Books like Circe, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with Circe, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

Patroclus, exiled and overlooked, grows up shadowing Achilles and follows him to Troy already knowing how the war ends for them.

6 shared threads

#2

The Poppy War

R. F. Kuang

A dark-skinned war orphan tests into an elite military academy, discovers she can channel a fire god, and burns her way toward genocide.

3 shared threads

#3

Uprooted

Naomi Novik

A village girl is taken by an ancient wizard as tribute every ten years, until the year his choice turns out to be a mistake he can't undo.

3 shared threads

#4

Spinning Silver

Naomi Novik

A moneylender's daughter out-bargains a winter king to save her family, in a Rumpelstiltskin retelling with a Jewish heroine at its center.

3 shared threads

#5

The Hobbit

J. R. R. Tolkien

A hobbit who has never left his own pantry gets recruited by thirteen dwarves and a wizard to steal treasure back from a dragon.

4 shared threads

#6

Assassin's Apprentice

Robin Hobb

A royal bastard trains as the king's poisoner and assassin, and readers fifteen books later still call the ending emotionally devastating.

3 shared threads

#7

The Goblin Emperor

Katherine Addison

An airship explosion kills every relative ahead of him in line, and the half-goblin son nobody wanted becomes emperor overnight.

3 shared threads

#8

The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss

A legendary hero narrates his own rise from orphaned street kid to feared arcanist over three days, except Rothfuss never wrote day three.

3 shared threads

#9

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Susanna Clarke

England forgets it ever had real magic, until one book-obsessed magician brings the practical kind back from decades of theory-only study.

3 shared threads

#10

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

An orogene comes home to find her son beaten to death and her daughter gone, the same day a continent starts splitting apart.

6 shared threads

#11

The Blade Itself

Joe Abercrombie

A crippled torturer, a vain swordsman, and a berserker haunted by his own alter ego get pulled into a war none of them understand yet.

3 shared threads

#12

The Three-Body Problem

Liu Cixin

A disillusioned physicist's daughter answers a signal from another star and invites the invasion of Earth out of spite for humanity.

7 shared threads

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

1. #1 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller — 6 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 Uprooted by Naomi Novik — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien — 4 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin — 6 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie — 3 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin — 7 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF