Literature has always served as a mirror to society’s deepest anxieties, reflecting cultural fears through metaphor and allegory. Just as Gothic fiction emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries as a response to industrialisation, channelling unease about scientific progress and urbanisation, today’s ecofiction grapples with the existential threats of climate change, mass extinction, and ecological collapse. These genres do more than tell stories; they crystallise our collective dread, forcing us to confront what haunts them most.

As a reader who loves both gothic and ecofiction, here are some of the genre’s defining novels, both classic and contemporary, what they have in common, and how the genre taps into our collective anxiety.

Why is ecofiction becoming more popular?

Ecofiction’s power lies in its ability to make the abstract tangible. Climate change is often discussed in terms of statistics, rising CO2 levels, shrinking ice caps, and increasing global temperatures, but these numbers can feel distant and impersonal. Or terrifying headlines that make us recoil and spend days in an existential loop. Literature bridges that gap for us by humanising ecological crises, enveloping them in narrative and metaphor that evoke empathy, dread, and, ideally, hope.

A good ecofiction novel can make extinction feel visceral. In Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior, the sudden appearance of monarch butterflies in Appalachia due to disrupted migration patterns becomes a haunting metaphor for climate instability. The protagonist, Dellarobia, is not a scientist, but her bewilderment and grief mirror the reader’s own as she witnesses an ecological aberration that is both beautiful and tragic.

This is ecofiction’s strength; it transforms global issues into intimate, emotional experiences. 

Much like the gothic genre took the Romantic era’s preoccupation with nature and tapped into its sublime wild unknowableness, pairing a romanticisation of the past with the anxiety of the current moment. Nature in ecofiction becomes an unstoppable, unknowable force, often a character in its own right. The past, though often romanticised, doesn’t hold off on the shortcomings of people and society.

Human ingenuity rarely triumphs over adversity in eco-fiction. Instead, it frequently presents nature as an indifferent or retaliatory force, exposing the hubris of human dominance. In doing so, it dismantles the illusion that we are separate from or superior to the ecosystems we inhabit. However by remembering that humans and our environment are one and the same also reminds us of our responsibility to protect the world around us.

The four defining narratives of ecofiction

Ecological anxiety tends to be explored in one of four ways in ecofiction. As this is a rapidly growing genre, it’s interesting to see how new stories build on these narratives and overlap with other genres like sci-fi and, more recently, solarpunk fiction. These are some of the common tropes and structures you’ll encounter in ecofiction.

1) The collapse narrative

Ecofiction, more often than not, depicts societal or environmental collapse, whether that’s sudden or gradual. Exploring how these communities adapt (or fail to adapt) to ecological disaster is key to the narrative.

From Paolo Bacigalupi’s drought-ravaged Southwest in The Water Knife to the submerged civilizations of Kirsty Logan’s The Gracekeepers, or the King Lear-inspired soggy London of Julia Armfield’s Private Rites, these stories test societal resilience post-collapse.

Matt Bell’s Appleseed uniquely layers three collapses: historical, imminent, and far-future, suggesting environmental destruction and human folly follow cyclical patterns. These narratives force readers to confront the fragility and ingenuity of civilization when pushed to its ecological limits.

2) The revenge of nature

Another common trope finds nature fighting back against human exploitation. In The Overstory by Richard Powers, trees are not passive resources but silent witnesses to human folly, their interconnectedness a rebuke to individualism—the novel suggests that nature’s resilience may outlast humanity’s destructive tendencies.

Jeff VanderMeer’s alien ecosystem in Annihilation, nature retaliates against exploitation, and the mythical rain-controlling bird in Robbie Arnott’s The Rain Heron embodies this trope most poetically, environmental balance restored through supernatural intervention.

3) The seer and the sceptic

Ecofiction often features characters who serve as ecological prophets, individuals who recognise environmental devastation before others do, and their struggle to be heard. In Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future dramatizes climate policy battles, while Silent Spring, though nonfiction, reads like ecofiction in its portrayal of Rachel Carson’s lonely crusade against pesticides.

In Charlotte McCoaghy’s Wild Dark Shore, a family struggles to preserve an Antarctic Seed Bank that faces destruction from rising sea levels, despite everyone else abandoning the island. This taps in so viscerally to the current moment where we feel powerless in the face of environmental and societal destruction.

4) The return to the wild

Some ecofictions explore rewilding, both literal and philosophical, as a response to ecological alienation. Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer to Marian Engel’s Bear, and narratives explore rewilding as an antidote to ecological alienation. The Gracekeepers and Private Rites extend this trope to cultural adaptation, its floating words developing new rituals for a flooded landscape, showing us fantasy alternatives to life beyond collapse.

Global Perspectives in Ecofiction: Beyond Anglo-American Narratives

While much of the popular contemporary ecofiction emerges from Western literary traditions, global perspectives offer rich, nuanced explorations of environmental challenges. Indigenous writers, in particular, bring profound ecological wisdom that challenges Western linear narratives of environmental destruction.

Latin American writers like Eduardo Galeano and Ailton Krenak weave environmental storytelling with anti-colonial narratives, and Brazilian author Krenak’s work, for instance, connects Indigenous worldviews with environmental resistance, presenting nature not as a resource to be managed, but as a living entity with intrinsic rights. Brazilian and Amazonian literature frequently challenges the extractive capitalism that threatens both ecological systems and Indigenous communities.

Nnedi Okorafor’s African futurist works, like Lagoon, reimagine ecological transformation through distinctly African perspectives, challenging Western sci-fi tropes and presenting environmental change as a potential site of regeneration rather than pure catastrophe.

Japanese author Yōko Ogawa’s The Memory Police subtly explores environmental loss through metaphorical disappearance, while Chinese writer Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem uses ecological destruction as a backdrop for complex philosophical inquiries about humanity’s place in the universe.

Despite its current popularity, ecofiction isn’t new

Ecofiction isn’t a new phenomenon. The gothic/sci-fi queen Mary Shelley’s The Last Man (1826), often considered one of the first apocalyptic novels, imagines a world decimated by plague, reflecting early anxieties about human vulnerability. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is an ecological novel in its depiction of Dust Bowl displacement, showing how environmental degradation and human suffering are intertwined.

In the latter half of the 20th century, works like Dune by Frank Herbert (1965) use science fiction to explore desertification and resource scarcity, while Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest (1972) critiques colonialism and deforestation through an alien planet’s struggle against human invaders.

The enduring impact of gothic and ecofiction

Ecofiction does not always provide answers, but it asks the right questions: What have we lost? What can still be saved? And what does it mean to live ethically in a wounded world? These stories do more than warn; they reorient our imaginations toward alternative futures.

As rising ecological challenges reshape our world, ecofiction will likely continue to evolve. Apocalyptic warnings will likely become explorations of human-environment relationships, hopefully amplifying diverse global perspectives and offering imaginative pathways for understanding our collective ecological future.

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Stories to Make Franz Kafka Proud

With this in mind, a kafkaesque story is often one which examines and criticises normativity, what is typically expected of us both professionally and socially, and the dynamics of behaviour in our day-to-day lives. They are stories that satirise work, etiquette, and even family dynamics. This is what you’ll find here, in these novels.

The following novels all have something of the kafkaesque to them. Some might be comedies, others horror. Some are straightforward; others are surreal and feverish in their presentation. There is a real diversity here, but all of these books wear their kafkaesque themes proudly and in novel, original ways.

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Unconsoled is the longest novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, and calling the book a “fever dream” feels almost unavoidable. The Unconsoled is a masterful work of kafkaesque surrealism which follows concert pianist Ryder, who has just arrived in an unnamed city to play a concert, and from the very moment he enters his hotel, the world becomes an unknowable place.

In the novel’s first chapter, Ryder meets Gustav, a bellhop who begins a pages-long monologue about the nature of his work. From here, Ryder heads to a cinema to watch a late-night viewing of 2001: A Space Odyssey while two men play chess. The next day, he meets with a woman who talks to Ryder about her child, and Ryder steadily realises this is his wife and the child is also his own. And so the rabbit hole continues to deepen.

The Unconsoled is a work of impossible strangeness that owes so much to Franz Kafka in its dreamlike quality, its circular and disjointed narrative, and the ways in which its protagonist is lost and disorientated at every turn, unable to obtain simple answers to simple questions.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith

One of the most successful and beloved Korean novels in translation, Han Kang’s The Vegetarian is separated into three parts and begins with Yeong-hye, a woman whose life is upturned in frightening and unimaginable ways after she makes the decision to stop eating meat. Each story follows a member of her family who is shocked by her decision and begins to treat her differently.

Our first narrator, Yeong-hye’s husband, explains that he married her because she was as ordinary as he is, and that she would guarantee a simple, peaceful, well-behaved life. But when she throws away all the meat in their fridge and goes vegetarian, he is disturbed and shocked. He attempts to persuade her to change back, and even invites her father around, who attempts to physically force her to eat meat.

The Vegetarian explores the concept of conformity, and what happens when someone—especially a woman—makes even a small, autonomous decision to change something in a novel and unpopular way. For many, this novel is shocking and disturbing, and it’s one that Kafka would surely have adored.

Authority by Jeff Vandermeer

Authority, the second book in sci-fi author Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach series, is set in the Southern Reach itself—a strange agency which exists to monitor a mysterious stretch of coastline called Area X, which exists inside a gradually expanding bubble. Area X affects any human who enters in dangerous and unpredictable ways (as were explored in the first novel, Annihilation). And in this novel, our protagonist is desperately trying to understand Area X.

That protagonist is John Rodriguez, the Southern Reach’s new director. He prefers, ironically, to go by the name Control, and was given this role by his mother. Periodically, Control reports his findings to someone called The Voice over the phone, and he spends much of his time interviewing people who have returned from expeditions to Area X, as well as searching through reports, findings, logs, photos, and videos.

