Dark Templars are warrior-priests whose fighting skills are without equal. Against them, the Drenai face certain defeat...
  • Crowfall by Ed McDonald

    Crowfall by Ed McDonald

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Crowfall is a gritty epic fantasy for fans of Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch and Daniel Polansky.'Dark, twisty and excellent . . . Grimdark with heart' Mark LawrenceA sorceress cataclysm has hit the Range, the final defensive line between the Republic and the immortal Deep Kings...
  • Thief of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

    Thief of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The impossible becomes inevitable with the fate of her loved ones hanging in the balance…A cunning thief of unrivaled ingenuity, Ilanna is determined to secure her freedom at any cost. No price is too high to break the shackles of the Night Guild's callous cruelty.With her future on the line, nothing will stand in her way, not even the most powerful man in Praamis, Duke Phonnis...
  • Legacy of Light by Matthew Ward

    Legacy of Light by Matthew Ward

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Warfare, myth and magic collide in Legacy of Light, the spectacular conclusion to Matthew Ward's acclaimed Legacy trilogy.For the first time in many years, the Tressian Republic and the Hadari Empire are at peace. But war never sleeps.In Tregard, Empress Melanna Saranal struggles to protect a throne won at great cost...
  • Where Gods Fear to Go by Angus Watson

    Where Gods Fear to Go by Angus Watson

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The third and final novel in this sharp and original action-adventure fantasy trilogy for fans of Joe Abercrombie and HBO's Game of Thrones...
  • Legacy of Ghosts by Alicia Wanstall-Burke

    Legacy of Ghosts by Alicia Wanstall-Burke

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Four years have passed since Lidan’s world was ripped apart, and time is running out to change her father’s mind about the succession before the bargain with her mother expires...
  • A Pitiless Rain by Glen Cook

    A Pitiless Rain by Glen Cook

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Interview: Glen CookBy Donald Mead17 January 2005DM: What are you currently working on? Is there a future for the Black Company?GC: Someday. I have two more, A Pitiless Rain and Port of Shadows, planned for the future, but I have a bunch of other stuff I have to do first that's under contract. It will be several years before a new Black Company novel comes out.http://www.strangehorizons...
  • The Land You Never Leave by Angus Watson

    The Land You Never Leave by Angus Watson

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Newly and uneasily allied, two tribes from different worlds set off across the Ocean of Grass. Their mission is to fulfil a prophecy and take Ottar the Moaner west of west, to save mankind. In their way are the denizens of the Badlands, the most terrifying and powerful collection of murderers and monsters the world has ever seen...
  • Child of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

    Child of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    They killed her family. They ripped apart her home. But to repay her debts, she'll have to sacrifice her innocence. Robbed of everything she loves, Viola mourns the sudden loss of her mother. Now burdened with an impossible debt to the Night Guild, she’s forced to train as a cunning thief...
  • Legacy of Steel by Matthew Ward

    Legacy of Steel by Matthew Ward

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Warfare, myth and magic collide in Legacy of Steel, the spectacular sequel to Matthew Ward's acclaimed fantasy debut Legacy of Ash. A year has passed since an unlikely alliance saved the Tressian Republic from fire and darkness, at great cost. Thousands perished, and Viktor Akadra - the Republic's champion - has disappeared...
  • The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee

    The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Gladiator. Assassin. Thief. Princess. And the Slave. The Five Warrior Angels have been revealed, one by one the mystical weapons they once wielded are being found, and an ancient prophecy is finally being fulfilled. Or is it? For when it comes to recorded history, much is intended to manipulate and deceive...
    Categorized as:
    dark  epic  adult  audiobook  book  dark-fantasy  female-mc  fiction
  • Crown of Shadows by C.S. Friedman

    Crown of Shadows by C.S. Friedman

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    More than a millennium after the human race forges an uneasy stalemate against the demonic human-psyche feeders known as the fae, a pain-hungry demon called Calesta declares war on all living beings. Reprint...
  • Warrior Prime by Victor Gischler

    Warrior Prime by Victor Gischler

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Peyne Erlich’s mission from the king is to learn everything he can about the rival kingdom’s magical ink mage warriors. What he finds is Zayda Yond.Ever since Zayda was sold into bondage by her financially destitute father, her masters have taught her a punishing lesson: erase the past. Collared with an unmovable band of exotic metal, her future is that of a slave...
  • Reign of Iron by Angus Watson

    Reign of Iron by Angus Watson

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    WARRIOR QUEENS AND ROMAN INVADERS DO BATTLE IN THE FINAL VOLUME OF THIS THRILLING EPIC FANTASY TRILOGY.Caesar's soldiers have murdered, massacred and pillaged their way through Gaul and loom on the far side of the sea, ready to descend upon Britain -- with them are an unstoppable legion of men twisted by dark magic...
  • Desolation by Megg Jensen

    Desolation by Megg Jensen

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Tressa's army won the battle, but at a terrible cost. So many lives lost. So many lovers torn asunder. And that was just the beginning. An ancient beast rumbles beneath the Dragonlands, thirsting for blood. Dragon blood. Setting aside her heartbreak, Tressa ventures beyond the Dragonlands to the mysterious realm of Desolation, searching for allies and answers...
  • The Seven by Peter Newman

    The Seven by Peter Newman

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Years have passed since the Vagrant journeyed to the Shining City, Vesper in arm and Gamma’s sword in hand.Since then the world has changed. Vesper, following the footsteps of her father, journeyed to the breach and closed the tear between worlds, protecting the last of humanity, but also trapping the infernal horde and all those that fell to its corruptions: willing or otherwise...
  • The Great Change by Joe Abercrombie

