Books like 'Paranoid Mage'
Readers who enjoyed Paranoid Mage by Inadvisably Compelled also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy urban fantasy dark fantasy dark male-mc magical-realism low-fantasy
-
Lies Ripped Open by Steve McHugh
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsOver a hundred years have passed since a group of violent killers went on the rampage, murdering innocent victims for fun. But even back then, sorcerer Nate Garrett, aka Hellequin, knew there was more to it than simple savage pleasure—souls were being stolen.Nate’s discovery of the souls’ use, and of those supporting the group’s plan, made him question everything he believed... -
A Witch in Time by Amanda M. Lee
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA storm is raging in Hemlock Cove, but it’s nothing compared to the one raging in Aunt Tillie’s head. An accident renders Aunt Tillie unconscious in the hospital, and when Bay and Landon fall asleep while sitting vigil, they’re transported to a scary world: Aunt Tillie’s mind... -
The Ringmaster by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsAs above, so below…who was once friend is now a foe.The Faire is alive. It’s alive, it’s sentient, and it wants more from Cora Glass. Reeling from the revelations that Clown left her with, she struggles once more to find her footing. She never gets the chance.Harrow Faire wants Cora for murder. She assumed it was her death that it was after. She was wrong. It wants her to kill…to save them all... -
Burned by Benedict Jacka
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsMage Alex Verus is back in the seventh in the “gorgeously realized”* urban fantasy series from the national bestselling author of Veiled. I’m used to people wanting me dead. But, this time, I’m not the only one on the hit list—and time is running out... Diviner Alex Verus finally made one too many enemies on the Council of Mages, and now one of them is angry enough to have him executed...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism male-mc action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook -
-
Lord Loss by Darren Shan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThe first novel in a chilling new series by Darren Shan, author of the New York Times bestselling Cirque Du Freak series, will keep readers turning page after horrifying page. Grubbs Grady has stiff red hair and is a little big for his age, which means he can get into R-rated movies. He hates history and loves bacon, rats, and playing tricks on his squeamish older sister... -
Lord of the Shadows by Darren Shan
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsBook 11 of The Saga Of Darren Shan. Darren's going home. Back to where everything started. The town's changed a lot in the years that he's been away -- but then, so has Darren...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism male-mc 21st-century action-adventure audiobook book -
Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom World Fantasy Award-winning author Charles de Lint, a tale of love, courage, and the transforming power of imagination Isabelle Copley's visionary art frees ancient spirits. As the young student of the cruel, brilliant artist Vincent Rushkin, she discovered she could paint images so vividly real they brought her wildest fantasies to life... -
With Silent Screams by Steve McHugh
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsHis name is Nathan Garrett, but he’s also known as Hellequin. And murdering one of his friends and trying to blow him up is a good way to get this centuries-old sorcerer’s full attention…An old friend’s dead body, a cryptic note, and an explosion that almost costs him his own life propel Nate headfirst into a mystery involving a new threat from an old foe... -
The Astonishing Strande Brothers by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSome bonds are too strong to be broken. Even by death.“The Astonishing Strande Brothers” is a short story/extended epilogue that tells the tale of the reunion between Julian Strande and his long-lost brother Louis on a snowy holiday at the Strande Estate.It combines characters from both my Harrow Faire and Impossible Julian Strande series... -
Chosen by Benedict Jacka
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsI don’t publicly advertise that I’m a mage, but I don’t exactly hide it either, and one of the odd things I’ve learnt over the years is just how much you can get away with if you’re blatant enough. Hide something behind smoke and mirrors and make people work to find it, and they’ll tear the place down looking for what’s there... -
The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction by Neil Gaiman, Marlon James
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn outstanding array—52 pieces in all—of selected fiction from the multiple-award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, curated by his readers around the world, and introduced with a foreword by Booker Prize-winning author Marlon JamesSpanning Gaiman’s career to date, The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction is a captivating collection from one of the world’s most beloved...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure anthologies audiobook contemporary -
Hidden by Benedict Jacka
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsAlex Verus is a diviner who can see probable futures - a talent that's gotten him and his friends out of many a tough scrape. But what happens when someone doesn't want Alex's help?Alex's friend, the life mage Anne, distanced herself from him when she found out about his past as a Dark apprentice. Now she's in serious trouble, but wants nothing to do with him... -
Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsReturn to NewfordFamiliar to Charles de Lint's ever-growing audience as the setting of the novels Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and many others, Newford is the quintessential North American city, tough and streetwise on the surface and rich with hidden magic for those who can see...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary dark-fantasy fae fairy-tale -
In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThis fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book coming-of-age -
-
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 86 ratingsUnder the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure angels audiobook book -
Demon Thief by Darren Shan
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe second novel in this bonechilling series by Darren Shan, author of the New York Times bestselling Cirque Du Freak series is sure to give you goosebumps. Kernel Fleck has always known he's weird. He sees lights. Strange, multi-colored patches of light, swirling through the air. But it's not until a window opens into a demon world, with horrific consequences, that Kernel discovers his powers... -
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsA missing God.A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book -
Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe third and final book of the brilliant and captivating Trickster Trilogy, from the bestselling author of the Scotiabank Giller-prize finalist Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary dark-fantasy -
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEleven-year-old Fiona has just read a book that doesn’t exist. When Fiona’s family moves to be closer to her older sister’s figure skating club—and far from Fiona’s close-knit group of friends—nobody seems to notice Fiona’s unhappiness. Alone and out of place, Fiona ventures to the town’s library, a rambling mansion donated to the town by the long-dead heiress... -
The Ivory and the Horn by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the city of Newford, when the stars and the vibes are right, you can touch magic. Mermaids sing in the murky harbor, desert spirits crowd the night, and dreams are more real than waking. Charles de Lint began his chronicles of the extraordinary city of Newford in "Memory & Dream" and the short-story collection "Dreams Underfoot...Categorized as:
low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary dark-fantasy fiction -
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsClive Barker has made his mark on modern fiction by exposing all that is surreal and magical in the ordinary world --- and exploring the profound and overwhelming terror that results... -
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 63 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats. Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism audiobook book contemporary dark-academia dark-fantasy -
Blood Beast by Darren Shan
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsGrubbs Grady has so far escaped the family curse, but when he begins to experience alarming symptoms at the onset of the full moon, he is scared that the jaws of fate are opening and about to swallow him whole.He has cheated death, defeated demons, moved on with his life. But Grubbs is torn between the world of magic and his wolfen genes... -
Opal by Maggie Stiefvater
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsAn enchanting story from Maggie Stiefvater featuring Opal, Ronan, and Adam from her bestselling Raven Cycle, taking place after the events of The Raven King...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure audiobook bisexuality book -
-
The Lord of the Sabbath by Mariana Palova
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe abyss watches him. Nightmares hunt him. And now, a battle begins.Terrifying creatures, unseen to all around him, have tormented Elisse since he was a little boy. These “night terrors” and the cruel life as a young Westerner in a refugee camp have left him isolated and alone... -
Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe third book in the bestselling Russian trilogy that is part fantasy, part vampire story, and part detective story, tells of an ancient race of humans who have supernatural powers and swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. In Twilight Watch, they face their greatest threat yet... -
Thundersword by Julian Rosado-Machain
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGUARDIANS INC. BOOK 2: THUNDERSWORDThe search for the Book of Concord is on the brink of failure. Guardians Inc. can’t move without being followed by the Azure Guard, and the balance between Magic and Technology has begun to shift giving Magical creatures a stronger hold in our world...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure book children children-books contemporary -
The Essential Clive Barker: Selected Fiction by Clive Barker, Armistead Maupin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"I wonder if the reverse is not also in some way true. That the artist is constantly working on anelaborate and fantasticated self-portrait, but at the end has drawn, unbeknownst, a picture of the world... -
Vision Quest by Ben Reeder
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSummer vacation isn’t all fun and hanging out when you’re a wizard-in-training. For partly reformed warlock Chance Fortunato, it’s even worse. In addition to the constant study and training, he has to prove he’s ready to be a full-fledged apprentice before he starts at the Franklin Academy. Plus, he’s beginning to think someone has it out for him... -
I’m Glad You’re Dead by Hunter Blain
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAfter helplessly witnessing the execution of his family, John is approached by a strange man that promises the power of revenge, for a price; his life for the ability to walk the mortal plane for eternity. Fast forward several hundred years where John finds himself with an unlikely ally, Father Thomes Philseep... -
Page of Swords by Ben Reeder
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBeing a normal teenager is hard. For Chance Fortunato, former demon’s apprentice and reforming warlock, it’s almost impossible. On the outs with Shade, his alpha werewolf girlfriend, behind on his magickal studies and still hunted by the Conclave, Chance thinks his life can’t get any worse... -
Queen of the Dark Things by C. Robert Cargill
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt is half a year since the wizard Colby lost his best friend to an army of fairies from the Limestone Kingdom, a realm of mystery and shadows beyond our own. But in vanquishing these creatures Colby sacrificed the anonymity that protected him. Now, word of his deeds has spread, and powerful enemies from the past - including one Colby considered a friend - have resurfaced to exact their revenge...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book contemporary dark-fantasy -
Glass Predator by Craig Schaefer
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFor Harmony Black, practicing witch and government agent, defeating criminal masterminds and eliminating supernatural threats are all in a day’s work. She’s ready to fight, as long as she can count on her partner, Jessie Temple; her team at off-the-books special FBI unit Vigilant Lock; and her magic. But her latest case threatens it all... -
The Midnight Mayor by Kate Griffin
