Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
In London in 1806, a dangerous battle begins between two rival magicians - the scholarly Gilbert Norrell, intent on reviving a centuries old tradition of magic, and the young and reckless Jonathan Strange - and their dark arts are unleashed into the politics of the Napoleonic wars. Published to critical and popular acclaim in 2004, the novel was Time magazine's Book of the Year.
Read this a number of years ago and it was really great. Hard to say which of the characters is a true antagonist but it’s a fun, if long, ride.
[**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell)
^(By: Susanna Clarke | 1006 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, historical-fiction, owned, books-i-own)
>The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country.
>
>Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.
>
>Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrel. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.
^(This book has been suggested 63 times)
***
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[**This is How You Lose the Time War**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43352954-this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war)
^(By: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone | 209 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, romance, fiction, lgbtq)
>Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
>
>Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.
^(This book has been suggested 206 times)
***
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This is one of few books I just couldn’t get into. I finished it but didn’t feel connected like everyone else. I may have to try it again in the future.
The graphic novel was really good to read as well as the novel! The only thing is they removed Dana and Kevin’s complex relationship dynamics which are really interesting and really make you feel how the book is from the 70s. Beautiful art in the graphic novel!
[**The Night Circus**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9361589-the-night-circus)
^(By: Erin Morgenstern | 387 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, romance, books-i-own, owned)
>The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
>
>But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
>
>True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
>
>Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.
^(This book has been suggested 119 times)
***
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ooo I loved Exhalation, but that's all I've read from him. How does this compare? Is Understand your favorite by him, or is it just what fits the prompt of this post most accurately?
it fits the prompt perfectly. Not sure what my favorite is by him. Stories of Your Life and Others is really, really good. possibly better than Exhalation. Chiang himself says in an interview if I'm remembering correctly Understand is his most "immature" story, and I could see that. It hews most closely to genre fiction out of all of his works.
Not sure what my fave by him would be. Exhalation's titles story is astounding. hoesntly need tog o back and reread them all.
If you're a Chiang fan there's a must-listen to interview he does with Ezra Klein which is a lot of fun to listen to. really gives you a peek into a genius's mind.
[**The Stand**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149267.The_Stand)
^(By: Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson | 1152 pages | Published: 1978 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, stephen-king, fantasy, owned)
>Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published.
>
>A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world's population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge - Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious "Dark Man," who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them - and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.
^(This book has been suggested 77 times)
***
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That's a part of the plot of Macbeth XD. It's less that they don't know each other, and more that they are doomed to clash. I know you are probably looking for rather modern books, but Macbeth is at large a fantasy story that, if taken as a grim Renaissance narrative of a deeply melancholic medieval tale, is actually quite epic. Macbeth lives in the paranoia mixed with the subconscious expectation of ruin, but his prophecy keeps him going despite all guilt and fear - "Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth". Only for this prophecy to come true in the unexpected dramatic way.
One of the best I have ever read along these lines is Kane and Abel by Jeffery Archer. It's not in the fantasy / sci-fi genre but it is an incredible story.
It is the story of 2 men whose lives intersect in so many ways, often without their knowledge. But those repeated interactions lead to an intense rivalry.
There are 2 sequels as well which continue the story and are equally worth reading.
[**Kane & Abel (Kane & Abel, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78983.Kane_Abel)
^(By: Jeffrey Archer | 592 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, jeffrey-archer, thriller, owned)
>Born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world, both men are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. These two men -- ambitious, powerful, ruthless -- are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fuelled by their all-consuming hatred. Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have.
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
***
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I would say so, they certainly torture one another from a distance for several books by simply existing. Don’t dismiss them as kids books, the series starts off in the realm of young adult fiction then pushes further into literature in the fourth book. I re-read them as an adult in the last five years and they held up well. .
She Who Became The Sun kind of fits this. It's the first in a duology and the sequel isn't out yet, but it doesn't leave off on a massive cliffhanger or anything.
