60 books like Empire of the Vampire

I loved the Nevernight books because the main character is not necessarily always a hero. Mia is an assassin and cares only about killing. This means it can be uncomfortable to support her decisions and actions when they involve so much death and bloodshed.

She kills for reasons that she thinks are justified, but that isn’t always right, and it is great to see her grow and become something more than just a killing machine. She has a great personality and endures many hardships through the series but I loved reading along and seeing how she overcame everything she faced.

This book introduced me to the forced proximity/enemies-to-lovers tropes and has haunted me ever since.

The pervading mystery of the story, punctuated by strong characters and a love that has a lot of yearning behind it, made this totally unputdownable.

The world-building is incredibly creative – focusing on a benevolent dictator with authoritative and intolerant rule for anything around magic or religion. It creates a fascinating landscape for the ensuing mystery, political intrigue, and romance that follows. 

Illuminae is the first book in a YA science fiction series called the Illuminae Files Trilogy.

The story is told through intersecting first-person narratives constructed from journals, letters, texts, reports, and pictures. You want to absorb all that “found footage” goodness on paper. Trust.

There’s almost no exposition in Illuminae, especially in the first few chapters. That’s the beauty of these books – the narration is so visceral and urgent that you get invested in the story long before you really understand what’s happening. Putting the pieces of the world-building together is an addictive mystery in and of itself.

I don’t recommend cracking open this book the night before anything requiring a good night’s rest and lots of focus – your mind will be in 2575 until well after you’ve finished the last page. 

I’m a sucker for good dialogue and this is about as good as it gets. This book nails sarcasm, wit, and humor. You can hear every quip and see every facial expression as you spend the entire book wishing you could have a seat in that spaceship—even if they are facing certain doom. I basically wanted to be best friends with every character… and the authors. (So umm *clears throat* if anyone has Amie or Jay’s number…hook a girl up.)

Werewolf James Bond killing Nazis in World War II. I’ll say it again: Werewolf James Bond killing Nazis in World War II. What more do you need to know?

Robert R. McCammon’s 1989 horror-adventure imagines the classic Gothic monster of the werewolf as a spy traversing a crumbling Nazi-occupied Europe. The book has an incredible sense of scale and incorporates both stomach-churning body horror and blistering action sequences, including a set piece on a train filled with deadly Saw-style traps and a shootout inside a Parisian opera house.

The Wolf’s Hour is ridiculous, and I love it for that. I love that it isn’t afraid to delve into the cheesier elements of the Gothic genre, without letting that detract from the real-world horrors of what the Nazis did. I’ve always felt that many of the best Gothic stories have some form of monster vs. man, with man being revealed as… show more.

This book utterly entranced me.

Such a creative concept for the magical lore and religion of the world – tarot magic being a tangible thing anyone with the card can use. The creature in the main female character's head lends both fear and comfort at surprising moments, and the dark gothic setting created an overall creepiness that forced me to keep reading late into the night, just to seek relief.

I loved this book, read it in about a day, and continue to gift and recommend to others. 

This is an American Gothic road novel that takes us across not just multiple state lines, but also multiple generations.

We see the entire life of main protagonist Vic McQueen, and how the trauma of her abuse-ridden childhood causes her to become an abusive parent herself—only to find herself racing across America to save her son from an innocence-sucking vampire.

NOS4A2 may lack bats and crumbling castles, but the villainous Charlie Manx is a perfectly creepy supernatural monster, and the book’s focus on psychological trauma feels right in line with the Gothic tradition. I loved NOS4A2 from the moment I started reading it, and it has stuck with me ever since. Not only is the book a thrilling, spooky, action-packed ride; it’s also full of characters I genuinely cared about.

Hot take, but I think I like Joe Hill’s books even more than his dad’s.

This book is horrifying, weird as shit, and absolutely beautiful, from China Mieville’s stunning prose to the grotesque splendor of his imagery.

Mieville’s follow-up to Perdido Street Station is a Melvillian Gothic that takes its characters on a sprawling, twisted naval journey that incorporates such horrors as giant mosquito monsters, a symbiotic pair of dictators known as the Lovers, and a Frankensteinian punishment system where bio-thaumaturgists graft foreign limbs or organs onto their victims’ bodies.

The Scar blew my mind when I first read it in college, and made me rethink what a novel could be. Its creativity and depth feel endless, with layers of philosophical and thematic depth. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel like you could read it a hundred times, and still find fresh meaning.

The Scar’s final act also perfectly captures the feeling that you’re beholding something beyond your capacity to fathom—and… show more.

I read this book over a decade ago, and it still has its claws in me.

The writing prose is lyrical and gorgeous. The world-building, centered around a blend of Christianity and Jewish cultures and religions, is beautiful and spellbinding. The characters are each so creatively written, and the sex – oh my god – is just both tastefully and devastatingly written.

This book is a cult classic. I have recommended it to others so many times over the years.

I have re-bought this book multiple times because I keep giving it away as a gift.

I am OBSESSED with the dynamic between the main male character and the main female character. The tricksy nature of the fae, combined with the forbidden nature of humans in the fae realm, lends such a delicious tapestry to the complicated social dynamics between Jude and Cardan, and indeed the rest of the Fairie Court.

I particularly loved the transition of Jude throughout this book – she hardens as Cardan softens, and in a dangerous world, it’s just the perfect combination.

Adore, adore, adore.