Books like 'Sun River'
Readers who enjoyed Sun River by Nisi Shawl also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy alternate history action / adventure historical-fiction lgbtq cyberpunk industrial-era magic steampunk
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A Hero's Tale by Catherine M. Wilson
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIn Book II, Tamras moved from her home into the lands beyond its border. In Book three, the stage widens further: she deals with the struggles of whole peoples. Caught up in intrigues that would once have been far above her, the heroine risks everything unless she can not only learn to swim in treacherous waters, but to master them. The heroine 's inner journey continues to match her outer one...Categorized as:
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A Journey of the Heart by Catherine M. Wilson
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA Journey of the Heart Book II] shows the same strong storytelling ability of the first book. The language is still almost musical and wraps its sweet spell around you. Storylines that were just starting to grow in the first book are also very well developed here. Intrigue and conflict are fleshed out and take some surprising twists...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction lgbtq magic action-adventure alpha-mc alternate-history book -
Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsWith the future of the Great Library in doubt, the unforgettable characters from Ink and Bone must decide if it's worth saving in this thrilling adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.The corrupt leadership of the Great Library has fallen. But with the Archivist plotting his return to power, and the Library under siege from outside empires and kingdoms, its future is uncertain... -
The Guns of Empire by Django Wexler
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAs the “audacious and subversive”* Shadow Campaigns novels continue, the weather is growing warmer, but the frosty threat of Vordan’s enemies is only growing worse.. -
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The Shadow of Water by Jacquelyn Benson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLily Albright can see the future, and it looks like hell. In an England on the brink of war, Lily is plagued by visions of the cataclysmic destruction of London. An ancient prophecy is coming to fruition, and it starts with the gruesome discovery of a corpse in the sewers.To save her city, Lily must untangle a web of conspiracy and violence... -
Rise of the Wolf by Steven A. McKay
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSir Guy of Gisbourne is back! Bent on vengeance against Robin Hood and with a turncoat new lieutenant in tow, an unlikely new hero must stand up for herself..Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction historical -
The Philosopher's War by Tom Miller
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe second book in the thrilling series that began with The Philosopher’s Flight finds Robert Canderelli Weekes as a rookie Rescue and Evacuation flier on the front lines of World War I in France. He came to save lives, but has no idea how far he’ll have to go to win the war... -
The Rising by Ian Tregillis
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe second book in the Alchemy Wars trilogy by Ian Tregillis, an epic tale of liberation and war. Jax, a rogue Clakker, has wreaked havoc upon the Clockmakers' Guild by destroying the Grand Forge. Reborn in the flames, he must begin his life as a free Clakker, but liberation proves its own burden...Categorized as:
cyberpunk historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult ai alternate-history -
The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this magical tale of self-discovery from New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn, a young widow taps into the power that will change the world—if the man’s world she lives in doesn’t destroy her and her newfound friends first.In the summer of 1880, the death of Beth Stanley’s husband puts her life’s work in jeopardy... -
Marking Time by April White
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSeventeen-year-old tagger Saira Elian can handle anything... a mother who mysteriously disappears, a stranger who stalks her around London, and even the noble English Grandmother who kicked Saira and her mother out of the family... -
Odalisque: The Baroque Cycle #3 by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe trials of Dr. Daniel Waterhouse and the Natural Philosophers increase one hundredfold in an England plagued by the impending war and royal insecurities -- as the beautiful and ambitious Eliza plays a most dangerous game as double agent and confidante of enemy kings... -
The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA corrupt countessA spy in dangerAnd an assassin at largeThe fifth title in Genevieve Cogman's witty and wonderful Invisible Library series, The Mortal Word is a rollicking literary adventure.Peace talks are always tricky, especially when a key diplomat gets stabbed. This rudely interrupts a top-secret summit between the warring dragons and Fae... -
The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAfter being commissioned to find a rare book, Librarian Irene and her assistant, Kai, head to Prohibition-era New York and are thrust into the middle of a political fight with dragons, mobsters, and Fae. In a 1920s-esque New York, Prohibition is in force; fedoras, flapper dresses, and tommy guns are in fashion: and intrigue is afoot... -
