Books like 'Rotten Magic'
Readers who enjoyed Rotten Magic by Jeffrey Bardwell also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy supernatural horror mystery paranormal witches-wizards literary-fiction sword-sorcery dark
-
The Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis single volume brings together all of Poe's stories and poems, and illuminates the diverse and multifaceted genius of one of the greatest and most influential figures in American literary history...Categorized as:
dark industrial-era literary-fiction paranormal anthologies audiobook classics crime -
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, LHN Books
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsEdgar Allan Poe was one of the most original writers in the history of American letters, a genius who was tragically misunderstood in his lifetime... -
The Reckoning by Vanessa Nelson
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMissing girls. A plea for help she can’t ignore. An ancient enemy with plans of his own. Nine-year-old girls are missing from across the lands. Yvonne has promised to find them, and she always keeps her promises. Even when she doesn’t know where to start looking. There’s more trouble around. Mercenaries are disappearing... -
The Tower of the Swallow by Andrzej Sapkowski
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsThe world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing. Geralt, the Witcher, has assembled a group of allies determined to rescue her. Both sides of the war have sent brutal mercenaries to hunt her down...Categorized as:
dark epic mythical-creatures paranormal sword-sorcery witches-wizards 20th-century action-adventure -
-
Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSt. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys.Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania.Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future... a family... -
She Who Waits by Daniel Polansky
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe third novel in the brilliant dark fantasy Low Town seriesLow Town: the worst ghetto in the worst city in the Thirteen Lands. Good only for depravity and death. And Warden, long ago a respected agent in the formidable Black House, is now the most depraved Low Town denizen of them all... -
Inferno by Kat Ross
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the last volume of the Fourth Talisman series, the worlds of the living and the dead collide in a final confrontation that will leave Nocturne and Solis forever changed....Three talismans adrift.Two mad kings. One poisonous crown.As dark forces gather at the Rock of Ariamazes in Samarqand, Nazafareen discovers that there are worse places than the afterlife... -
The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling series that inspired the international hit video game: The Witcher Geralt is a witcher: guardian of the innocent; protector of those in need; a defender, in dark times, against some of the most frightening creatures of myth and legend. His task, now, is to protect Ciri...Categorized as:
dark epic paranormal sword-sorcery witches-wizards 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Ghost in the Mask by Jonathan Moeller
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCaina Amalas is a nightfighter of the Ghosts, the spies and assassins of the Emperor of Nighmar, and through cunning and valor she has cast down both proud lords and mighty sorcerers. But a power darker than any she has ever faced is awakening... -
Autumn of the Grimoire by J.L. Vampa
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSome witches cast spells. Others slay kings.A mysterious Grimoire. A marriage full of dark secrets. A History sculpted by a quartet of ancient Sister witches.For three hundred years, Sister Autumn has incited wars, burnt villages, killed kings, and released plagues at the bidding of the Grimoire. Meanwhile, her Sister Winter, Sister Spring, and Sister Summer have brought forth only peace... -
Marked by Magic by Jasmine Walt
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWith the rebellion now in full swing, shifter-mage hybrid Sunaya Baine has no time for distractions. She must find out the true identity of the Benefactor and pull the plug on the Resistance's funding before they succeed in their grand plans for genocide and destruction. But the heat is upon Sunaya now, and it demands to be sated...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark industrial-era paranormal witches-wizards alpha-mc audiobook book -
The Spook's Revenge by Joseph Delaney
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings‘He’s the seventh son of a seventh son. His name is Thomas J. Ward and he’s my gift to the County. When he’s old enough we’ll send you word. Train him well. He’ll be the best apprentice you’ve ever had and he’ll also be your last.’These were the words of Tom's Mam to the county Spook some years ago... -
