Books like “Treasure Island”

What to read after “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe · 1719
Same genre: “Adventure novel”
- Deserted Island
- Nautical Adventure
Shipwrecked alone on a deserted island, a castaway named Robinson Crusoe builds a life from nothing: shelter, crops and a canoe. Years of solitude end when he finds a footprint in the sand and rescues a man he names Friday.
2
The Mysterious Island
Jules Verne · 1875
Same genre: “Adventure novel”
- Deserted Island
- Nautical Adventure
Five Union prisoners escape a siege in a hot-air balloon and are blown onto an uncharted island. There they rebuild a small civilization from its resources, aided by an unseen hand and threatened by a hidden danger.
3
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Jules Verne · 1870
Same genre: “Adventure novel”
Three men are taken aboard the Nautilus, a submarine commanded by the brilliant Captain Nemo, after it attacks their ship. As they travel the ocean depths they witness wonders and terrors of the undersea world while their host's motives stay hidden.
4
The Sea-Wolf
Jack London · 1904
Same genre: “Adventure novel”
- Nautical Adventure
- Morally Grey Character
A literary critic survives a ferry collision in San Francisco Bay and is picked up by a sealing schooner commanded by Wolf Larsen, a brutal and brilliant captain. Thrown into the crew's rough life, the soft scholar must find his footing under a man who answers to no law but his own.
5
The Long Ships
Frans G. Bengtsson · 1941
Similar setting: “Nautical Adventure”
- Nautical Adventure
- Coming of Age
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.
6
Moby-Dick
Herman Melville · 1851
Similar setting: “Nautical Adventure”
- Nautical Adventure
- Quest
A wandering sailor joins the whaling ship Pequod, whose captain is obsessed with hunting the white whale that took his leg. As the voyage stretches across the oceans, the crew is dragged toward a reckoning. A vast, digressive novel of obsession, the sea and human nature.
7
The Wager
David Grann · 2023
Similar setting: “Deserted Island” and “Nautical Adventure”
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
Lord of the Flies
William Golding · 1954
Similar setting: “Deserted Island”
A group of schoolboys survives a plane crash on a deserted island and tries to govern themselves. Order slips first into fear and then into savagery as the boys turn on one another. An allegory about civilisation, violence and what people become without rules.
9
Master and Commander
Patrick O'Brian · 1969
Similar setting: “Nautical Adventure”
- Nautical Adventure
In 1800, Royal Navy captain Jack Aubrey takes command of a small brig and meets the ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin, a naturalist and secret intelligence agent. Their friendship grows as the crew pursues a Spanish frigate across the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
10
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Alfred Lansing · 1959
Similar setting: “Deserted Island” and “Nautical Adventure”
- Deserted Island
- Nautical Adventure
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.
11
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas · 1844
Same genre: “Adventure novel”
- Betrayal
- Morally Grey Character
Betrayed on the eve of his wedding and imprisoned for years, Edmond Dantès escapes with a fortune and returns under a new name. Patiently, he engineers the ruin of the men who stole his life.
12
To Kill a Kingdom
Alexandra Christo · 2018
Similar setting: “Nautical Adventure”
Lira is a siren who takes the heart of a prince each year. When she is punished and turned human, the only way back is to deliver the heart of Prince Elian, a siren hunter who has no idea who she really is. Their journey across the sea turns enemies into something neither of them planned.