I like books with monsters. Specifically, monsters being hunted. The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, a series I obsessed over when I was around 12(?) years old, seems to be where this started. The TV series Supernatural is another great example. Psychological horror is another favourite of mine, and I'm certainly partial to high fantasy more generally.
I'm not a huge fan of romances in my fantasy books, nor politics (most of the time). I read fantasy because I like the idea of a completely foreign world and the experiences that might bring - I can just experience the world as it is when I want relationships and politics.
This is the franchise for me. All about the monster hunting and classic magic systems. The writing isn't anything special, but my goodness the core of the series was my beloved as a child and will remain as such.
Has magic. Has monsters. Has a sarcastic narrator. A great time all around.
Putting aside any sort of literary analysis (as good, poignant, accurate, etc., as it might be), this was genuinely one of the most terrifying reads I've... Read. Orwell knocked it out of the park, even on his deathbed.
This one is an interesting one on this list: the writing was truly awful in some sections (world's strongest man compares a particularly exhilirating moment to bench pressing 90 pounds is a good example), but the story itself wrapped up very nicely in the end chapters. Very cool worldbuilding. Overall a positive experience with some eye-rolls.
This was fantastic. The narrator is Maud, a (presumably) dementiatic woman who's had some very traumatic experiences as a post-WWII child. Really fantastically written, and it really takes you into Maud's thoughts, habits, memories, paranoia, and eventually deterioration. The reader worries with her, ponders with her, gets confused alongside her; it's an extremely disorienting and jarring read, but so impactful for what it is.
Excellent experience. It's exactly what one hopes for from a world of witches. Eternal lore, women's suffrage, and a kind of magic system which permeates specific human experiences. Complete with a happy, but not too happy ending.
So much fun, I read it in 3 days flat. The first sentence is "The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts." This should tell you everything you need to know. Vampires, werewolves, warlocks, lawful nephilim, and a bunch of clockwork. Very cool.
I think this was my first cyberpunk read, and my goodness was it a good one. The writing sucks you into the world, and by the end I felt like even I belonged in the streets of Chiba. Super cool world, enough action to keep the neurons firing, and complex characters and relationships. Very cool.
This was an excellent first book to the First Law series. There's not terribly much to say about it, except that it put the setting out extremely effectively, and made me care about the various characters. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series!
As far as supernatural themes go, this was actually quite tame. Scrying and love potions were about the far out-est ideas in here, but the storytelling was spectacular. Following the Orchière family generation after generation, and seeing the different attitudes coming from different perspectives and upbringings really was an interesting way to inspect women's experiences throughout classes and personalities. Really, really well done.
Not to be overly negative or anything, and I'm sure some people like this sort of thing, but this entire story was just a bunch of pulpy romance lines that Gratton inserted into what was supposed to be a retelling of King Lear. Any of the original work was brutalized, however, and the romances were weird and felt out of place. No offence, Tessa Gratton, but I enjoyed no part of this.
There was nothing particularly bad about this one (unlike above), but it just wasn't my cup of tea. Maybe it gets better, maybe not. I never finished it.