Monsters and magic have always had a hook on me, ever since I was just a kid going through a stack of Stephen King paperbacks that I was definitely too young for my brother to have given me ā not that many would call his work āfantasyā exactly, despite the amount of vampires ghosts and magic that say otherwise. Urban fantasy, blending those elements with the familiar world we know, is a particular favourite of mine. So much so, that I wrote my own! Granted, the urban area in question is 19th-century Paris, but I say that still counts.
A sword-and-sorcery classic! Faith of the Fallen was my absolute favourite of the Sword of Truth series, which puts it up against some very stiff competition. One of the reasons it was my favourite, and why itās being included in this list, is the extremes the main characters are forced into and what it reveals about them. As the hero Richard has spent the previous five books becoming more powerful and capable, itās fascinating and inspiring to see how he reacts when the storyās villain renders him seemingly powerless and attempts to break his spirit.
SOUL OF THE FIRE saw the political machinations that have dogged the midlands reach new heights as the Chimes ran free and threatened magic everywhere. As the novel ended Kahlan has narrowly avoided death and now she and Richard Rahl, the Seeker, must strive again to save the world from the resurgent armies of the Emperor Jagang. From the very first page FAITH OF THE FALLEN PITCHES Richard and Kahlan into their most desperate fight yet, a fight where worlds once again hang in the balance. Richard must embark on a course of action that will leave his people feelingā¦
This is high-caliber space fantasy in the realm of Star Wars or Dune. It brings together a grizzled holy warrior having doubts about his faith with a naĆÆve and sheltered princess in a brutal world ruled by absolutely vile overlords. The perspective switches between the two of them. The warrior ā Drin ā grapples with whether the churchās mission to fight evil brings it to use methods too similar to the evil it fights. Meanwhile the princess ā Anais ā has to come to terms very quickly with the reality of life outside the palace when slavers invade her home and abduct her off-world.
After years of fighting for justice with his deadly nanotech, Templar Drin abandons his post, crash landing on a desert world controlled by a tyrannical alien empire. Its inhabitants are forced into slavery, broken where a once-proud race cultivated its lands.
For the first time in Drin's life, he has no backup, no support, none of his brothers.
He stands alone against evil.
Drin must face overwhelming odds to liberate millions of slaves from their captors and bring faith to a downtrodden world. But in his way stands the most dangerousā¦
Pete is content living a simple life in the remote Montana town of Sleeping Grass, driving the local garbage truck with his pot-bellied pig Pearl and wondering about what could've been. Elderly widow Wilma is busy meddling in Pete's life to try and make up for past wrongs that heā¦
This book and the next on the list are interesting in that the setting becomes a character in and of itself. The town of Haven seems to have its own character arc, as a post-apocalyptic settlement that has gone from a watchful last outpost of mankind to a more complacent community where things that had once been necessities are now rituals. The human characters are fleshed out just as well, coming across as very much normal and well-realized people.
Altogether Stutznegger builds not only a cast but also a setting where you really care about their continued well-being; especially as threats from the outside world begin to sneak into the town. I would consider this possibly āsoft fantasyā, with the semi-mystical mystery of the main characterās enhanced eyesight and a technically sci-fi explanation for the villainous Shadow Elves.
Shadow and Bone meets A Quiet Place in this atmospheric and chilling dark fantasy debut.
"They wear the faces of your loved ones, but are more beautiful than you could ever imagine. Lovely things shouldn't draw you in and kill you. You almost want them to."
Seventeen-year-old Blue Haven, gifted with superhuman sight since birth, dreams of becoming a warriorānot that anything's happened near the wall since Old Man Amos was attacked by that beaver. The Shadow Elvesāhumans infected by a zombie apocalypse-like plagueāhave died out over the past 150 years, leaving life altogether boring. In her quiet farming villageā¦
Superpowered people, living like the Amish, guarding the secret to eternal life. Like Blue Shadows Fall, this sets up a location so unique in the town of Edenia that itās nearly a character by itself. Unlike that book, Edenia is less a place youād want to live and more a mystery you want to unravel. This book really drills into the teenage frustration of having no control over your location or circumstances from some very different perspectives in the variety of POV characters. A lot of the storyās tension comes from the main castās refusal or inability to come clean with each other, but the underlying reasons for them to keep their secrets are very convincingly layered.
Award-winning YA Fantasy for fans of Good Omens and Cruel Prince
All that stands between the 6000 year old secret of immortality and the end of the world are the Guardians of the Garden.
Rejected by her family and her town, Miriam Miller wants nothing more than to turn her back on Edenia and forsake the new, invasive magic which makes her a Guardian of the Garden of Eden. In the outside world she could be free from the garden, free to lead her own life, and free to forget that she is a freak.
David Fletcher needs a surgeon, stat! But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs must, and Captain Fletcher takes the prisoner back aboard his ship with orders to do his best or heāllā¦
Can you call it āurban fantasyā when most of the action happens in rural areas? You really get a sense of how much young Paxton Locke lost when his mother murdered his father to summon a demon, and how that shapes him in the present into a man who goes out of his way to help others all over the country. Paxton isnāt the only character whose layers we get to dig into either. Without spoiling anything, he does pick up a sidekick in his travels who is more than meets the eye, and the narration occasionally switches to some other colourful characters on their own arcs to intersect Paxtonās.
From Dragon Award nominee Daniel Humphreys Son of a Witch
Family drama is bad enough without adding magic and human sacrifice. Ten years ago, Paxton Lockeās mother killed his father in a mysterious ritual that ā thankfully ā went incomplete. Now, Paxton makes his living as a roving paranormal investigator, banishing spirits while Mother languishes in jail.
When a terrified ghost warns him of a dangerous, newly-freed entity, Paxton faces a fight far beyond simple exorcism. In a battle for his very soul, will he be able to endure ā or simply fade away?
Revenge takes time; fortunately, Edmond Dantes doesn't sleep. Or breathe.
In a world of monsters and magic, Edmond Dantes has a pretty good life. He's just been made captain of a ship, and he's about to marry his sweetheart. But when jealousy, spite, and ambition conspire to frame him for treason, he loses everything. To make things right, he'll need to give up the only thing he has left: his humanity. They thought their troubles died with Edmond. They were wrong on both counts.
Melody and the Pier to Forever
by
Shawn Michel De Montaigne,
A young adult and epic fantasy novel that begins an entire series, as yet unfinished, about a young girl named Melody who discovers that the pier she lives near goes on foreverāa pier that was destroyed by a hurricane that appeared out of blue skies in mere moments in 1983.ā¦
India Muerte and the Ship of the Dead
by
Set Sytes,
After a night of misadventure, a roguish street lad from Mexico Island wakes up aboard a legendary ship crewed by skeletons. In search of the father heās never metāa great mound of treasure would be nice, tooāIndia sails the fantastical Caribbean on the Ship of the Dead, exploring the colonialā¦