79 books like Born In Fire

What if a witch, a vampire, and a Fairy walk into a bar, all having quit their job to start a detective agency, and you get this book? I loved the pacing, the characters, all of it!

The female lead character, Rachel, is just one of the funniest characters. I loved how she was A-okay with going around the legal system in the ways she did to trip up her target was just fun.

I find the combination of mystery and fantasy in the Harry Dresden books irresistible, and Storm Front is certainly no exception. A typical detective has to watch out for the as-yet-undiscovered killer. Harry has to watch out for the killer—as well as the White Council, the organization of wizards that is profoundly suspicious of him and more than ready to execute him if he takes one step out of line. And then there are various supernatural creatures who want either to kill humans or to use them for their own purposes.

Butcher’s imaginative humor is second to none. I have to laugh every time I think about Bob, the skull animated by an air spirit, or Toot-Toot, the wyldfae who serves Harry in exchange for pizza. Butcher seamlessly blends such touches of original humor with pulse-pounding excitement.

I can not recommend this series more. I absolutely love Kate Daniels's post-post-apocalyptic world of Sifters and Vampires. The magic system is so creative and not so blatant like some urban fantasies.

I personally loved the idea that this era of urban fantasies took off with the “The world ended, and now this is what became of society” trope; it became a huge influence on me and my own world-building. 

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, where a novelist’s main character comes to life to solve a crime.

It has twists and turns, witches and paranormal characters galore, and a plot that kept me guessing to the end. I adored its irreverence and was so happy to learn it’s the first in a series.

This series of books by Elrod was one of my first introductions into not just vampire fiction but also this style of dryly-humorous narration. Up until my mid-to-late teens, I’d read a lot of high/epic fantasy, which is typically third person and more pragmatically written, but here I met a first-person narrator who was snarky as heck. I loved it. Not only that, but it’s a vampire P.I. story that plays in the land of noir in gangland Chicago during Prohibition. It was so engaging and fun that I devoured the series as fast as I could, and when anyone asks for my inspirations, it’s at the top of my list. Like it is here.

I’ve always been a fan of vampire stories and the related lore. From Dracula to Buffy to Anne Rice, I love all the different takes on vampire mythology, so The Incurables was a really neat book to discover. It takes a different approach to vampire lore, making it a viral disease that affects certain people based on their biology. The main character, Eveleen, contracts the disease and is put in an underground bunker with other infected, as the government tries to cure them, but there are much darker forces at play, and conspiracies to uncover and escapes to plan. The story was dark and twisty with threads of romance and really high stakes, and basically everything I love about vampire stories. 

In Grey, Gabrian doesn’t believe in magic. She’s a psychologist, and proud to be one. She bases her life on logic, but when things start to happen that she can’t explain, she finds herself in a whirlwind of magic. The way that Gabrian slowly comes to the truth is probably my favorite part of this book. As a Borrower, she’s considered not just a magical being, but a dangerous one. At first, she doesn’t handle this well and takes on the role of an anti-hero, nearly villain which was an interesting way to not only build Gabrian’s character but to introduce the truth of the magical world as well.

I remember finding this book so intriguing at the time. For a start, it's written by two authors, a mother and daughter team. Growing up I used to write with friends and family, each taking in turns to write a page and then passing it to the other for their turn. It was great fun, but ultimately ended in a mess as we were each fighting to take the story in the direction we wanted. So I enjoyed that the partnership in Marked worked.

The magic and ritual element also drew me in. As someone who dabbles in the spiritual, with card reading, candles, and the like, it was interesting to see how it could be brought into fiction in a different way while also introducing some Cherokee wisdom.

You can reasonably infer that a book whose title nods toward a touchstone of the French Revolution and a landmark civil rights document will provide a treasure trove of historical references. It does indeed, but it’s history as accoutrement, with characterization at the forefront even as the mystery deepens in the background and the inexorable pull of monumental events inextricably entwines the fates of our heroes and villains. Declaration is ultimately about the flawed individuals who drive, and then become caught up in, sweeping change. Also, vampires. And necromancers. Not to mention weather mages, slaves in revolt, legendary politicians, religious converts, and the undeniable pleasure of being held in the thrall of an author who reveres the power of stories and words and excels at putting them to good use.

I listened to this series on audiobook a few years ago and it had me in stitches the whole time. 

The characters are funny, well rounded and the steam is A+. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy these as much as I did, but I think I giddily consumed at least 8 of them before I came up for air.