Here are 72 books that Sworn to the Night fans have personally recommended if you like
Sworn to the Night.
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I love how urban fantasy mixes magic and the real world, and I’m obsessed with stories that explore identity, especially when life throws you a curve ball and you need to recalibrate your existence around questions like “Who am I? Where am I going?” These books are set in contemporary fantasy universes and explore the themes of identity in different ways. Their worlds are bleak, which makes the spots of humor shine brighter and the protagonists’ triumphs all that more satisfying. As Ursula LeGuin said, “There must be darkness to see the stars.”
I love how weird and dark this book is. Carolyn and her siblings were raised by their abusive, adopted father, who trained them each in a single portfolio of magic.
When their father goes missing, Carolyn and her allies explore the truth of his disappearance. I was with Carolyn every step of the way of her journey to claw back her identity from her abusive past. And I can’t stop thinking about the explosive ending, even years after I first read the book.
“Wholly original . . . the work of the newest major talent in fantasy.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Freakishly compelling . . . through heart-thumping acts of violence and laugh-out-loud moments, this book practically dares you to keep reading.”—Atlanta Magazine
A missing God. A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.
Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas…
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…
I love how urban fantasy mixes magic and the real world, and I’m obsessed with stories that explore identity, especially when life throws you a curve ball and you need to recalibrate your existence around questions like “Who am I? Where am I going?” These books are set in contemporary fantasy universes and explore the themes of identity in different ways. Their worlds are bleak, which makes the spots of humor shine brighter and the protagonists’ triumphs all that more satisfying. As Ursula LeGuin said, “There must be darkness to see the stars.”
This is a great story that mixes high fantasy tropes with modern noir. Rune St John is an impoverished aristocrat in New Atlantis and makes his living performing errands for his powerful sponsor. When Rune takes on a missing person’s case, he exposes a conspiracy linked to the fall of his family.
I love this book as it’s got great characters, snappy dialogue (especially when Rune banters with his foster brother Brand), and unique world-building. I enjoyed how Rune’s quest to reclaim his heritage is explored in subsequent books, with secrets introduced in this book having a payoff later in the trilogy.
In this debut novel and series starter, the last member of a murdered House searches for a missing nobleman, and uncovers clues about his own tortured past. Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment's missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home. With his companion and bodyguard, Brand, he questions Addam's relatives and business contacts through the highest ranks of the nobles of New Atlantis. But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary…
I love how urban fantasy mixes magic and the real world, and I’m obsessed with stories that explore identity, especially when life throws you a curve ball and you need to recalibrate your existence around questions like “Who am I? Where am I going?” These books are set in contemporary fantasy universes and explore the themes of identity in different ways. Their worlds are bleak, which makes the spots of humor shine brighter and the protagonists’ triumphs all that more satisfying. As Ursula LeGuin said, “There must be darkness to see the stars.”
In this alternate Victorian London, those with purple eyes can see ghosts and spirits. Normally, this would mean Silas would have an elite career, but because he’s a trans man, he’s sent to a horrific girl’s boarding school for ‘treatment’.
I love how this book explores how you can be ‘you’ when everyone sees you as something else. Even though the institution is monstrous, it heightens the importance of Silas’s battle for identity. I really connected with him and couldn’t stop turning the pages, as I wanted to see how he’d survive and triumph.
A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.
New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time!
Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.
London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.
After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed…
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…
I love how urban fantasy mixes magic and the real world, and I’m obsessed with stories that explore identity, especially when life throws you a curve ball and you need to recalibrate your existence around questions like “Who am I? Where am I going?” These books are set in contemporary fantasy universes and explore the themes of identity in different ways. Their worlds are bleak, which makes the spots of humor shine brighter and the protagonists’ triumphs all that more satisfying. As Ursula LeGuin said, “There must be darkness to see the stars.”
I love this not only for the nostalgia (I first read it in the 1990s as a teenager) but also for its themes of exploring identity in the Shadowrun urban fantasy universe. One day, Peter wakes up and transforms into a troll.
His entire life changes, and becomes a career criminal (well, that’s what you do in Shadowrun) while searching for a cure to become human again. But does he really want to go back? Even today, I still enjoy re-reading this one.