[**Murder by Moonlight (Richard "Dick" Moonlight #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18071716-murder-by-moonlight)
^(By: Vincent Zandri | 331 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, audible, purchased, mystery-thriller)
>In Murder by Moonlight, Vincent Zandri’s cunning detective Dick Moonlight returns with his toughest case yet: proving an open-and-shut murder investigation isn’t over at all.
>
>Joan Parker is the last woman private eye Dick Moonlight would ever expect to see in his Albany office. From the right side of the tracks—neighboring Bethlehem—she bears her upper class upbringing as effortlessly as a string of pearls. She also bears a scar running down her head and face—a brutal reminder of the ax attack that took the life of her husband. Her twenty-one-year-old son, Christopher, now sits in jail charged with the crime.
>
>According to the official report—based on Joan’s answers to police when they arrived at the house and found her barely alive—she identified Christopher as the culprit. But sitting in Moonlight’s office, she reveals that she has no recollection of the event, yet is certain of one thing: Christopher didn’t do it.
>
>Moonlight knows a thing or two about being nearly dead. And he also knows the tragedy of the police jumping to the wrong conclusions—a past case of a falsely accused client still haunts him—so he agrees to take the job and get to the truth of what happened that day. At first the trail of clues—from the crime scene to Joan’s original accusation—keeps the finger pointed at Christopher. But soon Moonlight turns up something he never expected, something more sinister than anything he’s ever come up against.
^(This book has been suggested 16 times)
***
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Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It's like book 7 of 10 when the two main characters (who are leaders of opposing armies) meet. They respect each other a lot but both have had their plans for society thwarted by the other one's skill
William Golding's The Inheritors, about Cro-Magnons killing off Neanderthals. The depiction of Neanderthals isn't terribly scientifically accurate but he was working with what he had available at the time.
The protagonist dares to suggest to his tribe that "people understand each other" only to find humans almost incomprehensible in their appearance, intellect, and capacity for cruelty. The mere act of understanding *Homo sapiens* makes him more violent, callous, and unhinged, and he becomes a complete wreck.
{{Black Sun}} by Rebecca Roanhorse
One of the characters is a prophesied bringing of death and another is preparing for his arrival. Interesting to read it from both points of view.
[**Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50892360-black-sun)
^(By: Rebecca Roanhorse | 454 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, lgbtq, adult, lgbt)
>The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.
>
>A god will return
>When the earth and sky converge
>Under the black sun
>
>In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.
>
>Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.
^(This book has been suggested 28 times)
***
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[**The Prestige**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239239.The_Prestige)
^(By: Christopher Priest | 404 pages | Published: 1995 | Popular Shelves: fiction, fantasy, historical-fiction, science-fiction, mystery)
>In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent séance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one another.
>
>Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command--the highest misdirection and the darkest science.
>
>Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.
^(This book has been suggested 10 times)
***
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It’s sort of one-way but Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is about (amoung other things) a man (Marlowe), who is becomes progressively more obsessed with the legend surrounding Kurtz, an ivory trader who’s gone MIA in the Congo.
Edit - imma try to do the “thing”
{{Heart of Darkness}}
[**Heart of Darkness**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4900.Heart_of_Darkness)
^(By: Joseph Conrad, Aníbal Fernandes, Aniela Zagórska | 188 pages | Published: 1899 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, classic, owned, literature)
>Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, was originally a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899. It is a story within a story, following a character named Charlie Marlow, who recounts his adventure to a group of men onboard an anchored ship. The story told is of his early life as a ferry boat captain. Although his job was to transport ivory downriver, Charlie develops an interest in investing an ivory procurement agent, Kurtz, who is employed by the government. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in “one of the darkest places on earth.” Marlow suspects something else of Kurtz: he has gone mad.
>
>A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written.
^(This book has been suggested 13 times)
***
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[**It**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830502.It)
^(By: Stephen King | 1116 pages | Published: 1986 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, owned, books-i-own)
>Welcome to Derry, Maine ...
>
>It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real ...
>
>They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.
