5 Fantasy Novels Perfect for the Spooky Season

by MK French

The season for all things dark and spooky is upon us. I've shared some fun paranormal novels for non-scary Halloween reads. Today I have a few darker fantasy novels (though there is a paranormal romance on this list too). 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Pantomime by L. R. Lam

September 2025; DAW; 978-0756420277
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); fantasy

Micah leaves a debutante's life with two secrets: he was born between male and female, and he has magic. He joins the circus as an aerialist, courting his trapeze partner, Aenea, and confiding in the mysterious white clown, Drystan. There are secrets in the circus, and a ghostly woman with damselfly wings tells him that he can help return magic to the realm.

This is a new version of a previously published trilogy, so the other two volumes will quickly follow this one. Micah is from the middle class in Elada, and remnants of magic items known as Vestiges are present and collected. They had been created by some kind of magical people ages ago, and the energy in those artifacts is running out. Sometimes people find them and use them, but generally, people themselves don't have magic.

Micah was born intersex, and when he overhears his parents talking about him and potentially forcing him to get surgery so that he would be a better noble wife, he runs to the circus. They collect outsiders, and he thinks they'll accept him once he gets through the hazing. They do, and he makes friends with other staff as well as courting. They take it slowly, respecting each other's boundaries, and it's a sweet relationship within the dread Micah feels when concerned that others may not accept him for who he is. His journey is complicated by a Shadow, a private investigator who will go outside the law to get what he wants. Micah wants to be his true self, whoever that is, and it's a journey he should be able to take. It's a very engaging story, and it kept me enthralled through every page.

Buy Pantomime at Amazon

The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez

September 2025; Tor Books; 978-1250367754
audio, ebook, print (352 pages); fantasy

Malka is the healer's daughter and lives next to a cursed forest. The Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, unconcerned about stories of a monster until a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and is killed. When Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, she agrees to lure out the monster to spare her mother from execution. She finds the monster, but it's a disgraced golem who will implicate herself if Malka helps her free the imprisoned rabbi who created her. While it's easy enough to agree to this deal, Malka discovers a more sinister threat. Protecting her people may endanger Malka's mother as well as the golem herself.

The Rayga is the monster in the woods, claiming the life of every child wandering in after dark. The church collects tithes more and more frequently, and the people of the village have no recourse because they don't own their homes or land; the church does. Speaking out is violently punished. Malka is a devout girl, and can't bear the lies heaped upon her mother when the Ozmini dismisses the warning the villagers gave. She doesn't believe that kefesh, the magic used to create the golem, could have good uses, even though it is capable of healing as well. 

There are many surprises in store for Malka beyond using kefesh. It changes what she thought she knew of her village, her friendship, and even herself. The attachment she feels to Nimrah changes from hatred to something more complicated, and she isn't sure how best to move forward. She faces hatred from the very top of the influential royals and religious fervor, as well as tragedy. Based on the golem of Prague folklore, this novel deals with the grief and faith of the oppressed, and the few ways that they can seek agency. Family, love, and truth are the greatest gifts in life, and this is something Malka can hold onto, no matter how much things change. 

Buy The Maiden and Her Monster at Amazon

Dragon Fires Everywhere by Hazel Beck

September 2025; Graydon House; 978-1525800009
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); paranormal romance

Georgie Pendell is the new Historian of the Riverwood Coven, and she always felt like an outsider in her own life. Reading from a storybook frees a dragon shifter, and he lays claim to her. She is drawn to him as well and feels he has a secret from the past. The Joywood is still causing trouble, and the Riverwood Coven must find something that will stop them for good.

Georgie's tendency to talk to the newel post when troubled had always been seen as a fun quirk for a kooky person. But after catching her boyfriend in flagrante upon her return to town, she returned to the book of fairy tales she had always loved as a child and talked to the post again. This frees Azrael, but of course, nothing can go easily for the Riverwood Coven. As much as they're trying to be open with information and help the witch community in town, there's a transition period before they can actually take control. This allows the Joywood Coven, and Carol in particular, to continue with their dangerous black magic attempts at harming and undermining the Riverwood.

