Fans pick 82 books like Whisper Music

One of the most disturbing and terrifying books of all time. I was shocked to find out that the author of this book was a Christian, and that is what led me to read this novel. I had heard about how horrific the film was and, despite my penchant for horror, I avoided both the movie and the book, considering them both demonic.

When I finally read the novel, I realized that this insane story reveals a truth regarding faith: to accept God and the reality of who He is, we must also acknowledge and accept the reality of demons and darkness, and vice versa. 

Brother Wolf represents one of the rarest of rare combinations: great horror, great humor, and a coherent Catholic metaphysics that underlies the fantasy. The daughter of a dull, disillusioned academic finds adventure in the company of a mysterious young woman who reads minds, a Breton nun, a Dominican vampire slayer, and an English gentleman-warrior who are in hot pursuit of a feral Franciscan werewolf. Murderous gypsies and demon goddesses dog their heels. With a cast of characters like that, how could any horror-lover resist? Eleanor Bourg Nicholson is truly one-of-a-kind, showcasing an encyclopedic knowledge of literature, mythology, and Catholic doctrine alongside her inimitable prose and rollicking sense of fun. You can’t go wrong with her books.

After Bram Stoker and Vlad the Impaler, the real person most closely associated with vampires has to be Bela Lugosi—so why not write a horror novel with him as the villain? This book underscores the important role that unsettling and dramatic occurrences can play in shaking us out of our own accustomed vices, as well as the difficulty we often face when trying to discern the difference between the works of evil and the truly mundane. After all, Bela Lugosi is nothing more than a tired, sad old man still pining for his glory days on the silver screen—isn’t he?

Tim Powers is an acknowledged modern master of the preternatural, but many readers probably don’t know he’s also a practicing Catholic. In Hide Me Among the Graves, his passion for the Romantic poets brings poor Christina Rossetti, her family, and others both historical and fictional under the sway of her vampire-uncle John Polidori, author of The Vampyre. Powers’s wild imagination casts the Thames River as Purgatory, songbirds as soul-catchers, and vampires as the ancient Biblical Nephilim. It’s a kitchen sink approach to fantasy that will keep readers guessing until the end.

Some might claim this book is more urban fantasy than science fiction, but the characters are aliens who fly spaceships and travel through portals, and to me, that means science fiction. And although they are vampires and werewolves, they’re still aliens. 

Dina Demille runs a bed and breakfast that serves a very special clientele—aliens visiting the protected planet Earth. Dina is an amazing protagonist. She’s smart enough to pull off daring schemes but human enough to make me love her. I also love the supporting characters who constantly distract her from her goals in often hilarious ways. And, of course, my favorite part is the happy ending. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events begins by pitting the Baudelaires against the evil Count Olaf and his henchmen, escaping time and time again from his villainous schemes. But as the series progresses, good and evil begin to blur. The Baudelaires are forced to do things they would have previously considered evil (lighting fires, lying), while they learn that V.F.D. is not the noble organization they had once thought. 

Towards the end of the series, the moral ambiguity grows starker than ever, and in The Penultimate Peril, the Baudelaires find themselves facilitating an evil scheme in the process of trying to disguise themselves. Though aimed at younger readers, these books are very cleverly written, with plenty of hidden meanings that I’ve enjoyed rediscovering as an adult! 

While Star Wars was never the biggest franchise I was into growing up, the Knights of the Old Republic games served as my first proper foray into RPGs that have come to influence my books as a whole. Revan follows up on the titular character, set after the end of the first two Knights of the Old Republic games. Worries over his lost memories returning, Revan must seek out answers as to what drove him to go down the path of a Sith Lord in the first place, along the way meeting with Meetra Surik, the protagonist of the second game, following up on a rarely touched-upon point in the Star Wars universe of what happens when someone learns how to wield both the Light Side and Dark Side of the Force at the same time.

I’ve read this book twice, once as a paperback and more recently as an audiobook, which added a wonderful extra layer to this luscious novel.

Primarily a love story, the tale is told in beautiful prose that made my skin tingle with both appreciation and envy. Love, memory, the nature of books, the nature of self, characters that jump off the page, there is so much to appreciate in this deeply immersive story.

But for me, it was the characters’ sense that there is something unknown missing in themselves, something just out of reach, that resonated most strongly, a feeling that comes so close to my experiences of depression that it almost took my breath away. A book of wonder and magic that reached deep into my soul.

It doesn’t take much beyond the term “sapphic witches” to get me really excited about a book. Additionally, we’ve got elemental magic, blood rituals, and the store in Salem where the main character works is called the “Fly by Night Cauldron” and I was completely sold. This is a light, fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was drawn in by the conflict, not only with the main villain, but a tense history with an ex, and a potential new romance. I really enjoy finding fantasy books where the queerness of the character is not an “issue” or questioned at all. It was something I badly needed as a teen, and it's a relief to be finally getting this kind of thing in literature. I wish I could send it to my younger self!

I found the magic system to be delightful as well, with the elemental powers reminding me… show more.

The first and my favorite of this series that sets up a world beyond our own with interesting and multiple interesting and tortured characters all trapped in their own personal hell and I was here for it. This book focuses on one particular members of this poor group and how one person can come in change absolutely everything with love and faith. There is a setup for the multiple books in the series that do not take away from the main story or characters and will have you wanting to know more. Heavy on not just the romance but the action and violence had me flying through the pages to feed my need for more. Entertaining, fun, tense, and never giving a dull moment, I recommend this for a fun night or nights of reading.