    The Great Change by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The Great Change (and Other Lies) is a novella-length collection that gathers four short stories related to Joe Abercrombie's The Age of Madness, featuring old friends and new: from smugglers to kings, from diamond-cutters to dress-makers, from the most apparently insignificant of slaves to the most feared man in the Union, Old Sticks himself...
  • Tribute at the Gates by C.J. Aaron

    Tribute at the Gates by C.J. Aaron

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Cursed from birth. Forced into slavery. It's time to fight back.The blood of the Ancients is the most coveted ingredient in all of Damaris. The fabled elixir made from it grants those who drink it life that extends far beyond natural means.There is no higher honor in the kingdom then being granted the privilege of bidding for it...
  • The True Bastards by Jonathan French

    The True Bastards by Jonathan French

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    The sequel to The Grey Bastards--another irresistibly swashbuckling, swaggering, foul-mouthed adventure fantasy.Fetching was once the only female rider in the Lot Lands. Now she is the leader of her own hoof, a band of loyal half-orcs sworn to her command. But in the year since she took power, the True Bastards have struggled to survive...
  • The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence

    The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    The second novel in the thrilling and epic new fantasy series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns.On the planet Abeth there is only the ice. And the Black Rock.For generations the priests of the Black Rock have reached out from their mountain to steer the fate of the ice tribes...
  • Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence

    Road Brothers by Mark Lawrence

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    A volume of short stories by the bestselling author of THE BROKEN EMPIRE series, Mark Lawrence.An extended version of the earlier collection of the same title - 50% longer.This is a collection of fourteen stories of murder, mayhem, pathos, and philosophy, all set in the world of the Broken Empire...
  • Aching God by Mike Shel

    Aching God by Mike Shel

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    “Closer, mortal. You are here, finally, to feed the Aching God…” The days of adventure are passed for Auric Manteo. Retired to the countryside and isolated with his scars and riches, he no longer delves into forbidden ruins seeking dark wisdom and treasure. But just as old nightmares begin plaguing his sleep, he receives an urgent summons back to that old life...
  • Malice by John Gwynne

    Malice by John Gwynne

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    A black sun is rising … Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors under King Brenin’s rule, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon. Only when he loses those he loves will he learn the true price of courage...
  • When True Night Falls by C.S. Friedman

    When True Night Falls by C.S. Friedman

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Two men, absolute enemies, must unite to conquer an evil greater than anything their world has ever known. One is a warrior priest ready to sacrifice anything and everything for the cause of humanity's progress; the other, a sorcerer who has survived for countless centuries by a total submission to evil. In their joint quest, both will be irrevocably changed...
    Categorized as:
    aliens  dark  epic  action-adventure  adult  anti-hero  audiobook  book
  • Sin Eater by Mike Shel

    Sin Eater by Mike Shel

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    "I SHALL BAPTIZE YOU, SIR, AND MY BAPTISM WILL BURN YOUR FOLLY AND FLESH AWAY!"A year has passed since Auric Manteo descended into the haunted depths of a Djao ruin to return a lethal artifact, only to face down a bloodthirsty, imprisoned god. Now his daughter Agnes comes to bring him back to the capital with promises of hidden secrets finally revealed...
  • The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher

    The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    This is the Advance Reader Copy edition. The final published edition can be found hereBedeckt defined himself by the list of crimes he was unwilling to commit. It was such a short list. How could straying from it have gone so wrong?Bedeckt must undo the damage caused by wandering from his precious list...
    Categorized as:
    dark  epic  adult  audiobook  book  chosen-one  dark-fantasy  fiction
  • Quest for Lost Heroes by David Gemmell

    Quest for Lost Heroes by David Gemmell

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    The Drenai stronghold had fallen. Now blood-hungry Nadir hordes spread desolation and despair across all the lands......even tiny Gothir, where slavers seized a young girl while the villagers looked the other way--all but the peasant boy Kiall. His unlikely rescue attempt would lead across the savage steppes and on through the Halls of Hell...
  • Steel, Blood & Fire by Allan Batchelder

    Steel, Blood & Fire by Allan Batchelder

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    TARMUN VYKERS His awestruck opponents call him The Reaper, an iron-willed man with no memory of his past, a ruthless champion who has risen to the level of death incarnate. But The Reaper has collected a legion of enemies as he cut a bloody swath through the greatest of heroes and villains. And these dogs have finally had their day, exacting a revenge both cruel and creative...
  • Corruption by Mitchell Hogan

    Corruption by Mitchell Hogan

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A corrupted power stirs from beyond the grave.The Necromancer Queen will rise again.An immersive and ambitious new series from the Aurealis Award-winning author of A Crucible of Souls.In the wake of the rebel Niyandrians’ abduction attempt, Anskar DeVantte, now a knight-inferior of the Order of Eternal Vigilance, has set sail with the Grand Master, bound for the mother house in Sansor...
  • City of Kings by Rob J. Hayes

    City of Kings by Rob J. Hayes

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    War makes monsters and corpses of us all. For generations the blooded have ruled the Wilds, cultivating a lawless frontier and bleeding the good folk dry. The Black Thorn, once the most wanted outlaw the world has ever seen, is set on stopping them, and bringing an end to the great game that oppresses them all...
    Categorized as:
    dark  epic  adult  audiobook  book  dark-fantasy  drama  fiction
  • The Legend of Sigmar. Graham McNeill by Graham McNeill

    The Legend of Sigmar. Graham McNeill by Graham McNeill

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Sigmar is the greatest leader of men the world has ever known. By saving the high king of the dwarfs, he earned the eternal friendship of the mountain folk. When a mighty horde of orcs threatened his lands, he united the tribes of men to stand against them at Black Fire Pass. He broke the siege of Middenheim and pushed back the forces of Chaos...
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