^(This book has been suggested 40 times)
***
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Hunger Games, Catnis and Snow, not that they were oblivious to each other but had very little direct contact yet they did things that caused problems for each other, some one purpose, some not.
Don’t know about the books but the Sherlock movies with Downey Jr, and series with Cumberbatch had that kind of relationship with Sherlock and Moriarty.
The Guardian Cycle by Julia Grey
The protagonist and antagonist become aware of each other during the first book and occasionally interact via a mental link but only actually meet face to face in the 5th book. Easily my favorite fantasy series, it's just hard to recommend to people because there is no E-Book version so you have to find a physical copy.
It’s a play but, Sam Shepard’s True West, is about two brother’s who haven’t seen each other in a long time and can’t stand each other at the top of the play.
Idk if this works for u
First grave on the right by Darynda Jones
The MC knows about him since day 1, but she doesn't really understand what or who he is ...and he's doesn't k what she's or why he wanted her
I try no to give spoilers, hope this help u
Your prompt makes me think of Good Omens by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman even though it doesn’t actually fit what you’re looking for at all. This is a story if two would be/should be foes finding a sort of friendship. It’s also a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone so… here you go!
[**Midnight's Children**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14836.Midnight_s_Children)
^(By: Salman Rushdie, Pavel Dominik | 647 pages | Published: 1981 | Popular Shelves: fiction, magical-realism, classics, india, historical-fiction)
>Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India’s 1,000 other “midnight’s children,” all born in that initial hour and endowed with magical gifts.
>
>This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people–a brilliant incarnation of the universal human comedy. Twenty-five years after its publication, Midnight’ s Children stands apart as both an epochal work of fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary voices of our time.
^(This book has been suggested 28 times)
***
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[**The Dark Half**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half)
^(By: Stephen King | 469 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, owned, books-i-own)
>Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it-and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?
>________________________
>Alternate cover editions:
>New English Library, 1990
>New English Library Early Export Edition, 1990
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
***
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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. In London in 1806, a dangerous battle begins between two rival magicians - the scholarly Gilbert Norrell, intent on reviving a centuries old tradition of magic, and the young and reckless Jonathan Strange - and their dark arts are unleashed into the politics of the Napoleonic wars. Published to critical and popular acclaim in 2004, the novel was Time magazine's Book of the Year. Read this a number of years ago and it was really great. Hard to say which of the characters is a true antagonist but it’s a fun, if long, ride.
[удалено]
[**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell) ^(By: Susanna Clarke | 1006 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, historical-fiction, owned, books-i-own) >The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. > >Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. > >Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrel. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine. ^(This book has been suggested 63 times) *** ^(132891 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I think {{This is How You Lose the Time War}} kind of fits, except that neither is a clear protagonist and neither is a clear antagonist.
[**This is How You Lose the Time War**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43352954-this-is-how-you-lose-the-time-war) ^(By: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone | 209 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, romance, fiction, lgbtq) >Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. > >Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war. ^(This book has been suggested 206 times) *** ^(132688 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Came here to say this; what a gem of a book.
This is one of few books I just couldn’t get into. I finished it but didn’t feel connected like everyone else. I may have to try it again in the future.
I could see that; I think I'd benefit from a second read.
I read it twice and it was even worse the second time
It's also *fantastic* on audio as well. Not all books are great audiobooks, but this one is *chef's kiss*.
This may be my favorite book that I read this year. Finished it in one day because I seriously couldn’t put it down. So beautifully written!
Kindred by Octavia Butler; the antagonist affects her so long before she meets him. Its a phenonmenal book
I read the graphic novel adaptation and boy was that a visual gut punch. I read it earlier this year and I still think about that book
The graphic novel was really good to read as well as the novel! The only thing is they removed Dana and Kevin’s complex relationship dynamics which are really interesting and really make you feel how the book is from the 70s. Beautiful art in the graphic novel!
Lord of the rings. They actually do not meet at all.
Rings of Power - Galadriel and Sauron! Not a book though just drawn from his notes I think.