The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsOlivia Atwater returns to the world of Half a Soul with “a sharp and beautiful gothic romance” (Alix E. Harrow). Dive into The Witchwood Knot, and enjoy a dark faerie tale set in a magical version of Victorian England.The faeries of Witchwood Manor have stolen its young lord. His governess intends to steal him back.Victorian governess Winifred Hall knows a con when she sees one...Categorized as:
industrial-era paranormal dark witches-wizards gaslamp europe british-isles united-kingdom -
DragonFire by Donita K. Paul
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThree years of strife have passed since Kale and Bardon freed Paladin's knights. Now, fiery dragons scorch their beautiful countryside as an evil husband-and-wife wizard duo battle one another for supremacy. The people of Amara just want to be left alone, hoping the conflict with disappear...Categorized as:
epic paranormal sword-sorcery witches-wizards action-adventure audiobook book children -
-
Whisper the Dead by Alyxandra Harvey
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCousins Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope are all dealing with what it means to be a Lovegrove. For Gretchen, it means she often feels like her head is going to explode. As a Whisperer, Gretchen constantly hears the whispers of other witches' spells...Categorized as:
industrial-era paranormal witches-wizards action-adventure book fiction ghosts historical -
The Son of the Morning by Jacob Peppers
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFifty years ago, the nightwalkers appeared, creatures of shadow and darkness, thirsting for blood and death. Thousands died and the kingdom of Entarna was brought to its knees. Then the Chosen came, six men and women endowed with powers by Amedan, the God of Fire and Light. The Chosen joined with the kingdom’s armies and together they managed to defeat the night’s creatures. At least for a time...Categorized as:
dark epic mythical-creatures paranormal sword-sorcery action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook -
The Complete Short Stories by Ambrose Bierce, Jerome Hopkins
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBefore he trailed off into the wilds of Mexico, never to be heard from again, Ambrose Bierce achieved a public persona as "bitter Bierce" and "the devil's lexicographer." He left behind a nasty reputation and more than ninety short stories that are perfect expressions of his sardonic genius...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction paranormal action-adventure adult anthologies classics fiction -
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 83 ratings“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon... -
Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy by Jeff Gunhus
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter barely surviving the onslaught of monsters that tried to kill him the day before his fourteenth birthday, Jack Templar leaves his hometown on a quest to rescue his father and discover the truth about his past...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark paranormal sword-sorcery action-adventure audiobook book children -
Wyrde and Wicked by Charlotte E. English
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings‘When it comes to the Wyrde, there is no such thing as harmless. Every single one of us is a walking disaster.’ Winter has come to Werth Towers, and brought a deal of trouble with it. Not that any of it is the fault of Miss Gussie Werth. To be a one-woman catastrophe might be seen as a misfortune, but really, there can be no hope of a cure... -
Of Flesh & Bone by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNow that the Darkness has tasted her, it won't let Emma go.Robbed of her memories, Emma feels like a ghost trapped in her own body. She doesn't remember much, but she knows one thing--something happened to her in Arnsmouth. Whatever had happened to her had been terrible... -
The Kindred of Darkness by Barbara Hambly
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen James Asher and his wife Lydia's baby daughter Miranda is kidnapped by the Master Vampire of London, the stakes are high: blindly follow the Master Vampire's instructions, keep out of the way of the human networks that serves the vampires, destroy the interloper who seeks to seize control of the London Nest, and find the key to the Nest's tortuous inner workings: The Book of the Kindred of...Categorized as:
dark industrial-era literary-fiction paranormal 20th-century adult alternate-history black-mc -
The Thirteenth Gate by Kat Ross
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWinter 1888. At a private asylum in the English countryside, a man suspected of being Jack the Ripper kills an orderly and flees into the rain-soaked night. His distraught keepers summon the Lady Vivienne Cumberland—who's interviewed their patient and isn't sure he's a man at all... -
The Truth of Shadows by Jacob Peppers
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThree strangers chosen by the gods. A castle-servant who can bend fire and light to his will. A musician whose song can soothe even the wildest of hearts. And a nobleman with the gods’ own luck. Three strangers gifted with powers beyond that of normal mortals stand against the armies of shadow. But there are other gods, other powers lurking in the darkness, and they too will find their champions...Categorized as:
