Books Like The Empire of Gold
Introduction: What Readers Mean by “Books Like The Empire of Gold”
When readers ask for books like The Empire of Gold, they are rarely asking for just any fantasy novel. They are asking for something more specific: a trilogy’s concluding volume that pays off everything the earlier books built, the war and the remaking of the world, and the resolution that honors the characters. The Empire of Gold (2020) has all three: the war that finally comes to Daevabad, the magical city that must be remade, and the resolution of Nahri, Ali and Dara’s long story - the ending that the first two volumes earned. The books that come closest are the ones that find their own way to the same combination.
This guide gathers the strongest readalikes, old and new, with honest content notes and a clear sense of what each book shares with Chakraborty’s novel and where it departs from it.
The Daevabad Trilogy
The books that come closest to The Empire of Gold are the earlier volumes of the trilogy and the author’s own world.
The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty (2017) is the essential companion that begins the trilogy: Nahri, a con woman in eighteenth-century Cairo who accidentally summons a djinn, and the magical city of Daevabad where she discovers her true heritage. It is where the world begins, and it is essential for readers of the conclusion. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with war and politics; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty (2019) is the essential companion that deepens the trilogy: Nahri and Ali, five years later, caught in Daevabad’s politics as the factions maneuver toward war. It is the middle that makes the ending possible. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with war and politics; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakraborty (2023) is the essential companion from the same author: Amina, a retired pirate captain in the medieval Indian Ocean, called back for one last adventure - in the novel of the sea, the magic and the lore. It shares The Empire of Gold’s author, its Islamic world and its magic, in a lighter register. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with violence; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Epic Conclusions
A second branch of the family is the novel about the epic conclusion - the war, the remaking and the resolution.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (2019) is the essential companion about the epic remaking: a queen, a dragon rider and a mage in a world where the east and the west have different truths about the dragons, in the novel of the war and the world remade. It shares The Empire of Gold’s epic scale, its war and its resolution. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with violence; for readers from around age seventeen upward.
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (1955) is the essential classic companion: the final volume of The Lord of the Rings, in which the war comes to Middle-earth and the world is changed forever. It shares The Empire of Gold’s concluding weight and its remaking, with the world moved to Middle-earth. Content note: a classic fantasy; for readers from around age fourteen upward.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (1993) is the essential companion in stories: the first collection of the Witcher’s adventures, in the stories that build the world the saga will conclude. It shares The Empire of Gold’s worldbuilding and its depth, in a different register. Content note: an adult fantasy with violence; for readers from around age seventeen upward.
The Remaking and the Resolution
A third branch is the novel about the remaking - the worlds rebuilt and the resolutions earned.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow (2020) is the essential companion about the remaking: three sisters in 1893 New Salem who reclaim the witchcraft their family lost, in the novel of the women who remake their world. It shares The Empire of Gold’s remaking and its conviction that the ending is earned, with the magic moved to America. Content note: a fantasy novel dealing with suffrage and magic; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (2018) is the essential companion in darker register: Rin, a war orphan who wins a place at an elite military academy, in the novel of the war that changes her and the world. It shares The Empire of Gold’s war and its costs, with the resolution hardened. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with war and its horrors; for mature readers.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015) is the essential companion about the resolution: Agnieszka, a village girl taken by the wizard who protects the valley, in the novel of the magic that is not what anyone expected and the ending she earns. It shares The Empire of Gold’s earned resolution, with the scale narrowed. Content note: a fantasy novel with some violence; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
Themes and Values That Hold the Readalikes Together
Once you have read a few of these books side by side, the shared themes become clear, and they are worth naming because they are what make the category cohere.
The ending as the earning runs through every one of them. The Empire of Gold’s central claim - that the resolution is earned by everything the earlier volumes built - is the load-bearing structure of the whole family. The books are united by the conviction that the ending is not a release but a payment, and that the payment is the point.
The war as the reckoning is the second shared shape. The family is united by the war that finally comes - the factions, the armies, the costs - and by the conviction that the war is the reckoning the politics have been moving toward. The books agree that the reckoning must come, and that the remaking follows it.
The remaking as the hope is the third shared theme. The family is united by the worlds rebuilt - the city remade, the world changed, the sisters reclaiming the magic - and by the conviction that the remaking is the hope the story is for. The books agree that the world can be remade, and that the remaking is worth the war.
What to Read Next Depends on Why You Loved It
If you loved the trilogy, read The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper.
If you loved the epic conclusion, read The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Return of the King.
If you loved the remaking, read The Once and Future Witches and Uprooted.
If you loved the war and its costs, read The Poppy War.
If you loved the author, read The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi.
Content Notes: What These Books Contain
The Empire of Gold is an adult fantasy dealing with war, politics and violence, usually recommended for readers from around age sixteen upward. The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper begin and deepen the trilogy with similar content. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi deals with violence. The Priory of the Orange Tree is an epic fantasy with violence. The Return of the King is a classic fantasy. The Last Wish has violence. The Once and Future Witches deals with suffrage and magic. The Poppy War deals with war and its horrors. Uprooted has some violence. None contain gratuitous content; the weight is political and magical. Our family-friendly world literature and our meaningful cultural heritage for adults offer related reading paths for the cultures and stories these books draw on.
Why These Books Work as a Set
Read together, these readalikes form a coherent shelf rather than a random pile, and the coherence is worth naming for anyone building a reading list. They are bound by the conviction that the ending is earned, that the war is the reckoning, and that the remaking is the hope. They are also bound by craft: nearly every title here pays off what its earlier volumes built, letting the resolution carry the weight of the whole. That shared DNA means the shelf rewards reading in almost any order - the books talk to each other. The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper ground The Empire of Gold; The Priory of the Orange Tree echoes the epic conclusion; The Return of the King carries the remaking across the decades. For a reader working through the family, the pairings are as instructive as the individual titles, which is why the reading plan below suggests specific combinations rather than a single sequence.
A Reading Plan for Book Clubs
The Empire of Gold generates conversation on every level: the war, the remaking, the question of what the ending actually pays for. Some of the best discussion questions come from pairing it with a book that shares or challenges it: read it with The City of Brass, and compare the Daevabad of the beginning with the Daevabad of the end; read it with The Priory of the Orange Tree, and ask how the two epics resolve; read it with The Return of the King, and discuss the two remakings and the two costs.
Conclusion: The Gold That Keeps Giving
The Empire of Gold endures because it is about something permanent: the conviction that the ending is earned, that the war is the reckoning, and that the remaking is the hope. Every book on this list takes one piece of that - the ending, the war, the remaking - and builds its own account around it. The joy of reading them is the joy of watching the same resolution practiced in different cities, different worlds, different registers. Start with whichever part of Nahri, Ali and Dara’s story you loved most, and let the comparison teach you what the gold is really made of. For the full collection of reading paths, start at the Worlds section of our site.
