What to Read After God of War: 8 Stories That Hit the Same
You finished Ragnarök. Kratos and Atreus went their separate ways, the prophecy bent, and the credits rolled. I know that feeling well. You want more of it. Old gods, real stakes, a world that takes its myths seriously. Here is where I would send you next.
By Mohsen Ashraf, creator of Pantheon
God of War didn't work because of the combat. It worked because the gods felt real. Petty, dangerous, grieving, bound by prophecies they couldn't outrun. When the story ended, the thing I missed was that weight. These eight reads give it back.
So where do you go when the credits roll and you still want to live in that world? I sorted these by how close they sit to the games. The top of the list is for the reader who wants the same Norse gloom and god-sized stakes right now. Further down are the broader picks. Greek myth, manga, the literary high end, for when you're ready to wander past Midgard.
Closest to the games
1. God of War: the official comics (Dark Horse)
Start here if you simply can't let Kratos go. Dark Horse's God of War comics fill the gaps around the games, including the years before Ragnarök, with the same tone the studio built. They aren't required reading for the games, but they're the most direct continuation of the world you already love.
2. Heathen, by Natasha Alterici
Aydis is a Viking warrior, exiled for loving another woman, who decides the gods themselves are the problem and sets out to defy Odin. It's the closest indie graphic novel in spirit to God of War: a mortal standing against a divine order, drawn with cold, gorgeous northern art. If you read one book off this list, read this one.
3. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman (and the graphic-novel adaptation)
This is the source code. Gaiman retells the core Norse myths with wit and dread. Odin's bargains, Thor's blunders, Loki's slow turn toward the end of everything. P. Craig Russell's graphic-novel adaptation puts those same stories on the page in full color. Read it and you'll catch every reference the games were making.
Want to read the world, not just about it?
Pantheon puts the Norse, Greek, and Mesopotamian gods in one world, with one murder threatening to set it on fire. Start with the free first issue.
See the bookSame energy, wider world
4. Record of Ragnarok, by Shinya Umemura, Takumi Fukui & Ajichika
Humanity is sentenced to extinction, so it gets one last chance: thirteen one-on-one duels between history's greatest mortals and the gods themselves. This manga is loud, ridiculous, and exactly the kind of god-versus-everything spectacle the boss fights gave you. Turn your brain down and let it swing.
5. The Wicked + The Divine, by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie
Every ninety years, twelve gods return as young celebrities. They're worshipped, they're brilliant, and within two years they're all dead. It trades the axe for politics and pop, but the core is pure God of War: divinity as a burden, mortality closing in, and gods who are far more human than they look.
6. Vinland Saga, by Makoto Yukimura
No gods walk on screen here, but this is the Norse world the games live inside. Viking raids, a son consumed by revenge for his father, the slow and brutal cost of violence. If what landed hardest in Ragnarök was the father-and-son thread, Vinland Saga will gut you in the best way.
When you're ready to leave Midgard
7. The Sandman: Season of Mists, by Neil Gaiman
Odin, Thor, and Loki turn up in one of the great comics of all time, scheming alongside every other pantheon for the keys to a freshly abandoned Hell. It's the literary ceiling for gods-as-characters, and a preview of what it feels like when pantheons share a single stage.
8. Olympians, by George O'Connor
If God of War's roots in the Greek games are calling, O'Connor's Olympians cycle is the best graphic-novel tour of the Greek gods going. One volume per deity, meticulously researched, and a lot sharper than its all-ages reputation suggests.
What ties all eight together: gods who are powerful and flawed, mortals who refuse to kneel, and a world where myth has real consequences. That's the itch God of War leaves. That's the itch these scratch.
If you want all of it in one world
Every book above lives inside one mythology. God of War itself only recently crossed from the Greek pantheon into the Norse one, and that crossover is part of why the later games felt so big. Suddenly the map was bigger than one set of gods.
Pantheon: The Elemental Artifact is the book I wanted to read and couldn't find, so I made it. The Norse, Greco-Roman, and Mesopotamian gods are all real and share one world. Ragnarök already happened. The first volume opens on the murder of a revered goddess, the kind of spark that could undo the fragile peace the old gods bought, and three young gods who have every reason to distrust each other are the only ones who can stop what comes next.
It's a signed first edition, 174 full-color pages, collecting issues #1 through #5. It was funded by 103 readers on Kickstarter before a single copy was printed, and it carries a cover quote from the Executive Director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. If you've been wishing someone would put all the gods on the same board and let them collide, this is that book.
The short version
- Closest to the games: the official God of War comics, Heathen, and Gaiman's Norse Mythology.
- Same energy, wider net: Record of Ragnarok, The Wicked + The Divine, and Vinland Saga.
- The literary high end: The Sandman: Season of Mists and George O'Connor's Olympians.
- Want every pantheon at once: Pantheon: The Elemental Artifact, with the Norse, Greek, and Mesopotamian gods in one world.
Want every pantheon, not just the Norse one?
Pantheon: The Elemental Artifact puts the Norse, Greek, and Mesopotamian gods in one world, and one murder threatens to set it on fire. 174 full-color pages, signed.
Frequently asked questions
What should I read after God of War Ragnarök?+
If you want the same mix of Norse myth and emotional weight, start with Natasha Alterici's Heathen or Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. For pure god-versus-everything spectacle, Record of Ragnarok hits hardest. And the official God of War comics from Dark Horse continue Kratos's story directly.
Are there graphic novels like God of War?+
Yes. Heathen, the official God of War comics, The Wicked + The Divine, and George O'Connor's Olympians all sit in the same space. Gods as characters, mortals caught in their wars, art that carries the story. Pantheon: The Elemental Artifact does it across three mythologies at once.
Do I need to know Norse mythology to enjoy these?+
No. Most of these works introduce the gods as they go, the same way the games do. If you want the source myths behind the games first, Gaiman's Norse Mythology is the friendliest on-ramp before everything else.
Is Pantheon based on Norse mythology?+
Partly. Pantheon's world includes the Norse gods, but it also brings in the Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian pantheons and asks what happens when all of them are real at once. The first volume opens on the murder of a revered goddess, the kind of spark that could undo the fragile peace the old gods bought after Ragnarök.