At times, Authority feels like a dizzyingly circular novel, as Control makes little progress; he is waylaid, distracted, manipulated, and confused at every turn. He wants to do his job but the very agency itself seems to be guiding his hand or stopping him entirely. Control is trapped in an unclear role in a kafkaesque system with no clear direction, and all the while he has a mysterious, possibly alien, and definitely dangerous phenomenon to solve.

City of Ash and Red by Hye-young Pyun

Translated from the Korean by Sora Kim-Russell

This phenomenal Korean novel is perhaps the truest successor to Kafka’s works you’ll ever read. The book’s protagonist is a nameless rat catcher who has been sent by his company to work in a new city. That city has been devastated by sickness and its streets are overflowing with garbage.

Upon arriving, our protagonist is unable to find his prime company contact, and nobody is able to help. Shortly after, his luggage is lost, he is told to quarantine, and he soon gets a call from his friend who breaks the news to him that this friend has married his ex-wife. Not long after, the ex-wife is found dead in our protagonist’s apartment, and he is natural the murder’s prime suspect.

As is the case in Kafka’s The Trial and Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled, Pyun’s protagonist wishes to find answers, to straighten up his understanding, and to explain himself. But at every turn, nobody will listen to him. In fact, they display more than just ignorance; they are indifferent to his problems. This is a Korean kafkaesque masterpiece.

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Several People Are Typing is a brilliantly strange and inventive work of sci-fi horror comedy with its roots deep in the kafkaesque philosophy. The entire book is presented as a series of conversations via Slack. Our protagonist, Gerald, works at a company which uses Slack for its work-related chats, and Gerald begins one day by informing his team that he is trapped inside Slack. His consciousness has somehow been uploaded into the app itself.

Naturally, nobody believes Gerald. He gets his colleagues’ attention repeatedly, in various work and casual Slack channels, asks them for help, and they laugh it off as a prank. Eventually, Gerald asks a colleague who lives close-by to go and see for himself—to go and check on Gerald’s body. And all the while, we get to know the various people of Gerald’s office as they express themselves through Slack.

In kafkaesque fashion, Gerald is expected to continue his work regardless. And he is even praised for a rise in productivity because he can do nothing but work, since he is trapped in his company’s Slack account. He sends messages and files reports for lack of anything else to do. Nobody takes his situation seriously but they all praise his increase in productivity.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Sayaka Murata is one of the finest Japanese authors writing today, and Convenience Store Woman put her on the map. This novel follows an autistic-coded protagonist who has worked at the same convenience store for almost twenty years, never asking for anything else out of life. But that doesn’t sit right with her colleagues or her family, who often ask her when she will get a career and a husband and a mortgage—all the things we are expected to do.

But Keiko is content. The world is a strange and confusing place; she has never been able to fully understand how people behave or the unwritten rules of society that they dutifully follow. She doesn’t judge others and she is exhausted by their judgement of her. The modern world expects certain performances from us (college, career, marriage, family etc) and Keiko has found a way to survive outside of all that.

And for this, Keiko is endlessly worried over and looked at with suspicion. When in reality, as we learn from select flashbacks, she has always struggled to navigate everyday life. Convenience Store Woman echoes Kafka’s criticism of bureaucratic rule-following and the nonsense laws of life, bringing them into the twenty-first century Japanese society.

Managing and Other Lies by Willow Heath

Managing and Other Lies is a collection of queer horror stories, and its titular tale Managing is a deeply kafkaesque gothic tale set in a labyrinthine house at the edge of an English village. Every day, our nameless protagonist—who has been hired to clean and tidy this strange house—writes about their progress in a journal. As the days go on, they soon learn that they aren’t as alone as they first thought.

A man has barged his way into the house; he refuses to explain his presence and insists that our protagonist is doing a terrible job tending to the garden. Soon after, our protagonist meets a woman who lives in a room upstairs. She seduces our protagonist and offers them the happiness they seek in exchange for various small sacrifices. These sacrifices are bits and pieces of their own body; beginning with a skin tag, then a fingernail, and on it goes.

Our nameless protagonist is battling with dysphoria, berated by the misogynistic and bullish man, and encouraged to make painful sacrifices by a woman who seduces and gaslights them. In order to be happy with who they are, they are forced to fight, perform, and put themself through pain and discomfort, all because the men and women of society expect them to. Being trans is wonderful; it is only the expectations of society that makes it hard.

Buy a copy of Managing and Other Lies here!

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada

Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd

In one of the most on-the-nose kafkaesque novels ever written, a factory spreads itself impossibly large, and we follow three protagonists who work there. The factory makes all kinds of consumable products, and also behaves like a town with places to live, eat, relax, and play.

In the world of The Factory, there is no separation of work and life; they are now one and the same. People live, work, and die at and for the factory. Nobody can recognise where work ends and every other aspect of life begins. All anyone knows is the factory.

In this novel, Japanese author Hiroko Oyamada takes Kafka’s themes and blows them up impossibly large, painting them on a billboard for every reader to see.

The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe

Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders

Kobo Abe could accurately be called the Kafka of Japan. Many Japanese authors explore the kafkaesque in their writing, but none with such dedication and surrealism as Kobo Abe. And while many of his books are worthwhile reads, The Ruined Map is the perfect introduction to his works, due to its more clear and direct narrative.

The Ruined Map begins with a detective who has been hired by a woman to find her missing husband. What at first seems like a simple detective story gradually gives way to something more surreal and dreamlike, in a very similar vein to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. The detectives obsession over minor details that lead nowhere, and the circular, empty answers given by his interviewees (the wife included), scream Kafka.

This is a book that asks us if we can ever truly know one another. The titular ruined map is both the city of Tokyo and the mental map we each have, populated by the people we meet and come to know. This is a novel fantastically reminiscent of Kafka’s stories.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

In Julia Armfield’s queer gothic horror, we follow a couple whose lives have been irreversibly changed by a mission to the bottom of the sea that went horribly wrong. Leah’s trip should have been a short one, but something went wrong and she was stuck down there for a long time. As we follow her story, we learn what she encountered and how she was changed by it.

But the bulk of the narrative is her wife Miri’s story, which takes places after Leah has returned. Leah is no longer communicating properly, and enjoys little more than sitting in a full bathtub day in, day out. Leah gradually grows sick as her skin falls away and she vomits salty water. Miri is powerless to help her, and doesn’t understand how something like this could have happened.

Miri grieves the loss of her wife and her marriage, all while her wife is still technically present. She has so many questions but cannot get answers. Our Wives Under the Sea is a different kind of kafkaesque, examining the bureaucracy of our social and romantic lives, as well as that of loss itself.

To prove that, here are some of the best works of fantasy fiction written by women over the past several decades. Many of these books are modern, but of course great authors like Ursula K. Le Guin flew so high long before many of us even considered trying to walk.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

With The Goblin Emperor, author Katherine Addison provides a very unique take on the fantasy story. Its setting is familiar: an elven land with a kingdom at its heart. But this is a high court tale of political games, rather than an adventure or a great war. Our protagonist, Maia, is the half-goblin youngest son of the emperor, and when a tragedy leads this exiled prince to suddenly ascend to the throne, he must learn the ins and outs of court life.

Imagine a novel set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire which takes place entirely in the King’s Landing—more specifically, the Red Keep. The Goblin Emperor is, first and foremost, a political drama. We follow closely, often with bated breath, as Maia navigates palace life, learns quickly who to trust, and who might want to stab him in the back. Then, of course, there’s the matter of the tragedy that took his father and brothers.

The Goblin Emperor is a fresh and unique fantasy novel that succeeds on the back of its fantastic protagonist, its sharp dialogue, and its deep dive into palace politics. A real page-turner of a fantasy novel, and a book like no other in the genre.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin was one of the great authors of sci-fi and fantasy; her legacy will last for as long as books themselves do. And while sci-fi novels like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed encouraged readers to consider social dynamics and gender roles in unique ways, her Earthsea fantasy series—which began with A Wizard of Earthsea—is a masterpiece of world-building, character writing, and plotting.

In this first book in the series, we follow Ged, a young man born on a quiet island in this expansive archipelago world. Ged displays a knack for magic early in his life, and is sent off to study wizardry at a school of magic. From here, we watch him grow up into a powerful wizard.

What sets the novel apart from many of its kind is Ged himself: a reckless and often arrogant young man who makes mistakes and must fix them. This is a coming-of-age story in the trust sense, as Ged fumbles and commits grave errors on his way to being not only a wizard but, simply, an adult. Much like her contemporary Diana Wynne Jones, Le Guin wasn’t afraid to write characters who are at first unlikeable and must learn to face life head on.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin is a powerhouse of a writer who pens fantasy masterpieces; that’s simply what she does, time after time after time. The City We Became—the first half of an urban fantasy duology—blends Lovecraftian mythology with superhero tropes to create a vibrant, exciting, and brilliantly fast-paced story about the soul of a city. The novel is also an unabashed love letter to the author’s home of New York City.

Our protagonists are the newly-awoken avatars of New York’s five burroughs: people chosen to fight for and protect a city and its people. When a world city has lived for long enough, and has developed enough of an identity, it wakes up and a soul is born. But some cities have more than one soul—London, for example, has twelve. And newly-awoken New York has five (and a sixth for the city itself).

These avatars—Manny, Brooklyn, Bronca, Padmini, and Aislyn—must find one another and also learn to understand themselves as the face off against a mysterious invader who is wreaking havoc on their city: The Woman in White. This is a brilliant work of urban fantasy that also explores contemporary American politics, race relations, gender dynamics, and more in a savvy and engaging way.