The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected... -
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Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s 1814. Napoleon has escaped his imprisonment on Elba. Britain is at war on four fronts. And at Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, five young ladies are secretly being trained for a world of spies, diplomacy, and war…Napoleon’s invasion of England is underway and someone at Stranje House is sneaking information to his spies. Lady Jane Moore is determined to find out who it is... -
The Sand Sea by Michael McClellan
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"An astounding epic novel of J.R.R. Tolkien proportions!"— Steven Pressfield, Bestselling author of Gates of Fire and The War of ArtRaiders of the Lost Ark playing A Game of ThronesThe Sand Sea takes place on an alternative Earth roiled by war and conquest that mirrors our own Gilded Age...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history book dystopia -
Exile for Dreamers by Kathleen Baldwin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s 1814. Napoleon has escaped his imprisonment on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And at Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, five young ladies are secretly being trained for a world of spies, diplomacy, and war.Tess Aubreyson can’t run far enough or fast enough to escape the prophetic dreams that haunt her... -
The Shotgun Arcana by R.S. Belcher
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsR. S. Belcher’s debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets.1870...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era lgbtq magic steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history -
The Celestial Globe by Marie Rutkoski
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAfter stealing her father’s eyes back from Prince Rodolfo, Petra Kronos lives in constant danger. She and her tin spider, Astrophil, end up hiding out in London, where she learns more about her magical abilities. London has its charms (like Petra’s attractive fencing master), but Petra needs to get back to Bohemia and her father... -
The Liberation by Ian Tregillis
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSet in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams, this is the third and final novel in a stunning series of revolution by Ian Tregillis, confirming his place as one of the most original new voices in speculative fiction. I am the mechanical they named Jax. My kind was built to serve humankind, duty-bound to fulfil their every whim... -
The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsA Librarian’s work is never done, and once Irene has a quick rest after their latest adventure, she is summoned to the Library. The world where she grew up is in danger of veering deep into chaos, and she needs to obtain a particular book to stop this from happening... -
The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsWhen the government forms an expedition to map the Far West, Eff has the opportunity to travel farther than anyone in the world. With twin Lan, William, Professor Torgeson, Wash, and Professor Ochiba, she finds that nothing on the wild frontier is as they expected... -
A Swift and Savage Tide by Chloe Neill
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsChloe Neill's bold, seafaring heroine Captain Kit Brightling sets sail for high seas and high sorcery in this swashbuckling fantasy series. Captain Kit Brightling is Aligned to the magic of the sea, which makes her an invaluable asset to the Saxon Isles and its monarch, Queen Charlotte... -
Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsWhen Mairelon made Kim his ward, he promised to teach her to be a lady and a magician. But magic proves to be harder than it looks for a girl who has just learned to read, and being a lady is even harder. Before frustration - and Merrill's formidably correct aunt - can drive her mad, a mysterious gentleman attempts to burgle the Merrill town house...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era magic steampunk action-adventure alternate-history book -
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Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe final book of the acclaimed Glamourist Histories is the magical adventure that might result if Jane Austen walked on the darker side of the Regency...Jane and Vincent have finally gotten some much-needed rest after their adventures in Italy when Vincent receives word that his estranged father has passed away on one of his properties in the West Indies... -
Storming by K.M. Weiland
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the high-flying, heady world of 1920s aviation, brash pilot Robert “Hitch” Hitchcock’s life does a barrel roll when a young woman in an old-fashioned ball gown falls from the clouds smack in front of his biplane. As fearless as she is peculiar, Jael immediately proves she’s game for just about anything, including wing-walking in his struggling airshow...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
Magicians of Quality by Patricia C. Wrede, Caroline Stevermer
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFor country-bred cousins Cecelia Rushton and Katherine Talgarth, something extraordinary is afoot besides the constant whirl of Regency balls - something Young Ladies of Quality rarely come in contact with: magic. Oh, not the mere love spells used by country folk, but real sorcery capable of thwarting ambitions and destroying life...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era magic action-adventure alternate-history book comedy -
The Timeseer's Gambit by Kate McIntyre
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt’s been three months since mild-mannered Christopher Buckley began working with Olivia Faraday, the eccentric Deathsniffer. They’ve hunted killers, solved murders, and learned to work together. But their greatest challenges are yet to come…As a brutal heat wave wracks an increasingly unstable Darrington City, someone is killing young priests. Worse, they are using bound elementals to do it...Categorized as:
industrial-era lgbtq magic steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe -
Time of Trial by Michael Pryor
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the fourth book of this utterly addictive series, magical genius Aubrey Fitzwilliam is heading deep into the heart of enemy territoryluckily, with his friends by his side It may look like a simple wire device, but the Beccaria Cage could be the cure for Aubrey's condition: a way to reunite his body and soul. But can Aubrey solve its mysteries while Dr...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic steampunk action-adventure alternate-history book fiction -
Word of Honour by Michael Pryor
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSinister plots, schemes within schemes, magical upheavals, and a world to save from evil. As always, Aubrey goes looking for trouble--and finds it, in spades.Magical genius Aubrey Fitzwilliam, along with his loyal friend George, is trying to immerse himself in his new life at university. But for Aubrey life is never straightforward... -
Ironfoot by Dave Duncan
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMedieval magic, murder, and mayhem!It is 1164, and for a hundred years England has been ruled by the Normans. A young Saxon boy named Durwin, crippled by a childhood accident, had caught the eye of a Norman sage teaching at a rural school of magic. Realizing that the boy had promise, Durwin was made stable boy, and eventually allowed to attend classes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic steampunk action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
The Queen of Swords by R.S. Belcher
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings1870. Maude Stapleton, late of Golgotha, Nevada, is a respectable widow raising a daughter on her own. Few know that Maude belongs to an ancient order of assassins, the Daughters of Lilith, and is as well the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Anne Bonney, the legendary female pirate...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era lgbtq magic steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Midnight on the Marne by Sarah Adlakha
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSet during the heroism and heartbreak of World War I, and in an occupied France in an alternative timeline, Sarah Adlakha’s Midnight on the Marne explores the responsibilities love lays on us and the rippling impact of our choices.France, 1918. Nurse Marcelle Marchand has important secrets to keep...Categorized as:
historical-fiction espionage female-mc political-intrigue romance fiction time-travel historical -
The Steel Seraglio by Mike Carey, Linda Carey
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe sultan Bokhari Al-Bokhari of Bessa has 365 concubines - until a violent coup puts the city in the hands of the religious zealot Hakkim Mehdad. Hakkim has no use for the pleasures of the flesh: he condemns the women first to exile - and then to death. Cast into the desert, the concubines must rely on themselves and each other to escape from the new sultan's fanatical pursuit...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction lgbtq magic 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
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The Paradox by Charlie Fletcher
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSOMETIMES YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR – SOMETIMES IT LOOKS BACKThose who belong to the secret society called the Oversight know many things. They know cold iron will hold back the beasts in the darkness. They know it is dangerous to stand between two mirrors. And they know that, despite their dwindling numbers, it remains their duty to protect humanity from the supernatural. And vice versa... -
Chainbreaker by Tara Sim
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsClock mechanic Danny Hart knows he's being watched. But by whom, or what, remains a mystery. To make matters worse, clock towers have begun falling in India, though time hasn't Stopped yet. He'd hoped after reuniting with his father and exploring his relationship with Colton, he'd have some time to settle into his new life. Instead, he's asked to investigate the attacks...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era lgbtq magic steampunk action-adventure alternate-history asian-mc -
The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSomeone is killing Britain's warlocks.Twenty-two years after the Second World War, a precarious balance of power maintains the peace between Great Britain and the USSR. For decades, the warlocks have been all that stand between the British Empire and the Soviet Union-- a vast domain stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the shores of the English Channel... -
Her Majesty's Necromancer by C.J. Archer
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen bodies go missing from the cemetery, Lincoln and the Ministry of Curiosities investigate. But not Charlie. As a housemaid at Lichfield Towers, she doesn't get involved in Ministry business.Instead, she conducts investigations of her own. She searches for details about her real mother, and makes inquiries into Lincoln's background... -
Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsA world of enchanted injustice needs a disenchanting woman in the newest fantasy series by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician.The orphaned Elsie Camden learned as a girl that there were two kinds of wizards in the world: those who pay for the power to cast spells and those, like her, born with the ability to break them... -
Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLet the world burn.With an iron fist, the Great Library controls the knowledge of the world, ruthlessly stamping out all rebellion and, in the name of the greater good, forbidding the personal ownership of books.Jess Brightwell has survived his introduction to the sinister, seductive world of the Library, but serving in its army is nothing like he envisioned... -
The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg returns to the enchanting world of The Paper Magician.Alvie Brechenmacher has arrived in London to begin her training in Polymaking—the magical discipline of bespelling plastic. Polymaking is the newest form of magic, and in a field where there is so much left to learn, every Polymaker dreams of making the next big discovery... -
The Warrior's Path by Catherine M. Wilson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen she was a child, the author of When Women Were Warriors happily identified with all the male heroes she read about in stories that began, "Once upon a time, a young man went out to seek his fortune." But she would have been delighted to discover even one story like that with a female protagonist...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction lgbtq magic action-adventure alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook -
Assassin's Creed: Forsaken by Oliver Bowden
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAssassin's Creed: Forsaken is the latest thrilling novelization by Oliver Bowden based on the phenomenally successful game series. The new game, Assassin's Creed III, takes one of gaming's most popular franchises to new heights in its most realistic world yet and introduces a brand new Assassin, Connor... -
Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratings12 May 1940. Westminster, London, England: the early days of World War II.Again.Raybould Marsh, one of "our" Britain's best spies, has travelled to another Earth in a desperate attempt to save at least one timeline from the Cthulhu-like monsters who have been observing our species from space and have already destroyed Marsh's timeline... -
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The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsCreeper, a scrappy young teen, is done living on the streets of New Orleans. Instead, she wants to soar, and her sights are set on securing passage aboard the smuggler airship Midnight Robber. Her ticket: earning Captain Ann-Marie’s trust using a secret about a kidnapped Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction industrial-era lgbtq magic steampunk 21st-century action-adventure -
The Map of Chaos by Félix J. Palma
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Map of Time and The Map of the Sky, the final installment in the award-winning trilogy that The Washington Post called “a big, genre-bending delight.”When the person he loves most dies in tragic circumstances, the mysterious protagonist of The Map of Chaos does all he can to speak to her one last time...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe third title in Genevieve Cogman's clever and exciting The Invisible Library series, The Burning Page is an action-packed literary adventure! Librarian spy Irene has professional standards to maintain. Standards that absolutely do not include making hasty, unplanned escapes through a burning besieged building... -
The Road to Hell by David Weber, Joelle Presby
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEntry #3 in the popular Hell's Gate series by 28 times New York Times best-selling author David Weber and Joelle Presby.The war between magically-gifted Arcana and psionically talented Sharona continues to rage. The dragon-borne Arcanan assault across five universes has been halted at Fort Salby by a desperate defense, but at atrocious cost... -
Soulbound by Bec McMaster
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA dark force is rising in London...Sebastian Montcalm knows freedom for the first time in his life, but it has come at the cost of his father's soul. If he can learn to harness his uncontrollable sorcery then he might be able to save his father from a demon's grip, but every move he makes leads to failure...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era magic political-intrigue steampunk abuse action-adventure adult -
Worth Her Weight in Gold by Sarah Gailey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsWinslow Remington Houdstooth, notorious outlaw, handsomest heartbreaker in the American South, has just finished a lucrative job, but he's faced with a hippo-sized problem that would test even the most seasoned of hoppers. "Worth Her Weight in Gold" is another slyly funny, raucous adventure in the alternate America of Sarah Gailey's River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow...
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