Urban fantasy is quickly becoming my favorite fantasy subgenre, and this is especially the case with Kim Harrison’s The Hollows.
Pale Demon is book 9 of the series, but I think it’s the best one so far. The series focuses on bounty hunter Rachel Morgan. Rachel thinks she’s a witch but in Pale Demon the truth of what Rachel truly is finally comes out, and wow, I really did not see that coming. This is certainly a turning point for Rachel and her friends, the living vampire Ivy and the pixy Jenks.
Sure, you’ll have to go through all of the previous books in the series, but I promise it’s going to be worth your while. I can’t wait to see what the next book has in store for Rachel.
"I wouldn’t miss a Kim Harrison book for anything."—Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels
New York Times bestselling urban fantasy superstar Kim Harrison is back with Pale Demon—her ninth electrifying adventure featuring contemporary witch Rachel Morgan. This time Rachel's leaving the Hollows, on a cross-country road trip with a pixy, an elf, and a vampire, as she races to clear her blackened name at a California witches' convention in order to avoid an eternity of torment at the claws of a soul-devouring demon. Pale Demon is Kim Harrison at her gothic best—combining mystery, action, intrigue, paranormal romance, and…
I have always been fascinated by stories that use darkness in plot and character growth. As a former funeral director, I find stories with death—whether it’s the power of death, the death of a loved one, or something similar—to be really poignant. I always write books that embrace the darkness, and I love to see how characters come out on the other side. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do!
When I tell you I gasped at the end of this book, I am not exaggerating. I am not one to be surprised by books, but this one kept me guessing the entire time.
I was surprised multiple times throughout the book, and the complicated relationship between Anna and her aunt is fascinating from the very first page. I also really loved the worldbuilding and magic system as it is expertly woven into the story.
I find that many fantasy books have a magic system that is just there, but this one drives the plot.
The International Bestseller
Within the boroughs of London, nestled among its streets, hides another city, filled with magic.
'Magic and love. Love and magic. They destroy everything in the end ...'
Anna's Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences.
Now Anna counts down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever.
Until she meets Effie and Attis.
They open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. A shop that sells memories. A secret library where the librarian feeds off words. A club where revellers lose…
Where many people would see an empty package of Oreos, I see the remains of a lost civilization, an artifact crafted galaxies away by beings who flit in and out of existence in order to build rainbows for lonely children and who have left the empty bag, filled with dog poop, flaming on someone’s front step and are laughing uncontrollably as the person stomps on it to put it out. I want to find authors who see more than the bag of Oreos. I want them to be wildly imaginative and to paint what they see with cleverness and humor. I try to do the same.
The first thing I noticed when I started reading Jasper Fforde was how funny and clever he was. This is what I’m looking for, I thought, smiling broadly. The heroine of the series of which this book is a part is a literary detective named Thursday Next. Need I say more? You know immediately the kind of humor you are getting into.
I am not easily entertained by stories with average complexity and imagination. When I find a writer like Fforde who can push my boundaries, I am so grateful. In this book, he creates a delightful alternate world in which real and imaginary figures interact and sometimes exchange places. And always a good crime to solve here.
The sixth installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series follows literary detective Thursday Next on another adventure in her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England-from the author of Early Riser
Dazzlingly funny and imaginative, Jasper Fforde's books have won him the affection of readers, reviewers, and-dare we say it-booksellers alike. Fans can breathe a sigh of relief because Thursday Next-or at least one of her-is back. At a time of great unrest in the BookWorld, only the ace literary detective can avert a devastating Genre War-thing is, Thursday has vanished. Now the written Thursday must answer the call, save…
It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over, and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?
Journey with Seb, Oz, and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.
It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?
From Kev Harrison, author of The Balance and Below, journey with Seb, Oz and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.
I've spent my life feeling out of place in this world which had me diving into novels since I was a little girl able to read. I was increasingly drawn to the supernatural dynamic in shows and novels. On top of that I am neurodivergent which means that I have spent years in and out of my own forms of darkness and self-doubt. As an author I wanted to create a world for characters that struggle with the same issues I struggle with and help them heal and grow through their trials. My hope has always been that in the course of my stories I can help a reader heal as well.
