Because sometimes I think they go further than the formulas set by traditional publishing. I love fantasy and similar genres because there are no limits for the imagination. The books I’ve chosen fulfill what I think is important – world-building, imagination, thought-provoking, intelligent, and wonderful characters on a mission of some kind.
Seth Rain has a knack for building believable worlds, then inserting brain-teasers to make you wonder if this could happen. The writing is fast-paced and hooks you from the start. This particular series made me wonder what is real and what is not: who really is in charge? I’m sure that people who like to think, will love this series.
In a near dystopian future, Artificial Intelligence uncovers the clockwork nature of the universe, capable of revealing the date each person will die.
But when Scott Beck is told his given date of 22nd April is wrong, he sets off on a journey that explores the true nature of free will, morality, and sacrifice.
Combining dystopian, post-apocalyptic, and cyberpunk fiction, The Warm Machine is the first novel in the haunting five-part Humanity Series, depicting a future in which humanity is on the brink of annihilation.
This is my favourite series by Michael Robertson; its world-building is so real that it’s scary because this dystopian world could really exist. The world has its defined structure and the characters within it are believable, even if not all likable. It’s a complex series and yet is simple in its reading; compelling at the very least.
In Edin, when you turn eighteen, you have to do national service.
Six-months outside the city's walls, fighting the diseased hordes.
Only half the recruits survive.
Spike refuses to be just another statistic.
Beyond These Walls is a post-apocalyptic epic. Join Spike, Matilda, and their friends as they leave their city for the first time to face the brutal reality of national service. Some of them won’t return, and for those who do, their lives will never be the same again.
Miranda falls in love with her dream house but soon discovers it's an affair with complications. A lot of them. Rosewood is a centuries old, tumble-down, gambrel roofed charmer located in an isolated, coastal corner of Virginia referred to as "strange". Known for long-standing and antiquated customs, an almost indecipherable…
I’ve read all of this author’s work and the Rushed series is my favourite because although it’s a sinister paranormal fantasy, it is filled with humour. The world-building for each book is amazing – certainly daunting and nasty in parts, yet believable.
There are remarks in reviews that it’s confusing and weird, so maybe you have to be odd to understand and appreciate it. I did, so I must be.
Eric can't remember the recurring dream that keeps waking him in the middle of the night with an overwhelming urge to leave, yet he spends each day feeling as if he desperately needs to be somewhere. With no idea how to cure himself of this odd compulsion, he decides to let it take its course and go for a drive, hoping that once he proves to himself that there is nowhere to go, he can return to his normal life. Instead, he finds himself hurled headlong into a nightmare adventure across a fractured Wisconsin as the dream reveals itself one…
I like all of Maria Savva’s books because she has great insight into how people think and why they act as they do. She creates worlds that are ‘normal’ and yet pitches her characters into unusual situations, which make the worlds strange and eerie; especially in The Spider stories.
'No one's ever come out of that house alive. . .' What lurks behind the door of 8 Goldfern Road? Are you brave enough to step inside? By entering the sinister house, George and Glen become entangled in a dangerous battle of wills. "The Spider" is a story of obsession, infidelity, and broken dreams. This darkly humorous mystery will appeal to fantasy and romance readers as well as those who love to hate spiders!
San Diego Private Investigator, Brig Ellis, is hired by a wealthy industrialist to help him acquire the final horse in a set of twelve palomino miniatures that once belonged to the last Emperor of China. What begins as a seemingly reasonable assignment quickly morphs into something much more malevolent.
This author is a ‘master’ at creating fantasy worlds; his writing is intelligent and gripping. This particular series focuses on a battle between two immense powers with amazing descriptions, yet it is character-driven, making it relatable and believable. It’s thought-provoking and immerses you into a world that feels very real, its descriptions potent, its characters intriguing – I loved it.
For thousands of years they have sought the world from which they were cast out. Now, at last, Aona has been found. The younger races of this world will all be swept up in a struggle for survival, as their ancient, malevolent masters, guardians of all Aona's secrets, rise to do battle with their foes, remorseless destroyers of world after world throughout the known Existence.
Gone will always be my most important book because of why it was written. When my daughter, Samantha, was two, her heart stopped and she died. Doctors revived her, but too late because she was left severely brain-damaged, who she’d been was wiped clean. For the next seventeen years, I watched her withering, twisting body survive without her knowing what was happening except for pain and suffering until she died a second and final time.
During those seventeen years, I had a question: Where had my daughter gone? Because her essence had vanished leaving only an empty shell: hence I created a world and went in search of her. Gone is one answer to that question. It’s a unique fantasy and might even help others to come to terms with loss.
One summer night in a small prairie city, 18-year-old Gabriel Reece accidentally outs himself to his redneck brother Colin, flees on his motorcycle, and gets struck by lightning on his way out of town.
He’s strangely fine, walking away from his melted pile of bike without a scratch. There’s no…
Former police detective Michael McLaren is looking forward to spending Christmas at his grandfather's ancient Hall with his grandfather, uncle, and his lady love, Melanie. But McLaren’s holiday plan gets snowed under when a dead man is discovered outside his grandfather’s house--in circumstances similar to an older murder. And it’s…
