5 must-read magical realism books like The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Cover of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea

By: Erin Morgenstern

3.85

Format: 498 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secr…

"Fate still owes me a dance."

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

"Once, very long ago, Time fell in love with Fate."

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

"It is not the way of cats to interfere with fate."

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

"You wish to sail the Starless Sea and breathe the haunted air"

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

If you liked the magical realism plot in The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern , here is a list of 5 books like this:

Cover of If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

1. If We Were Villains

By: M.L. Rio

4.39

Format: 280 pages,

Enter the players. There were seven of us then, seven bright young things with wide precious future… read more

Similar categories in M.L. Rio's If We Were Villains book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • adult
  • fiction
  • lgbt

2. A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)

By: Victoria Schwab , None

3.78

Format: 584 pages, Hardcover

It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months … read more

Similar categories in Victoria Schwab's A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

3. A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3)

By: None

4.33

Format: None pages, Hardcover

Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies. THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED... The pr… read more

Similar categories in None's A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

4. A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)

By: Victoria Schwab , None

4.34

Format: None pages, Hardcover

Kell is one of the last Antari--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel L… read more

Similar categories in Victoria Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

Cover of The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

5. The Familiar

By: Leigh Bardugo

3.84

Format: 387 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishavers… read more

Similar categories in Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • magical realism
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"But let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate."

-Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar

"There was nothing more dangerous than a woman witha pen in her hand."

-Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar

"She was allowed to want more for herself. And even if she wasn't, she would find a way to get it."

-Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar

"And you're not afraid...of the devil? Of his minions? "Fear men, Luzia," he said. "Fear their ambition and the crimes they commit in its service. But don't fear magic or what you may do with it."

-Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar

Cover of This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

6. This Is How You Lose the Time War

By: Amal El-Mohtar

3.88

Format: 209 pages, Kindle Edition

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before … read more

Similar categories in Amal El-Mohtar's This Is How You Lose the Time War book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • queer
"Atlantis sinks. Serves it right."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

"And everyone is alive, somewhere in time."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

"All the stars are eyes here, always seeking."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

"I would rather break the world than lose you."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

Cover of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

7. Piranesi

By: Susanna Clarke

4.23

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls … read more

Similar categories in Susanna Clarke's Piranesi book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • magical realism
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"In my mind are all the tides, their seasons, their ebbs and their flows."

-Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

"May your Paths be safe, your Floors unbroken and may the House fill your eyes with Beauty."

-Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

"The House is valuable because it is the House. It is enough in and of Itself. It is not the means to an end."

-Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

"It does not matter that you do not understand the reason. You are the Beloved Child of the House. Be comforted. And I am comforted."

-Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

Cover of The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1) by Victoria Schwab

8. The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)

By: Victoria Schwab

4.30

Format: 648 pages, Hardcover

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the … read more

Similar categories in Victoria Schwab's The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • audiobook
  • lgbt
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • queer
"A head gets lost, but a heart knows home."

-Victoria Schwab, The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)

"Is it possible to have a death wish when you know you cannot die?"

-Victoria Schwab, The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)

"Just because we do not carry on doesn't mean we haven't been. We live a life, we leave a legacy. But the river runs one way and we are carried on it."

-Victoria Schwab, The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)

"I always wanted one. I don't know why. It wasn't ego. Some women just want to see their own reflection. I wanted to know what it felt like. To make another person. And then, when she was here, I want…"

-Victoria Schwab, The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)

Cover of A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1) by Ava Reid

9. A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)

By: Ava Reid

3.78

Format: 378 pages, Hardcover

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood… read more

Similar categories in Ava Reid's A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • fantasy
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"The only enemy is the sea."

-Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)

"No one owns the right to tell a story."

-Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)

"I find you very charming underneath all the smugness."

-Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)

"The sea is treacherous, but women are even more treacherous."

-Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning (A Study in Drowning, #1)

Cover of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) by Heather Fawcett

10. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)

By: Heather Fawcett

4.02

Format: 317 pages, Hardcover

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and dis… read more

Similar categories in Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"How was it that I suddenly had faerie kings, plural, demanding to marry me?"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)

"I could not tell if he was terrible at drawing cats or if he simply had a terrible cat."

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)

"Shadow padded up to me and put his head on my knee, all forgiven, as it always is with dogs. If I frightened my cat as I had Shadow, she'd ignore me for days, or possibly put a curse on me, but then …"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)

"And you shall shut yourself away forever in those old stones with your books and your mysteries like a dragon with her hoard, having as little association with the living as possible and emerging onl…"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)

Cover of Babel by R.F. Kuang

11. Babel

By: R.F. Kuang

4.18

Format: 544 pages, Hardcover

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with stu… read more

Similar categories in R.F. Kuang's Babel book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • magical realism
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"It is astounding, in truth, how much of academia’s perceived resource scarcity is artificially constructed."

-R.F. Kuang, Babel

"Grief suffocated. Grief paralysed. Grief was a cruel, heavy boot pressed so hard against his chest that he could not breathe."

-R.F. Kuang, Babel

"languages aren't just made of words. they're modes of looking at the world. They're the keys to civiliation. And that's knowledge worth killing for"

-R.F. Kuang, Babel

"It revealed the sheer dependence of the British, who, astonishingly, could not manage to do basic things like bake bread or get safely from one place to another without words stolen from other countr…"

-R.F. Kuang, Babel

Cover of Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

12. Starling House

By: Alix E. Harrow

3.83

Format: 308 pages, Hardcover

A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that ca… read more

Similar categories in Alix E. Harrow's Starling House book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"You’re a pretty good liar"

-Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

"Survival is a hard habit to break."

-Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

"Maybe the truth is always messy that way."

-Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

"the Bible only got it half right: there were demons aplenty, but no fire at all"

-Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

Cover of Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2) by Heather Fawcett

13. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

By: Heather Fawcett

4.32

Format: 369 pages, Kindle Edition

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wi… read more

Similar categories in Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"One of the guiding principles of dryadology,"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

"I may not be a miller's daughter, but you are not so different from the Folk as you think, Your Highness." I lifted her wineglass and dashed the remainder against her face, spilling it across her mou…"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

"I brushed the hair from his face. It is very soft--- ludicrously so, in fact, more like rabbit down or dandelion seed than human hair--- and I found I could not stop stroking it. He murmured somethin…"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

"Dr. Farris Rose has served as Department Head for over a decade, taking over from Letitia Barrister, who was abducted by a bogle in the Hebrides and returned several weeks later aged to approximately…"

-Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

Cover of The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3) by Olivie Blake

14. The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

By: Olivie Blake

2.90

Format: 496 pages, Hardcover

Only the extraordinary are chosen. Only the cunning survive. An explosive return to the library… read more

Similar categories in Olivie Blake's The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • audiobook
  • lgbt
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • queer
"Is this actually possible?"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

"It means the archives are “alive"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

"I will spend my life orbiting your,"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

"I'm constantly at risk for peril. Ask anyone!"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)

Cover of Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1) by Travis Baldree

15. Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)

By: Travis Baldree

4.12

Format: 296 pages, Kindle Edition

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.The battl… read more

Similar categories in Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • audiobook
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • queer
Cover of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

16. The Starless Sea

By: Erin Morgenstern

3.85

Format: 498 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secr… read more

Similar categories in Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • romance
  • audiobook
  • magical realism
  • lgbt
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • books about books
  • queer
"Fate still owes me a dance."

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

"It is not the way of cats to interfere with fate."

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

"Once, very long ago, Time fell in love with Fate."

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

"You wish to sail the Starless Sea and breathe the haunted air"

-Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

Cover of The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2) by Olivie Blake

17. The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)

By: Olivie Blake

3.55

Format: 397 pages, Kindle Edition

Six magicians were presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Five are now members of the Socie… read more

Similar categories in Olivie Blake's The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • audiobook
  • lgbt
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • queer
"Are you losing your mind?"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)

"Dinner together? Our last night?"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)

"Muder first and then scholarly pursuits"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)

"Murder first and then scholarly pursuits"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2)

Cover of Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2) by Leigh Bardugo

18. Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

By: Leigh Bardugo

4.13

Format: 481 pages, Hardcover

Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell. F… read more

Similar categories in Leigh Bardugo's Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"His monstrous queen. His gentle ruler."

-Leigh Bardugo, Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

"Life is cruel. Magic is real. And I’m not ready to die"

-Leigh Bardugo, Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

"She was the kind of girl who was always okay. “A survivor,"

-Leigh Bardugo, Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

"Stories exist in all worlds. They are immutable. Like gold."

-Leigh Bardugo, Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

Cover of Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) by Leigh Bardugo

19. Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

By: Leigh Bardugo

4.02

Format: 461 pages, Hardcover

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles… read more

Similar categories in Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"We all have spaces we keep blank."

-Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

"Quien no sabe de mar no sabe de mal!"

-Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

"Not every flower belongs in every garden."

-Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

"Didn’t someone say love is a shared delusion?"

-Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)

Cover of The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) by Olivie Blake

20. The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)

By: Olivie Blake

3.59

Format: 556 pages, Kindle Edition

The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity,… read more

Similar categories in Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • audiobook
  • lgbt
  • magic
  • fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • queer
"Don't let me wake up alone."

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)

"There was nothing more dangerous than a woman who knew her own worth."

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)

"He finds the monsters we keep locked away and sets them loose, so why would I ever want him to see mine?"

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)

"A flaw of humanity: the compulsion to be unique, which is at war with the desire to belong to a single identifiable sameness."

-Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1)

Cover of The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

21. The Ten Thousand Doors of January

By: Alix E. Harrow

4.03

Format: 374 pages, Hardcover

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As t… read more

Similar categories in Alix E. Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January book and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

  • magical realism
  • magic
  • fiction
  • fantasy
  • books about books
  • audiobook
"Books are Doors and I wanted out."

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"Sometimes pain is too unavoidable, too necessary to feel."

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"Every story is a love story if you catch it at the right moment"

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"It isn’t pain or suffering that unmakes a person; it’s only time."

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

18 must-read fiction books like The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Transform Your Habits

If We Were Villains

M.L. Rio

4.39

Transform Your Habits

The Familiar

Leigh Bardugo

3.84

Transform Your Habits

This Is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar

3.88

Transform Your Habits

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

4.23

View all the books

21 Best fiction books like The Atlas Paradox (The Atlas, #2) by Olivie Blake

Transform Your Habits

Godkiller (Fallen Gods, #1)

Hannah Kaner

3.90

Transform Your Habits

One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)

Rachel Gillig

4.30

Transform Your Habits

House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)

Sarah J. Maas

4.21

Transform Your Habits

Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)

Rachel Gillig

4.44

View all the books

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