Oh my goodness, can I just say this is my favorite book?
It follows a girl living underground in an abandoned city under a school of magic. This story is on my recommendation list because of the trauma I endured in it. I know, I know, this sounds horrible but let's keep this short, sweet, and to the selling point.
It's Rothfuss, who is one of the greatest writers of our time. It’s a novella so it's not a huge time commitment. If you have ever struggled with depression, anxiety, or just feeling out of place around others just get this book. I promise.
Auri’s soul will take flight in its own right as she is one of the most precious, and tortured, souls ever to be written. The magic in this series is incredible. You learn magic by learning the true name of an element which can only be…
Discover #1 New York Times-bestselling Patrick Rothfuss' epic fantasy universe of The Kingkiller Chronicle, in this illustrated companion novella, The Slow Regard of Silent Things.
"I just love the world of Patrick Rothfuss." -Lin-Manuel Miranda
Deep below the University, there is a dark place. Few people know of it: a broken web of ancient passageways and abandoned rooms. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing, snug in the heart of this forgotten place.
Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.
The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a brief, bittersweet glimpse…
I’ve always had a wild imagination and have been creative and expressive through various art forms since I was young. After a series of crazy and vivid dreams, I decided to turn them into a story. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had over 20 projects, each with a different style but all with my voice. I grew up in Cheshire and studied digital media at the University of Bradford, but moved to my paternal home in Spain in 2009, where I now teach English and moonlight as a fantasy author.
Imagine if Rapunzel was kidnapped by a vampire king but then hunted the people who could kill her with one bite.
This is a fantastic book with vampires, magic, wings, and a female main character that’s realising not everything is as she was led to believe. There wasn’t a moment that I doubted it would be 5 stars.
One of my favourite things is how she struggles to accept the truth about the people she thought were her family. She also has to ally with a vampire who has a dangerous curiosity for her, and I loved trying to work out why.
Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always-always-guard your heart.
The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.
But winning won't be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.
Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an…
Through both a former career as an engineer and my writing, I have developed a craving (bordering on obsession) for all things scientific, historical, archaeological, metaphysical, and a more than avid interest in quantum physics which I like to introduce into my books and stories. I also have a fondness for the dark and macabre, for the bizarre, the wondrous, and the plain out there. The weirder the concept – the more I like it… get consumed by it.
I had read another of Glenn Kleier’s books, The Knowledge of Good & Evil, which is a Dante-like trip into Hell – so, I was very excited when he released The Prophet of Queens, a book that plays in practically all of my ballparks: quantum physics, time anomalies, autocratic religious practices, and the sheer, almost lustful need to pursue a goal even though the consequences may shatter reality.
With the clever use of fairly mundane, workaday characters, Glenn Kleier throws open the doors to possibility and the repercussions of raging ambition.
I love this book – and, as with his others, is well-written.
The world hasn't heard from a true prophet in 2,000 years. So why now? And why this guy?
Scotty Butterfield is a recluse. A college dropout clinging to a dead-end job and a rundown sublet in New York City, spending his nights lost in videogames. When suddenly he begins to receive emails from someone calling himself a "Messenger of the Lord," warning of imminent death and destruction in the city. An obvious scam.
Yet the predictions bear out.
Horrified, Scotty fears he's caught up in some terrorist plot, only to realize the disasters are impossible for any human to foresee…
Growing up in Los Angeles, I am well familiar with strange, grotesque, illogical, and wonderful cities. My love of fantasy has always been for the odd ones out, less the bucolic farmlands and forest, more for those that present a twisted mirror of modern urban life. As an amateur lover of history, I love to study the evolution, mutation, and decay of cities. I find most interesting cities, in both real life and fantasy, to be those shaped by not one single culture, but by many over history and space.
Speaking of books that push up against the genre boundaries of fantasy, Bishop’s The Etched City crafts a dark, foreboding, but somehow one of the beautiful cities in fantasy.
