Recommendations

This page is a collection of the recommendations given by John Bierce at the end of his books.

## Afterword from book 1

In the meantime, if you’re looking for more fiction in this vein, I highly recommend Dianna Wynne Jones’ Chronicles of Chrestomanci series, Andrew Rowe’s Arcane Ascension series, Will Wight’s Cradle series, Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy, Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series, or if by some awful miscarriage of fate you’ve never read it, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. (Honestly, if you’ve not read any one of these, do it immediately. Especially Protector of the Small , one of my favorite coming of age stories of all time.)

## Afterword from book 2

In the meantime, if you’re looking for more reading material similar to Mage Errant or that influenced Mage Errant, and you’ve already read the suggestions at the end of book one, I highly recommend you check out the free web serial Mother of Learning, Ursula K. LeGuin’s superlative Earthsea series, Terry Pratchett’s novel Dodger , Sebastian de Castell’s Spellslinger series, and Lawrence Watt Evans’ Ethshar series. In addition, if you missed the Grand Library in Jewel of the Endless Erg and want some more magical library shenanigans, you should check out Scott Lynch’s In the Stacks or Scott Hawkin’s The Library at Mount Char.

## Afterword from book 3

Special thanks to my beta readers, F James Blair (you should totally check out his Bulletproof Witch series), Sam Juliano, Gregory Gleason, Pierre Auckenthaler, Sundeep Agarwal, Adam Skinner, and Garret Miller. If you’re looking for more reading material similar to Mage Errant or that I think readers of Mage Errant might enjoy, and you’ve already read the suggestions at the end of the first two books, well, I’ve definitely got more suggestions for you!

Street Cultivation, by Sarah Lin— The first book in Sarah Lin’s new cultivation fantasy series. Unlike most cultivation series like Cradle, however, Street Cultivation is set in a fantasy world at our level of technology. Heavy focus on training.

The Daily Grind, by argusthecat— A bored call center IT support guy finds a dungeon that only appears at a specific time each week, and starts delving into it with his friends. Instead of the usual monsters you’d encounter in a dungeon, there are living staplers and other office supplies. It sounds weird, but it’s an absolute blast.

Twelve Kings in Sharakai, by Bradley P. Beaulieu— If you’re craving more sandship action, look no further. Twelve Kings in Sharakai is the first book in the excellent Middle Eastern-flavored Song of Shattered Sands series.

A Thousand Li, by Tao Wong— Another cultivation series with a heavy focus on training. This one is the one that is by far the closest to being like actual medieval China- even compared to any of the translated Chinese cultivation/xianxia novels I’ve encountered. (Except, you know, for the magic and demons.) There are even footnotes explaining various units of measurement, foods, and other parts of medieval Chinese culture.

Kill Six Billion Demons, by Abbadon— I’ve often described this webcomic as the cyberpunk Bhagavad Gita, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I stand by this description. Image Comics is responsible for releasing the print version. (To give you an idea of how good it is, they approached the creator. That’s... unusual in the comic book industry, to say the least.)

The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler— Aimed at a slightly younger age group than Mage Errant or the other entries on the list, but still well worth your time. An orphan girl is sent to live with an uncle she’d never heard of before, and, well, of course he has a magic library.

Six Sacred Swords, by Andrew Rowe— Prequel to Rowe’s Arcane Ascension series. Much faster paced and action packed.

The Immortals, by Tamora Pierce— Though not my favorite Tamora Pierce series (that would be Protector of the Small, which I’ve already recommended), The Immortals is absolutely fantastic. Follows a wild mage with power over animals as she tries to learn to control her powers and help fight an escalating magical threat against the kingdom of Tortall.

## Afterword from book 4

Evan Winter’s The Rage of Dragons: This book is, well, intense. It’s a pretty classic vengeance tale setup, with a boy determined to avenge the unjust death of his father, and throwing himself wholesale into training to achieve his goals. Where this book shines is when it comes to execution- Winter does a fantastic job of exploring the emotional depths of vengeance, and the struggles real life can present in staying on that path. Not to mention, the African-inspired Bronze Age setting is one oft he coolest settings I’ve encountered in a long, long time.

Sarah Lin’s The Brightest Shadow: Wuxia meets epic fantasy. Absolutely fantastic first volume in a doorstopper epic fantasy series. Fast-paced action, fascinating cultures and races, and, best of all, it’s one of the few fantasy books I’ve encountered set on a prairie!

Shami Stovall’s Frith Chronicles series: Follows a gravedigger’s son, Volke, as he seeks to become an Arcanist- a magic user whose power comes from bonding to magical creatures. Rather than the phoenix he’d been seeking, however, he finds himself linked to a very different magical creature, as he’s put toe to toe against devious foes and a mysterious magical plague.

F. James Blair’s Bulletproof Witch series: Fast paced fantasy western series following a pistol witch who’s hunting the demon that killed her family. Talking horses, magic duster jackets, demon possessed outlaws, and magical gunfights galore.

Blake Charlton’s Spellwright trilogy: A fascinatingly clever and original setting, where magic is done via magical languages, where misspellings can have disastrous consequences. Which means that few look kindly on the protagonist, who happens to be magically dyslexic.

