The Fantasy 101 › Books Like

Books Like Moonheart

de Lint, 1984 · #30 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 87/120

Two friends in a sprawling Ottawa house find a doorway to an otherworld of Celtic and Indigenous spirits, and an ancient enemy behind it.

Its strongest scores: real-world blend and divine influence. The five books below have the closest scores across all eleven criteria.

If you liked Moonheart, read:

1. Three Hearts and Three Lions

   Anderson, 1961 · #29 on the list · 87/120

   A Danish resistance fighter in 1943 is thrown into a world of Carolingian legend, where he is a hero he has forgotten.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

2. Harold Shea

   de Camp & Pratt, 1941 · #47 on the list · 81/120

   A psychologist uses symbolic logic to travel into the worlds of Norse myth, The Faerie Queene and other legends, where magic runs on rules he can learn.

   Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

3. Mythago Wood

   Holdstock, 1984 · #15 on the list · 94/120

   In an English wood after the Second World War, a man finds the forest bringing myths to life from his family's unconscious, including the woman his brother loves.

   Close on structure, further reading, real-world blend, climax and fights.

4. The Magicians

   Grossman, 2009 · #38 on the list · 85/120

   A brilliant, unhappy Brooklyn teenager is admitted to a secret college of magic. He then finds that the land from his favorite childhood books is real.

   Close on mood, structure, further reading, creative details.

5. The Anubis Gates

   Powers, 1983 · #9 on the list · 97/120

   A scholar of Romantic poetry travels back to 1810 London to hear a lecture by Coleridge. He is stranded among Egyptian sorcerers, beggar kings and a body-switching werewolf.

   Close on mood, theme, further reading, real-world blend.

How the scores work: each book is rated 1 to 10 on eleven criteria; real-world blend and climax and fights count double, for a maximum of 120. See the full Fantasy 101.