What exactly is a dark fantasy book?
Chances are you’ve already read a dark fantasy book or have seen a TV or film adaptation of one of these stories, which often feature an anti-hero. A dark magic fantasy might be told from the perspective of who we would normally consider an enemy or villain. Squeaky-clean, noble, and pure heroes and heroines are not the norm in dark fantasy or, if a character starts out that way, the dark fantasy elements will shape them into someone more hardened and suspicious. In a dark fantasy book, the story becomes a manifestation of the protagonist’s mind, reflecting their bouts of melancholy, ambivalence, and sorrow.
Both humans and immortal characters grapple with supernatural forces, which often show up in grim form and can resemble ghost stories and some horror. Magic is used for good and evil, and often the fight for who controls magic is set against epic terms of who controls power. But the signature style of dark magic is singularly recognizable: atmospheric and laced with a stormy mood that will seep into you as you devour the pages. This is often a reflection of the tortured or conflicted hero’s mindset. Still, these books are emotional, pushing protagonists to the brink and making them confront emotions and feelings that cannot stay buried.
Get started in reading dark magic fantasy books today with these 12 great reads.
(Note: This is an expanded version of an article I wrote for Book Riot.)
THREE DARK CROWNS BY KENDARE BLAKE
In Three Dark Crowns (2016), once a generation, a set of triplets will compete for the honor of being Queen Crowned in the island of Fennbirn. It’s more than a beauty pageant, though. The cost of losing is death. This time, the sisters Mirabella, Katharine, and Arsinoe have been raised with unique powers, like immunity to poison and the ability to control elements. When the competition kicks off on their sixteenth birthday, the fight a lifetime in the making erupts into something magical.
Add Three Dark Crowns on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
VITA NOSTRA BY MARINA & SERGEY DYACHENKO
At last, husband-wife writing team Marina and Sergey Dyachenko’s lush fantasy Vita Nostra (2007) is available for English reader with Julia Meitov Hersey’s translation. In this sinister spin on magic academy books, Sasha Samokhina is lured into joining a school for extremely talented youth. These kids and teens are hand-picked to learn how to do magic. But this is no hocus-pocus spell craft. No, Sasha and her fellow students at the Institute of Special Technologies are learning to bend and manipulate matter. The catch? Those who fail to endure and succeed in these grueling tasks could lose their families. When Sasha and her friends decide to stand up to the school, readers see just how dark magic can get. This is the first in a series to be translated in English from its native Russian, where the book was a runaway bestseller.
Add Vita Nostra on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
CORALINE BY NEIL GAIMAN
Neil Gaiman is a legend, but of all his books, my favorite is the grim dark fantasy Coraline (2002). Fans of Alice in Wonderland, this one is for you. Coraline—not Caroline—moves to a quirky new house with her negligent parents. One day, she finds a door into another house. This one looks just like hers, complete with an identical set of parents with buttons for eyes and a whole lot more interest in her life. It might seem like this other version is better, but things get tricky when Coraline fears she can’t go back.
Add Coraline on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
INTO THE DROWNING DEEP BY MIRA GRANT
Love The Little Mermaid? Mira Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep (2017) builds on mermaid legends with a decidedly dark twist. In this horror-fantasy with a queer-bent, an ambitious crew of humans try to study the near-mythical ancient creatures in the mysterious Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean. What they don’t anticipate is how deeply they’ll be pulled in, too. For marine biologist Victoria Stewart, this is far more than a routine scientific study. She’s hoping to find the sister she lost in a botched and lost Mariana Trench expedition seven years ago—but what she does discover threatens the fragile divide between humanity and mermaids…
Add Into the Drowning Deep on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
THE MAGICIANS BY LEV GROSSMAN
I remember reading The Magicians (2009) when it first came out. It was a buzzy book in 2009 and was drawing comparisons to Harry Potter right and left as Rowling’s series had just wrapped up a few years before Grossman’s debut. It’s a fair comparison, but The Magicians feels far darker. In this first book in the series, Quentin Coldwater likes to play with simples magic tricks he can preform, but it’s the land of Fillory—where his favorite Narnia-esque children’s fantasy series is set—that calls his soul. When Quentin is invited to enroll at a magic academy, he’ll find out the reason why he’s so called to Fillory. Like many dark fantasy books, The Magicians features an unlikely, even morally ambiguous hero from the real world and tasks them with saving the world from evil. In a very dark magic twist, though, The Magicians debates whether it’s worth saving our imperfect world.