dark epic mythical-creatures paranormal sword-sorcery action-adventure adult apocalyptic -
-
The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories by Michael Cox, F. Marion Crawford
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWith their evocative settings amid mists and shadows, in ruinous houses, on lonely roads and wild moorlands, in abandoned churches and over-grown gardens, ghost stories have long exercised a universal fascination...Categorized as:
industrial-era literary-fiction paranormal adult anthologies classics fiction ghosts -
Ghost Girl by C.J. Archer
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCara Moreau is dying from a supernatural curse. Her only chance of survival lies with the warrior, an enigmatic man who comes from a realm "in between." Quin St. Clair lived hundreds of years ago, but now exists solely to protect the world he once called home. That's all he will tell Cara, the woman he must keep alive by remaining close to her. Very close... -
The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Cox
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Victorians excelled at telling ghost stories. In an age of rapid scientific progress, the idea of a vindictive past able to reach out and violate the present held a special potential for terror. Throughout the nineteenth century, fictional ghost stories developed in parallel with the more general Victorian fascination with death and what lay beyond it... -
The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a gripping tale of obsession, superstition and ambition, set against the atmospheric backdrop of Victorian London. Be careful what you wish for it may just come true.At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse... -
Tomorrow, the Killing by Daniel Polansky
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOnce he was a hero of the Great War, and then a member of the dreaded Black House. Now he is the criminal linchpin of Low Town.His name is Warden.He thought he had left the war behind him, but a summons from up above brings the past sharply, uncomfortably, back into focus. General Montgomery's daughter is missing somewhere in Low Town, searching for clues about her brother's murder... -
The Raven Song by Luanne G. Smith
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsFleeing Victorian London, a witch finds her newfound independence comes with all-new perils—both mortal and immortal.Forever untangling the branches of her strange family tree, Edwina Blackwood is at a turning point. Her parents’ disappearances still strike her as unaccountably odd. Her sister’s questionable life and untimely death have left her shaken... -
Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOnce the legendary knights of the Gabala defended the nine duchies. Their hearts were beautiful; their armor was beyond compare. They were greater than princes, more than men.But they were gone, disappeared through a demon-haunted gateway between worlds. Only one held back -- Manannan, whose every instinct told him to stay. Now he was the coward knight, and in torment... -
Coven of Consequence by S.L. Prater
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsThere’s something terribly wrong with the Castleway Circus.When mortals happen inside its big billowy tents, they don’t always come out again, and the clown specters who haunt it won’t leave me alone. My partner, Quiet, insists we go and investigate. I’d rather have my hands nailed to a moving train—better chance of surviving that as a vampire than whatever haunts the circus... -
The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsBy order of His Royal Majesty Philippe de Savin-Journia y Sabria, Anne de Vernase is hereby summoned to attend His Majesty's Court at Merona...Anne de Vernase rejoices that she has no talent for magic. Her father's pursuit of depraved sorcery has left her family in ruins, and he remains at large, convicted of treason and murder by Anne's own testimony... -
The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn Victorian England a witch and a detective are on the hunt for a serial killer in an enthralling novel of magic and murder.After a nearly fatal blow to the skull, traumatized private detective Ian Cameron is found dazed and confused on a muddy riverbank in Victorian London... -
-
The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors by Joseph Delaney, Patrick Arrasmith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThis is 3 stories inside, one about Alice and grimmalkin and those two that hav been published with 3 additional stories in the stort story collection as Spooks`s Stories witches (uk) or A Coven of witches (us) but with the additions World book day story Spooks`s tale included in this edition.The Last Apprentice series follows the terrifying adventures of the Spook's apprentice, Thomas Ward...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark paranormal witches-wizards action-adventure audiobook book children -
Moon Bayou by J.R. Rain, Rod Kierkegaard Jr.