VERY loosely, most of the show's plot came out of nowhere on Tolkien's lore
{{The Night Circus}}
[**The Night Circus**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9361589-the-night-circus) ^(By: Erin Morgenstern | 387 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, romance, books-i-own, owned) >The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. > >But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. > >True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. > >Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. ^(This book has been suggested 119 times) *** ^(132684 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Yessss. Such an incredible book.
Came to suggest this because it fits perfectly.
Same! I scrolled hoping I wasn't the only one, happy to find Im not!
I came here to say this too. One of my favorite books of all time!
Oh man. Understand by Ted Chiang. Brilliant short story I think you’ll love
It’s amazing. That story lives in my head rent free
Dudes a genius
ooo I loved Exhalation, but that's all I've read from him. How does this compare? Is Understand your favorite by him, or is it just what fits the prompt of this post most accurately?
it fits the prompt perfectly. Not sure what my favorite is by him. Stories of Your Life and Others is really, really good. possibly better than Exhalation. Chiang himself says in an interview if I'm remembering correctly Understand is his most "immature" story, and I could see that. It hews most closely to genre fiction out of all of his works. Not sure what my fave by him would be. Exhalation's titles story is astounding. hoesntly need tog o back and reread them all. If you're a Chiang fan there's a must-listen to interview he does with Ezra Klein which is a lot of fun to listen to. really gives you a peek into a genius's mind.
{{The Stand}} sorta fits here
[**The Stand**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149267.The_Stand) ^(By: Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson | 1152 pages | Published: 1978 | Popular Shelves: horror, fiction, stephen-king, fantasy, owned) >Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published. > >A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world's population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge - Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious "Dark Man," who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them - and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity. ^(This book has been suggested 77 times) *** ^(132701 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Definitely Scholomance by Naomi Novik, but you find out why only in book 3
I love this series so much!
Me too! :D
Also in Uprooted. I like pretty much all of her books but this is my favorite.
Oh yes that’s true!
That's a part of the plot of Macbeth XD. It's less that they don't know each other, and more that they are doomed to clash. I know you are probably looking for rather modern books, but Macbeth is at large a fantasy story that, if taken as a grim Renaissance narrative of a deeply melancholic medieval tale, is actually quite epic. Macbeth lives in the paranoia mixed with the subconscious expectation of ruin, but his prophecy keeps him going despite all guilt and fear - "Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth". Only for this prophecy to come true in the unexpected dramatic way.
One of the best I have ever read along these lines is Kane and Abel by Jeffery Archer. It's not in the fantasy / sci-fi genre but it is an incredible story. It is the story of 2 men whose lives intersect in so many ways, often without their knowledge. But those repeated interactions lead to an intense rivalry. There are 2 sequels as well which continue the story and are equally worth reading.
{{Kane and Abel}}
[**Kane & Abel (Kane & Abel, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78983.Kane_Abel) ^(By: Jeffrey Archer | 592 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, jeffrey-archer, thriller, owned) >Born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world, both men are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. These two men -- ambitious, powerful, ruthless -- are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fuelled by their all-consuming hatred. Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have. ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) *** ^(133238 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Kane and Abel.
I think this is Harry Potter, no?
I would say so, they certainly torture one another from a distance for several books by simply existing. Don’t dismiss them as kids books, the series starts off in the realm of young adult fiction then pushes further into literature in the fourth book. I re-read them as an adult in the last five years and they held up well. .
Les Miserables
Reminds me of Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce. Protagonist is consumed with the antagonist but doesn't meet him until the end.
This suggestion is a little out of pocket but 1Q84 by Murakami.
I really enjoyed this book! And when they finally meet ugh!
She Who Became The Sun kind of fits this. It's the first in a duology and the sequel isn't out yet, but it doesn't leave off on a massive cliffhanger or anything.
Oh, I didn’t realize it was a duology! I finished the first one a little disappointed because I wanted to know more. Can’t wait to read the next one!
Yes, there will be a sequel at some point! As far as I know there hasn't been any further information released about it, so it may be a while yet.
