What to read next
10 books like The Sirens
Lucy's fear, Jess's disappearance, historical women, and coastal folklore give bodily change a family history rather than treating it as an isolated supernatural event. If that is what you want more of after The Sirens, these recommendations preserve that appeal in different ways, without pretending every similar book offers the same experience.
Start with our The Sirens review by Emilia Hart.
Choose by reading mood
Where to start
For the fastest read
The Da Vinci Code
FastFor the darkest read
The Curse of Hester Gardens
Very darkFor minimal romance
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
MinimalFor the easiest entry
Dragon Teeth
AccessibleThe full shortlist
Why each book belongs here
Each match is judged against The Sirens, not merely placed beside it because the books share a broad genre label.
1
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
- Shared ground
- Both books build unease from a threat the characters cannot safely understand at first.
- What changes
- Bury Our Bones is darker, more erotic, and explicitly vampiric; The Sirens is gentler and organizes female transformation around sisters, ancestry, and water.
- Best for
- Adult readers wanting sapphic vampires, historical settings, nonlinear structure, sensual prose, violence, hunger, toxic intimacy, and meditations on freedom.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Dark
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
2
The Forest on the Edge of Time
- Shared ground
- Both books treat family loyalty as a source of both protection and pressure.
- What changes
- The Forest on the Edge of Time also links family inheritance to a living landscape, but through climate and time travel rather than marine folklore.
- Best for
- Readers of ecological and literary science fiction who prefer family, stewardship, climate grief, and moral consequence to gadget-focused time travel.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
3
The Night Circus
- Shared ground
- Both books use impossible worlds and supernatural pressure to test their characters.
- What changes
- The Night Circus offers denser spectacle and romantic enchantment; The Sirens is quieter, more domestic, and shaped by unease along one coast.
- Best for
- Readers who prioritize immersive atmosphere, visual magic, and slow-burn romantic mood over firm rules or fast narrative movement.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Gentle
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
4
Timeline
- Shared ground
- Both books use long spans of time or altered chronology as part of the story rather than decoration.
- What changes
- Timeline is faster than The Sirens. Languages, fortifications, weapons, clothing, and social status turn academic expertise into uncertain survival tools rather than decorative research.
- Best for
- Readers wanting researched medieval action, archaeology, speculative time travel, and a long setup followed by rapid adventure.
- Pace Brisk
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
5
The Curse of Hester Gardens
- Shared ground
- Both books build unease from a threat the characters cannot safely understand at first.
- What changes
- The Curse of Hester Gardens is darker than The Sirens. The house's unstable geography, inherited records, and buried violence create sustained unease, while the family history gives the supernatural threat emotional roots.
- Best for
- Gothic-horror readers who prefer inherited secrets, oppressive houses, family trauma, slow dread, and supernatural violence to constant jump scares.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Very dark
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
6
The Da Vinci Code
- Shared ground
- Both books make a past period materially important to the characters rather than decorative scenery.
- What changes
- The Da Vinci Code is faster than The Sirens. Each symbol, location, betrayal, and deadline pushes directly into the next problem, making exposition function as propulsion rather than background.
- Best for
- Readers wanting a fast art-history conspiracy and willing to treat its factual claims as entertainment requiring verification.
- Pace Fast
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
7
Dragon Teeth
- Shared ground
- Both books make a past period materially important to the characters rather than decorative scenery.
- What changes
- Dragon Teeth is faster than The Sirens. Cope, Marsh, fossil sites, transport, theft, and frontier violence make scientific prestige inseparable from logistics and personality.
- Best for
- Readers interested in fossils, the Bone Wars, western adventure, and accessible historical fiction.
- Pace Brisk
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
8
Pirate Latitudes
- Shared ground
- Both books make a past period materially important to the characters rather than decorative scenery.
- What changes
- Pirate Latitudes is faster than The Sirens. Crew selection, harbor defenses, weather, navigation, and the target's fortifications give the raid satisfying practical stages.
- Best for
- Readers wanting adult pirate adventure, violence, a fortified-island heist, and brisk historical escapism.
- Pace Brisk
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
9
Inferno
- Shared ground
- Both books make a past period materially important to the characters rather than decorative scenery.
- What changes
- Inferno is faster than The Sirens. Art, maps, plague imagery, altered memory, and city movement keep clues visually connected to the threat rather than merely decorative.
- Best for
- Readers wanting a dark Langdon thriller through Florence and Venice with Dante, biotechnology, and moral controversy.
- Pace Brisk
- Darkness Moderate
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
10
Between Two Fires
- Shared ground
- Both books build unease from a threat the characters cannot safely understand at first.
- What changes
- Between Two Fires is darker than The Sirens. Thomas, Delphine, and the priest form an unstable moral company, while each monstrous episode grows from a historical or theological fear.
- Best for
- Readers wanting medieval horror, plague, faith, demons, violence, and a damaged knight's redemptive journey.
- Pace Balanced
- Darkness Very dark
- Romance Minimal
- Difficulty Accessible
Side-by-side
Pace, darkness, romance, and difficulty
Use these labels as directional guidance. The individual notes above explain the tradeoffs.
| Book | Pace | Darkness | Romance | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sirens | Balanced | Moderate | Light subplot | Accessible |
| Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil | Balanced | Dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Forest on the Edge of Time | Balanced | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Night Circus | Balanced | Gentle | Minimal | Accessible |
| Timeline | Brisk | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Curse of Hester Gardens | Balanced | Very dark | Minimal | Accessible |
| The Da Vinci Code | Fast | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| Dragon Teeth | Brisk | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| Pirate Latitudes | Brisk | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| Inferno | Brisk | Moderate | Minimal | Accessible |
| Between Two Fires | Balanced | Very dark | Minimal | Accessible |
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