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Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis
On the brink of World War II, engineered prodigies clash with blood-fueled warlocks in a shadow war that could reshape history. Secrets, sacrifice, and terrible bargains power the alternate-history engine of Bitter Seeds, a tense, atmospheric tale where every miracle has a horrifying price.
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In Bitter Seeds, did you enjoy ...
... superpowered espionage woven into a grim WWII alternate history?
The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar
If the way Marsh and Milkweed spar with von Westarp’s engineered Übermenschen—and Gretel’s unnerving foresight—hooked you, you’ll love how The Violent Century follows British “heroes” Fogg and Oblivion through secret missions and morally murky intelligence work from the 1940s onward. Like the Eidolon-fueled arms race in Bitter Seeds, Tidhar’s world treats powers as tools of statecraft, yielding shadow wars, betrayals, and quiet tragedies rather than capes and glory.
... dangerous, transactional sorcery that exacts a terrible price?
Black Sun Rising by C. S. Friedman
If Will Beauclerk’s blood rites and the Eidolons’ chilling ‘prices’ fascinated you, Black Sun Rising dives even deeper into magic that corrupts its wielders. On the planet Erna, human thought shapes a perilous “fae,” and bargains with the ageless Hunter mirror the Milkweed pacts—power now, consequences later. The atmosphere is as foreboding as the moments when Will calls the Eidolons and realizes what his victories will cost.
... a war-forged protagonist crossing moral lines in pursuit of survival and victory?
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
If Raybould Marsh’s choices—black-bag ops, ruthless calculus, and using Will’s sorcery despite the human toll—kept you conflicted, Rin’s descent in The Poppy War will hit the same nerve. In a brutal, war-torn setting, she seizes terrifying power and wrestles with the same question that haunts Bitter Seeds: when the stakes are existential, how far can you go before you become what you fight?
... ruthless statecraft, spycraft, and betrayals shaping the fate of nations?
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
If you loved Milkweed’s cloak-and-dagger maneuvering—Marsh’s intelligence gambits, hidden agendas, and the way Gretel bends geopolitics with a whispered nudge—The Traitor Baru Cormorant delivers that knife-edge political game. Baru infiltrates an empire from within, wielding finance, surveillance, and strategy with the same cold precision Marsh aims at the Reich, forcing devastating personal sacrifices for national ends.
... the brutal costs of serving and resisting sorcery in war?
The Black Company by Glen Cook
If Will’s bargains with the Eidolons and Marsh’s loyalty-versus-conscience struggle stuck with you, The Black Company puts a mercenary unit under a tyrant’s sorcerous regime and asks the same hard questions. Croaker’s firsthand chronicles echo Milkweed’s ground-level grit as soldiers navigate the Lady and the Taken, where every tactical win—like Milkweed’s—carries a moral wound that may never heal.
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