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb is a queen of the fantasy genre, and she is known for writing tightly-crafted trilogies of books which all take place in the same world. The best of these trilogies is, in this writer’s opinion, The Liveship Traders, which begins with Ship of Magic. These are books of family politics and trade economics set on islands, in coastal towns, and aboard ships brought to life by a sacred generational magic.

In Ship of Magic, we follow multiple interconnected characters—many of whom come from the same family of liveship traders: the Vestrits—as their liveship quickens following the death of its captain. Liveships are made from wizardwood, and they come to life (quicken) once three generations of captain have died on board. Its a magic that takes much time and sacrifice to finally take effect.

The strength of this series of fantasy novels comes from its interconnected family politics and the strength of those individual characters; some courageous and spirited, others secretive and corrupt. The cast is large, diverse, and brilliantly dynamic, and the political moves that are made keep readers firmly glued to the page.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

R.F. Kuang became an overnight sensation with the publication of her dark academia novel Babel, but her debut novel The Poppy War (the first book in a trilogy of the same name) is also a masterpiece of epic fantasy fiction. The Poppy War is set in a world inspired by 20th century China, and it follows Rin—a southern peasant girl who passes a rigorous test to enter the nation’s most prestigious military academy.

In doing so, Rin immediately frees herself from a life of poverty, removes herself from the place where she became a war orphan, and escapes the guardians who had planned to marry her off for money. But the academy itself is far from a pleasant place, and new struggles await her. Rin must continue her fight to survive, to thrive, and to prove herself against all the odds.

R.F. Kuang is, without a doubt, one of the great fantasy writers of this century. Her novels continue to amaze and inspire, and all of this began with the astonishingly powerful The Poppy War.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a wonderful work of urban fantasy that begins in Vermont and Antarctica. We follow two sisters, daughters of a family that has long been entrusted with protecting a library of powerful magical tomes. When the novel opens, their father stumbles out of their Vermont house, holding one of these books, and it kills him by draining him of his blood. How did this happen, and why?

While Joanna deals with this tragedy and the mystery behind it, her sister Esther is on a research base in Antarctica. She left home as a teenager and was told by her father that she can never stay in one place for longer than a year. Every November, she must pick herself up and move somewhere new. She is running from whatever it was that killed her mother, and that thing requires a year to find and hunt Esther down.

Mysteries abound in this novel, which blends dark academia with urban fantasy and thriller elements. Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a fantastically well-paced and well-plotted novel of dangerous, dark magic and those who keep it secret.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

V.E. Schwab is one of the most successful fantasy authors of this century so far. With her works often being set in our world, and with an urban fantasy vibe, she is often compared to Neil Gaiman, but her books very much have their own style and flavour. And that can best be seen with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a faustian tale about a young French woman who once made a deal with the devil, with unique ramifications.

The titular Addie LaRue made a deal that would see her living forever without ageing, but the catch is that nobody will ever remember her. As soon as she is out of sight, anyone who comes in contact with her instantly forgets her. She has lived this way for centuries, but one day in New York City, she meets a young man who, for some reason, doesn’t forget her.

The novel takes us from 18th century France to the NYC of the modern day, following the cursed and lonely life of a woman who cannot die but can also never be remembered. It’s a wonderful urban fantasy epic for readers of all kinds to enjoy.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Susanna Clarke exploded into the literary scene with her thousand-page historical fantasy epic Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. And years later, she returned with the far shorter and far stranger Piranesi, one of the most singularly enjoyable and beloved fantasy novels of recent years (and winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021).

The less you know about this novel’s plot, the better, but here’s a vague blurb: the titular Piranesi lives in an endless labyrinth known as the House. He is mostly alone, except for routine visits from a well-dressed man he calls the Other. Piranesi explores this house, decorated with clouds and statues and an entire ocean. And one day, the Other gives him a task to complete.

To say more would be to spoil it, but Piranesi is a true page-turner. The mystery of the House begs understanding, as does the Other. And Piranesi himself is one of the most likeable, endearing protagonists in recent fiction—fantasy or otherwise. He is a true treasure of a protagonist, and its thanks to him that the novel is so adored.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Until the publication of this book, British fantasy author Samantha Shannon was known for her series of urban fantasy novels The Bone Season. Then came the enormous fantasy epic The Priory of the Orange Tree, which launched Shannon into the upper echelon of great fantasy writers.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is a beautifully queer, brilliantly feminist tale of castles and dragons. It follows several characters in different places around the world. One is the queen of Inys, Sabran. She is struggling to hold onto power and there are those who seek to dethrone her. She also has a maid who secretly serves the titular society of mages: the priory. And then there is the young dragon rider Tané.

Each of these characters risks much from the very beginning, as tensions burn and the world threatens to shift. Worst of all is the threatened return of the great and evil dragon: The Nameless One. The Priory of the Orange Tree is a fantasy epic in every single way; one that adheres to the familiar rules and tropes of the genre but brings them into the modern day.

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

While her novel The Atlas Six was an immediate smash hit, Gifted & Talented is certainly the superior novel. This is a richly detailed novel, written with a kind of gilded prose, which presents us with the lives of three horrible siblings: Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh.

These nepobabies are the children of Thayer Wren, CEO of a magitech company. Meredith invented an app that asserts an ability to cure mental illness; Arthur is a young senator; and Eilidh is a former ballerina whose career was cut short by an injury.

Our protagonists are all horrid in their own entertaining ways, and each one is a potential inheritor of their father’s empire. Or are they? The events of the novel take a backseat to the unfolding of their hilariously unlovable personalities and behaviours; and Blake also sprinkles in a little (though arguably not enough) fun magic along the way.

The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan

The first book in Trudi Canavan’s Black Magician trilogy, The Magician’s Guild follows a young slum girl named Sonea, who has put a target on her own back by disrupting the peace with a single stone.

The magicians of Imardin are hated and feared, and during one of their routine purges of the city, their magic is pierced by a rock hurled by a little girl. This girl has a gift; untrained and untamed, she could turn their world on its head.

And so Sonea must run, and if she is captured she will be hurled into a world of dominant magic as she is held and trained by the titular Magician’s Guild.

A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos

Translated from the French by Hildegarde Serle

Written by French author Christelle Dabos, A Winter’s Promise is the first book in The Mirror Visitor trilogy of YA fantasy books. The peoples of this world live entirely on floating islands, isolated and heavily distinct from one another. These island nations (known as Arks) have their own traditions, technologies, and cultures.

One the Ark known as Anima, protagonist Ophelia is a girl with the unique ability to communicate with the souls of objects. She is also able to travel by passing through her own reflection. And Ophelia is thrown into an unhappy and unlikely situation when her hand is promised to a powerful member of the Dragon Clan: a man named Thorn.

A Winter’s Promise is a brilliantly inventive YA fantasy novel with a focus on romance and high court politics.

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken is the first novel in the Magic of the Lost fantasy series. This is a bold and thrilling queer epic about the evils of empire. Through subtle use of established languages and linguistic rules, the novel implies that it takes heavy inspiration from the French Colonial Empire and the North African nations it colonised.

Our first protagonist is Touraine, a soldier taken from her home and conscripted to fight for the very empire that took control of her land and its people. The second is the princess of that empire: a woman named Luca. It’s been years since Touraine was taken, and she has risen through the ranks as a weapon of the empire. Now, she is sent back to her homeland to squash a rising rebellion.

When one the rebellion’s leader is captured and executed, Touraine is told that her mother is alive. In a moment, this splits her loyalties and she is caught between her duty and her homeland. Making things harder is the bond that she forms with the princess after saving her life. The Unbroken is a phenomenal story of colonialism and empire.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Easily one of the most beloved fantasy stories of the past few decades, Erin Morgenstern’s astonishing debut novel The Night Circus is set in an alternate Victorian world, and it follows two protagonists who are pitted against one another by their masters in a contest of magic.

The titular circus is truly magical, travelling from place to place and led by its powerful owner, Prospero. But Prospero has an enigmatic friend named Mr A.H. —, and the two have made a pact to each raise a powerful magic user; when the time comes, their protégés will be made to duel. And it’s these two protégés that we follow over the course of this spellbinding novel.

Celia is Prospero’s daughter, and Marco is the orphan ward of Mr. A.H. —. As the novel goes, we watch them grow and learn more about the circus. The Night Circus stands out thanks to its playful fairytale plot and its author’s magnificent command over writing and dialogue.

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher is a master author of horror and dark fantasy, and Nettle and Bone is a short novel inspired by the tropes and aesthetics of fairy tales. Everything about these tropes are entirely and playfully inverted here, however. Protagonist Marra is the youngest princess of a small kingdom squashed between two larger and more imposing nations.

Her eldest sister, in a move of political strategy, was married of to the prince of one nation in order to better protect them from the other, but that sister has since died. Now, the prince wants to marry the family’s second daughter. Marra moves to protect her sister from sharing the first daughter’s fate. She means to kill this murderous prince.

To do that, however, she will need to head out on a dangerous quest, completing impossible tasks and recruiting strange people to her cause. She will somehow have to bring a dog to life and forge a cloak out of nettles. Doing so might allow her to complete her dangerous task.

Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone

Red Sonja is a character with a long and storied history, having begun as a Marvel Comics character back in the 70s. Today, she is owned by Dynamite and her story was rebooted by comic book legend Gail Simone back in 2013. A decade late, Simone made the world of Red Sonja the subject of her debut novel, Red Sonja: Consumed. And it is a fantastic sword and sorcery adventure.

Sword and sorcery is a unique subgenre of fantasy with a more pulpy tone and aesthetic; they are violent and less focussed on world-building. Rather, they follow a morally grey antihero on a bloody quest across an eldritch land of monsters and magic. And Red Sonja: Consumed offers fantasy readers a return to that subgenre which has become increasingly unpopular over the past few decades.

The novel begins with the titular Sonja, the She-Devil, having seduced and then stolen from a queen. Now, with the queen in hot pursuit, Sonja must return to her homeland as she hears whispers of a strange evil that rises from the earth and steals the life from unsuspecting innocents. The novel shifts point-of-view frequently, giving us a dynamic look at the world she inhabits and the dangerous tale that unfolds.

Weird girl books are all about upsetting the norm. They’re punk tales of women being gross, strange, dangerous, or even just allowing themselves to be sad, angry, unpleasant, and unlikeable. These subversive books are all about painting women in darker, stranger colours, and we love to see it!

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder

One of the progenitors of weird girl fiction, Out is a thriller that follows four women who work night shifts at a sandwich factory. The men in their lives are cruel and hateful, and eventually one of them snaps and murders her husband by choking him to death with his own belt while their kids are in the other room.

With the help of the other three women, she cuts up and hides his body, and they all agree to a vow of silent solidarity. But this vow might not last, and if it doesn’t there will be police and even worse sniffing around, searching for the truth. This is a very bleak novel about downtrodden women doing dark things in order to forge a path too freedom, liberation, or even just a little good old fashioned revenge.

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

Ottessa Moshfegh is perhaps the quintessential weird woman of fiction right now. Her books are off-kilter and upsetting, leaving readers with a sense of unease. None moreso than Lapvona, a gothic medieval tale of serfdom, subservience, witchcraft, and death.

The titular Lapvona is an isolated village lorded over by a rich man who lives on a hill above the peasantry. One of those peasants is a disfigured boy with a cruel father who lies to him. We learn about these men, as well as the son of the lord, over the course of a year. That year is beset by drought, disease, and day-to-day struggles.

There is also a dark magical element to Lapvona. The village witch was wet-nurse to many of the villagers, and she replaces her eyes with those of a horse in order to regain her sight. Beyond this, Lapvona is a novel with clear socialist undertones from an author who seems to be very cynical towards society, and the book is amazing as a result.

Boulder by Eva Baltasar

Translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanchez

Boulder is a Catalan novel about the complexities of love and relationships. We begin on a ship off the coast of Chile, where the titular Boulder meets a woman with whom she quickly falls in love. When Samsa gets a job in Reykjavik, Boulder follows her and their relationship becomes strained. This is mostly because Samsa wants to have a child and Boulder doesn’t.

What begins as a hedonistic relationship defined by lust and adventure soon becomes a recognisable tale of the struggles of love when one person wants what the other doesn’t. It’s an ugly and uneasy work of sapphic literary fiction. There is little romance in here; instead, it reminds us of the often uneasy and messy nature of relationships.

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

An icon of weird girl fiction, Eliza Clark’s Boy Parts is a work of literary fiction about a photographer in her twenties who lives in Newcastle and is defined by her own self-destructive behaviour. Irina is building a portfolio of works which all depict boys and men in explicit poses and doing illicit acts. She invited them to her studio, sometimes seduces them, and takes photos for her collection.

Soon, she is offered the opportunity to display her work at a museum in London, which she accepts. In the meantime, she falls into a potential relationship with an actual good guy, goes to parties with friends, and flashes back to a fractured and strange past that we gently piece together over time.

Irina isn’t like other girls; and she is also on the fast track to burning out. Memories are creeping in, and she is shutting everyone out. We watch her like a car crash and we wonder where she will land.

Read More: Essential Fantasy Books by Women

Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

Translated from the Norwegian by Marjam Idriss

Written by Norwegian singer-songwriter Jenny Hval, Paradise Rot follows a naive young woman who has moved to a dank and wet nameless town for university. She moves into a converted brewery—open-plan but divided poorly by cheap and flimsy walls, like the cubicles in an office. There is an unsettling lack of privacy here between pour protagonist and her new roommate.

What makes this so wonderfully weird and gothic is our protagonist’s obsession with the body—with bodily fluids and the mechanics of our fleshy, wet parts. While it isn’t body horror, it is a novel that makes a horror out of the body, reminding us that we are gooey sacks that take in and expel so much mush and wetness, and everything about us dies and rots. This is a claustrophobic and strange tale.

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

A straight-up work of political horror, Tell Me I’m Worthless has become a cult classic of the genre. Rumfitt’s novel tells the story of two women who were once friends at university. As adults, however, one is transgender and the other is a TERF. We know they fell out after spending a night at a haunted house (called Albion—get it?). Something awful happened there, and we will eventually find out what, exactly, that was.

With a real Shirley Jackson edge to it, Tell Me I’m Worthless is a novel about the fascistic attitudes of modern-day Britain to scapegoat transgender people. It explores the “values” of Britain and twists them into something that better resembles what the country really is at its core. A wonderfully subversive and unsettling haunted house horror novel.

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

Translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Japanese author Sayaka Murata has become a legend of weird fiction in recent years, and her novel Earthlings upsets as many people as it impresses. It tells the story of a young woman named Natsuki who believes that she is, in fact, an alien.

As a girl, she spent her summers in a mountaintop holiday home with her extended family. She and her cousin Yuu had an unhealthy and taboo relationship at a very young age, and that is only the tip of Natsuki’s iceberg.

As an adult, she still believes that she is an alien, but she has found a way to survive in ordinary human society by entering into an asexual marriage with a man, though she gradually teaches him about how she sees the world: as a factory churning out well-behaved minions for patriarchy and capitalism to suck dry. Natsuki wants to escape this factory, and her methods for doing so are deeply unsettling.

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Like Ottessa Moshfegh, Melissa Broder is a queen of weird woman fiction, and The Pisces is her masterpiece: a darkly funny tale of mental illness, seduction, unhealthy relationships, and dysfunctional people. Protagonist Lucy is invited to look after her sister’s dog and apartment in Venice, LA. There, she goes on a few bad dates with awful men and eventually falls into a relationship with an actual honest-to-goodness merman.

She goes to group therapy sessions, continues to fall deeper into self-destruction via toxic Tinder dates, and develops a deep obsession with her merman, all the while gradually ignoring her sister’s dog, her responsibilities, and her life. She is a broken, awful woman, and we become addicted to following her decline into depravity and unhinged behaviour.

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Gretchen Felker-Martin is known for writing the most visceral, uncensored, and frankly depraved scenes of horror in the genre’s history. Her novel Cuckoo plays out like Stephen King’s IT meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers at a conversion camp for gay and trans kids in the ’90s. These kids have been abducted and driven out to the desert to learn “correct” values. There, they will come up against an eldritch horror that threatens their lives.

This group of kids features lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans boys and girls, and we gradually learn about their individual pasts, watch them bond together, and get some kind of idea about the monstrous thing that lives out in the desert, hunts them, and wears their skin. These kids are being hollowed-out, but they’re also resilient and tougher than they look. But the threat is monstrous and deadly.

Bunny by Mona Awad

Bunny is part of the popular dark academia genre, but it stands out by being a strange, satirical, and cynical novel about college life and the cliquey relationships between young women. This modern classic follows Samantha, a masters student of Creative Writing, and she’s the only girl on the course who isn’t part of an exclusionary in-group of vapid girls who all call each other Bunny.

Samantha is a punk outlier until she isn’t. She gets invited into the group via a letter to one of their parties. At this party, the Bunnies play with dark magic and sacrifice rabbits, which conjures up a hot but simple-headed guy who suddenly appears at their door. From here, Samantha falls into a world of off-kilter strangeness. Feverish and occult, it is an addictive tale of weird women being weird.

I came to this opinion after spending months reviewing fresh, new books that all suffered from needless padding; fat that could have been cut. These were all fiction, from a variety of genres, and no matter their themes, settings, or plots, they were all full of needless filler that damaged the pacing, the tone, and even the themes of the book.

Yes, Books Are Too Long

When I lay out my year in reading, it is so often the literary novels that end before they hit 250 pages which leave the greatest impact on me, both emotionally and politically. The lengthy bricks, hampered by their own weight, often end up feeling forgettable and frustrating. But is this always the case?

Well, no. I cut my teeth on long books. As a teenager, fantasy books were my gateway into fiction, and I paid little to no attention to the lengths of these novels. The question of whether or not books were too long never entered my mind while I was reading Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin, and Joe Abercrombie.

So, What About Epic Fantasy Novels?

Fantasy books are the biggest culprits when it comes to intense length and bloat. But fantasy fans would never call this bloat. The extreme length of a fantasy novel is justified by two things: the scale and scope of the world (both in terms of its space and its history); and the sheer sense of adventure and immersion that comes with reading a fantasy epic.

In order to craft a believable, detailed world full of dynamic politics, lengthy histories, diverse cultures, multiple languages, traditions, and religions etc, a fantasy novel needs to be long. This makes perfect sense to me; I understand it and I have enjoyed many epic fantasy series’.

That said, every single fantasy novel is still too long. There is not a single epic novel that couldn’t have had fifty or even a hundred pages cut from it. The genre desperately suffers from needless padding, so much wandering, tiresome exposition; all of this can be cut, and no author I’ve ever read is free from these criticisms.

I’m not here to argue that all fantasy novels should be 300 pages in length. That would be absurd. But if one is 800 pages long, it likely could have been cut down to a neater, better-paced 600 pages without losing any of its lore, world-building, or its sense of scale and adventure.

The One Major Exception

The only books that are exempt from this argument are nonfiction books. If a researcher has spent years on a specific scientific discipline or an area of history that they wish to write about, they should have the freedom to explore and explain at their leisure. Needlessly condensing information down is generally seen as a shame, and I agree.

