The Fantasy 101 › Books Like

Books Like The Anubis Gates

Powers, 1983 · #9 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 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.

Mood8Theme7Structure9Further reading7Creative details9Real-world blend10Divine influence6Climax and fights6Epicness4Genre standard6Originality9

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

If you liked The Anubis Gates, read:

  1. 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 mood, theme, further reading, creative details.

  2. Bridge of Birds

    Hughart, 1984 · #12 on the list · 95/120

    When the children of his village fall into an enchanted sleep, young Number Ten Ox hires the aged, disreputable sage Master Li. Their hunt for the Great Root of Power crosses a China that never was.

    Close on mood, theme, structure, further reading.

  3. Moonheart

    de Lint, 1984 · #30 on the list · 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.

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

  4. Puck of Pook's Hill

    Kipling, 1906 · #25 on the list · 89/120

    Two Sussex children summon Puck, the last of England's fairies. He brings them Roman soldiers, Norman knights and other figures from the island's past.

    Close on mood, theme, creative details, real-world blend.

  5. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

    Twain, 1889 · #18 on the list · 93/120

    A nineteenth-century factory boss wakes in Camelot. He sets out to modernize it with gunpowder, newspapers and his own brand of showmanship.

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

Featured pick

Acenes of Sparta: The Dragon Slayer

Manolis Tsongas, 2026 · #5 on the list · 101/120 · for adults and mature teens

A dragon is the real reason King Leonidas and his three hundred died at Thermopylae. Sixty-two years later the gods send a Spartan boy of the agoge to kill it. The book takes lessons from tragedy and the cost of sacrifice, as is the Greek way.

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.