Here are 100 books that OverLondon fans have personally recommended if you like
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When I was in high school, someone handed me a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I haven’t been the same since. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was packed to the gills with action, adventure, wild ideas, and, above all, humor. Every sentence made me giggle. Every observation made my jaw drop. Plus, loving this book made me feel like I belonged to a weird little club. When I started to write The Dragon Squisher, my first thought was to do “a Douglas Adams thing” but for fantasy. Then I thought: Maybe I should see if someone’s done this already.
This was my introduction to Discworld, and I couldn’t have asked for a better entry point. Although it features a cameo from series-favorite Commander Vimes, this is an excellent standalone story. It’s Pratchett, so the writing, humor, observations, and world-building are god-tier.
But I love the humanity and the compassion and the quiet, seething anger that underlies this tale of a nation gone berserk. Humorous fantasy simply doesn’t get better than this.
A new stage adaptation of one of Pratchett's best-selling novels The Monstrous Regiment in question is made up of a vampire (reformed and off the blood, thank you), a troll, Igor (who is only too happy to sew you a new leg if you aren't too particular about previous ownership), a collection of misfits and a young woman discovers that a pair of socks shoved down her pants is a good way to open up doors in a man's army."One of the funniest English authors alive" (Independent)
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
When I was in high school, someone handed me a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I haven’t been the same since. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was packed to the gills with action, adventure, wild ideas, and, above all, humor. Every sentence made me giggle. Every observation made my jaw drop. Plus, loving this book made me feel like I belonged to a weird little club. When I started to write The Dragon Squisher, my first thought was to do “a Douglas Adams thing” but for fantasy. Then I thought: Maybe I should see if someone’s done this already.
I love oddball books that don’t quite fit into any of the standard categories. (Is this book YA or adult? Does it matter? What are questions?) This book reminded me of Pushing Daisies meets Harry Potter, and god I love it.
I love the deadpan humor and the flawed characters. But mostly, I just love the wacky audacity of the whole thing. This is one of those books where things start off slightly weird (the dead coming back to life) and gets progressively stranger until, about halfway through the book, I had to just laugh at how far from reality Ms. Painter had taken me, and had done so in such a seamless way that I would have applauded except I didn’t want to weird out the people sitting next to me on the plane.
Work at a funeral home can be mundane. Until you accidentally start bringing the dead back to life.
"...a clever, hilarious romp through a new magical universe" --Sarah Angleton, author of Gentleman of Misfortune
Cassie Black works at a funeral home. She's used to all manner of dead bodies. What she's not used to is them waking up. Which they seem to be doing on a disturbingly regular basis lately.
Just when Cassie believes she has the problem under control, the recently-deceased Busby Tenpenny insists he's been murdered and claims Cassie might be responsible thanks to a wicked brand of…
When I was in high school, someone handed me a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I haven’t been the same since. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was packed to the gills with action, adventure, wild ideas, and, above all, humor. Every sentence made me giggle. Every observation made my jaw drop. Plus, loving this book made me feel like I belonged to a weird little club. When I started to write The Dragon Squisher, my first thought was to do “a Douglas Adams thing” but for fantasy. Then I thought: Maybe I should see if someone’s done this already.
I love an epic tale as much as the next nerd, but sometimes, I want my fantasy to be a little cozier. Such is the case with this lovely book (and series). It’s a classic Odd Couple story in which a foul-mouthed and vice-loving demon has been magically bonded to a goody-goody hero. Antics ensue.
The writing is perfect, and it’s filled with great lines like, "It was Chet, our next-door neighbor. The one that shared a bathroom with us and unknowingly let me clean my fingernails with his toothbrush." The whole series is great. I was nervous going into the last book because so many writers don’t stick to the landing. I needn’t have worried, though. The finale was everything I hoped it would be.
“…the subtlety and humor of an assassin’s stiletto inserted straight down into the funny bone.” Carl R. Jennings, author of Just About Anyone
What happens when good and evil collide?
They yell, Ouch!
When you’re a demon who’s recently (but accidentally) been magically bound to a human for eternity, life is bound to be annoying. But when that human is also an inept hero who tosses his lunch whenever he gets stressed out? Breaking the connection becomes priority one. Not knowing what else to do, our demon, Lord Malgon, and our hero, Sir Reginald, set off to see a wizard…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
When I was in high school, someone handed me a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I haven’t been the same since. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was packed to the gills with action, adventure, wild ideas, and, above all, humor. Every sentence made me giggle. Every observation made my jaw drop. Plus, loving this book made me feel like I belonged to a weird little club. When I started to write The Dragon Squisher, my first thought was to do “a Douglas Adams thing” but for fantasy. Then I thought: Maybe I should see if someone’s done this already.