It would break countless readers’ hearts to learn that someone had spent their career researching 20th Century Chinese politics, only to be told that their comprehensive history book has to be 200 pages long, when they have a thousand pages worth of information to convey. That would be an insult and a travesty. So, nonfiction, you’re off the hook.

Don’t Bury Your Themes

All art is political; nothing is made in a vacuum. These are universal truths. Every novel you’ve ever read, regardless of genre and setting, was inspired by the world around it and has at least one message to express. It is my opinion that making a novel unjustifiably long waters down those themes to the book’s own detriment.

Regardless of their genre, many of the greatest classic novels in history are short and concise. In science fiction, for example, the novels of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Octavia Butler, and Ursula K. Le Guin are all tightly edited sci-fi novels with clear socio-political themes being explored in fresh and exciting ways.

One wonderful example of a classic novel with so much depth of character and theme is John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, a short novel that was originally devised as a play text. Perfectly paced, perfectly edited, clear, concise, and yet so thought-provoking, so striking, so timeless.

A modern example that mirrors Of Mice and Men is Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These. A frightfully powerful novella with a complex protagonist, a compelling setting, and all the thematic depth you could ever want out of a piece of fiction. A true masterpiece in a hundred pages.

These examples prove how, when art is made to express a feeling or an opinion, making that art needlessly lengthy and convoluted only serves to bury its message.

Fiction Needs Better Editing

Some of my favourite authors are transgressive Japanese women—the likes of Sayaka Murata, Mieko Kawakami, Yoko Ogawa, and Emi Yagi. These authors write short, subversive, thematically dense, thought-provoking, and often feminist novels. Their books are well-edited and don’t waste the reader’s time.

These talented women are able to write complex characters and relationships that draw in the reader, affect our emotions on a deep level, and sacrifice nothing by being short and concise. And then there’s Butter by Asako Yuzuki.

Butter was the final straw for me; a novel that belongs on the shelf amongst all the wonderful transgressive Japanese novels that I love. And yet, it doesn’t, simply because it is too long. Butter is a literary novel about gender roles, traditions, and societal expectations disguised as a thriller. There is an excellent novel in there somewhere, but it is offensively long.

At 450 pages, Butter chooses to bury its exciting and enticing themes and politics in so much fat. It is almost hilariously appropriate that a novel titled Butter has so much fat to cut. If Butter had been better edited and cut down to a reasonable length, we would have a potential masterpiece on our hands. But the length is what killed it.

Butter stands as a shining example of lengthy books that waste the reader’s time, water down their themes, and ruin their own pacing. It illustrates so clearly just how detrimental a book’s bloat can be to its overall quality.

Conclusion

If a book can be shorter—if a book can convey its themes and politics clearly, keep its tone and its complexity intact, all while cutting the fat and therefore improving its pace—it should be. This is my ultimate conclusion. A novel owes it to both its reader and itself to deliver everything a work of art sets out to do with as much precision and clarity as possible.

This is not to say that every novel should actually be a novella, only that most of the novels you’ll ever read could have lost at least ten percent of their padding and would have been better for it. Cutting a book down only improves its pacing, and makes its characters and themes shine brighter. Books are too long, and they need better editing.

Must-Read Books Set in Los Angeles

Whether you’re a local, planning to visit LA, or enjoy a good book, these stories will immerse you in the City of Angels, taking you from the glittering lights of Hollywood to the gritty underbelly of its streets:

1. Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

Named the Best Book of the Year and Most-Anticipated Selection, Milk Fed is an erotic lesbian fiction book with a side of humor.

The story is about a woman living in LA in her twenties, exploring physical and emotional hunger. While Milk Fed is profoundly emotional, Broder adds her classic quirky, fun bits into the mix, too. 

Milk Fed is an excellent book for anyone interested in a relatable read that dives into food rituals, challenging parental relationships, and finding oneself.

Buy a copy of Milk Fed here

Read More: A Native Angeleno’s Guide to the Best 9 Bookstores in LA

2. White Oleander by Janet Fitch 

White Oleander is a must-read if you’re looking for one of the most enthralling yet devastating novels set in Los Angeles. 

This Oprah Book Club read tells the story of a young woman who lived in multiple Los Angeles foster homes. Many hard lessons in various homes with dangers and challenges take the woman on a surprising journey of self-discovery. Although White Oleander is a heavy read, it’s beautifully written and incredibly moving.

Buy a copy of White Oleander here

3. Pizza Girl by Jean Frazer

If you like to read books that are quick and easy but have a huge impact, Pizza Girl is an excellent option. Winner of the LAMBDA literary award, you can finish this book in one sitting while following the story of a pregnant teen working in suburban Los Angeles.

She faces many life struggles that only intensify when she becomes obsessed with a married customer. Pizza Girl is bold, darkly funny, and always unexpected.

Buy a copy of Pizza Girl here

4. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Light From Uncommon Stars is a fan-favorite for those who love science fiction and fantasy novels.

This defiantly adventurous read is set east of LA in the San Gabriel Valley and tells the story of a young Transgender runaway on a mission. Along the way, they find community, love, and identity.

As you read along and join three women who become connected by music, chance, and fate, it’s nearly impossible not to feel captivated.

Buy a copy of Light From Uncommon Stars here

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5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a New York Times Bestseller sapphic novel and a go-to beach read. 

It tells the story of an aging Hollywood movie icon who’s finally ready to tell the truth about her enchanting, scandalous life. And it turns out there might just be a reason she chooses a specific reporter to tell her story to.

This heartbreaking but captivating book is one that many readers find incredibly difficult to put down.

Buy The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo here

6. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

As a #1 National Bestseller, Daisy Jones & The Six is considered one of the best fiction books set in Los Angeles. It’s also been named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and Esquire.

Daisy Jones & The Six explores the rise and fall of a fictional band in the late sixties, early seventies. The novel keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for what’s to come from start to finish.

Taylor Jenkens Reid is known for incredible work and certainly takes that to the next level with this book.

Buy Daisy Jones and The Six here

7. The Pisces by Melissa Broder

If you’re looking for a unique page-turner, The Pisces, Melissa Border’s first novel, is an exciting option.

When Lucy visits Venice Beach in Los Angeles for the summer to dog-sit, she winds up becoming fascinated by a swimmer who turns out to be a merman. Follow along as Lucy starts questioning everything she thought she knew about the meaning of life and love.

Buy a copy of The Pisces here

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8. Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz

Eve’s Hollywood is a special nonfiction book about Los Angeles. This biography is a love letter to Los Angeles, written by the city’s most charming daughter, a journalist, party girl, artist, and so much more. Throughout the book, Eve shares pieces of LA’s stunning landscape and interesting accounts of rockstars sleeping at Chateau Marmont and a hooker at the corner of La Brea Ave and Sunset Blvd.

It’s easy to appreciate Eve’s witty commentary and her love affair with Los Angeles shown throughout Eve’s Hollywood.

Buy a copy of Eve’s Hollywood here

9. Death Is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury

If you enjoy reading mysteries, Death is a Lonely Business is one of the best ones set in LA. This stylish, somewhat fantastical tale takes place in Venice, California.

It covers a series of murders happening around a young writer who’s constantly distracted by strange events around him. Ray Bradbury is known as an unmatched storyteller, and Death is a Lonely Business doesn’t disappoint.

Buy Death Is a Lonely Business here

10. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Another one of the best crime novels set in LA that’s a bit different is The Big Sleep. When a dying millionaire hires a private eye to handle his daughter’s blackmailer, he finds himself involved in more trouble than he could’ve imagined.

This fascinating read features the iconic character that inspired the film Marlowe with Liam Neeson.

Buy a copy of The Big Sleep

11. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Sympathizer has been recognized as one of the best novels set in Los Angeles and has received the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was also named a New York Times Editor’s Choice. In fact, it’s won various awards, making this a unique debut novel.

Enjoy a story of love and betrayal narrated by a French-Vietnamese army captain who plans to come to the United States after the Fall of Saigon to build a new life in LA.

It’s easy to keep turning the pages of The Sympathizer as you follow along with the powerful story of friendship and love.

Buy a copy of The Sympathizer here

12. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Weetzie Bat is a wonderful, poetic work of magical realism and won a Phoenix Award from the Children’s Literature Association. It’s perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Laura Ruby.

This coming-of-age novel is widely recognized as a young adult literature classic and follows two best friends as they navigate life and love in a dreamy version of Los Angeles. 

Buy a copy of Weetzie Bat here

13. Ask the Dust by John Fante

One of the most popular novels set in Los Angeles is Ask the Dust, which takes place during the Great Depression era. This intriguing story shares the account of a young writer, Arturo Bandini, who falls in love with a waitress. Arturo’s hope for success and love doesn’t go as planned.

Follow along as he struggles with relationships, poverty, and his ability to translate these experiences into words.

Buy a copy of Ask the Dust here

We hope you enjoyed exploring this list of the best books set in Los Angeles and found one you’re excited to read! If you found this article helpful, please consider sharing.

We will answer both of these questions, and also address a common issue: ADHD. Speaking personally, I am a book critic with ADHD whose job is to read and review books. In order to tame my ADHD and read around fifteen books per month, I’ve developed a few strategies which I will also pass on to you.

Before we get to that, however, there is one thing I’d like to make crystal clear: It is okay to not read quickly. If you are a particularly slow reader, there is no sin in that, and you don’t have to stress yourself by speeding up your reading (especially if you happen to have ADHD).

The same goes for how many books you read. What’s far more important is the quality of your reading, as well as the purpose of your reading. Quality over quantity really does apply here!

For example, if you have a friend who reads ten books a month and they’re all smutty romance books, but you managed to read one great literary novel that will stick with you forever; that will continue to affect you emotionally, inspire you, and maybe even change how you think, you win. Your friend reads more, but you read better.

That said, there is nothing wrong with enjoying smutty romance! All fiction reading has proven to increase our capacity for empathy. And reading has no grand purpose. If you read purely for fun and escapism because, let’s face it, life is hard, then more power to you. There is no right or wrong when it comes to how we read.

All of this is to say that you should not pressure yourself to read more books, read faster, or read better. If you put pressure on yourself, or if you compare yourself to others, you will likely ruin the joys of reading before you even get started. Reading is one of life’s great joys, so let’s talk about how we can read more, read faster, and enjoy doing it!

Read More: Are Books Too Long? (Opinion)

How to Read More Books

We’ll tackle how to read faster in a moment. First: How to read more books. There are a few approaches you can take, so let’s break it down into a list:

• Ask yourself why
• Think about your hobbies/interests
• Join a community

We will not be talking here about setting yourself a challenge. Challenges can often take the fun out of things, especially if you’re a neurodiverse person like myself. Instead, we’re taking an entirely positive and excited approach to reading here. So let’s start with the first point.

Ask Yourself Why

Before you pick up your next read, ask yourself why you want to read more. There are a few different answers you might come up with: To become more knowledgeable; to escape into other worlds; to feel more fulfilled; to relax. These are all common reasons for reading. Which one applies to you?

The answer to this question will determine what kinds of books you seek out. If you want to learn more, you’ll want to read more nonfiction. If you want to read for escapism, you’ll be moving towards science fiction and fantasy. If you want to feel more fulfilled, you’ll want to read more literary fiction or classics. And if you want to relax, maybe romance or crime novels are for you.

Think About Your Hobbies & Interests

What do you currently enjoy? For example, if you love cooking or baking, there are so many fantastic memoirs written by celebrated chefs and bakers. There are also travel books based around world foods. If you’re a gamer (like myself), you should definitely read more science fiction and fantasy novels.

Your current hobbies will certainly influence your reading habits, so have a think about how you spend your free time. And also think about the kinds of movies, TV shows, and video games you currently enjoy. Match those styles and genres to the fiction you seek out.

Join A Community

Every hobby has its communities, both online and in real life. Reading is no different. Obviously, there are book clubs (I’m personally not a big fan), but there are also social media circles.

If you start seeking out books—and the people who talk about them—on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok etc, your algorithm will start showing you more and more good books. You will start to engrain yourself in that community. Ask questions, ask for advice, comment on videos, let the algorithms do some of the work for you!

Community is a particularly powerful thing, and the online book space is a particularly diverse, welcoming, and wholesome place. Through these spaces, you’ll learn about book prizes, you’ll start following publishers and authors, and before you know it you’ll be a part of the book community.

How to Read Faster

If you read faster, you’ll get through more books. If that’s your goal, here are some strategies for you to employ. Just remember: you don’t have to put pressure on yourself to read more. Once again, it’s quality over quantity. It is always better to read a few smart and interesting books than to read a lot of uninspired dross.

• Read shorter books
• Read everywhere
• Set aside time

These are three simple strategies that can help you read faster, and therefore read more books. And for my fellow neurodiverse readers, these are the strategies that will be especially useful for you.

Read Shorter Books

This one sounds kind of shallow, but trust me; I have some good points to make here. First, and most obviously, it takes less time (though not necessarily less effort) to read a shorter book. But we are going way beyond that.

Something that’s worth knowing, especially if you don’t currently read a lot, is that too many books are unjustifiably long. Many of the greatest works of literature are under 300 pages long. Many of the most moving, intelligent, and thematically dense literary novels are under 250 pages long. So never be afraid to focus your time on short books.

This will also help you to read faster! In my experience with ADHD, I physically read books faster—find myself turning the page more frequently—when reading shorter books because I know the end is within reach. Shorter books are exciting because they feel achievable. This has a motivating effect, and encourages us to feel confident in our reading speed.

Reading shorter books also gives you the opportunity to read more diversely. If you limit yourself to a stack of books, all of which are under 300 pages in length, your stack might consist of poetry collections, short story collections, a short classic, a literary novel, a graphic novel, a manga, and a short history book. And all will feel achievable!

Read Everywhere

Get into the habit of always having a book in your hand. Waiting in line? Read a page. Waiting for the kettle to boil? Read a page. Sitting on the bus? Read a few pages. I even read while walking down the street (provided it’s a street I know well). If you take every free moment as an opportunity to read, you’ll read more and learn to read faster, too.

We all have our phones in our hands these days. And whenever we have a spare moment or a moment where we are waiting for something, we get our phones out and start scrolling. Train yourself to pull a book out of your bag or pocket, and read a few paragraphs instead.

Set Aside Time

This one is especially good for my fellow ADHDers out there. When you’re at home, set aside an hour (or even just thirty minutes) where you put yourself in a comfy seat, lock your phone in another room, and just read. You have no other distractions but the book, and you have a set amount of time in which to do nothing but read.

Your goal is to not look up from the page. Let the words sink in; let the pages wash over you; allow yourself to sink into the book. If it’s nonfiction, bring a pencil and annotate it. If it’s a novel, engage your hyperfocus and slip into that world for an hour. Watch how time falls away and your reading speed will increase as there is nothing but you and the book.

Seen the films? Now read the books!

Here, we’ll cover the books that you may or may not know exist, and which you absolutely must read, as well as the ones you probably know about but never read because their film adaptations are such beloved classics (but you should still read the novels).

Read More: How to Read More Books (And Faster)

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

This one has a weird and interesting history. Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey is a boundary-pushing classic of the genre, and many don’t know that there is also a novel by science fiction storyteller Arthur C. Clarke.

What’s interesting about it, however, is that the movie technically came first. Kubrick had the initial idea, and asked Clarke to work with him on the screenplay, which he did. But Clarke also wanted to turn the screenplay into a novel, which he did, and it was published the same year.

Clarke’s novel is an outstanding work of fiction which arguably improves upon the movie. The film omits so much exposition, opting for minimal dialogue and a lot of vagueness in its storytelling, but the novel clarifies so much of the film’s strangeness without being dull or patronising. It is a must-read for fans of the movie.

Buy a copy of 2001 here!

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Everyone and their mum knows that Peter Jackson’s beloved The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was adapted from Tolkien’s original book(s). The Lord of the Rings was, after all, the first true work of fantasy fiction. But so many of us never get around to reading the books because of their length, their density, their age, or some other excuse.

While the films are undeniable masterpieces of cinema, the same is true for Tolkien’s novel. All by himself, this one man created an expansive mythology that rivals those of Greece and Scandinavia. Within that mythology, he told an epic tale of adventure, war, love, and magic. If you’ve always felt daunted by The Lord of the Rings, take the plunge. It’s worth it.

Buy a copy of The Lord of the Rings here!

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

Yanis Varoufakis’ Poor Things is his finest work as a filmmaker. The Greek director has made many incredible movies, but Poor Things is his masterpiece. But Poor Things was based on the novel of the same name by 20th century Scottish author Alasdair Gray.

Gray was widely considered to be the greatest Scottish writer of his time, and Poor Things is, on the surface, a blend of Frankenstein, Lolita, and Flowers for Algernon. But it is also a wildly clever, satirical, and strange novel embedded with intense and important themes of socialism and feminism.

Framed as a true story, uncovered and republished a century after its events by Gray himself, Poor Things shifts its perspective and its form, moving from prose to epistolary letters, finally ending with a long letter from Bella herself, telling her version of events. Fans of Varoufakis’ phenomenal film have to read Gray’s original novel; it is a masterpiece of Scottish fiction.

Buy a copy of Poor Things here!

Dune by Frank Herbert

As is the case with The Lord of the Rings, the vast majority of Dune fans know that Denis Villeneuve’s epic masterpiece is based on a space opera by American author Frank Herbert (and that there was also a 1984 film directed by David Lynch). But Dune is another hefty, intimidating novel that many never find the courage to dive into.

Doing so is incredibly rewarding, however, in part because Herbert wrote two sequels which vary wildly in tone, but mostly because this was a sci-fi novel that altered the landscape and the trajectory of the genre. Science fiction was never the same after the publication of Dune, and reading it makes apparent why that is the case.

Buy a copy of Dune here!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

One of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s greatest achievements was his 2004 animated film Howl’s Moving Castle, a favourite among many Studio Ghibli fans. And whether you know that it was based on a children’s novel by Welsh author Diana Wynn Jones or not, this is another book that deserves to be read by fantasy fans of all ages.

While the movie remains a perfect adaptation, there are important and interesting differences between it and its source material. Jones also deserves far more love and attention than she gets; her Chrestomanci series is widely and criminally overlooked as an influential piece of children’s fantasy fiction.

Buy a copy of Howl’s Moving Castle here!

I Am Legend by Richard Mattheson

The 2007 I Am Legend movie isn’t very good. This is not a hot take; a lot of people feel this way. However, what is an enormous shame is that the movie is based on a phenomenal horror novel by Richard Mattheson, and too many people don’t know that or ignore it.

Mattheson’s novel is very different from director Francis Lawrence’s film, and far smarter as well. It is set in a version of the modern day where almost all of the human race has succumbed to a vampire virus. We follow a man who assumes he is the only human left. He hides away in his home and defends it from the vampire scourge.

But society is shifting, changing, and adapting. He is the outlier; he is the dangerous one; he is legend. It’s a wonderfully imaginative, intense, and frightening novel that puts the film to shame.

Buy a copy of I Am Legend here!

Misery by Stephen King

Misery is an excellent horror movie, for which Cathy Bates won an Oscar, and it came hot off the heels of Stephen King’s original novel, which was published only three years earlier. Fans of the movie often ignore the book because the film is such an excellent adaptation. We’re all guilty of doing this, but King’s original novel should not be so readily ignored.