Find The Magicians on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
PRACTICAL MAGIC BY ALICE HOFFMAN
One of the novels that made me fall in love with dark fantasy is Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic (1998). In this novel, the Owens sisters are said to be cursed: any man they love is destined to die. Gillian and Sally grew up thick as thieves, raised by their witchy aunts in a New England town that alternately shunned them and sought their magic potions. But when they grow up, they also grow apart, until Gillian shows up asking for Sally’s help: the deadbeat and abusive husband she killed just won’t go away, literally. But Sally’s grieving the loss of her own husband. Hoffman’s story reinvents the supernatural curse trope, making it feel emotional with high-stakes magic.
Add Practical Magic on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM BY VICTOR LAVALLE
Like many New Yorkers, Charles Thomas “Tommy” Tester has to hustle to make ends meet, a kind of magic power in itself. When Tommy delivers an occult book to a witchy woman in Queens, he dislodges supernatural forces that will change him forever. In The Ballad of Black Tom (2016), LaValle invites readers into the shadowy corners of the city in this Lovecraft-inspired urban dark fantasy that will have you seeing magic in manholes. Think UberEats, but with sorcery.
Add The Ballad of Black Tom on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
THE YOUNG ELITES BY MARIE LU
We have countless stories about superheroes with their noble missions to save the world from evil…but what about a band of fighters whose quest for justice isn’t as pure and simple? That’s the deliciously dark premise of Marie Lu’s The Young Elites (2014), the first in a YA series, which focuses on the Young Elites, people who have managed to survive the devastating blood fever epidemic. This talented and rare crew are said to have special powers, like Adelina, whose scars mark her as a Young Elite. Enzo Valenciano, a member of the group’s exclusive and mysterious Dagger Society, hopes to recruit Adelina. Meanwhile, Teren Santoro is tasked with tracking down and eliminating the Young Elites by order of his king…
Add The Young Elites on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE BY NATASHA NGAN
Natasha Ngan’s bewitching debut is non-stop action laced with characters you’ll ache to see succeed in a harsh world. In Girls of Paper and Fire (2018), eight girls are chosen to serve Ikhara’s royalty as Paper Girls. But when a ninth girl, Lei, is ordered to train with the Paper Girls as well, a spark of change takes fire which could radically alter the kingdom. With a touch of forbidden romance, Lei’s story is layered with emotional complexity and the effects of trauma on magic.
Add Girls of Paper and Fire on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
WHITE IS FOR WITCHING BY HELEN OYEYEMI
There’s a lot of overlap between the gothic tradition of literature and dark magic fantasy. Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching (2009) is an enchanting novel that blends elements of both these sub-genres. On the Dover coast, the Silvers live in a house filled with ominous sounds and twisty halls, trying to recover from a terrible loss. Young Miranda is increasingly drawn into the house’s past, with its lingering echo of women residents from generations past. When she disappears, the Silvers will have to finally confront the secrets they’ve suppressed and face their grief once and for all.
Add White is for Witching on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS BY PHILIP PULLMAN
In The Golden Compass (1995), Philip Pullman opens the His Dark Materials series, a dark fantasy if ever there was one. This series follows Lyra, a scrappy girl who is headed to the Far North to save her friend, Will, from the child-snatching Gobblers. It’s bad enough that Lyra’s pal has been taken, but soon Lyra will learn that she’s caught in a conflict between good and the heart of evil. If she fails, there are epic consequences. Pullman’s series is rooted in questions of philosophy, religion, and moral ethics, using fantasy as a means to explore these concept in a world not too different from our own.
Add The Golden Compass on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE BY ANNE RICE
I’ll never forget stumbling upon Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire in the library when I was a freshman in high school. The edition our library had deckle-edged pages and a glistening gold cover. It was simple yet elegant, a book to be admired. I checked it out and fell in love with a story that was just as dark and decadent. In this paranormal classic, Lois recounts how he became one of the undead and was mentored by a charismatic vampire, Lestat, with an appetite for more than just blood. When Lois “saves” a young girl, Claudia, from dying by giving her his breath, he turns her into a vampire, too. The trio’s twisted connection is detailed in this emotionally rich epic that harnesses dark fantasy’s tendency to make villains into heroes—or heroes into villains…
Add Interview with the Vampire on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a a library through WorldCat.
VICIOUS BY V.E. SCHWAB
In Vicious (2008), this twisty dark fantasy from V.E. Schwab explores the bitter competition that develops between Victor and Eli. Both boys were college roommates who bonded over a shared passion for power. As seniors, the frenemies research a tantalizing hypothesis—that under the right circumstances, anyone can develop powers. When their ideas move beyond the theoretical, their rivalry spirals out of hand, sending Victor and Eli apart before pulling them back in each other’s paths once more. Schwab’s novel and its sequel, Vengeful, explore the dark side of magic and the bloodthirsty greed it inspires.
Add Vicious on Goodreads, buy on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
