Books like The Lord of the Rings, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

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

#1

The Hobbit

J. R. R. Tolkien

A burglar with no interest in adventure gets talked into robbing a dragon by a wizard who never quite explains the plan.

88 shared threads · mixed

#2

Dune

Frank Herbert

A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.

278 shared threads · mixed

#3

The Eye of the World

Robert Jordan

A farm boy's village burns in one night, and the Aes Sedai who saves him says the Dark One marked him before he could walk.

79 shared threads · mixed

#4

Hyperion

Dan Simmons

Seven pilgrims journey toward a monster that grants one wish and kills everyone else, and each tells the story of why they came.

212 shared threads · mixed

#5

Gardens of the Moon

Steven Erikson

An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.

87 shared threads · mixed

#6

Foundation

Isaac Asimov

A mathematician predicts the fall of a galactic empire and hides the fix inside an encyclopedia nobody will read for a thousand years.

122 shared threads · panned

#7

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

A six-year-old is drafted into a war academy that trains him to command a fleet, and he doesn't find out what he actually did until it's over.

131 shared threads · praised

#8

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Earth gets demolished for a hyperspace bypass minutes after a man's house is demolished for a road, and his best friend turns out to be an alien with a towel.

87 shared threads · praised

#9

A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin

A prideful young mage summons a nameless shadow to prove his power, then spends years learning to face it instead of running.

76 shared threads · mixed

#10

A Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin

A direwolf litter found beside a dead stag opens a decades-spanning war for the Iron Throne with no guaranteed survivors.

58 shared threads · mixed

#11

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

An envoy is sent alone to a planet where everyone is genderless most of the month, and he has to unlearn who he assumes is in charge.

119 shared threads · praised

#12

Neuromancer

William Gibson

A burned-out hacker banned from cyberspace takes one last job to breach the AI that might already own a piece of him.

117 shared threads · praised

The overlap, in numbers

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

1. #1 The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien — 88 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 Dune by Frank Herbert — 278 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — 79 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 Hyperion by Dan Simmons — 212 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson — 87 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 Foundation by Isaac Asimov — 122 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card — 131 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — 87 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin — 76 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin — 58 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin — 119 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 Neuromancer by William Gibson — 117 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF