Books Like Eragon To Read After You Finish The Inheritance Cycle Series

When pitching this book to friends, I would excitedly say “it’s Plato’s Republic with dragons!” which did not garner as much enthusiasm as I hoped it would (I’d later find out that this pitch is actually what Munda put in an early query letter for the book, which was later edited to better fit what the story came to be). But the dramatic politics at play in this fantasy novel are so thoughtfully developed and build tension so well that I was never bogged down in the story, and found myself frantically turning the pages to see how things would turn out.

Fireborne follows our protagonists – Annie and Lee – as they participate in battles on their fledgling dragons to compete for the title of firstrider, eventually heading up the nation’s defense. While these two grew up together in an orphanage, they are both hiding harrowing pasts, and Lee is even tempted by a rebellious faction within the new world order.

If you too loved Eragon partly because humans got to bond with dangerous mythical creatures, I’d recommend Scorpio Races since you’ll get to spend some time with dangerous water horses (think kelpies, the mythical Scottish creature minus the shapeshifting into humans part), which are locked in a deadly competition.

Adding to the sky-high stakes is the introduction of not one, but two protagonists that you come to root for in a race where there can only be one winner. 

You’ll want Puck to win with her regular horse because she’s fighting to keep her family home. But you’ll also want Sean to take the prize so that he can buy the water horse he’s caring for and bonded to. Towards the end of the book, once the titular race arrives, it seems even our characters are uncertain who deserves to win more…

I’m going to age myself here, but my mom read this series to me before bedtime for years. Did a lot of its themes and allegories fly over my head? Yes. But have I spent most of my life wishing I had an animal companion that was a literal extension of my soul? Also yes. I spent endless hours discussing what form my dæmon would take with friends and family (and could honestly be convinced to have these conversations all over again as an adult).

Lyra – much like Eragon – starts the series as a child from an unassuming background, but quickly sweeps across the world inside the series’ pages, befriending and making enemies of humans, institutions, and animals alike. 

Everyone in this world has a dæmon that can change animal form until they come of age and must choose an animal to live permanently as.

This is one of my favorite “hidden gem” book recommendations, and I think it’s deeply underrated. The endearing characters in this story – an eccentric middle-aged explorer, an elfin vampire, and a fugitive witch (who rides a giant bat) – offer equally strong points of view so that you’re not racing through the chapters to get to hear from your favorite character again. Through their eyes, you get a glimpse into the intricately developed world, which is one you’ll want to spend some time in.

The story follows this band of unlikely allies as they team up after our bat-riding witch flees persecution (she might also tend to set things on magical fire), and our explorer hires our snarky vampire for protection as she hunts for fragments of deadly but valuable Behemoths (artifacts whose ruins cause parasitic spirits to attack intrepid parties). They must work together to solve the secrets of the Behemoths and the mysterious race of people who left them behind.

I’m a huge fan of Naomi Novik’s writing style, and this was the first book of hers that I read. The fighting for something bigger than yourself, the inner strength the hero finds to rise above their obstacles, and the political machinations at play in the larger world all reminded me of Eragon.

The story follows a Dragon who’s a powerful wizard and collects a yearly tribute in exchange for protection against a dangerous enchanted forest. Agnieszka, the story’s protagonist and this year’s unsuspecting tribute, learns and trains her latent magic powers amidst great odds and horrifying, bewitching magic and monsters.

Novik’s stories rarely pull punches, and the way the magic affects people – including people Agnieszka loves – is well-written and haunting. But I particularly love the agency Agnieszka takes when it comes to learning magic.

It would have been very easy to fill this list with classic big-name fantasy series and authors (side-eyeing you, Le Guin, McCaffrey, Sanderson…). I ended up settling on the first book in the Robin Hobb universe because the sweeping character arcs of the entire series really struck a chord when I compared the stories to Eragon.

Now, I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by the multiple shelves Hobb’s books might take up on your bookcase or in your local bookstore, as the Realm of the Elderlings is a whopping 16 books long. Assassin’s Apprentice is merely the first book in the first trilogy, and it introduces us to Fitz, a royal bastard who gets thrown headfirst into courtly politics and magics both admired and reviled.

We spend a lot of quality time understanding Fitz and his place in the world of the Six Duchies, and the first trilogy is full of quiet moments of magic and found family as well as fraught moments of peril and battles that determine the fate of hundreds of characters throughout the realm.