Book picks similar to
Alys by Kiri Callaghan


fantasy
alice
alice-in-wonderland
retellings

Feed


Mira Grant - 2010
    We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives—the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality


Eliezer Yudkowsky - 2015
    When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results.

The Last Sun


K.D. Edwards - 2018
    But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary creature connected to the secret of the massacre of Rune's Court. In looking for Addam, can Rune find the truth behind his family's death and the torments of his past?

Assassin's Apprentice


Robin Hobb - 1995
    Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

Mrs. Perivale and the Blue Fire Crystal


Dash Hoffman - 2017
    A strange creature who has risked everything because he’s certain he’s right. An element crystal stolen from a temple, throwing the world into chaos. An unknown country; dangerous, beautiful, wild, magical, unimaginable. A journey almost no one believes that the old woman can undertake. The mysterious dark force bent on total destruction. Seven vastly different cats. One delicate butler. Life can’t be over. There’s a whole world to save and tea is at four. *As per the viral meme sent out by @yabroodingauthor "It's amazing how many prophecies involve teens. You'd think they'd pick more emotionally stable people, with more free time. Like Grandmas." to which @Dinurial replied, "I would read the hell out of a series of a chosen 85yo woman who goes on epic journeys throughout a dangerous and magical land armed only with a cane and her stab-tastic knitting needles accompanied by her six cats and her skittish-yet-devoted orderly who makes sure she takes her pills on time." WISH GRANTED. Mrs. Alice Perivale is finished with her life. At 73 years old she is told that she is useless to the world and she begins to wonder if it’s true, until she meets the most unusual creature she has ever seen, and finds herself in a realm she never could have imagined, on a journey almost no one believes that she can undertake. Against all odds, she accepts the prophesied challenge and she embarks on an adventure to save the strange realm she is in. She must find her way through a bizarre and wild world to take back the Blue Fire Crystal; a powerful and vital gem stolen by a dark force no one has ever seen, hidden away in a palace no one has ever found. She does not go alone. She is accompanied by her seven loyal cats; Tao the Siamese, Sophie the Pampered Princess, Montgomery the Old Gentleman, Bailey the Fat Calico, Jynx the Black, Oscar the Orange Kitten in Training, and Marlowe the Devoted Abyssinian whose place is always at Mrs. Perivale's side. Her delicate butler, Henderson, who has no desire whatsoever for adventure, swallows his fears and chases along after her, obliged to his duty to watch over her, making sure that her pills are taken on time, and tea is served as and when it should be. It is because no one believes she can, that she takes on the challenge, and she must find out for herself whether her life is really over, or if the best of it may be yet to come. YA+

The Darkangel


Meredith Ann Pierce - 1982
    In his castle keep, she serves his 13 wives, wraiths whose souls he stole. She must kill him before his next marriage and comes into full power, but is captivated by his magnificent beauty and inner spark of goodness. Will she choose to save humanity or his soul?

The Whitefire Crossing


Courtney Schafer - 2011
    He's in high demand as a guide for the caravans that carry legitimate goods from the city of Ninavel into the country of Alathia. The route through the Whitefire Mountains is treacherous, and Dev is one of the few climbers who knows how to cross them safely. With his skill and connections, it's easy enough to slip contraband charms from Ninavel - where any magic is fair game, no matter how dark - into Alathia, where most magic is outlawed.But smuggling a few charms is one thing; smuggling a person through the warded Alathian border is near suicidal. Having made a promise to a dying friend, Dev is forced to take on a singularly dangerous cargo: Kiran. A young apprentice on the run from one of the most powerful mages in Ninavel, Kiran is desperate enough to pay a fortune to sneak into a country where discovery means certain execution - and he'll do whatever it takes to prevent Dev from finding out the terrible truth behind his getaway.Yet Kiran isn't the only one harboring a deadly secret. Caught up in a web of subterfuge and dark magic, Dev and Kiran must find a way to trust each other - or face not only their own destruction, but that of the entire city of Ninavel.