While Rob Reiner’s 1990 film is one of the best adaptations of King’s fiction, the original novel is still its own kind of excellent. Unlike the film, the book manages to double its sense of isolation by locking the reader in the mind of its protagonist. He is unlikeable and difficult, and that makes the tension even more palpable.

This is one of those rare instances where it’s hard to choose a favourite between the original novel and the film adaptation; both are truly excellent realisations of King’s vision, and both should be enjoyed by horror fans everywhere.

Buy a copy of Misery here!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

It’s not a bold claim to say that Douglas Adams’ sci-fi comedy masterpiece is better than its very mid 2005 movie adaptation, directed by Garth Jennings. One thing the film really has going for it is its cast. Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Alan Rickman as Marvin were especially inspired and flawless casting choices.

Beyond the casting, however, the movie really is nothing special and not a patch on the original novel. Adams’ original Hitchhiker’s Guide remains a timeless and flawless work of satirical sci-fi. It’s also the first book in a five-part “trilogy”, all of which are excellent.

Buy a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy here!

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

No Country for Old Men, like Misery, is another great example of a fantastic film adapted from a fantastic novel. Directed by the Coen Brothers, with a screenplay that they adapted from McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men is a really amazing movie. Its direction, tone, style, and performances are all top-tier.

It is a well-loved and admired movie, and the same can be said for Cormac McCarthy’s original novel. While his novel The Road is incomparably better than its average movie adaptation, No Country for Old Men is a far closer call. Both the book and the film are perfect works of fiction. And if you’ve only ever seen the movie, you owe it to yourself to read the book, too.

Buy a copy of No Country for Old Men here!

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Better known as The Golden Compass in the US, Philip Pullman’s inspiring and illuminating YA novel has been adapted twice: first into a very average 2007 movie which wrung out all the thematic depth and nuance from Pullman’s novel (though it is a well-cast and beautiful film), and then into a very good BBC series which adapted the full trilogy of novels.

That trilogy is called His Dark Materials, and its first book Northern Lights is an ambitious and, some might argue, radical work of young adult urban fantasy fiction. Radical because Northern Lights is a humanist novel which criticises the Church and organised religion through its themes and events, all of which were ignored by the movie.

Pullman popularised the YA genre of fantasy fiction; and his world and characters have had a transformative and lasting effect on generations of young people, just as the works of Tolkien and Lewis did before him. These are must-read books that their movie adaptation failed to do any justice to at all.

Buy a copy of His Dark Materials here!

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Alex Garland’s 2018 movie adaptation of Annihilation, starring an excellent Natalie Portman, is really great. And Garland himself is also a novelist; his book The Beach was adapted to film by Danny Boyle long before Garland himself ever took a shot at direction. All of that said, Jeff Vandermeer’s original novel is a wildly original sci-fi novel that should be read.

Annihilation is the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy, and while Garland’s movie is great, it makes some considerable alterations which justify a read of the novels for any moviegoer who enjoyed the film adaptation. This is a strange, unique, and thought-provoking novel that has to be read to be believed.

Buy a copy of Annihilation here!

What is romantasy genre vs. fantasy with romance?

The difference between romantasy (or romantic fantasy) and fantasy with romance comes down to how prevalent the romance in the story actually is. Romantasy books have fantastical plots enriched with a heavy dose of romance, while fantasy with romantic elements uses that romance as a subplot to spice up the plot and characters.

For example, if a fantasy book’s primary storyline and characters are based on those characters’ romance, it’s a romantasy novel. If a fantasy book’s plot isn’t entirely about a love story — but rather about war, politics, and adventure, it’s a fantasy with a romantic subplot.

Must-Read Romantic Fantasy Books

From a fantasy romance reminiscent of The Hunger Games to award-winning modern novels, there’s something from the romantasy genre for almost any kind of reader here. These books are nearly impossible to put down, and many are debuts of a compelling series that you’ll want to dive straight into and never surface.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

Despite the staggering popularity of Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses, Thea Guanzon’s The Hurricane Wars is the absolute peak of the romantic fantasy genre. This is a deeply moving, empathetic, textured, and thought-provoking tale of war and political intrigue, bolstered by an exciting and dynamic magic system. And on top of all of that, we have an addictive pair of protagonists caught in an exciting enemies-to-lovers affair.

Read More: Are Books Too Long? (Opinion)

What makes this novel stand out so much is its dedication to good fantasy world building, as well as its unique approach to romance in a war-torn world. So many romantasy books are simply shallow works of toxic romance with a veneer of fantasy. The Hurricane Wars is an intriguing and thought-provoking fantasy novel that encourages readers to consider the roles which narratives, perspectives, and propaganda play during war.

Our protagonists are a young orphaned soldier fighting to defend her home—a union of nations being invaded by a rising empire—and the son of the invading empire’s leader. Both believe their causes to be just, both are filled with righteous rage, and both also happen to be brilliantly sardonic people who provide wit and comic relief when it’s needed. There is nothing this novel doesn’t deliver.

Buy a copy of The Hurricane Wars here!

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is one of the very best books in the romantasy genre for one specific reason: it commits. Many authors who write within the genre (and they know who they are) use fantasy as flimsy set dressing for weird romantic encounters between meek young women and cruel older men. This one works brilliantly because Carissa Broadbent presents us with a dark world of backstabbing, bloodthirsty vampire hunters.

And the worldbuilding really is solid. Oraya is a young human whose adoptive father Vincent, king of the Hiaj vampires, saved her from a town that he himself had raided in order to quell a rebellion started by an enemy vampire clan. Since then, she has lived with him and spent her nights sneaking out to defend the underclass humans of their city from the predatory vampires who corner and kill them.

Oraya has chosen to enter a Hunger Games-style contest (as its only human competitor) in order to be granted a wish by Nyaxia, the vampire goddess. While risking her life in these trials, she teams up with a Turned vampire named Raihn, and thus begins a slow-burn romance in the most unlikely of places: a life-or-death contest of strength and skill.

Buy a copy of The Serpent and the Wings of Night here!

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

What do you get if you take the ACOTAR formula of romantasy fiction, inject it into a world that actually feels tangible and three-dimensional, populate that world with people who are more well-defined, and make it gay? You get Faebound, a fantastic example of how to do spicy fairy romantasy well!

Of course, making something gay does instantly make it better, but Faebound is more than that. It begins with a myth about the three races which once populated the world: elves, fae, and humans. Only the elves remain now, divided into tribes which have committed to an endless war for precious resources. Our protagonist is an elf commander who makes one bad decision on the battlefield and is banished to the wilds beyond their borders.

With her sister Lettle and fellow soldier Rayan in tow, Yeeran soon stumbles into the hidden world of the fae; a world that also acts as their prison. There, she will be put on trial for a murder she doesn’t know that she committed. A dark and queer romance will steadily blossom as secrets are uncovered and the world becomes an even stranger place.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

If you’re looking for spicy romantic books, the BookTok sensation Fourth Wing is a must-read. This award-winning book was almost impossible to get hold of when it first came out and ticked all the boxes for a suspenseful, sexy, and adventurous romantasy novel.

Fourth Wing tells the story of Violet Sorrengail, who was meant to enter the Scribe Quadrant for a quiet life of books and history. Instead, her mom—the ruthless head of the military academy—ordered her to join the dragon riding division as a recruit; a fate which might prove fatal to this meek but savvy young woman.

Violet, a person much smaller than the others she has been lumped with, is up against dragons, and her chances of surviving too long are slim. With every new sunrise, Violet must face friends, enemies, and lovers while doing whatever she can to prevail. If you enjoy it, then the next installment, Iron Flame, is already out and ready to read.

Buy a copy of Fourth Wing here!

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrou

From Blood and Ash is one of the spiciest reads of the romantasy genre. It’s filled with action, sexy, and nearly impossible to put down. Poppy was born into a life barely her own. As the Maiden, she couldn’t be touched, looked at, or spoken to. She couldn’t experience pleasure and spent her days with a duty to usher in a new era.

As a maiden with a heart, soul, and longing, her duty becomes tangled with her desires and needs when a guard, Hawke, enters the picture to ensure her Ascension. Hawke provokes her anger, makes her question everything, and seduces her with the forbidden.

Discover what happens when Poppy’s life starts unraveling as she faces the possibility of losing her heart and being considered unworthy by the gods.

Buy a copy of From Blood and Ash here!

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

Experience a magical world with A River Enchanted, a Scottish-inspired fantasy novel that showcases enemies-to-lovers romance, magic, and a thrilling mystery. A River Enchanted starts with a letter and journey across dark waters. Jack Tamerlaine is sent home to Cadence after ten years on the mainland to help find missing people from the island.

Jack must work with his childhood nemesis, Adaira, to solve the missing person mysteries. Eventually, they find a dark secret about Cadence that might be unstoppable.

Buy a copy of A River Enchanted here!

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Mass

A Court of Thorns and Roses (the first book in the series) is seductive and filled with exciting action.  Feyre, a young adult, kills a wolf in the woods when a horrifying creature comes for revenge. When Feyre is taken to a precarious magical land beyond the border on which her home sits, she learns that the creature, Tamlin, isn’t a beast but really one of the immortal Fae that onced ruled her world. 

As Feyre starts feeling more at home in her new land, her hostility towards Tamlin grows into a fiery passion. As she fights this passion, she must figure out what’s wrong with this dangerous world—what strange disease plagues it—and how to stop it.

Buy a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses here!