“My brother was a cat. Currently, I mean, not usually. And I don't know the exact details, but he definitely asked for it. He always does.” I mean, how can you not love a book that starts off like this? I’ve been a fan of Kim Watt for some time, and I was tempted to choose one of her solo books. But this one, a collab with Amelia Ash, is just so fun, charming, hilarious, and wacky, I knew I had to include it.
I want to live in this world. And have a talking cat. Is that too much to ask?
Never let your brother date a witch, lest they get turned into a talking cat.
Morgan Winters wants an ordinary life:
A job at a bookstore, an apartment she can barely afford, and a healthy amount of existential dread. Her brother (AKA "The Ruiner") ruins that when he shows up on her bedroom windowsill, transformed into a talking cat.
He claims it's due to a date gone horribly wrong, but Morgan's not buying it. Still, when he begs her to take him to a witch who can change him back into a human, she reluctantly agrees. Family is family.
There was a time when women had to use pseudonyms or otherwise pretend to be men to get published. These days, especially in the urban fantasy genre, it seems like there are more female authors and female main characters than male ones! I love dynamic main characters, male or female, and every one of these books has stellar characters with a great story. I wanted to mention so many other authors, but I have narrowed it down to these five. I hope you enjoy my list.
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.
Welcome to Rannit, an ancient city awash in magic and mayhem. Wracked by war, but embracing the dubious wonders of steam and iron, Rannit is on the path to renewal – but old magics and older shadows won’t go easily into the light.
Markhat earns his living as a finder. On behalf of his clients, Markhat will find anyone, or anything, for a fee. In Three Mean Streets, his clients include a dead man’s ghost, a mighty Troll warrior seeking his cousin’s mounted head, and the true identity of the corpse allegedly stalking the grounds of a…
Growing up, I loved discovering how things work. That led me to a career in engineering, but I never left a certain quirkiness behind. Why else would I have raised llamas for thirty years? Or loved the stories I find in science fiction? Especially books that start in a real place occupied by believable people, then demand a leap of faith, a reach beyond what's known today. We have so much to learn – about planets and people – that possibilities spiral out into the universe. I hope you enjoy the books on my list as much as I have.
What if humanity rocketed to the moon in the 19th Century? Then surely Mark Twain, aka Sam Clemens, would have gone to seek his fortune. I've never found a more compelling image of travel over and under the moon's surface. These adventures let me discover technology that fits the place and the time. One of my favorites is steam power – not as anachronistic as you might guess. I'm excited by real-life discoveries of water ice in lunar craters, possible fuel for future astronauts.
Twain's style is captured wonderfully, something I hadn't expected. He must keep from blowing himself to kingdom come as science and human nature mix in a delightful stew of troubles. I'm happy to see Twain may solve some of NASA's upcoming problems too.
In an alternate 19th century, young Samuel Clemens sets out for the mining camps of America’s wildest frontier: the Moon. Travel with Sam and his partner Calvin as they venture into the desolate, deadly wastes of the Mare Imbrium and the Montes Caucasus, in search of wonders, adventure, and a fortune in precious water ice. This is Prospectors!, the opening salvo in the epic saga of Mark Twain on the Moon, as told by the alternate Mark Twain himself.
"You will soon forget that it isn't Mr. Twain" -Melvin H. Wilson, Jr.
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I knew in my early teens that I wasn’t straight, but back then, the thought of coming out was too scary. I waited until I was twenty-three to do so, and it was still scary even being ten years older! So I can relate to stories of women of all ages discovering their less-than-straight sexuality. It’s rarely easy, no matter how many years you’ve lived already. It still requires good support from the people who love you, and one thing in common in all of the books I’ve recommended is that family, or often found family, plays a crucial role in the newly-out woman feeling comfortable being themselves.
This one had me laughing out loud just as much as swooning over the lovely story of Caroline and her transformation once her husband dumps her in the home where ‘difficult’ women are put when they cause too much trouble for those husbands. There are elements of steampunk, social commentary, twisted humor, and a cast of secondary characters that are as varied as they are interesting. The setting, while bleak to begin with, grows on you as you read, and once all the twists and turns finally click into place, it’s a romp of a ride to the end.
A gentle Victorian tale of women’s passions and power, with a sprinkle of romance, a trifle of steampunk, and heaps and heaps of quiet revolution.
