Books like 'The Traitor'

Readers who enjoyed The Traitor by Anthony Ryan also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

fantasy  high fantasy  dark fantasy  grimdark  action / adventure  military, war & conflict  epic  dark  military

  • The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie

    The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    Conspiracy. Betrayal. Rebellion.Peace is just another kind of battlefield...Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way...
  • The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

    The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    “Chaos. Fury. Destruction.The Great Change is upon us . . .Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds...
  • Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

    Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 47 ratings
    The ravaged continent of Genabackis is a terrifying new empire, the Pannion Domin, that devours all. An uneasy allliance resists: Onearm's army, Whiskeyjack's Bridgeburners and former enemies - forces of Warlord Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii mages, and the Rhivi people of the plains. And the Crippled God intends revenge...
  • The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

    The Crippled God by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    The Bonehunters march for Kolanse, led by Adjunct Tavore. This woman with no gifts of magic, deemed plain, unprepossessing, displaying nothing to instill loyalty or confidence, will challenge the gods - if her own mutinous troops don't kill her first.Her enemy, the Forkrul Assail, seek to cleanse the world, to annihilate everything...
  • The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson

    The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    The Seven Cities Rebellion has been crushed. Sha'ik is dead. One last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y'Ghatan and under the fanatical command of Leoman of the Flails. The prospect of laying siege to this ancient fortress makes the battle-weary Malaz 14th Army uneasy. For it was here that the Empire's greatest champion Dassem Ultor was slain and a tide of Malazan blood spilled...
  • Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

    Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 58 ratings
    The Sixth Order wields the sword of justice and smites the enemies of the Faith and the Realm.” Vaelin Al Sorna was only a child of ten when his father left him at the iron gate of the Sixth Order. The Brothers of the Sixth Order are devoted to battle, and Vaelin will be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate, and dangerous life of a Warrior of the Faith...
  • The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

    The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    A mother struggling to repress her violent past,A son struggling to grasp his violent future,A father blind to the danger that threatens them all...
  • Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

    Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 69 ratings
    Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country...
  • Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson

    Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    After decades of warfare, the five tribes of the Tiste Edur are united under the implacable rule of the Warlock King of the Hiroth. But the price of peace is a pact with a hidden power whose motives may be deadly. To the south, the expansionist kingdom of Lether has devoured all lesser neighbors - except the Tiste Edur...
  • Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson

    Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 40 ratings
    All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor, while the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against its own people. The Errant, once a farseeing god, is suddenly blind to the future...
  • Wrath of Empire by Brian McClellan

    Wrath of Empire by Brian McClellan

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    The country is in turmoil. With the capital city occupied, half a million refugees are on the march, looking for safety on the frontier, accompanied by Lady Flint's soldiers. But escaping war is never easy, and soon the battle may find them, whether they are prepared or not.Back in the capital, Michel Bravis smuggles even more refugees out of the city. But internal forces are working against him...
  • The Light of All That Falls by James Islington

    The Light of All That Falls by James Islington

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    The Light of All That Falls concludes the epic adventure that began in The Shadow of What Was Lost, the acclaimed fantasy blockbuster from James Islington.The Boundary is whole once again, but it may be too late.Banes now stalk Andarra, while in Ilin Illan, the political machinations of a generation come to a head as Wirr's newfound ability forces his family's old enemies into action...
  • Valor by John Gwynne

    Valor by John Gwynne

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    The Banished Lands is torn by war as High King Nathair sweeps the land challenging all who oppose him in his holy crusade. Allied with the manipulative Queen Rhin of Cambren, there are few who can stand against them. But Rhin is playing her own games and has her eyes on a far greater prize..
  • House of Chains by Steven Erikson

    House of Chains by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 47 ratings
    An alternate cover edition can be found here.In Northern Genabackis, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flatlands. Their intention is to wreak havoc amongst the despised lowlanders, but for the one named Karsa Orlong it marks the beginning of what will prove to be an extraordinary destiny...
  • Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

    Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow...
  • 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...
  • A Time of Courage by John Gwynne

