Fans pick 88 books like Uncanny Collateral

The Alex Versus series's world-building, magic, and plots are very complex and layered. This is some seriously well thought out urban fantasy. 

The main character, Alex, is basically an instant seer, able to see multiple consequences of diving left versus right, shooting someone, running, etc. He doesn’t always have time to evaluate his choices before having to make a decision. And often, there’s no out without loss or a high price to be paid. 

The back story is cleverly woven into the plot and is never boring. This series has one of my favorite side characters ever written—an arachnid with startling insight and wisdom. 

At the heart of the Markhat series, there is always a mystery, and I love a good mystery. Markhat is a “Finder,” which really means he’s a private investigator set in a sort of war-torn medieval world with hints of steampunk now and then. There are some good pulp fiction aspects, lots of great fantasy, and definitely a habit of turning the trope on its head. Vampires aren’t typical; witches can be hags, but banshees, well, Tuttle does not deliver the ordinary banshee. 

One of the things I love about Tuttle’s writing is that he isn’t afraid to define his own rules, his own world, and his own characters. He does atmosphere with a touch of grim, but always with a gem waiting to be dusted off to steal the show. Fast-paced urban fantasy that I loved enough to reread.

Normally, I don’t like “gods” books because it seems like the god just shows up and saves the characters after putting them in danger in the first place. But in this series, the gods really are dead. They are still causing issues for our intrepid main character (Nik), but they are dead.

Nik is a stubborn, nearly homeless, awkward guy who takes jobs to survive in an epic fantasy setting. He barely has any magic, and it often seems to misfire. He tends to make impulsive decisions that have him running for his life quite frequently. Somehow, he survives and manages to solve cases. 

There is a delightful family saga that threads throughout the series. His friends are questionable (thieves, turncoats, and dangerous entities). Wry, dark humor, and a fast-paced environment make for great reads in this series.

Where do people go when they disappear and can’t be found? Well, maybe they end up in Jay Barnson’s world, a dangerous place full of monsters and enemies. While this has a kind of “scoring” typical of DnD, that is a background to high fantasy adventures and survival.

The main starts out not only humble but pretty powerless. He must survive on his wits and heart and never stops doing that, even as he becomes physically and magically stronger in each book. Tangled, delightful plots that kept me turning the pages and characters I greatly enjoyed spending time with.

There is a lot of good growth in each book of the series and fun shenanigans to keep things from being dismal, even as the characters fight for their lives and freedom.

The story of two mystical creatures stuck in 1899 New York who have to make their own way in the world.  Despite their different natures, they become unlikely friends and have to work together to survive. 

While I enjoyed the perspective of both supernatural beings in this book, I found the golem especially engaging. Through her eyes, the reader gets an amazingly detailed view of turn-of-the-century New York as well as the intricacies of human behavior. 

The jinni faces different challenges—he’s lost a chunk of his memory—but he also has to adapt to life among people. Wrapped in a rich tapestry of historical details, the story walks us through their processes of acclimating to human society and facing the dangers of their pasts.

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. 

Who wouldn’t want to be granted wishes? Then again, it’s best to heed the old idiom, “Be careful what you wish for.” 

Pam Wilkins lives a miserable life. When she encounters a Djinn who promises her happiness, beauty, wealth, and anything she can hope for, she is desperate enough to give in to temptation. The Djinn does, in fact, grant her wishes, but they come at a hefty cost.

Calling this book sick and twisted would be an understatement. West exceeds the boundaries of human decency. The scenes are downright vile and will surely make you gag. The story is engrossing, wildly imaginative, and has a great twist at the end.

This book reads more like a thriller with heart than a historical novel, which makes it the perfect historical fiction for those just dipping a toe into the genre. 

Set in 1969 in Malaysia, during the historic race riots, the story follows a Beatles-obsessed teenage girl with OCD as she struggles to survive and get back to her family. I devoured this story over a couple of nail-biting days – and I bet you will too.

This is a fun, playful novel that completely breaks all of the boundaries—time, gender, country, and fact—not surprising from Salman Rushdie! It is a dizzying ride, going from the Ferris wheel, to bumper cars, to the house of mirrors in a theme park.

Rather than relying so much on the strict frame narrative, Rushdie experiments with the idea of characters who are overtaken by “the jinn”—a wild, irrational impulse that perverts existing norms. It is Dunyazad, Shahrazad’s sister who marries Ibn Rushd, the great philosopher who was marginalized in 1195 by the Caliph. Rushdie tells the stories of all of Dunyazad or Dunia’s descendants, as well as the eternal war between Ibn Rushd and Al-Ghazali, eight hundred years beyond the grave. A fan of the wacky and weird, Rushdie outdoes himself with the characters in this story.

After a super-storm, the line between humans and the jinns blurs… show more.

There’s not enough Muslim historical fantasy in the world, and this one is so lavish and full of aching romance—my favorite kind! It takes us from 18th-century Cairo, where con-girl Nahri accidentally summons centuries-old deava warrior Dara, to the fabled City of Brass, its walls covered in enchanted statues, home to rival clans of djinn.   

I love how the tribes of Deavabad reflect different parts of the Islamic world and its pre-Islamic culture. For example, the main djinn faith reflects Islam, whereas the deava faith with its fire temple reflects the Zoroastrianism of ancient Persia. It’s a complex, believable world in which I can immerse myself, full of revelations, betrayals, tugs of loyalty, and dilemmas of love.