Caroline Ajax is an inconvenient woman. Unwell. Hot-tempered. Harboring a tragic secret she can’t share with another living soul. Dropped at an institution in the Surrey Hills by her husband, Thomas, her only objective is to survive, to endure, to make it back to what little there is of her life as soon as she possibly can. But it doesn’t take her long to discover there is something unusual about this house and its eclectic…
I grew up with books like Dinotopia, Goosebumps choose your own adventures, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, growing me into a lover of intricate world-building. I've always been passionate about magic and science. Interweaving magic into everyday life is part of who I am and I love seeing it in writing. After writing ten fantasy detective novels, buckets of short mysteries, and over a decade of world-building I know a passionate writer when I read it. As an avid audiobook consumer, organizer, and progenitor for the Logan Writers Festival, and twice-a-week professional Dungeon Master, I love the way these books intricately lay down their clues in the places they didn’t think we’d look.
This book by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris is one that you skip other books in your TBR pile for! It’s impossible to put it down. The story takes place in an alternate Victorian era where the world is powered by steam and magic. The plot is filled with so many threads of clues and mysteries weave you into the world and before you know it you’re as tangled as the characters. The secret agent and medium characters are brilliant, and their chemistry is just amazing. The world-building is superb, the steampunk universe is so rich and fascinating. The balance of mystery, fantasy, and adventure are just perfect. If you love steampunk and mystery, you have to read this book! It's simply fantastic!
There's something rotten in the city of London. Women are disappearing - young and old, rich and poor, from all walks of society. The only thing they have in common is their belief that women also deserve the vote. It's up to the Ministry of Peculiar Occurences to find out why these women are vanishing, but agents Books and Braun have their own challenges. There's a turncoat with nefarious plans within the Ministry itself, and the reappearance of an old flame means their growing friendship is threatened. To say nothing of the queen of the underworld, tassassins-attacking-on-ornithopters, and a conspiracy…
Since discovering the Enneagram a few years ago, I’ve been absolutely fascinated by the psychology behind personalities. Each one is unique, influenced by innumerable things from both nature and nurture. And the misunderstandings that come from different types of interaction have contributed significantly to challenges in my personal life. But they also make stories more interesting to read, especially when you get to see things from the perspective of multiple different characters. Nothing is juicier to me as a reader than watching characters initially misunderstand and dislike each other, but over time grow to understand and even respect each other as close friends and/or romantic interests as the story unfolds!
She insults him with Shakespeare. This line from the blurb sold me on this futuristic steampunk fantasy because what does that even mean? But finding out was super fun, and I absolutely loved watching these enemies become lovers through the MMC and FMC’s perspectives.
Like the other books in this list, there are additional POVs besides the main love interests that add depth, humor, and emotion to the story, and the world contains an interesting mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements that work well together.
As with Six of Crows, I recommend having book two handy right off the bat because the cliffhanger ending to this book will leave you scrambling for what happens next!
Perfect for fans of Dune, Pride & Prejudice, and anyone who believed Rogue One needed a romantic subplot.
Two tortured souls. One world on the brink of war.
Kase Shackley is an embittered hover pilot still reeling from the night his sister died in his arms. He’s a screw up in every sense, so when a pilot nearly dies on his watch, he faces serious charges. Seeking to clear his name, he flies a ragtag crew to a lost and dangerous land from which they might never return. If only he didn’t have to work with the infuriating bookshop girl…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
I’ve been fascinated by fantasy and sci-fi books since childhood – ever since I read Harry Potter and my parents took me to Disneyland Park. My parents had a giant library, and they used to encourage me to buy books and read them. I enjoy reading books that mix genres with unexpected twists and turns, and I am always on the hunt for a good story to enjoy and review.
I was hooked from page one and finished reading the book in just a few days. Although this is a complicated story, the description was vivid and clear. The plot was fast-paced and full of actions that will keep you on the edge of your seat most of the time.
“The expert combination of immersive storytelling, strong characters, and well-woven mixture of speculative and steampunk elements makes for an unforgettable experience.” – The Prairies Book Review
Heroes only get better with age.
Forty years after The Great War that overthrew an Empire, a former war hero, Ellaria Moonstone, has discovered a new threat to the World she helped save.
When the Peace King of the Free Cities goes missing, Ellaria uncovers a plot to overthrow the tenuous republic. Fearing that a powerful being called a Sagean Luminary has returned to claim the throne, Ellaria sends for help from old allies…
