If the moments that gripped you were Ista’s uneasy bargains with the Bastard, the way miracles arrive sideways, and the wary, grown-up tenderness of her bond with Illvin, you’ll sink right into Paladin’s Grace. Stephen is a paladin of a dead god trying to live decently amid assassins and court intrigue, and his connection with Grace, a perfumer ensnared in a plot, carries the same mix of vulnerability, humor, and hard-won faith. The divine feels unpredictable yet compassionate, much like the Five—quiet interventions, uncanny blessings, and choices that test conscience more than swords.

Loved watching Ista step out of the dowager’s shadows to redefine herself on pilgrimage? Dragonsbane follows Jenny Waynest, a seasoned mage and mother, as she wrestles with the cost of her magic and the pull of her ordinary life when a dragon threatens the North. Like Ista, Jenny’s choices are intimate and consequential: small keeps and winter roads, quarrels by firelight, and quiet reckonings that decide fates. It’s a story about agency arriving late—and still arriving fiercely.

If Ista’s evolution—from brittle duty to confident, compassionate power—was your highlight, Uprooted offers that same thrill. Agnieszka’s magic is as wild and intuitive as the Five’s miracles, and like Ista facing demon-ridden terrors, she chooses mercy and ingenuity over brute force. The push-pull with the stern “Dragon,” the corruption creeping from the Wood, and the way every spell costs something echo the moral texture you enjoyed in Ista’s hard choices and unexpected acts of grace.

If what stayed with you was living inside Ista’s head—her grief, wit, faith, and fatigue—The Golem and the Jinni will resonate. Chava and Ahmad, like Ista in her god-touched state, carry powers that isolate them; their slow, searching conversations and small acts of kindness in 1890s New York mirror Ista’s quiet, intimate reckonings on the road. The magic is elusive and consequential, and the emotional payoffs land with the same satisfying clarity as Ista’s final, merciful choices.

If you liked how Ista, with only a few companions, unraveled demon-haunted mysteries in villages and keeps—guided as much by compassion as by courage—try The Steerswoman. Rowan and her ally Bel travel from inns to outlying towns, investigating strange blue jewels and the harm they cause, much as Ista and her retinue probe the hidden workings behind possessions and miracles. The scope stays personal and humane, and each revelation hinges on careful observation and moral choice.