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The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

Exiled princes, waking legends, and a looming darkness threaten a fractured realm. The Dragonbone Chair launches a sweeping epic where a humble kitchen boy is pulled into the tides of prophecy, ancient power, and battles that will shape the fate of the world.

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In The Dragonbone Chair, did you enjoy ...

... a long-gestating evil reawakening and a quest that crosses an entire world?

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

If the stirring of Ineluki the Storm King and the flight from the Hayholt made you crave a vast journey shaped by ancient powers, you’ll feel right at home in The Fellowship of the Ring. Like Simon’s trek from kitchen scullion to wanderer among Sithi ruins and Hernystiri camps, Frodo’s road pulls a small band across old realms where songs and relics still carry the weight of forgotten wars. As with the three legendary blades—Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn—Tolkien’s artifacts and histories are the living bones of the quest, and the melancholy sweep of the past presses on every mile.

... meticulous lore—from lost ages to living peoples—driving present-day conflict?

The Eye Of The World by Robert Jordan

Loved how Osten Ard’s layered past—Sithi legacies, Norn enmities, and the League of the Scroll—bleeds into Simon’s present? The Eye of the World offers that same dense tapestry. As Pryrates and King Elias stir old powers beneath the Hayholt, Jordan’s world hums with prophecy, fragmented histories, and cultures whose customs shape every encounter on the road. The sense that maps, songs, and ruins still matter—so palpable when Simon stumbles through the Hayholt’s hidden ways—permeates every chapter here.

... a humble boy’s growth from obscurity under a wary mentor?

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

If Simon’s transformation—from mooncalf in the Hayholt’s kitchens to a survivor tempered by Doctor Morgenes and hard miles—hooked you, Assassin’s Apprentice will seize you by the heart. Fitz begins even lower than Simon and is shaped by a reluctant mentor who teaches him hard, secret crafts. The intimate, bruising steps from frightened novice to capable agent echo Simon’s trials with Josua’s ragged company, and the emotional stakes land with the same quiet, devastating power.

... a patient, character-first unfolding that crescendos into spiritual and political stakes?

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

If you appreciated how The Dragonbone Chair builds slowly—from Simon’s cramped chores to confrontations shaped by the Storm King’s shadow—The Curse of Chalion rewards that same patience. Like Simon’s gradual entanglement with Morgenes, Pryrates, and Prince Josua, Cazaril’s path starts quietly and tightens into a web of duty, faith, and court peril. The payoff feels earned, the way the hidden truths beneath the Hayholt and the swords’ legacies bloom after so much careful groundwork.

... courtly maneuvering, fragile alliances, and treacherous advisors at the heart of a kingdom?

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

If the knife-edge politics of Elias’s court—Pryrates whispering at the throne, nobles splitting between Elias and Josua—kept you rapt, The Goblin Emperor plunges you into a throne room where every bow hides a blade. Like the uneasy coalitions that form around the League of the Scroll and the Hayholt’s factions, Maia must read enemies as allies and survive etiquette-as-warfare. The stakes aren’t just swords and sorcery; they’re signatures, titles, and the courage to outmaneuver conspirators in plain sight.

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