By 2053, the return of magic to the world has filled the streets of Chicago with beings and creatures from mythology. For those in the politically dominant mega-corporations, the underworld, and everywhere in between, it is a time of chaos and wonder—and incredible opportunities ripe for the taking.
For fifteen-year-old Peter Clarris, transformed by his Awakened genes from a human into a troll, the forces of magic are a curse to be broken with science. Torn from the comfortable biotech fast-track of his childhood, he becomes an pariah, shunned by friends and strangers alike. Now, living…
As someone who grew up a child of the sixties amidst suburban conformity but with a decidedly nonconformist gothic sensibility, I have wanted to find a way to combine these contradictory forces. Happily, as a professor of literature and film studies at Hofstra University, I was able to achieve my goal last year when I taught "(Un)Dead Girls and (Un)Safe Spaces: The Suburban Gothic in Film" and "Suburban Horrors" (a literature class). Unaware however that a global pandemic would mean teaching these courses via Zoom, my students and I found ourselves trapped within the confines of our own boxes in a suburban nightmare while discussing fictional and film narratives about sinister neighbors, monsters in closets, murderous family members, conspiratorial racists, and uncanny house hauntings. Oh, the horrible irony.
The possibility of evil. Not only is this the title of the first selection in this collection of classic and newly printed stories by the queen of suburban gothic – it is the essence of her uncanny literary witchcraft, where subtle twists and sudden turns force readers to confront a creeping unease in post-WWII America. No hideous monsters or grotesque horrors here. Instead, sinister insinuation and irrational fears invade the “safe” suburban spaces. A man believes someone is stalking him on his way home from work. Anonymous poison pen letters threaten a community. A runaway teenager reappears several years later … and seems to be someone else.
The deconstruction of so-called normality is what makes these stories so unsettling. Who knows what evil lurks behind the white picket fences? Shirley Jackson does.
The perfect read for Hallowe'en, this new hardback volume of Jackson's finest stories reveals the queen of American gothic at her unsettling, mesmerising best
There's something nasty in suburbia. In these deliciously dark tales, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the country manor, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods...
Hola, I’m Yawatta Hosby, and I have an open mind about monsters, ghosts, and urban legends. I believe they’re real, especially the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. Earth is too big to only have humans. I have a passion for the topic being terrorized by things that go bump in the night. My book, Urban Legends, plays into that theme. October, the spooky season, is my favorite. Halloween is my favorite holiday. Every year, I watch a horror movie every day for 31 days straight. I also love reading horror books and researching urban legends. I’d like to think I’m an expert in horror, but it could all be in my head haha.
The author did great creating a frightening vibe throughout the book. I was spooked from the very first sentence–"The stranger grinned and his sunken cheeks made his face look like a skull.” I loved that the story was a mystery with Lysander trying to figure out why he was seeing unusual things. I also enjoyed the sarcastic sense of humor in Derek, Sam, and Lysander’s friendship. I was definitely kept in suspense until the last second. Moral of the story–don’t mess with a witch; you may pay for what your ancestors did.
"The chill-factor was immensely high in Malice! This was a great read." --J.A. Redmerski, #1 bestselling Kindle author of THE EDGE OF NEVER. Welcome to Millingham, MA, pop. 5000... 4997... 4993... A serial killer stalks the streets of this small, isolated community. A killer as ancient as the town itself, murdering at will and never leaving a trace.
The sheriff has convinced himself and others that the recent rash of deaths in the town are just suicides, but Lysander Shore knows different. He knows the townsfolk are being hunted by something that shouldn't exist. And the deeper Lysander digs, the…
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’m a paranormal writer living on the buckle of the Bible Belt, but the hills are alive with witches and Magic, even here. People tend to say that witches don’t exist—until you ask for a strand of their hair. I’ve been on the witch’s side since I was young. If kids persist in eating bits of your house or stealing your rampion, what’s a wi–er– lady to do? Urban fantasy and magic realism in modern literature, take a more sympathetic view of witches. My book selections offer witches in all their glory—Some are good, some are bad, and some haven’t made up their minds yet.
I’m cheating again and giving you a recommendation for forty-four books instead of just one. This series takes the main character on a journey of discovery into her witchy heritage and solves murders along the way. I’ve read several, but not all, of the series and I find them funny and engaging. Nothing earth-shaking here, but lots of magical fun. Very pleasant to read by the light of the moon after you’ve cast your spells and put away your potions.