The Sorcery Code


Dima Zales - 2013
    . . Once a respected member of the Sorcerer Council and now an outcast, Blaise has spent the last year of his life working on a special magical object. The goal is to allow anyone to do magic, not just the sorcerer elite. The outcome of his quest is unlike anything he could’ve ever imagined – because, instead of an object, he creates Her.She is Gala, and she is anything but inanimate. Born in the Spell Realm, she is beautiful and highly intelligent – and nobody knows what she’s capable of. She will do anything to experience the world . . . even leave the man she is beginning to fall for.Augusta, a powerful sorceress and Blaise’s former fiancée, sees Blaise’s deed as the ultimate hubris and Gala as an abomination that must be destroyed. In her quest to save the human race, Augusta will forge new alliances, becoming tangled in a web of intrigue that stretches further than any of them suspect. She may even have to turn to her new lover Barson, a ruthless warrior who might have an agenda of his own . . .

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence


Michael Marshall Smith - 2017
    . . and now, they need her help.

Wonderland: An Anthology


Marie O'ReganGenevieve Cogman - 2019
    Contributors include the bestselling M.R. Carey, Genevieve Cogman, Catriona Ward, Rio Youers and L.L. McKinney.Within these pages you'll find myriad approaches to Alice, from horror to historical. There's even a Wild West tale from Angela Slatter, poetry, and a story by Laura Mauro which presents us with a Japanese folklore-inspired Wonderland.Alison Littlewood, Cavan Scott and Catriona Ward make the more outlandish elements their own, while James Lovegrove instead draws on the supernatural. Cat Rambo takes us to a part of Wonderland we haven't seen before and Lilith Saintcrow gives the legend a science-fiction spin. The nightmarish reaches of the imagination are the breeding ground for M.R. Carey's visions, while Robert Shearman, George Mann, Rio Youers and Mark Chadbourn's tales have a deep-seated emotional core which will shock, surprise and tug on the heart-strings.So, it's time now to go down the rabbit hole, or through the looking-glass or... But no, wait. By picking up this book and starting to read it you're already there, can't you see?Contents: Alice in Armor by Jane YolenWonders Never Cease by Robert ShearmanWhere Were No Birds to Fly by M.R. CareyThe White Queen's Pawn by Genevieve CogmanDream Girl by Cavan ScottGood Dog, Alice! by Juliet MarillierThe Hunting of the Jabberwock by Jonathan GreenAbout Time by George MannSmoke 'Em If You Got 'Em by Angela SlatterVanished Summer Glory by Rio YouersBlack Kitty by Catriona WardThe Night Parade by Laura MauroWhat Makes a Monster by L.L. McKinneyThe White Queen's Dictum by James LovegroveTemp Work by Lilith SaintcrowEat Me, Drink Me by Alison LittlewoodHow I Comes to Be the Treacle Queen by Cat RamboSix Impossible Things by Mark ChadbournRevolution in Wonder by Jane Yolen

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet


Becky Chambers - 2014
    While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

She Who Became the Sun


Shelley Parker-Chan - 2021
    A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

Dreadnought


April Daniels - 2017
    But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl. It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Loki: Where Mischief Lies


Mackenzi Lee - 2019
    . . except for Amora. Asgard's resident sorceress-in-training feels like a kindred spirit-someone who values magic and knowledge, who might even see the best in him.But when Loki and Amora cause the destruction of one of Asgard's most prized possessions, Amora is banished to Earth, where her powers will slowly and excruciatingly fade to nothing. Without the only person who ever looked at his magic as a gift instead of a threat, Loki slips further into anguish and the shadow of his universally adored brother, Thor.When Asgardian magic is detected in relation to a string of mysterious murders on Earth, Odin sends Loki to investigate. As he descends upon nineteenth-century London, Loki embarks on a journey that leads him to more than just a murder suspect, putting him on a path to discover the source of his power-and who he's meant to be.

Kill the Queen


Jennifer Estep - 2018
    Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.