John Bierce’s The Wrack: Hey, look, it’s one of mine! The Wrack is a depressing standalone epidemiological fantasy novel following a plague across the continent of Teringia. It... was pretty surreal releasing it alongside COVID-19, to say the least. Definitely not my plan there. The Wrack is part of the same multiverse, The Aetherverse, as Mage Errant, and you’ll notice some really interesting and unusual crossovers between the two— though you don’t need to read one to read the other.

## Afterword from book 5

If you enjoyed this book, here are a few others you might enjoy:

Sarah Lin’s Soulhome (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 1): Cultivation fantasy series that breaks away from the Taoist cultivation tropes common in the subgenre. Instead, magic users called soulcrafters construct buildings inside their souls to give themselves power. The series is an absolute blast so far, and I’m intensely jealous I didn’t come up with the magic system and setting, they’re so ridiculously cool.

Katrine Butch Mortensen’s The Spark (Patron Wars Book 1): This Norse-inspired progression fantasy series follows a civil war in a civilization of shapeshifters and their gods. It’s got a brilliant high-magic setting, a neurodiverse protagonist, and some truly cool set-pieces.

Alexander Darwin’s The Combat Codes (The Combat Codes Saga Book 1): High octane science-fantasy series featuring martial artists who battle each other in exhibition matches to settle international conflicts. The protagonist Cego, unusually, is a grappler rather than a striker. Reminiscent of dystopian 80s films in the best possible way.

Bryce O’Connor and Luke Chilmenko’s Iron Prince (Stormweaver Book 1): Progression science fiction that follows students training to use alien tech that upgrades their bodies and transforms into high-tech melee weapons for a war against aliens. The protagonist, Reidon Ward, is a victim of a painful genetic disease, and enters military academy as their weakest student ever— but one with unlimited potential for growth. This one’s a load of fun.

Travis Riddle’s Flesh Eater (Houndstooth Trilogy Book 1): The fox Coal Ereness is on the run from the Dirt King’s soldiers for the crime of flesh-eating. When he comes across a black market means to clear his record, he enters into a high-stakes spiderback race to try and raise the funds needed. Little does he know, however, that he’s about to get drawn into a morass of dangerous magic and mutated abominations. Flesh Eater is reminiscent of nothing so much as a gritty industrial noir Redwall, and I highly recommend it.

## Afterword from book 6

If you enjoyed Tongue Eater, I highly recommend you check out the following books:

Bastion, book one of Phil Tucker’s The Great Immortal Souls: A trippy, high-stakes progression fantasy novel set inside a cylindrical city sunk vertically into the ground of the outskirts of hell. Bastion is a blast, and I highly recommend it.

Ascendant, book one of Michael R. Miller’s Songs of Chaos: a dragon rider progression fantasy reminiscent in the best way of the classic dragon rider novels like Pern and Temeraire. Reading it feels almost like coming home, if you’ve got a soft spot for dragon riders.

Dragon Mage, book one of ML Spencer’s Rivenworld: Yet another dragon rider fantasy novel! This one features an autistic protagonist and a seriously awesome knot-based magic system.

Awakening Arte, book one of Bernie Anés Paz’s TheEldest Throne: Creative magic powers, a psychedelically weird setting, and seriously entertaining battle scenes.

On Lavender Tides, book one of Travis Riddle’s Jekua: Pokémon-inspired progression fantasy that captures all the magic from its inspiration, and then some! Its relative low stakes are counterbalanced by the books being ridiculously fun. (I’m the alpha reader for this series- I get to read them before anyone else- and whenever Travis emails me a new volume, I drop everything to read it.)

The Enchanter, book one of Tobias Begley’s The Journals of Evander Tailor: A magic school series with a gay main character, a giant tree school, and an intricate magic system. The most similar to Mage Errant of any of this list of recommendations.(And one that kept me up late reading until my eyes hurt!)

## Afterword from book 7

The Umbral Storm, book one of The Sharded Few, by Alec Hutson: A fast-paced, action packed progression fantasy novel with one of the coolest settings of any fantasy series I’ve encountered in years. Absolutely worth a read. (Are there tree crabs? Yes. Yes there are. And do you really need anything other than tree crabs in life?)

Titan Hoppers, book one of Titan Hoppers, by Rob J Hayes: A dark progression science fantasy novel, set on a refugee fleet of spaceships following around a massive, moon-sized larger ship filled with monsters, traps, and the resources needed to keep the refugees alive. Incredibly fun books in a super cool setting.

Soul Relic, book one of Manifestation, by Samuel Hinton: I’m a huge fan of environmentalist fiction, but it’s not usually anywhere near as action-packed or just plain fun as Soul Relic. I definitely recommend it to fans of both progression fantasy and environmentalist fiction.

Mark of the Fool, book one of Mark of the Fool, by J.M. Clark: Mark of the Fool strives to be as classic of a D&D-style fantasy setting, and it achieves it masterfully. It’s living proof that execution is far more important than novelty in writing, and I’m a huge fan.

Mageling, book one of Millenial Mage, by J.L. Mullins: There are plenty of books where new mages have to face ancient threats and deadly monsters. In Millenial Mage, however, the greatest foe is one far more terrifying: student loans. (There are still a few ancient threats and deadly monsters, of course.)

Blood of a Novice, book one of The Eternal Ephemera, by Davis Ashura: Have you ever imagined about what it would be like if Stand By Me was the prologue to a ridiculously epic progression fantasy novel with talking pandas and demon-producing tumors in the land itself? Because that’s what Blood of a Novice is, and it’s great.