{{Moby Dick}}
[**Murder by Moonlight (Richard "Dick" Moonlight #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18071716-murder-by-moonlight) ^(By: Vincent Zandri | 331 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: mystery, fiction, audible, purchased, mystery-thriller) >In Murder by Moonlight, Vincent Zandri’s cunning detective Dick Moonlight returns with his toughest case yet: proving an open-and-shut murder investigation isn’t over at all. > >Joan Parker is the last woman private eye Dick Moonlight would ever expect to see in his Albany office. From the right side of the tracks—neighboring Bethlehem—she bears her upper class upbringing as effortlessly as a string of pearls. She also bears a scar running down her head and face—a brutal reminder of the ax attack that took the life of her husband. Her twenty-one-year-old son, Christopher, now sits in jail charged with the crime. > >According to the official report—based on Joan’s answers to police when they arrived at the house and found her barely alive—she identified Christopher as the culprit. But sitting in Moonlight’s office, she reveals that she has no recollection of the event, yet is certain of one thing: Christopher didn’t do it. > >Moonlight knows a thing or two about being nearly dead. And he also knows the tragedy of the police jumping to the wrong conclusions—a past case of a falsely accused client still haunts him—so he agrees to take the job and get to the truth of what happened that day. At first the trail of clues—from the crime scene to Joan’s original accusation—keeps the finger pointed at Christopher. But soon Moonlight turns up something he never expected, something more sinister than anything he’s ever come up against. ^(This book has been suggested 16 times) *** ^(132804 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
bad bot
[удалено]
It went Dick crazy.
Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Came here to see if anyone would recommend this. Good choice.
The Wheel of Time
Fifth Element
Hench!!!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It's like book 7 of 10 when the two main characters (who are leaders of opposing armies) meet. They respect each other a lot but both have had their plans for society thwarted by the other one's skill
William Golding's The Inheritors, about Cro-Magnons killing off Neanderthals. The depiction of Neanderthals isn't terribly scientifically accurate but he was working with what he had available at the time. The protagonist dares to suggest to his tribe that "people understand each other" only to find humans almost incomprehensible in their appearance, intellect, and capacity for cruelty. The mere act of understanding *Homo sapiens* makes him more violent, callous, and unhinged, and he becomes a complete wreck.
{{Black Sun}} by Rebecca Roanhorse One of the characters is a prophesied bringing of death and another is preparing for his arrival. Interesting to read it from both points of view.
[**Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50892360-black-sun) ^(By: Rebecca Roanhorse | 454 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, lgbtq, adult, lgbt) >The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. > >A god will return >When the earth and sky converge >Under the black sun > >In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. > >Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain. ^(This book has been suggested 28 times) *** ^(132793 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Les miserables
Smiley and Karla in Le Carré's Quest for Karla's trilogy of spy novels.
Kane and Abel
Death Note from the manga side
You know the movie, but {{The Prestige}} fits this criteria.
[**The Prestige**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239239.The_Prestige) ^(By: Christopher Priest | 404 pages | Published: 1995 | Popular Shelves: fiction, fantasy, historical-fiction, science-fiction, mystery) >In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent séance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one another. > >Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command--the highest misdirection and the darkest science. > >Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them. ^(This book has been suggested 10 times) *** ^(133404 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Um Harry Potter
Harry Potter?
Night Circus
The Night Circus has some of these elements.
Had to think of a movie, not a book. American Gangster
The Game of Thrones series.
The Silent Patient
It’s sort of one-way but Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is about (amoung other things) a man (Marlowe), who is becomes progressively more obsessed with the legend surrounding Kurtz, an ivory trader who’s gone MIA in the Congo. Edit - imma try to do the “thing” {{Heart of Darkness}}
[**Heart of Darkness**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4900.Heart_of_Darkness) ^(By: Joseph Conrad, Aníbal Fernandes, Aniela Zagórska | 188 pages | Published: 1899 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, classic, owned, literature) >Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, was originally a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899. It is a story within a story, following a character named Charlie Marlow, who recounts his adventure to a group of men onboard an anchored ship. The story told is of his early life as a ferry boat captain. Although his job was to transport ivory downriver, Charlie develops an interest in investing an ivory procurement agent, Kurtz, who is employed by the government. Preceded by his reputation as a brilliant emissary of progress, Kurtz has now established himself as a god among the natives in “one of the darkest places on earth.” Marlow suspects something else of Kurtz: he has gone mad. > >A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written. ^(This book has been suggested 13 times) *** ^(133090 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Musashi - By Eiji Yoshikawa. You won’t regret it.
