Recommendations
Books Like Blood and Bone
West African-inspired magic returns after a genocide — through three young people who were never supposed to survive
Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone imagines a Nigeria where magic existed until the king ordered all Maji — those who could channel it — slaughtered. Zélie Adebola was a child when her mother was killed; seventeen years later she discovers a scroll that could bring magic back. If the lush world-building drawn from Yoruba mythology, the fierce protagonist, and the fury of stolen heritage gripped you, these eight picks have the same power.
- 1Buy
An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir
A girl from a dispossessed people goes undercover in the military institution that destroyed her family — and discovers the oppressor's world is more complex than she thought. Tahir's brutal world-building and dual-POV emotional depth are the closest comparison to Adeyemi.
- 2Buy
The Poppy War
by R.F. Kuang
A war orphan rises through a military school in a Chinese-inspired empire — and discovers she carries a power that could destroy everything. Kuang's dark historical fantasy has the same colonial fury as Blood and Bone, but aimed at adults and significantly darker.
- 3Buy
Shadow and Bone
by Leigh Bardugo
A girl from the oppressed class discovers she has the power the ruling class has been searching for — and is immediately swept into their court. The political trap and the weight of being used as a symbol align with Zélie's arc.
- 4Buy
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
by Sue Lynn Tan
A Chinese mythology-inspired fantasy where a girl must journey through the celestial realm to save her mother. Tan's world-building has the same cultural rootedness and mythological depth as Adeyemi's Yoruba-inspired Orïsha.
- 5Buy
The City of Brass
by S.A. Chakraborty
A con artist in 18th-century Cairo accidentally summons a djinn warrior and is plunged into the hidden world of the daeva — a world of magical politics, ancient rivalries, and dangerous secrets. Chakraborty's Arabian Nights-inspired fantasy has the same cultural richness as Adeyemi.
- 6Buy
A Memory Called Empire
by Arkady Martine
An ambassador from a small mining station arrives at the capital of the galaxy's largest empire — and discovers her predecessor is dead, the empire wants to absorb her home, and she's falling in love with the culture that's trying to destroy her people. The colonial dynamics and identity politics echo Blood and Bone's emotional core in space.
- 7Buy
A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas
A human girl is taken into the faerie world — where her magic is a weapon someone else wants to control. ACOTAR is where Blood and Bone fans often migrate when they want more romance alongside the magic and power.
- 8Buy
The Rage of Dragons
by Evan Winter
An African-inspired fantasy epic where a soldier discovers the magic his caste has been forbidden from using — and trains in secret to destroy the men who killed his family. Winter's dark, military fantasy has Blood and Bone's fury stripped of its YA softening.
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