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt's said that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, then the Tower will crumble and the kingdom will fall. Resurrected sorcerer Matthew Swift is about to discover that this isn't so far from the truth...One by one, the protective magical wards that guard the city are falling: the London Wall defiled with cryptic graffiti, the ravens found dead at the Tower, the London Stone destroyed... -
-
Cursed by Benedict Jacka
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsBenedict Jacka's acclaimed Alex Verus series continues with Cursed.Since his second sight made him infamous for defeating powerful dark mages, Alex has been keeping his head down. But now he's discovered the resurgence of a forbidden ritual. Someone is harvesting the life-force of magical creatures—destroying them in the process. And draining humans is next on the agenda... -
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsNew York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in this standalone fantasy.Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.Meet Dodger, his twin...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure alchemy audiobook book coming-of-age -
Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsMiriam is trying. Really, she is.But this whole "settling down thing" that Louis has going for her just isn't working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl... -
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsGalaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away... -
Department Nineteen by Will Hill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJamie Carpenter's life will never be the same. His father is dead, his mother is missing, and he was just rescued by an enormous man named Frankenstein. Jamie is brought to Department 19, where he is pulled into a secret organization responsible for policing the supernatural, founded more than a century ago by Abraham Van Helsing and the other survivors of Dracula... -
Tales From the Hinterland by Melissa Albert
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA gorgeously illustrated collection of twelve fairy tales by the author of The Hazel Wood and The Night Country!Journey into the Hinterland, a brutal and beautiful world where a young woman spends a night with Death, brides are wed to a mysterious house in the trees, and an enchantress is killed twice―and still lives...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure anthologies audiobook children-books contemporary -
Demon Road by Derek Landy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe mind-blowing new supernatural thriller from bestselling author DEREK LANDY, creator of international sensation Skulduggery Pleasant.Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor-sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book children contemporary -
Moonheart by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen Sara and Jamie discovered the seemingly ordinary artifacts, they sensed the pull of a dim and distant place. A world of mists and forests, of ancient magics, mythical beings, ageless bards...and restless evil...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book classics contemporary -
Last Call by Tim Powers
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsTwenty years ago Scott Crane abandoned his career as a professional poker player and went into hiding, after a weird high-stakes game played with Tarot cards. But now the cards - and the supernatural powers behind them - have found him again.Crane's father killed gangster Bugsy Siegel in 1948 to become the Fisher King, and to keep that power he is determined to kill his son...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history arthurian -
ReVamped by J.F. Lewis
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsREVIVED. REFRESHED. AND READY FOR REVENGEEric has lost his strip club, his Mustang, and even Marilyn, the elderly love of his (mortal) life. Even his body was obliterated. In short, they almost got him. But when you're a vampire, "almost" is a very important word... -
-
Half Lost by Sally Green
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThis is the final battle.The Alliance is losing the war, and their most critical weapon, seventeen-year-old witch Nathan Byrn, is losing his mind. Nathan’s tally of kills is rising, and yet he’s no closer to ending the tyrannical rule of the Council of White Witches in England... -
Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsConjure WifeWitchcraft. Norman Saylor considered it nothing but superstition, until he learned that his own wife was a practicing sorceress. Even still, he refuses to accept the truth that every woman knows...that in the secret occult warfare that governs our lives, witchcraft is a matter of life and death...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism adult anthologies classics contemporary dark-fantasy -
The Memory Eater by Rebecca Mahoney
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA teenage girl must save her town from a memory-devouring monster in this piercing exploration of grief, trauma, and memory, from the author of The Valley and the Flood.For generations, a monster called the Memory Eater has lived in the caves of Whistler Beach, Maine, surviving off the unhappy memories of those who want to forget... -
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAcclaimed by critics and readers on its first publication in 1987, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, Emma Bull's War for the Oaks is one of the novels that has defined modern urban fantasy.Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But she's breaking up with her boyfriend, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure alpha-mc book classics -
Zero Sight by B. Justin Shier
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsMeet Dieter Resnick. Dieter is the sole child of an abusive single father, a perennial schoolyard brawler, and Ted Binion High's number one academic prospect. Dieter is terrified of staying poor. He has few friends and is absolutely obsessed with earning a college scholarship. He's also a latent mage--one of the few humans left that can bend the manaflows to their will.Too bad no one told him...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy male-mc action-adventure book coming-of-age contemporary dark-fantasy -
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 60 ratingsHigh in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld...Categorized as:
dark low-fantasy magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book british-isles children
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.