    A Time of Courage by John Gwynne

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Battle the darkReclaim the worldThe Demon-King of the Otherworld is finally free. And armed with mighty new starstone weapons, Asroth prepares to lead his demonic war-host south. With the help of his dark bride Fritha, he plans to crush the warrior-angels and their allies.In the shadows of Forn Forest, Riv and the surviving Ben-Elim hold a war council...
  • The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks

    The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 47 ratings
    Stripped of both magical and political power, the people he once ruled told he's dead, and now imprisoned in his own magical dungeon, former Emperor Gavin Guile has no prospect of escape. But the world faces a calamity greater than the Seven Satrapies has ever seen... and only he can save it...
  • The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan

    The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    The capital has fallen...Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing, his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.An army divided..
  • A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

    A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 40 ratings
    The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever.On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments...
  • The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter

    The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    In order to reclaim her throne and save her people, an ousted queen must join forces with a young warrior in the second book of this "relentlessly gripping, brilliant" epic fantasy series from a breakout author (James Islington).Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dangerous plan...
  • The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell

    The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    He was known as Druss. The Deathwalker. Though the blood of merciless butchers coursed through his veins, he had found a fragile peace through his love for beautiful, mystical Rowena. Then came the day when Druss returned to their village and found everyone dead--massacred by slavers who had stolen the women to sell for gold. Rowena was among the missing...
  • A Practical Guide to Evil III by ErraticErrata

    A Practical Guide to Evil III by ErraticErrata

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
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    Categorized as:
    epic  dark  military  fantasy  young-adult  fiction  lgbtq  magic
  • Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson

    Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 40 ratings
    In war everyone loses. This brutal truth can be seen in the eyes of every soldier in every world…In Letherii, the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen.And in these same Wastelands, others gather to confront their destinies...
  • The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

    The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 46 ratings
    They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud...
  • Dancer's Lament by Ian C. Esslemont

    Dancer's Lament by Ian C. Esslemont

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Taking Malazan fans back to that troubled continent's turbulent early history. The opening chapter in Ian C. Esslemont's epic new fantasy sequence, the Path to Ascendancy trilogy.For ages warfare has crippled the continent as minor city states, baronies, and principalities fought in an endless round of hostilities...
  • The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell

    The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    Even in death, Skilgannon the Damned's name lives on. Now, as an ancient evil threatens to flood the Drenai heartlands in a tide of blood, he returns...A thousand years after they fell in battle, two heroes - Druss and Skilgannon - are revered throughout the war-torn lands of the Dernai, where men and women live in abject fear of the dark sorceress known as the Eternal..
  • Blood Will by Kirill Klevanski

    Blood Will by Kirill Klevanski

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    He made a deal with a dragon, getting its heart in return. He fought monsters to defeat the monster in himself. He won the war, razing one of the most powerful sects to the ground, and received the highest military rank possible.Now his path leads him to the very heart of the country — to the capital — to receive his title and well-deserved honors...
  • The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron

    The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    SOME ARE BORN TO POWERSOME SEIZE ITAND SOME HAVE THE WISDOM NEVER TO WIELD ITThe Red Knight has stood against soldiers, against armies and against the might of an empire without flinching. He's fought on real and on magical battlefields alike, and now he's facing one of the greatest challenges yet.A tournament...
  • A Time of Blood by John Gwynne

    A Time of Blood by John Gwynne

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Defy the darkness. Defend the light.Drem and his friends are haunted by the horrors they witnessed at the battle at Starstone Lake: the screams of men being warped into beasts and the sight of a demon rising from the dead. But worse than any memory is Fritha, the demons' deadly high priestess. And she is hunting them...
  • King of Assassins by R.J. Barker

    King of Assassins by R.J. Barker

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    The epic conclusion to RJ Barker's debut fantasy trilogy, set in a world ravaged by magic, featuring a cast of assassins, knights, and ambitious noblemen.Many years of peace have passed in Maniyadoc, years of relative calm for the assassin Girton Club-Foot. Even the Forgetting Plague, which ravaged the rest of the kingdoms, seemed to pass them by...
  • Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan

    Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    An epic new fantasy series from Brian McClellan, set in the world of his wildly popular Powder Mage trilogy. A world on the cusp of a new age... The young nation of Fatrasta is a turbulent place -- a frontier destination for criminals, fortune-hunters, brave settlers, and sorcerers seeking relics of the past...
  • Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan

    Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    As the final battle approaches a sellsword, a spy, and a general must find unlikely and dangerous allies in order to turn the tides of war in this epic fantasy tale of magic and gunpowder by acclaimed author Brian McClellan...
  • 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 Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

    The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 75 ratings
    Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies...
  • Waylander by David Gemmell

    Waylander by David Gemmell

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    All of Waylander's instincts had screamed at him to spurn the contract from Kaem the cruel, the killer of nations. But he had ignored them. He had made his kill. And even as he went to collect his gold, he knew that he had been betrayed...
  • The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

    The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 40 ratings
    The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine...
  • The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

    The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 78 ratings
    When Rin aced the Keju — the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies — it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was...
  • A Time of Dread by John Gwynne

    A Time of Dread by John Gwynne

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    A race of warrior angels, the Ben-Elim, once vanquished a mighty demon horde. Now they rule the Banished lands, but their peace is brutally enforced.In the south, hotheaded Riv is desperate to join the Ben-Elim's peacekeeping force, until she unearths a deadly secret.In the west, the giantess Sig investigates demon sightings and discovers signs of an uprising and black magic...
  • The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

    The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 49 ratings
    On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all...
  • 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...
  • The Fall of Dragons by Miles Cameron

    The Fall of Dragons by Miles Cameron

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    The blood-thirsty, epic Traitor Son Cycle comes to its gripping conclusion in this fifth and final book.In the climax of the Traitor Son Cycle, the allied armies of the Wild and the Kingdoms of men and women must face Ash for control of the gates to the hermetical universe, and for control of their own destinies. But exhaustion, treachery and time may all prove deadlier enemies...
  • A Plague of Swords by Miles Cameron

    A Plague of Swords by Miles Cameron

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    One enemy has fallen ... a greater one remains ... now it's war The Red Knight withstood the full might of his enemy and won the day. In a victory which will be remembered through the ages, he brought disparate factions together and turned them into allies against a more powerful foe than they had ever seen. Now, he will need his allies more than ever...
  • A Fool's Hope: Book Two by Mike Shackle

    A Fool's Hope: Book Two by Mike Shackle

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    War takes everything. From Tinnstra, it took her family and thrust her into a conflict she wanted only to avoid. Now her queen's sole protector, she must give everything she has left to keep Zorique safe.It has taken just as much from Jia's revolutionaries. Dren and Jax - battered, tortured, once enemies themselves - now must hold strong against their bruised invaders, the Egril...
  • The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

    The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

    Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars
    · 69 ratings
    Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live...
  • 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...
  • Idols Fall by Mike Shel

    Idols Fall by Mike Shel

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    “AT LONG LAST, EVEN GODS WILL KNOW REGRET…”Agnes Manteo now bears her father’s sentient Djao sword, along with a terrible revelation—the gods are charlatans, ancient sorcerers who draw their strength from the suffering of humanity. She and her Syraeic companions have but one duty: to track down those pretenders and end their reign of cruelty and lies, no matter the cost...
  • Winter Warriors by David Gemmell

    Winter Warriors by David Gemmell

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    Winged demons gather, silent and unseen, above the city of Usa, their talons long and sharp. Their purpose is clear, as is the prophesy: Upon the deaths of the three kings, the demon riders of the Krayakin will become flesh, free to slake their thirst with human blood - and the stench of evil will cover the land.  Two of the kings are already dead...
  • Soldiers Live by Glen Cook

    Soldiers Live by Glen Cook

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    When sorcerers and demigods go to war, those wars are fought by mercenaries, "dog soldiers," grunts in the trenches. And the stories of those soldiers are the stories of Glen Cook's hugely popular "Black Company" novels. If the Joseph Heller of Catch-22 were to tell the story of The Lord of the Rings, it might read like the Black Company books. There is nothing else in fantasy like them...
  • Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus by William King

    Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus by William King

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Gotrek the dwarf trollslayer and his companion Felix are Black Library's most popular fantasy duo. This omnibus edition gives readers a unique opportunity to enjoy their first three adventures through the haunted forests, mountains and castles of the grim Warhammer world...
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