The 13 Best Ancient Rome-Inspired Fantasy and Sci-Fi Novels

Gladiators, legions and senates reimagined across invented empires and far-future starships, from cult favorites to this year's buzziest debut. Which one conquers your shelf?

1. 1
   Red Rising

   Pierce Brown's dystopian space saga of a color-coded caste society with Roman names, laws and legions.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Fallen City

   Adrienne Young's 2025 duology opener, an ancient-Rome-inspired fantasy of fated lovers on opposite sides of a holy war.
   789pts
3. 3
   Empire of Silence

   Christopher Ruocchio's space opera of a gladiator-turned-soldier in a collapsing human empire.
   663pts
4. 4
   The Shadow of Ararat

   Thomas Harlan's Oath of Empire opener, a fantasy of magic and myth in a Rome that never fell.
   387pts
5. 5
   The Winner's Curse

   Marie Rutkoski's tale of a general's daughter and an enslaved man in a conquering empire with a Roman feel.
   387pts
6. 6
   Sailing to Sarantium

   Guy Gavriel Kay's novel of a mosaicist summoned to a city modeled on Byzantium, the surviving Roman Empire.
   387pts
7. 7
   Furies of Calderon

   The first Codex Alera novel by Jim Butcher, set in a realm descended from a lost Roman legion.
   387pts
8. 8
   In Numina

   Assaph Mehr's detective fantasy set in Egretia, a city built from a thousand years of Roman culture and magic.
   387pts
9. 9
   The Will of the Many

   James Islington's fantasy of a Roman-style republic where lower ranks surrender their life force to those above.
   284pts
10. 10
    Ancillary Justice

    Ann Leckie's space opera of a former starship AI seeking revenge on the expansionist Radch empire.
    284pts
11. 11
    An Ember in the Ashes

    Sabaa Tahir's debut, a young adult fantasy of a martial empire modeled on ancient Rome.
    0pts
12. 12
    The Stars Undying

    Emery Robin's space opera retelling of Caesar and Cleopatra across a galactic empire.
    0pts
13. 13
    Thraxas Meets His Enemies

    Martin Scott's twelfth Thraxas novel, with a hard-drinking detective working the streets of a fantasy city at Roman-era tech level.
    0pts

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