Georgie and Azrael have a connection, and their past lives have been tied together for centuries. This doesn't go smoothly, not with the power play still in town and some doozies of personal information bombs to shake up what Georgie had always thought was real. She's always been hard on herself and tried to deal with facts alone to combat the ditzy view others had of her. The knowledge she learns and the trust she develops in her own instincts are important and lead to the exciting conclusion to the novel. It's a great story, and one that I truly enjoyed reading. 

Buy Dragon Fires Everywhere at Amazon

The Sleepless by Jen Williams

September 2025; Wednesday Books; 978-1250409256
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); YA fantasy

Elver guards the monster forest, her skin poisoning everyone she touches. Artair is on a mission to the forest and the only human able to survive her touch because he's one of the Sleepless, cursed to share his body with an evil spirit. That spirit is Lucian, inhabiting the body while Artair sleeps. Each has their own secrets, and their alliance might shake the very foundations of their world.

In this world, spirits or the potentially monstrous forms of animals are known as jih, and they mostly live in one forest. After being transformed by the Queen of Serpents when sacrificed by a mage, Elver guards the forest from humans who would enter it. Touching someone for a short period of time causes the skin to blister and knock them out, and a longer duration will kill. Imagine her surprise when she can actually touch Altair. He shares his body so that as he sleeps, the other consciousness takes over, so he and others like him had been locked into monastery cells at night. Artair is trying to get a cub from the forest to Mother Maura, who kidnapped the other novices from his order. He and Elver set out to buy an illusion of the cub. This brings the two closer together, and we find out more about Elver, Artair, and Lucian. The gods all extract a price for their actions or inactions, and Maura has her own plans as well.

This was an engaging story that sucked me in right away. Elver and both souls inside of Artair's body grow over the course of the story. The finale isn't what I thought it was going to be, and it feels like the start of another book. I would love to see what happens next with all of them, and the world that will exist going forward.

Buy The Sleepless at Amazon

Witch of the Wolves by Kaylee Archer

September 2025; St. Martin's Griffin; 978-1250393074
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); romantic fantasy

Cordelia Levine lives in London with her aunt, managing an apothecary for the supernatural. She has always known she's a witch, but werewolf Bishop Danvers kidnaps her on her estranged father’s orders. Her father is the Alpha of the Albion Pack, giving her secondary werewolf traits. This creates a powerful and unique bloodline that must be protected from foreign packs. Not everyone in the Albion Pack is happy to see her, so Bishop might be the only one able to save Cordelia's life.

The book opens with Bishop following Cordelia, and we very quickly find ourselves in the Regency or Edwardian era. Women are essentially property of their fathers or husbands, unless they're witches who call themselves widows. Cordelia never knew of her father until the attack on her aunt's home, then she was forcibly taken and quickly introduced to her father. As the only daughter of a powerful witch and werewolf, multiple European packs want her as a broodmare. Keeping her hidden in the countryside is meant to keep her safe, but there are additional dangers. They become clear with time, because she's a prisoner in the house and the only ones she can trust are Bishop and his confidante.

The time period has enough casual disrespect for women, and about half the Pack buys into it and revels in cruelties. This is the world Cordelia is caught in, and it gets worse before it gets better. In the midst of this, she sees the better side of Bishop, and the two care for each other in the middle of the disaster that is the Pack. The situation is tense, and there are continual surprises. The older generation is full of vindictive and spiteful people, with spies and double agents, as well as secrets to remain in power. There are smaller showdowns prior to the big one at the end, which kept me riveted. I would not be surprised if this is the start of a series, because there are more hooks for potential stories in this world, and I would love to see them.

Buy Witch of the Wolves at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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