71 books like The Progeny

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’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. 

This book was so much fun. Quintessential urban fantasy—a supernatural world overlaying the real world, with a fantastic jumble of supernatural characters, including fae, shifters, vampires, genies, and more. There’s mystery and romance and fae politics and magic, and it was an absolute blast to uncover the world and get to know the characters. The main character is part-genie, but has a curse put on her so she can only use a little of her magic. She is framed for a crime, so she has to figure out what is really going on. One of my favorite aspects was that it was pretty mild when it came to the sensual elements, so while it had plenty of romantic tension, there was more plot than sex, which I prefer. 

This book is another that has a similar vibe to The Dresden Files and my books. This one had a really unique take that I liked, mixing in ghosts with the other supernatural creatures and elements. The main character has some fun, memorable quirks that I enjoyed, and the plot had some great twists that I didn’t see coming. The world is really broad, and there’s a lot more to uncover about how things work, so I liked that it didn’t tell everything in the first book, so it left me with the desire to read more.  

This is an obscure book you’ve probably never heard of from the 80s, but trust me here. (And yes, it’s set at a boarding school.) In this story, the kids assigned to group 6 are part of a secret society not of their own choosing. Their parents have sent them there to get rid of them. Permanently. With the help of their teacher, they escape to the wilderness to figure out how to survive

Just when everyone thought urban fantasy was dead, here comes The Atlas Six! What really makes this story interesting is the world building. There is not a lot of backstory on the world it is set in, but bits and pieces throughout the book give you context clues. There are people with magic and abilities, shifters, and petty-thief criminal mermaids. Similar to A Discovery of Witches, science is a strong theme, but in this story, the science is less genetics and more physics-based. As a reader, it made me wonder if there really is an intersection between space, time, and magic. The twist at the end turns the whole story on its head, making me want to grab the sequel immediately!

I still remember the first time I came across Heart of Mist.

It completely overtook my senses and propelled me into the Upper Realm of her universe. Bleak, the female lead, is unlike any other female protagonist I’d ever come across – being angry, brave, and dealing with trauma by playing with a piece of rope. She felt real. 

And the Upper Realms? I wanted to be there; discovering the forests of Valia and traversing their immense tree houses.  

Ninth House is a bit of a departure from my normal choice of genre. This is a fantasy novel, but it takes place at Yale.

Focusing on the well-known “secret” societies that have been an institution at Yale for generations, Bardugo asks the question, what if there was more to these groups than just influence? What if they actually trafficked in black magic? Narrated by Galaxy (Alex) Stern, we see the school through the eyes of an outsider - Alex, a high school dropout, who was recruited by Yale because she has a very special gift.

The way Bardugo writes, you can feel the cold, gray winter of New Haven as though you are living it. No spoilers, but if you haven’t read this novel because it falls into the fantasy genre, read it immediately.

UFOs, Nazis, Roswell, Freemasons, JFK, and the Apollo missions. This book covers a lot of very strange events and theories. Some of these theories you may have heard mention of and they probably sounded completely insane. However, to hear Mike tell it, really makes you wonder if there is some truth there. He unravels a giant rats’ nest of conspiracies in a way that really makes a lot of sense. I’m not saying it’s true necessarily, but Mike presents a lot of evidence that seems feasible. You gotta wonder.

I loved The Rook for its amazing originality, the bizarre forms of magic shown by the various employees of the Checquy, and the true grit of the Rook, a young woman whose magic simply explodes when she's threatened. Though she's lost her memory, she's left herself notes in anticipation of that very thing! You have to admire her.