Books like “The Revenant”

What to read after “The Revenant” by Michael Punke: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry · 1985
Same genre: “Western”
Two former Texas Rangers drive a herd of cattle north to Montana, leading a ragged crew across rivers, drought and hostile country. The long journey tests the old friendship of the two men and the loyalties of everyone who follows them.
2
The Sisters Brothers
Patrick deWitt · 2011
Same genre: “Western”
- Wild West
- Quest
Eli and Charlie Sisters are hired killers riding to California to find a prospector. As the brothers travel, Eli grows tired of the violence of their trade and begins to imagine another life, while Charlie insists that the job must be finished.
3
The Call of the Wild
Jack London · 1903
Similar setting: “Wild West”
- Wild West
- Survival
Stolen from a comfortable California home, the dog Buck is sold into the Klondike gold rush and forced to haul sleds through frozen wilderness. Amid cruelty and hardship he discovers a wildness within himself that calls him away from men.
4
The Lost City of Z
David Grann · 2009
Similar plot moves: “Quest” and “Survival”
- Quest
- Survival
In 1925 the explorer Percy Fawcett walked into the Amazon to find a fabled civilization he called Z, and never came out. Decades later a journalist follows the same trails, sifting clues and rumors to learn what became of the missing expedition.
5
The Arctic Fury
Greer Macallister · 2020
Similar plot moves: “Quest” and “Survival”
- Quest
- Survival
Virginia Reeve is hired to lead a dozen women into the Arctic in search of a lost expedition. When only some of them come back, she is tried for murder in Boston. The courtroom testimony and the journey north slowly reveal what happened out on the ice.
6
The Last Kingdom
Bernard Cornwell · 2004
Similar plot moves: “Revenge”
- Revenge
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.
7
The Wager
David Grann · 2023
Similar plot moves: “Survival”
- Survival
In 1740 a British warship hunting a Spanish treasure galleon is wrecked off Patagonia. Months later two groups of survivors reach South America with opposing stories, and a court martial must decide which men were heroes and which were mutineers.
8
The Terror
Dan Simmons · 2007
Similar plot moves: “Quest” and “Survival”
- Quest
- Survival
In 1845 two Royal Navy ships sail to find the Northwest Passage and vanish into the Arctic ice. As the crews endure cold, scurvy and starvation, they are stalked across the frozen waste by a creature that should not exist.
9
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Alfred Lansing · 1959
Similar plot moves: “Survival”
- Survival
In 1914 Ernest Shackleton sets out to cross Antarctica; in 1915 his ship is crushed by the ice and the crew is left stranded. This account follows their months on drifting floes and the desperate open-boat journey he makes to seek rescue.
10
Azincourt
Bernard Cornwell · 2008
Similar plot moves: “Revenge” and “Survival”
- Revenge
- Survival
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.
11
The Long Ships
Frans G. Bengtsson · 1941
Similar plot moves: “Survival”
- Survival
The Viking Red Orm sails from his Scandinavian home in the late tenth century and is carried through raids, courts and distant seas, from Andalusia to the Byzantine guard. A picaresque saga of raids, treasure and shifting faith, told with dry humour and a wide view of the Viking world.
12
The City of Brass
S. A. Chakraborty · 2017
Similar plot moves: “Quest” and “Survival”
- Quest
- Survival
Nahri has survived in eighteenth-century Cairo by faking healings and stealing what she can. A careless summoning calls a djinn warrior to her side and drags her to Daevabad, a city of magic and old feuds, where her true blood makes her a threat to everyone around her.