Historical Fiction Mixed with Fantasy

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Fantasy
• Historical fiction
• Read-alikes for Rick Riordan
• Focus on plot, action and events

Nobody’s Princess
By Esther M. Friesner
YA F FRIESNER
Determined to fend for herself in a world where only men have real freedom, headstrong Helen, who will be called queen of Sparta and Helen of Troy one day, learns to fight, hunt, and ride horses while disguised as a boy, and goes on an adventure throughout the Mediterranean world.

Leviathan
By Scott Westerfeld
YA F WESTERFE Leviatha #1
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts. (This one is science fiction, not fantasy.)

The Amulet of Samarkand
By Jonathan Stroud
YA F STROUD Bartimae #1
Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
By Rae Carson
YA F CARSON
A fearful sixteen-year-old princess discovers her heroic destiny after being married off to the king of a neighboring country in turmoil and pursued by enemies seething with dark magic.

Airman
By Eoin Colfer
YA F COLFER
In the late nineteenth century, when Conor Broekhart discovers a conspiracy to overthrow the king, he is branded a traitor, imprisoned, and forced to mine for diamonds under brutal conditions while he plans a daring escape from Little Saltee prison by way of a flying machine that he must design, build, and, hardest of all, trust to carry him to safety.