(Suitable for teens and seniors and all ages in-between)
What would you do if you discovered you were a witch?
That's exactly what happens to Private investigator, Jill Gooder. And as if that wasn't enough, she has a serial killer to catch. More magic, mystery and laughs than you can shake a stick at.
I have a wealth of knowledge and experience for living through tragic situations from my young adult life. I have overcome a traumatic childhood, alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental health. I find psychology fascinating; I have personally had many attempts by others to take my life. I have survived violent attacks, stalkers, and abuse. I love thriller books that have psychology embedded alongside many life lessons.
This book had me hooked from the very beginning, it is exciting and shocking.
Many books can have slower chapters than others but there were no slow chapters in this book. The ending was not super predictable like some thriller books can be, and the characters were rich with great background stories.
I devoured this book and if you read one thriller book this year then make sure it is this one. The MC is a detective who is being taunted by a serial killer and the story felt current and not outdated. I am a fan of Criminal Minds and Psychology and if you are too then give this book a read.
*Don't miss WRITTEN IN BLOOD, the next instalment in the compulsive Robert Hunter series from Sunday Times number one bestselling author Chris Carter - available to pre-order now!*
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE CALLER.
When the body of a young woman is discovered in a derelict cottage in Los Angeles, Robert Hunter is thrown into a nightmare case. The victim suffered a terrible death, and on the nape of her neck has been carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer.
If only they made good guys as complicated and fascinating as the baddies, maybe I wouldn’t be so drawn to the dark side. I mean, I liked Luke, and Leia, and Han, and I even wanted them to win, but Darth Vader—now, that was an interesting dude. Perhaps because they do and are what most of us can’t and aren’t, these antagonists benefit from writers who, consciously or not, do their best work when they create singular villains. What makes the “bad guy” tick? Is it circumstances, or choices? Are they someone you cannot even imagine being, or someone you can? And what does that say about us?
Now these two main characters, both “villains,” are refreshingly human. When the evil archeologist in Raiders of the Lost Ark tells Indy that it would only take a small push to move him out of the light, this is the kind of thing he meant. For the woman in the story, being bad is an almost understandable way to cope with the particular situation she faces (that we’ve all faced). For the man, he’s been in the dark for a long time, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t need love. A serial killer/black comedy/love story about a hired killer and an inspired killer. Is it a match made in Heaven, or Hell?
Grace is a nice girl. She can't stand the thought of hurting anyone's feelings. The problem is she usually wants out of her relationships first. So rather than break up with her boyfriend, she murders them. But one man is just like Grace. What happens when two murderers fall in love?
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'm a research psychologist. My expertise is in evolutionary psychology, which is a lens through which all mental processes and behavior can be framed. I've studied a wide variety of topics, ranging from love to murder. I do believe that we evolved morbid curiosity as a mechanism of protective vigilance. People have a great interest in consuming material about the who, what, why, how, where, and when of these terrible crimes. In Just as Deadly, I provide fact-based information derived from my own empirical research in addition to about 1200 other sources. It was important to me to pursue and write about truths. In addition, I don’t—and won’t—engage in drama or gore.
Erik Hickey is the pioneer in serial killer research. His renowned book is the gold standard for those wishing to gather the facts about serial murderers, their crimes, and their victims. He does not include “gore” (his word) in his writings. His work is methodical, evidence-based, and respectful, and his results have been consistently replicated by my team and others. With respect to my recommendation theme, in this book, Hickey describes his lengthy research on both male and female serial killers and emphasizes that the crimes of male serial killers (MSKs) are starkly different than those of FSKs. I know him to be a great supporter of other researchers in their empirical pursuits. His book is a must-have for scholars and students of psychology and criminal justice interested in this topic.
This book provides an in-depth, scholarly examination of serial murderers and their victims. Supported by extensive data and research, the book profiles some of the most prominent murderers of our time, addressing the highest-profile serial killer type--the sexual predator--as well as a wide variety of other types (male, female, team, healthcare, and serial killers from outside the U.S.). Author Eric Hickey examines the lives of over 400 serial murderers, analyzing the cultural, historical, and religious factors that influence our myths and stereotypes of these individuals. He describes the biological, psychological, and sociological reasons for serial murder and discusses profiling and…