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMother, wife, private investigator, vampire - Sam Moon's been around the block. Now, unlife brings her to New Orleans to test her mettle against a new kind of lurking evil...From the author of the Vampire for Hire Series, J.R. Rain, comes a brand new Samantha Moon spin-off story co-written by bestselling author of The Dead Detective and The Department of Magic, Rod Kierkegaard Jr... -
The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSome ghosts never leave us.SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2021'A wild rural gothic with some slick plotting . . . the perfect novel for our phantom present' Guardian'Outstanding . . -
The Seat of Magic by J. Kathleen Cheney
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMagical beings have been banned from the Golden City for decades, though many live there in secret. Now humans and nonhumans alike are in danger as evil stalks the streets, growing more powerful with every kill…. It’s been two weeks since Oriana Paredes was banished from the Golden City... -
Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit.But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters... -
Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection) by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsPenny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror is an anthology of twenty tales of horror and the supernatural published in the nineteenth century. In addition to works by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins!, and other well-known writers, it features several sensationalized retellings of famous folk legends and accounts of notorious highwaymen... -
Cry Havoc by Mike Morris
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey say when the demons come, you either fight or you die. The Black Dogs know this all too well. For three hundred years, the warrior priests have sacrificed their lives to keep the island nation of Abios safe from the flesh-eating Nostros, while the rest of the world fell under the demons’ savagery. However, an armada now stands poised to invade mankind’s last bastion... -
Witches With the Enemy by Barb Hendee
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe national bestselling author of The Mist-Torn Witches returns to a world of princes and power, magic and mystery, where two women have the ability to reveal the future and uncover the past…When seers Céline and Amelie Fawe fled Shetâna under threat of death, they vowed never to return. Yet, less than a year later, they are summoned back—to aid the man who once tried to kill them... -
Fyneshade by Kate Griffin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMany would find much to fear in Fyneshade's dark and crumbling corridors, its unseen master and silent servants. But not I. For they have far more to fear from me...On the day of her grandmother's funeral, Marta discovers that she is to be sent to be governess at Fyneshade, her charge the young daughter of the owner, Sir William Pritchard.All is not well at Fyneshade... -
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsNicholas Valiarde is a passionate, embittered nobleman with an enigmatic past. Consumed by thoughts of vengeance, he is consoled only by thoughts of the beautiful, dangerous Madeline. He is also the greatest thief in all of Ile-Rien..Categorized as:
dark epic gaslamp industrial-era paranormal 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history -
-
The Reckoning by Alma Katsu
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIn the second installment in her supernatural Taker trilogy, Alma Katsu, author of the highly acclaimed The Hunger, takes you on a breathtaking 200-year journey through the landscape of the heart.Lanore McIlvrae is the kind of woman who will do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone...Categorized as:
dark literary-fiction paranormal witches-wizards abuse action-adventure audiobook book -
Dunmoor: A compelling journey in gothic suspense by London Clarke
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA lush gothic from bestselling author London Clarke set in the Regency era, Dunmoor is a tale of generational curses that threaten to destroy the most innocent and vulnerable.England, 1818. Lady Helena Winters hasn’t seen her husband in over a year—not since he disappeared without a trace... -
Alice, the Player by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsElla and Alice are trying to forge a path with the men they love in a world reeling from the Great War and the influenza pandemic that left the countryside crawling with the undead. Then Alice goes missing without a trace, until the new vermin queen sends an invitation--Ella is welcome to try and rescue her friend before Elizabeth lets her subjects tear the housemaid apart...Categorized as:
coming-of-age gaslamp industrial-era paranormal witches-wizards action-adventure alpha-mc book -
Rory, the Sleeper by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWho will awaken the sleeper…? Ella wants the sleeper to stay undisturbed. Especially since it's Millicent deMage, the first Duchess of Leithfield and a supposed witch who died over three hundred years ago. As Ella learns about the history of Serenity House, she begins to realise the long dead duchess could be the key to understanding the pandemic of vermin...Categorized as:
coming-of-age gaslamp industrial-era paranormal action-adventure book fairy-tale fiction -
The Rose Demon by Paul Doherty
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMatthias Fitzosbert is the illegitimate son of the parish priest of the village of Sutton Courteny. Despite the recent spate of murders, each day he braves the dark woods to visit his friend, a mysterious hermit who shows him many strange and beautiful things... -
Come, the Dark by Rebecca Hamilton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA New Adult Paranormal Romance Novel Forced to choose between two forbidden loves. Rose desperately wants to escape her abusive father and the dark spirits who haunt her, but before she can get away, her daughter is kidnapped, and the spirits force her three hundred years into the past...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.