Book Recommendations based on your favourite TV Shows
After spending the bank holiday marathoning the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events (and it making me immediately want to re-read the series), I started thinking about books that give me the same feelings and have the same transportive power as great TV shows.
I’ve put together some recommendations in a liked-that-try-this format based on some great shows, so let’s get into them!
Like Doctor Who? Try the Peter Grant series.
Starting with Rivers of London, the Peter Grant series is an episodic police serial set in central London, but with a twist – Peter is a wizard in training. Although fantasy rather than sci-fi, the episodic, monster-hunting plots from Doctor Who (along with a particular preference for modern day London) in a fun and snarky package definitely have a lot in common with each other.
Like Gravity Falls? Try Lumberjanes.
Like Gravity Falls, Lumberjanes follows a group of girls exploring the local area where the creatures aren’t exactly as they should be. Both have a quirky sense of humour and a lot of heart, with a lot of supernatural hijinks thrown in. Lumberjanes is also a nearly all female cast, with great diversity and queer characters, making it a great follow on from Gravity Falls when you start missing the twins and their Grunkle.
Like Game of Thrones? Try The Kingkiller Chronicles.
Much like Game of Thrones, Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle is a hefty fantasy series (who’s fans, like Geroge R R Martins, are still waiting for the next book after a 6 year gap) with gritty world-building, explorations of characters and motivations with a dark sense of humour. Although not spanning several narrators and two continents, Rothfuss’s focus on one character, Kvothe, still allows a great insight into the rich world he has built.
Like Full Metal Alchemist? Try The Shades of Magic series.
Both Full Metal Alchemist and Shades of Magic are set in fantasy worlds with a smattering of technology (FMA taking inspiration from the early 20th century and Shades of Magic from the late 19th) with a magic system that is dark, complex, and highly dangerous to manipulate. They also both have an ensemble cast of lovable but flawed characters, with their relationships set against a richly built universe giving each instalment a lot of heart.
Like Pretty Little Liars? Try The Secret History.
School? Check. Dysfunctional friendship group? Check. Murder? Check. The Secret History packs all of the tension and darkness of Pretty Little Liars but is instead set against the backdrop of a small college rather than a high school. The book follows a group of Classics-obsessed students and how their friendship begins to dissolve under the pressure of secrets and lies but without as many plot holes and bizarre pregnancy storylines
Like The Walking Dead? Try The Illuminae Files.
Two words: space zombies. Illuminae, although a YA sci-fi rather than an adult zombie-apocalypse series has the same heart-in-your-mouth tension and great action that you can find in the Walking Dead, but instead on a spaceship with a mysterious disease and a malfunctioning AI. They both explore love, friendship and loss against a dramatic backdrop, and frequently get your heart racing.
Are there any recommendations you have for TV shows you love? Or are they any other shows you’d like to get recommendations for? Let me know!
