Books like 'The Desert and the Blade'
Readers who enjoyed The Desert and the Blade by S.M. Stirling also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy alternate history action / adventure horror dark fantasy high fantasy apocalyptic post-apocalyptic sword-sorcery
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Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThe land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. It's inhabited by the race that rose from the seed of angels, and they live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phèdre nó Delaunay was sold into indentured servitude as a child. Her bond was purchased by a nobleman who recognized that she was pricked by Kushiel's dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one... -
![Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay]()
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsCrispin is a master mosaicist, creating beautiful art with colored stones and glass. Summoned to Sarantium by imperial request, he bears a Queen's secret mission, and a talisman from an alchemist...Categorized as:
epic 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book dark-fantasy -
![Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky]()
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe first casualty of war is truth . . .First, Denland's revolutionaries assassinated their king, launching a wave of bloodshed after generations of peace. Next they clashed with Lascanne, their royalist neighbour, pitching war-machines against warlocks in a fiercely fought conflict. Genteel Emily Marshwic watched as the hostilities stole her family's young men...Categorized as:
epic industrial-era steampunk sword-sorcery action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
![The Best of Robert E. Howard: Grim Lands (Volume 2) by Robert E. Howard]()
The Best of Robert E. Howard: Grim Lands (Volume 2) by Robert E. Howard
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“[Behind Howard’s stories] lurks a dark poetry and the timeless truth of dreams.” –Robert Bloch “Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks.”–Stephen KingThe classic pulp magazines of the early twentieth century are long gone, but their action-packed tales live on through the work of legendary storyteller Robert E. Howard...Categorized as:
dark epic industrial-era sword-sorcery action-adventure adult alternate-history anthologies -
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![Foreign Devils by John Hornor Jacobs]()
Foreign Devils by John Hornor Jacobs
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe world is on the brink of war. Fisk and Shoe - mercenaries, very much not wanting to get caught in the middle of a political whirlwind - must deliver a very important message, and find a very dangerous man. They have caught the eye of the powerful men of the world, and now the stakes are higher than they like... -
![Bloodrush by Ben Galley]()
Bloodrush by Ben Galley
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen Prime Lord Hark is found in a pool of his own blood, his only son Merion Hark finds his world turned upside down and inside out. The Prime Lord’s last will and testament forces Merion west across the Iron Ocean, to the very brink of the Endless Land and all civilisation. To a place they call Wyoming...Categorized as:
dark epic industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history book dark-fantasy -
![Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories by Garth Nix]()
Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories by Garth Nix
Rated: 3.84 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNicholas Sayre will do anything to get across the Wall.Thoughts of Lirael and Sam haunt his dreams, and he has come to realize that his destiny lies with them, in the Old Kingdom. But here in Ancelstierre, Nick faces an obstacle that is not entirely human, with a strange power that seems to come from Nicholas himself...Categorized as:
dark epic 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history anthologies arthurian children -
![Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard]()
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard
Rated: 3.70 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsYear One-Knife, Tenochtitlan the capital of the Aztecs. The end of the world is kept at bay only by the magic of human sacrifice. A Priestess disappears from an empty room drenched in blood. Acatl, High Priest, must find her, or break the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead... -
![Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian]()
Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMany are called...She alone can save the world and become Death's bride.Cobweb Bride is a history-flavored fantasy novel with romantic elements of the Persephone myth, about Death's ultimatum to the world...Categorized as:
dark epic magical-realism sword-sorcery action-adventure alternate-history book coming-of-age -
![Wolfsangel by M.D. Lachlan]()
Wolfsangel by M.D. Lachlan
Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Viking King Authun leads his men on a raid against an Anglo-Saxon village. Men and women are killed indiscriminately but Authun demands that no child be touched. He is acting on prophecy. A prophecy that tells him that the Saxons have stolen a child from the Gods. If Authun, in turn, takes the child and raises him as an heir, the child will lead his people to glory... -
![Monstress, Vol. 6: The Vow by Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda]()
Monstress, Vol. 6: The Vow by Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWar has engulfed the Known World, and Maika Halfwolf is at its epicenter. As she and her friends grapple with the consequences of their actions, long-buried secrets and long-awaited reunions threaten to change everything. Join MARJORIE LIU and SANA TAKEDA in the newest volume of this Eisner, Hugo, Harvey, and British Fantasy Award-winning series...Categorized as:
dark epic industrial-era lgbtq steampunk action-adventure alternate-history anthropomorphism -
![Monstress #1 by Marjorie M. Liu]()
Monstress #1 by Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsSteampunk meets Kaiju in this original fantasy epic for mature readers, as young Maika risks everything to control her psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, placing her in the center of a devastating war between human and otherworldly forces...Categorized as:
dark dystopia industrial-era lgbtq steampunk action-adventure alternate-history animals -
![Monstress #5 by Marjorie M. Liu]()
Monstress #5 by Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMaika struggles with the monster inside...Categorized as:
dark dystopia industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history animals -
![Monstress #2 by Marjorie M. Liu]()
Monstress #2 by Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsMaika fights to cross the wall. Elsewhere, the Warlord makes her move...Categorized as:
dark industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history animals cats comics -
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![Monstress #3 by Marjorie M. Liu]()
Monstress #3 by Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMaika must confront the deadly secrets that live inside her... -
![Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie M. Liu]()
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie M. Liu
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsSet in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers...Categorized as:
dark dystopia industrial-era lgbtq steampunk action-adventure alternate-history animals -
![Imaro by Charles R. Saunders, Charles de Lint]()
Imaro by Charles R. Saunders, Charles de Lint
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsImaro is a rousing adventure... a tale of a young man’s continuing struggle to gain acceptance amongst his people, and to break the cycle of alienation and violence that plagues his life. Imaro is heroic fantasy like it’s never been done before...Categorized as:
dark epic sword-sorcery 20th-century action-adventure adult afrofuturism alternate-history -
![Demon Knights, Vol. 1: Seven Against the Dark by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves]()
Demon Knights, Vol. 1: Seven Against the Dark by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet in the Dark Ages of the DC Universe, a barbarian horde is massing to crush civilization...Categorized as:
dark sword-sorcery action-adventure adult alternate-history comics dark-fantasy fiction
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