What to read after “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” by Howard Pyle: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.
Raised in hiding, nineteen-year-old Kelsea Raleigh is summoned to claim the throne of the Tearling. With only her loyal Queen's Guard, she must cross a dangerous land, win over a distrustful people and face the Red Queen, who wants her kingdom destroyed.
A retelling of the life of Richard III, from his boyhood in a divided England to his brief reign. Set against the Wars of the Roses, it follows the Yorkist claim to the throne, the loyalties that bind Richard, and the rumour and betrayal that surround his name.
Wart is an orphan boy training to serve as a knight's squire in medieval England. When the wizard Merlyn arrives to tutor him, Wart is turned into animals, meets Robin Hood and learns about power and kingship. The sword in the stone waits for the one who can draw it.
William Marshal, a landless younger son, wins renown on the tournament circuit of twelfth-century Europe. Sworn to kings and queens, he serves through rebellion and shifting alliances, and his loyalty is tested as often as his skill at arms.
Raised by Vikings after they kill his father, the Saxon boy Uhtred must choose between the people who love him and the kingdom of his birth. As Alfred of Wessex battles the Danes, Uhtred becomes a warrior torn between two worlds.
Simon Templar, known as the Saint, lives by his own rules and targets men who have grown rich on crime. Charming and unbothered by the law, he arranges clever robberies and swindles that turn the tables on villains, sometimes leaving the money with their victims. Three adventures follow his schemes, his quick disguises and the police who would like to see him behind bars.
On a future Mars, a miner from the lowest caste learns that the paradise he was promised does not exist and that his people are slaves. He is remade as a member of the ruling class and sent into a brutal contest where he plans to bring the whole system down.
Under the Martial Empire, Laia's brother is arrested as a traitor, so she goes undercover as a slave in a brutal military academy to spy for the rebels. There she meets Elias, a reluctant soldier whose future is bound to the regime she works against.
In fourteenth-century England, Katherine Swynford becomes a lady-in-waiting and falls in love with John of Gaunt, a royal duke bound by marriage and politics. Their long, often forbidden attachment survives plague, war and the disapproval of a court that cannot forgive a scandal.
In a city of canals and thieves, Locke Lamora leads a small band of con artists who rob the nobility. A hidden power turns the tables, and the crew find themselves caught in a scheme far larger than any of their own.
Two orphaned brothers run away to Venice and fall in with a gang of street children led by the mysterious Thief Lord, who claims to be a master burglar. The children live in an abandoned cinema, stealing what they need and looking out for one another, until a strange commission and a magical carousel pull them into a bigger adventure than they expected.
Outlawed archer Nicholas Hook joins Henry V's army as it invades France. Mired in a brutal siege and heavily outnumbered at Azincourt, he and his comrades face a battle that will decide the fate of a kingdom.
Marco Loristan lives in London with his exiled father, a Samavian patriot. With his friend the Rat, a street boy, Marco carries a secret sign across Europe to help restore Samavia's rightful king. The journey tests both boys' courage and loyalty as danger follows them from border to border.
In fourteenth-century Norway the headstrong Kristin defies her devout father to marry the charming Erlend. Their life together brings seven sons, guilt and hardship as the world shifts around them and her early choices return to weigh on her.
A. J. Raffles is a celebrated cricketer welcomed into London's best clubs, and by night a daring burglar. His friend Bunny Manders, drawn into the schemes, narrates a series of elegant robberies that mix careful planning with narrow escapes. Raffles steals from the wealthy, keeps his manners, and treats each job as a sport, while the pair dodge the growing danger of being caught.
A boy fleeing his abusive father and a man escaping slavery travel together down the Mississippi on a raft. Their friendship grows as they meet swindlers and feuds along the way, and Huck must decide what he believes. A comic, humane adventure about freedom and conscience.
In a city divided into five factions, Beatrice Prior learns she does not belong to any of them. Choosing the warrior Dauntless, she hides her divergence while uncovering a plot that threatens everyone, and finds herself drawn to an instructor named Four.
Arsène Lupin robs the rich with flawless manners and a wink, slipping past locked doors and out of police traps alike. A master of disguise who lives both as an elegant gentleman and as France's most wanted burglar, he steals jewels, paintings and secrets, and often turns his schemes against people who deserve it. The stories follow his ingenious thefts and the detectives who try to catch him.
Four children step through a wardrobe into Narnia, a land locked in endless winter by the White Witch. With the lion Aslan they are drawn into a struggle for the country's freedom, and one of them betrays them all.
The Scottish king orders laird Alec Kincaid to take an English bride, and spirited Jamie is sent north to marry a warrior she has never met. Wedded for peace between two suspicious peoples, the stubborn pair battle for control of their marriage until respect and tenderness take root.
In Panem, each district must send two teenagers to fight to the death on television. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her sister's place, she turns the Games into something the Capitol cannot fully control.
Three young men from the village of Emond's Field are driven from home by monsters out of legend. Pursued by servants of the Dark One, they learn that one of them may be the Dragon Reborn, destined to save the world or break it.
Ponyboy Curtis is a greaser in a city divided between poor kids and the richer Socs. After a fight turns deadly, he and his friend go into hiding, and he begins to see the people around him beyond their labels.
In twelfth-century England a stonemason named Tom Builder dreams of raising a great cathedral. Around its construction gather a cunning prior, a noblewoman and a ruthless lord whose ambitions and feuds shape the lives of an entire town.
What should I read after “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood”?
Start with “The Queen of the Tearling”, “The Sunne in Splendour”, “The Sword in the Stone”: they are the closest to “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” in tropes and mood. Under each book in the list you will see what exactly it has in common.
How are similar books chosen?
We compare tropes (for “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” these are Gentleman Thief, Found Family, Medieval Setting), genre, plot, era and tone. It is not “readers also bought”; it is similarity in the content itself.
Are there recent books in this list?
Yes. Among the newer ones are “The Queen of the Tearling”, “The Greatest Knight”, “The Last Kingdom”. Switch the “Modern” filter to keep only books from 2000 onward.