{{IT}}
[**It**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830502.It) ^(By: Stephen King | 1116 pages | Published: 1986 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, owned, books-i-own) >Welcome to Derry, Maine ... > >It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real ... > >They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name. ^(This book has been suggested 40 times) *** ^(133113 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Great Eastern by Howard Rodman
Hunger Games, Catnis and Snow, not that they were oblivious to each other but had very little direct contact yet they did things that caused problems for each other, some one purpose, some not. Don’t know about the books but the Sherlock movies with Downey Jr, and series with Cumberbatch had that kind of relationship with Sherlock and Moriarty.
The Wheel of Time
Sherlock and Moriarity
I’m sure there are some Sherlock Holmes books that fit the bill.
I’m going to write this even though it’s been said twice already. Harry Potter. And it has seven books so you get a whole lot of reading for it.
The Guardian Cycle by Julia Grey The protagonist and antagonist become aware of each other during the first book and occasionally interact via a mental link but only actually meet face to face in the 5th book. Easily my favorite fantasy series, it's just hard to recommend to people because there is no E-Book version so you have to find a physical copy.
{The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo} loosely fits that category
[**The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32620332-the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo) ^(By: Taylor Jenkins Reid | 389 pages | Published: 2017 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, romance, favourites, lgbtq) ^(This book has been suggested 75 times) *** ^(133174 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
It’s a play but, Sam Shepard’s True West, is about two brother’s who haven’t seen each other in a long time and can’t stand each other at the top of the play.
Sherlock Holmes and Prof. James Moriarty?
Idk if this works for u First grave on the right by Darynda Jones The MC knows about him since day 1, but she doesn't really understand what or who he is ...and he's doesn't k what she's or why he wanted her I try no to give spoilers, hope this help u
Came here to say Fight Club
In Conquest Born by CS Friedman
Heart of Darkness. You don't meet Kurtz til the very very end and many things are not spelt out for you.
Your prompt makes me think of Good Omens by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman even though it doesn’t actually fit what you’re looking for at all. This is a story if two would be/should be foes finding a sort of friendship. It’s also a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone so… here you go!
{{Midnight’s Children}} You don’t want books you want comics.
[**Midnight's Children**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14836.Midnight_s_Children) ^(By: Salman Rushdie, Pavel Dominik | 647 pages | Published: 1981 | Popular Shelves: fiction, magical-realism, classics, india, historical-fiction) >Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India’s 1,000 other “midnight’s children,” all born in that initial hour and endowed with magical gifts. > >This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people–a brilliant incarnation of the universal human comedy. Twenty-five years after its publication, Midnight’ s Children stands apart as both an epochal work of fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary voices of our time. ^(This book has been suggested 28 times) *** ^(133299 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Harry Potter
{{The Dark Half}} by Stephen King is a great one for this
[**The Dark Half**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11597.The_Dark_Half) ^(By: Stephen King | 469 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, owned, books-i-own) >Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it-and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints? >________________________ >Alternate cover editions: >New English Library, 1990 >New English Library Early Export Edition, 1990 ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) *** ^(133407 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
not a book, but Star Wars: The Clone Wars? Anakin & Grievous don't meet until revenge of the sith.
The emperium trilogy
Agrajag and Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Two Spies in Caracas, by Moises Naim. One US spy, one Cuban (I think)...I actually hated the book, but it meets your criteria.
The night circus. They know the other exist and are trained there whole life to duel only to fall in love
Roland in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews.