Fictional Faith
Books that feature fictional religions of some kind!! I find these all to be fascinating but that doesn’t mean they all place the same amount of emphasis on the religious structures of their worldbuilding as others. If you have any recs lmk!!
created by fangbikeification
last updated October, 2026
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love this list concept!! i recommend the wetworks miracle. it literally influenced my dreams to be about a creepy non-existent religion one night after reading
#sat
The Knight and the Moth would work with this!
I really need to get around to reading this one omg
i really enjoyed it!
The Memoirs of Lady Trent series has a fictional religion based on Judaism which is pretty cool! These books also have fictional religions:
- The Four Profound Weaves by RB Lemberg
- Witchmark by CL Polk
- The tensorate series by Neon Yang
- Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang
- Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers
- The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
- A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
- The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
- The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood
- Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
- Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
- The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall
Technically also any of the Discworld novels, but if you’re just including one then I guess Small Gods would probably be the best fit? Since it’s about religion and also technically a standalone Likewise any of the books by Tamora Pierce that are set in Tortall. Maybe Wild Magic as an example? Idk
Cme to say the priory of the orange tree aswell.
First, fully forgot apparently sir cameron needs to die has a religious system and i don’t know how it’s a huge part of the book 😭😭 Second, what do you think of witchmark by CL Polk? I have an old copy but I never got around to reading it!!
Lmaooo dw I also forgot when I was making this list of recs that Swordheart by T. Kingfisher not only has a fictional religion but one of the major supporting characters is a priest of one of the aforementioned religions despite the fact that I only read it a couple of weeks ago 🤦 so I guess that makes two of us lol And I enjoyed Witchmark! I enjoyed the writing and the characters. It’s kinda similar in vibe to A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske if you’ve read that?But a bit more gaslamp fantasy. It has a cute romance but also a magical murder mystery aspect (kind of). Honestly I read it quite a while ago so my memory is a bit foggy haha but I remember having fun at the time!
The age of empire series by Michael J. Sullivan has a fictional religion. The first one is the Age of Myth. Its not the first one he wrote in this world but the first chronologically.
Oh this is such a good niche!
radiant star by ann leckie would fit this!
I’ve really wanted to start reading her works!! Which do you think is best to start with?
oooo probably the original imperial radch trilogy (starts with ancillary justice) because it is a great way to get into the universe! my favorite books by her are the last of that trilogy (ancillary mercy) & translation state :)
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson has some interesting conversations about faith in relation to the fictional religion of that world! And the titular character in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, also by Sanderson, is somewhat of an important figure in her fictional religion.
I want to read that series so bad but the amount of books in the scu (sanderson cinematic universe idk what the real name is) is crazysofjgo
the good thing is that many of the series and standalones in the cosmere (that‘s the real name) are self-sufficient and you don’t have to commit to reading all the books! though Stormlight is also just a long series itself haha, but if you’re into character-focused works, slow build-up and epic payoff, I definitely recommend it!!
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