Quicksilver by Callie Hart

What begins as a gritty fantasy tale in a desert city defined by class struggle and roguish characters pulling daring deeds soon shifts into a romantasy tale with all the tropes for which the genre has become known (for better or worse). Protagonist Saeris is a young woman from a poor district who risks her safety to steal from the rich and keep her brother safe. Soon enough, she is brought before the city’s immortal queen.

While engaging in a struggle with the queen’s guard, Saeris grabs for a strange sword, which summons a dark and brooding stranger to appear and whisk her away to the mysterious land of the fae. Once there, she must come to grips with this unusual new world and its magical denizens, learn about her own alchemical powers, and tame her feelings for the dangerous stranger who stole her away and abuses her relentlessly. Romantasy at its finest.

When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

Narrated with a deep flair for the dramatic, When the Moon Hatched is the tale of Raeve, an assassin and member of a rebellion known as Fíur du Ath. Too soon, however, she is captured and held at the mercy of the Guild of Nobles. Her romantic interest, Kaan Vaegor, is a kingslayer who ventures into the prison of the city of Gore, and there he finds our assassin, rage spilling out of her like a flood.

All of this takes place in a richly detailed world, the origins of which are told to us in a vibrant prologue that teaches readers about the gods and dragons they will become familiar with as the story progresses. This is a tale of rage, retribution, love, and yearning, presented through electric and impassioned prose.

Sun Serpent by Geneva Monroe

The first book in a romantic fantasy series, Sun Serpent is the story of a cursed kingdom, a Fire Singer looking for revenge, and a prince who isn’t what he seems.

Elyria Solaris dances with fire and disguises her skills as showmanship, and she craves answers about why she has a power no one else does. Prince Cal is looking for the girl who burns the brightest, and only Elyria can stop the horror his kingdom is facing. 

When Cal shows up in Elyria’s life, she’s on a path of vengeance over a loved one’s death. He’ll do anything to protect his people, including giving Elyria the answers she wants and lying to her about who he is. But what happens if Elyria trusts their undeniable spark? Will it be the one fire she can’t tame?  

Buy a copy of Sun Serpent by Geneva Monroe here!

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo is a powerhouse writer when it comes to twisting the fantasy genre and pushing it in new directions. She wrote a thrilling heist novel in a fantasy world, then injected the dark academia genre with sinister magic. And here, with The Familiar, she has blended historical fiction with romantasy.

Our protagonist is Luzia, a scullery servant working in a Madrid household that sits in the dregs of high society. Luiza and her aunt keep their Jewish identities a secret from the watchful eye of the Spanish Inquisition, but Luzia has another secret: a magic which she is able to manipulate, and which the wife of this household will soon discover and use to worm her way into the upper echelons of bourgeois Spanish society.

Once thrust into this high society world, Luzia will be used as a tool but will also have the opportunity to prove herself. And along the way, she will fall in forbidden love with a dark and immortal man with powers of his own. Danger surrounds her, and even simply surviving will prove a challenge for our young heroine.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

A Marvellous Light, the first book of a three-book series, won the 2022 Romantic Novel Award in Fantasy. This spicy romantasy tells the story of Robin Blythe, who must contend with magic’s danger and beauty, a deadly curse, and the terrifying visions of the future.

As Robin learns about unsettling truths, he faces unexpected dangers with his unfriendly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, Edwin Courcey. Robin and Edwin go on a journey to discover a conspiracy that threatens every magician in the British Isles and the secret someone has already died to keep.

Buy a copy of A Marvellous Light here!

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Follow the dark, gothic romantic fantasy of Elspeth Spindle in One Dark Window. Elspeth doesn’t need luck to stay safe in her home, an eerie, mist-locked kingdom. She needs a monster.

When she meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, who turns out to be the King’s nephew, her life drastically changes. She becomes part of a world of shadow and deception and joins a dangerous pursuit to cure the dark magic infecting the kingdom. 

Elspeth and the King’s nephew, Captain of the Destriers, have until Solstice to collect the keys to the cure, twelve Providence Cards. The problem? As her attraction to the Captain and the stakes intensify, she must face her darkest secret.

Buy a copy of One Dark Window here!

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince is a romantic fantasy story of Jude, who was a child when her parents were killed, and she and her sisters were abducted to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie.

When Jude becomes a teenager, she wants nothing more than to belong there despite her mortality. But the fey detests humans, especially the king’s son, Prince Cardan. To be welcome at the Court, Jude must rebel against Cardan and face the consequences.

Buy a copy of The Cruel Prince here!

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey

Set in London during the 19th century, A Market of Dreams and Destiny takes place just below Covent Garden, where everything has a price.  When Deri was a child, he was sold to a power merchant. Now, years later, Deri falls into the path of a runaway princess and has a chance to buy his freedom and a place with the Market’s elite.

As news of the missing princess spreads, Deri meets Owain, who becomes the love of his life. Owain’s employers are using the Market for their own schemes, and Deri is faced with the high price of selling the royal destiny, making a name for himself, and saving Owain. 

Buy a copy of A Market of Dreams and Destiny here!

The Book of Azreal (Gods & Monsters) by Amber Nicole

The Book of Azreal (Gods & Monsters) is a dark story of enemies to lovers. When Dianna gave up her life in the deserts of Eoria to save her dying sister, she called on anyone who would listen. What Dianna didn’t expect was a monster to answer.

Once Samkiel, now Liam, one name remains. He’s the World Ender, a myth to his enemies and a saviour and King to those who are loyal. After the Gods War, the World Ender hid from the world. Now he’s back and must face an old enemy and even put their differences aside to work together to save their world.

Buy a copy of The Book of Azreal here!

If you’re also looking to diversify your bookshelf this year, or if you’re interested in discovering more works by Filipino women writers, here’s a list of my current must-reads — from poetry to cozy mystery and historical fiction — to help you get started!

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

This cozy mystery has everything you need: a hilarious protagonist, a surprise murder, and lots of delicious food. But instead of an idyllic manor house or a charming British village as its setting, you’ll find 25-year-old Lila Macapagal trying to solve a murder that takes place in a Filipino restaurant.

After a horrible breakup, Lila moves back to her quaint hometown of Shady Palms, Illinois, for some peace and quiet. But when her ex-boyfriend suddenly drops dead in her aunt’s restaurant — after having eaten a dish Lila cooked — the Macapagal family needs to work together to prove her innocence.

Buy a copy of Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe

For all the historical fiction and magical realism lovers out there, this book’s for you. Holthe’s debut novel follows a Filipino family as they struggle to stay alive during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II.

Finding refuge in the cellar of a house a short distance away from Manila, they pass the time telling magical stories based on Filipino legends and myths. As they wait for Japan to finally surrender to the United States, they slowly build up hope through their stories and become determined to fight for their freedom.

If you need any more reason to check this book out, here’s a fun fact: the stories that the characters share with each other in the cellar are based on stories that Holthe was told by her own Filipino father and grandmother.

Buy a copy of When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe

Chloe and the Kaishao Boys by Mae Coyiuto

If you’re a fan of rom-coms and young adult novels, look no further! Coyiuto’s newest novel follows Chloe Liang, a Chinese Filipino teenager living in Manila, who dreams of studying at the University of Southern California and becoming an animator.

The main issue in her life? Her father wants her to study somewhere closer to home, so he sets her up on a series of arranged dates in the hopes that she’ll change her mind. Will Chloe end up studying abroad, or will she meet someone who just might convince her to stay? You’ll have to read to find out!

Buy a copy of Chloe and the Kaishao Boys by Mae Coyiuto

In the Country by Mia Alvar

In the mood for something shorter? This short story collection features nine globe-trotting tales about Filipinos all around the world, from the Philippines and the United States to the Middle East.

Alvar explores the lives of different Filipinos living at home and abroad in stories such as “The Kontrabida,” which centers around a pharmacist-turned-drug smuggler living in New York, and “The Miracle Worker,” which tells the story of a Filipino teacher hired by a wealthy Bahraini woman to teach her disabled daughter.

Buy a copy of In the Country

The Farm by Joanne Ramos

If The Handmaid’s Tale is one of your favorite books, The Farm might just be right up your alley too. Ramos’ bestselling novel is set in Golden Oaks, a fictional facility in the Hudson Valley akin to a luxurious retreat — you’ve got free daily massages, delicious food, access to private fitness trainers, and more. However, anyone who wants access to these amenities has to give up something valuable: their freedom.

The Farm is a dystopian novel told through multiple perspectives and details the experiences that women at Golden Oaks endure to produce babies for their rich clients. During every nine-month stay, these women become “hosts” and cannot leave the facility. But what happens when certain truths about Golden Oaks are slowly revealed and paradise turns into a nightmare?

Buy a copy of The Farm by Joanne Ramos

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir by Malaka Gharib

In this moving coming-of-age story filled with colorful illustrations, Gharib sheds light on her experiences growing up in the United States as the daughter of a Filipino mother and Egyptian father.

Throughout her childhood, she grapples with fitting in with her fellow American peers and learning about the differences between the cultures and traditions of both sides of her large family. If you’ve ever questioned your identity and culture during your adolescence, this book might just speak to you.

Buy a copy of I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir

Letters to a Young Brown Girl by Barbara Jane Reyes

If poetry’s more your thing, or if you’ve made it a goal to read more poetry this year, give this book a try. Reyes’ sixth collection of poems explore themes such as self-love and power through the voice of the Brown Girl, who is fed up with being called foreign and unwanted.

Reyes, who was born in Manila and raised in California, addresses the struggles that many Filipino Americans and immigrant women of color face on an everyday basis in relation to ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, and religion.

Buy a copy of Letters to a Young Brown Girl

About the author: Isabella Peralta is a writer with Reedsy a marketplace, and blog that helps authors with everything from finding helpful writing templates to hiring a ghostwriter and more.