Books Like The Witch's Heart
If you finished The Witch's Heart and want more witches, gods and mythology, found family, start here. Each pick shares at least two tropes with it, and we've rated every one for spice and darkness so you know what you're getting into.
For reference, The Witch's Heart is:
Last updated
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It doesn't change what we recommend. How we make money.
The picks
-
1. Blood Song
Shares: found family, gods and mythology
Vaelin Al Sorna's father drops him at the gates of a warrior order as a boy and never comes back. The training years are the best part, harsh and full of dead kids. Books two and three don't hit the same way, so treat this as a near-standalone.
- Academies and War Colleges
- Found Family
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Graphic violence, War, Harm to children, Torture
-
2. Godkiller
Shares: gods and mythology, found family
Kissen kills gods for a living, which is a good trade in a kingdom that banned worship. Then she's stuck escorting a girl bound to a tiny god of white lies. Grumpy found family, small sharp book, easy entry into darker fantasy.
- Gods and Mythology
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Murder, Death of a loved one, Harm to children
-
3. Malice
Shares: gods and mythology, found family
Corban is a blacksmith's son who wants to be a warrior, and a war between fallen angels is brewing behind the human kingdoms. Old-fashioned epic fantasy that takes a while to warm up. Book one is a slow build, books two through four hit harder.
- Gods and Mythology
- Found Family
- Court Intrigue
Content warnings
War, Graphic violence, Animal death, Death of a loved one
-
4. The Magicians
Shares: found family, gods and mythology
Quentin gets into a secret college for magic and finds out his favorite childhood fantasy world is real. He's still miserable. A grown-up, hungover answer to Narnia and Harry Potter. Quentin is hard to like and that's sort of the point.
- Dark Academia
- Found Family
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Drug or alcohol abuse, Gore, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one
-
5. Between Two Fires
Shares: found family, gods and mythology
France, 1348. The plague is killing everyone, and a disgraced knight ends up protecting an orphan girl who says angels speak to her. Fallen angels are making war on the world and the imagery is straight out of a medieval nightmare. Proper horror.
- Demons
- Grimdark
- Found Family
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Gore, Graphic violence, Death of a loved one, Sexual assault, Harm to children
-
6. The Fifth Season
Shares: found family, gods and mythology
It opens with a woman finding her son beaten to death by his father, on the same day the world ends. Orogenes can move the earth and are feared, enslaved and bred for it. Parts are in second person, which pays off. Won the Hugo three years running for a reason.
- Found Family
- Morally Gray
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Harm to children, Genocide, Physical or emotional abuse, Death of a loved one
-
7. The Gilded Ones
Shares: found family, gods and mythology
Deka bleeds gold at her purity ceremony, which means she's a demon. Her village kills her over and over, and she keeps coming back. Then the empire offers her a way out: fight in an army of girls like her. YA, but the abuse is on the page.
- Academies and War Colleges
- Found Family
- Gods and Mythology
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse
-
8. The Shadow of the Gods
Shares: gods and mythology, found family
Norse-flavored and set in a land where the gods killed each other and their bones still litter the land. Three narrators: a mother hunting her stolen son, a thrall with a dangerous secret, and a mercenary. The shield walls are the best in the genre.
- Gods and Mythology
- Found Family
- Revenge
Content warnings
Graphic violence, Gore, War, Human trafficking, Death of a loved one
-
9. Tender Morsels
Shares: witches, found family
After years of abuse from her father, Liga is given a private heaven where nothing bad can happen, and raises her daughters there. Then the real world starts leaking in. Snow White and Rose Red, made very adult. Not for everyone.
- Fairy Tale Retellings
- Witches
- Found Family
Content warnings
Sexual assault, Physical or emotional abuse, Harm to children
Read more than just The Witch's Heart? Tap everything you've loved and we'll build a reading list around all of it, not just this one book.