Books like “Tress of the Emerald Sea”

What to read after “Tress of the Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Howl's Moving Castle
Diana Wynne Jones · 1986
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy” and “Whimsical”
Cursed by a witch into an old woman's body, Sophie takes shelter in the moving castle of the vain wizard Howl. Amid a fire demon, a scarecrow and Howl's tangled contracts, she finds a home and a way to break her own spell.
2
Legends & Lattes
Travis Baldree · 2022
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy”
- Cozy Fantasy
- Found Family
Viv, a battle-weary orc, trades her sword for an espresso machine and opens the first coffee shop in the city of Thune. With a hobgoblin carpenter, a reformed succubus and a skeletal latte artist, she builds a warm new life -- but her old mercenary crew has not finished with her yet.
3
The Spirit Thief
Rachel Aaron · 2010
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
Eli Monpress is a wizard and a thief who would rather have a larger bounty than a heavier purse. To raise it he kidnaps a king, which brings the Spirit Court's envoy Miranda Lyonette after him. Eli's easy charm hides a plan that puts more than his own bounty at stake.
4
The House in the Cerulean Sea
T. J. Klune · 2020
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy” and “Whimsical”
Linus Baker, a lonely case worker, is sent to a remote island orphanage to check on six unusual children and their mysterious master, Arthur Parnassus. What begins as a routine inspection slowly becomes a choice between following the rules and protecting a family he comes to love.
5
Assistant to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer · 2023
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy” and “Whimsical”
Out of work and desperate, Evie Sage takes a job as assistant to the kingdom's most feared villain. Her boss is grumpy, the work is murder, and someone close to him is betraying him. Evie's sunny good cheer may be exactly what his gloomy fortress was missing.
6
The Spellshop
Sarah Beth Durst · 2024
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy”
- Cozy Fantasy
- Found Family
After fire wrecks the Great Library, librarian Kiela escapes with crates of spell books to her late family's island cottage. To help the struggling villagers she secretly sells spells, and slowly lets her guarded heart make room for friendship, community and love.
7
The Goblin Emperor
Katherine Addison · 2014
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy”
Maia, the exiled half-goblin youngest son, is unwanted and forgotten until an airship crash makes him emperor. He arrives at a hostile court with few allies and must learn whom to trust while trying to rule with kindness and stay alive.
8
The Cat Who Saved Books
Sosuke Natsukawa · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy”
A grieving schoolboy meets a talking tabby who leads him through a labyrinth of libraries to rescue books from careless owners. Each strange trial nudges him back toward the world and the people he has shut out.
9
The Princess Bride
William Goldman · 1973
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Quest
Buttercup and farm boy Westley are parted when he sails away to make his fortune and is reported killed by pirates, and she is promised to a prince she does not love. A swordsman, a giant and a scheming noble chase the pair across a kingdom of pirates and wonders, in a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale of true love.
10
The Last Unicorn
Peter S. Beagle · 1968
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Quest
A unicorn learns she may be the last of her kind and leaves her forest to search for the others. With a bumbling magician and a sharp-tongued woman she travels to a king's castle, where love and loss wait at the end of the road.
11
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
Megan Bannen · 2022
Similar atmosphere: “Cozy Fantasy”
- Cozy Fantasy
Hart is a lonely marshal who hunts the undead; Mercy runs her family's funeral home and finds Hart insufferable. After a bitter week, each writes an anonymous letter to a stranger, and a warm correspondence begins without either knowing who is on the other end. Meanwhile, real life keeps forcing them together.
12
Stardust
Neil Gaiman · 1999
Similar atmosphere: “Whimsical”
- Whimsical
- Quest
A young man promises to retrieve a fallen star for the girl he loves and crosses a wall into the land of Faerie. There he finds the star is a woman pursued by witches and princes, and his errand becomes a journey of its own.