Ashamoil is a grim place, decadent and decayed, a humid jungle-born city filled with disgraced freedom fighters, slavers, and crime lords. Its fantasy elements are less floating magic gemstones and dragons and more weird, inexplicable things, miracles, and their dark inverse.
At times The Etched City feels like a dream, but the best kind of dream, the one you want to tell everyone about, if you could just find the right words.
“Combine equal parts of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Chine Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, throw in a dash of Aubrey BeardsleyandJ.K. Huysmans, and you’ll get some idea of this disturbing, decadent first novel.”—Publishers Weekly
Gwynn and Raule are rebels on the run, with little in common except being on the losing side of a hard-fought war. Gwynn is a gunslinger from the north, a loner, a survivor . . . a killer. Raule is a wandering surgeon, a healer who still believes in just—and lost—causes. Bound by a desire to escape the ghosts of the past, together they flee…
This was an intense supernatural horror that impressed by being set in the United Kingdom and taking place over several decades; the author does a masterful job of balancing the different characters and the central conflict between its resurrected main character and his demonic other half.
A story of bloody revenge and the loss of humanity from being consumed by vengeance, The Laughing Policeman really captures the society of the United Kingdom with its slang, references, and an incredible attention to detail when it comes to characterization.
The gore also makes the book incredibly appealed, as does the chaotic relationship between the main character and his demonic partner; I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue they shared and the descriptions of its disheveled appearance and gruesome acts!
Charlie Haynes is an ageing ex-detective, working unsolved cases. Obsessed with cleanliness and order, Charlie is a loner who trades on his experience of grisly crimes, and struggles to maintain a relationship with his adult daughter.
When three teenagers are murdered in a public cemetery, the ritualistic killings show similarities to one of Charlie’s old investigations: a savage serial killer who targeted the members of a notorious Traveller family, the Boswells.
Charlie is called in to speak to the one surviving witness, whose terrifying testimony confirms his fear: the Caravan Cannibal is back,…
I write horror, read horror, watch horror, and live horror. The last one may be a bit of an exaggeration. When I was 10 years old, I begged my parents to take me to the theater to see Friday the 13: The Final Chapter.Of course, they said no. When I was 14, and a horror rebel, I sneaked into a movie theater to watch Friday the 13: New Blood. Thank goodness when they said The Final Chapter, they didn’t mean it. It was around this age that I discovered Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot; that book changed my life for good. I can talk to you about horror books for hours and hours.
Full disclosure, Rick is my friend, but he is also a great world builder and storyteller. The Seventh Age trilogy is as funny and entertaining as it is terrifying. Rick creates a rich world full of monsters and gods fighting for world domination in the shadows of our unaware society. One of my favorite things about this book is Mike, the main character. No, he is not a damaged mess, he is a true unlikely hero in the best possible way. Mike’s journey is fascinating and the obstacles he faces are monumental. In my humble opinion, the book reads like a video game, each chapter is a new level, and each level has higher stakes than the last.
The Rational World Is No Match For What Lies Beyond DeathObsessed with discovering evidence of the afterlife, Mike Auburn has come closer than anyone to piercing the veil of death often at the risk of his own life.
However, his efforts have not gone unnoticed by organizations in our world and those that seek to enter it from the other side.
One such organization led by a shadowy figure known as “O’Neil” works to desperately prepare Chicago for the coming Ragnarök where the rational world that is known will face coming darkness with Mike in the middle of the war…
I’ve loved reading ever since I learned how. Sometimes, that can be inconvenient. I now own over 8000 books, not including ebooks, so storage space is an issue. Fortunately, my heart space is not as constrained as my physical space. Anyway, given my keen interest in reading, it’s no surprise that I began to write. Though my reading tastes are wide, I mostly write in fantasy, my favorite genre. It’s an opportunity to explore new worlds and to use them to reflect upon our own. We may not make literal pacts with demons, but we all face temptation. Figuring out how to navigate our desires is a crucial part of life.
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.
In the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…
As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put…
