86 Books Like The Chromatic Fantasy

I love stories about outcasts, persistent f*ck-ups, people who’ve been told a story about themselves their whole lives that somewhere along the line they started to believe. I love when they find someone who’s been told a similar story, and they help each other to not believe in those stories anymore. 

This is a book I press to my heart. The art style, the sense of humor, and the facial expressions leave me kicking my feet every time I read it, and I’ve read it quite a few times.

There is poetry in the way the world slowly unfolds. There is mystery and darkness in the vampires and the world they’ve built, there is the pressure of the Night Court and the terrifying will of the god they worship. The softness between Lucardo and Ed feels so easy and true.

These are real people; they have to be because I’ve never read a book and felt more like I knew the characters in real life. The dialogue makes me feel like a teen riding in the backseat with friends, at a crossroads in life, flying by the seat of my pants. 

There are so many lovely, soft moments in this book that I adore. Catherine blushed on the other side of a closed door, unable to make a decision. Best friends sitting so close, knowing each other’s secrets.

I love the subtle humor, the incredible warmth, and the depth of each character’s angst and heartache. 

Gripping character introductions, organic magic systems, extraordinary world-building, and superb writing. I felt the fire burn Selah and the yearning in William’s heart to do good despite loyalty to faulty leadership. Fighting galore!

I love weaving on a loom. I almost always write a weaver into my novels and Walker-Henderson’s series has a weaver too!

The Legendaries’ abilities - speed, strength, magnetic attraction, lung capacity, and resistance to fire are measurable and augmented in this story. Through the whole series geography is explored. Each Legendary comes from a different environment and climate. Selah comes from the desert. William comes from the mountains with mixed forest. They travel to the plains and the icy regions in their quest for the ancient relic that gives the possessor power over their destiny.

This story was interesting in the way that the author had two main characters who were twins with widely different roles. With one taking the role of the chosen one and the other being in a place to save her, this was an intense rollercoaster ride from beginning to end. Not to mention the worldbuilding, traveling through lightning, was a very unique idea that amped up the suspense. 

I love the main character, Arianna, and her depth. She struggles to contain the lightning spirit inside of her… and fails… and succeeds… and tries again. Plus, her mission is noble: to end a drought and save her people! Which she picked up after the death of her father as it was his quest.

Noble quests, a well-developed world with unique cultures, and rich writing connected to a spirited character hook me every time.

One of the things I love about this young adult novel is Billingsley’s courage in giving us a girl protagonist who is crafty, vengeful, and hungry for power. Not exactly your standard heart-of-gold fairytale princess!

And this book was published in 1999—twenty-six years ago, when girl characters in young readers’ fantasy novels were usually—though not always—quite a bit more biddable. But Corinna’s honesty is bracing. She refuses to knuckle under to those with power over her, or to the fierce, dark-dwelling cave Folk in her charge. She won me over!

Still, there’s more to Corinna than meets the eye. Her hair grows two inches a night, her skin is translucent, and she can draw off the anger of the Folk “as a lightning rod draws off lightning." I don’t want to give too much away, but in the end, we find ourselves in a tale of the sea, of hard-won… show more.

People have called Henri Nouwen many things: a priest, an author, a spiritual guide, a natural mystic. His books have sold millions of copies and continue to resonate deeply with people from all walks of life. In 2000, when asked to share the book that had most influenced her life, Hillary Clinton chose Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son. The following sentence, in particular, she said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, hit her “like a lightning bolt”: "The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a "gift to be celebrated with joy." 

“I had never thought of gratitude as a habit or discipline before,” she explained, “and I discovered that it was immensely helpful to do so.” I first discovered Henri when I was eighteen years old and gifted with… show more.

We are all creatures of habit and many of our habits are akin to what the author calls rituals. This is heavy-duty stuff, and well worth reading. In our modern hectic work-a-day world, too often we lack rituals that could be sustaining and rewarding. Why is this important? Rituals can add richness and meaning to our daily lives. For example, the author says a walk in the park or lightning a candle at certain times of the day enables us to reconnect with others and with our inner self.

During a time when many of us live miles and miles from our families and might not even know our neighbors, rituals provide us with a feeling of belonging. They enhance our sense of who we are, personally and professionally, as well as individually and collectively. The great news is that rituals can easily be adapted to suit occasions and events… show more.