Books like The Spook's Apprentice
30 fantasy books to read after The Spook's Apprentice, by Delaney, Joseph, the closest match first.
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Low Town book 1 Start here
1. Low Town
by Polansky, Daniel
- On the same lists
Low Town (titled the Straight-Razor Cure in the UK), is the first instalment in the Low Town series, and is a gritty noir crime story that just happens to be...
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2. Gods In Darkness: The Complete Novels Of Kane
by Wagner, Karl Edward
- On the same lists
Kane is a bloodthirsty warrior and cunning thinker, one of the first anti-heroes of sword-and-sorcery.
Kane is the original anti-hero, both a bloodthirsty warrior and a cunning intellectual, and in his stories he's more often than not one of the bad guys, but with a...
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3. Neverwhere
by Gaiman, Neil
- On the same lists
Gaiman's work is perfect for anyone who's after stories with 'mundane' protagonists from the real world who are pulled into worlds of unsettling dark fantasy. His stories have worth not...
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Elric book 1 Start here
4. Elric Of Melniboné
by Moorcock, Michael
- On the same lists
Elric is the famed albino sorcerer and wielder of Stormbringer, a sentient sword that confers power upon its wielder. All for the totally-reasonable price of being fed souls. Needless to...
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The Demonata book 1 Start here
5. Lord Loss
by Shan, Darren
- On the same lists
This is the opening to a 10-book series for young adults, and holy shit is it heavy for something supposedly aimed at young people. It's urban dark fantasy rather than...
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The Vagrant book 1 Start here
6. The Vagrant
by Newman, Peter
- On the same lists
This book is about the titular vagrant, who is a mute, and his journey across a desolate, demon-ravaged world with a baby and a goat. It sounds pretty weird and...
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The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles book 1 Start here
7. Spook's Apprentice
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
A seventh son is apprenticed to the Spook, who protects the county from witches, ghosts and boggarts.
A fantastic story about a young boy training to be an exorcist in a land where dark things roam the night.One of the best modern children's tales I've read. This...
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The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles book 2
8. Curse Of The Bane
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
The Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, rid the county of witches, ghosts, boggarts, and other creatures of the dark. And there's some unfinished business to attend to in Priestown....
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The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles book 3
9. Night Of The Soul Stealer
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
Tom is dismayed when his master the Spook decrees that they will be spending the winter on gloomy and forbidding Anglezarke Moor but soon discovers the reason for his master's...
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The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles book 4
10. Attack Of The Fiend
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
"I see your future clearly. Your master will be dead, and you will be alone. It would be better if you had never been born." Thomas Ward is the apprentice...
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The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles book 6
11. The Spook's Sacrifice
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
As the Spook's apprentice, Tom's first duty is to protect the County from the dark. But now Mam needs his help in her homeland of Greece. One of the most...
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12. Rise Of The Huntress
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
Things can never be the same again. After a long journey and a hard battle, the Spook and his apprentice, Tom Ward, have returned home. But the county has been...
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13. Rage Of The Fallen
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
Apprentice Tom and the Spook for whom he works flee to Ireland, where a powerful witch has joined forces with the dark mages trying to call forth ancient powers to...
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14. I Am Grimalkin
by Delaney, Joseph
- Same author
'I am Grimalkin and I have already chosen those I will kill.' Grimalkin has made it her lifetime ambition to destroy the Fiend, avenging the brutal murder of her son....
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The Red Queen's War book 1 Start here
15. Prince Of Fools
by Lawrence, Mark
- On the same lists
This first entry into the Red Queen's War trilogy is about a layabout, womanizing, alcoholic prince. He's also just funny enough not to think he's an utter bastard. Okay, he's...
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Manifest Delusions book 1 Start here
16. Beyond Redemption
by Fletcher, Michael R.
- On the same lists
In a world where belief defines reality, the world could be a paradise, right? Not in Fletcher's world of Manifest Delusions, where corpses line the streets and narcissists spawn false...
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The Crimson Empire book 1 Start here
17. A Crown For Cold Silver
by Marshall, Alex
- On the same lists
The Crimson Empire trilogy, of which there are two instalments published at the time of writing, is one of the best additions to darker fantasy in recent years. It's the...
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American Gods book 1 Start here
18. American Gods
by Gaiman, Neil
- On the same lists
In his novel, American Gods, Neil Gaiman ventures into the heart of contemporary America, juxtaposing the decline of America's 'Old Gods' with the rise of new 'deities' (e.g. technology, mass...
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First Law World book 1 Start here
19. The Blade Itself
by Abercrombie, Joe
- On the same lists
Abercrombie's work has become synonymous with the growing sub-genre of grimdark fantasy Naturally there's a lot of crossover between grimdark fantasy (which subverts the tropes of traditional heroic fantasy) and...
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Night Angel book 1 Start here
20. The Way Of Shadows
by Weeks, Brent
- On the same lists
With magically enhanced assassins, intrigue, and a conflicted protagonist, this trilogy is epic and personal.
The Night Angel trilogy is the story of a young, abused street-thief's transformation into a badass, magically-enhanced assassin. As one might expect from a story about learning to kill people...
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The Dark Tower book 1 Start here
21. The Gunslinger
by King, Stephen
- On the same lists
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba An impressive work of mythic magnitude that may turn out to be Stephen Kings greatest literary achievement...
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The Acts Of Caine book 1 Start here
22. Heroes Die
by Stover, Matthew Woodring
- On the same lists
A novel about two worlds that blends Science Fiction and Fantasy. An action packed adventure filled with real danger, sorcery, and a complex social system.
The Acts of Caine series takes adventure fantasy and drags it sixteen miles through the mud, and then tortures what's left. In a dystopian future, humanity has discovered a way...
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Abhorsen book 1 Start here
23. Sabriel
by Nix, Garth
- On the same lists
Garth Nix's Sabriel is marketed to the young adult audience but easily appeals to a wider readership. Fantastic world-building paints both the realm of Ancelstierre, and The Old Kingdom, where...
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Watch book 1 Start here
24. Night Watch
by Lukyanenko, Sergei
- On the same lists
The unusual Moscow setting of Night Watch is echoed by its magic system. Lukyanenko’s contemporary world is inhabited by both humans and ‘Others’, supernatural beings who can attune to Dark...
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25. Malazan Book Of The Fallen
by Erikson, Steven
- On the same lists
A grand and epic series with a huge cast of characters with epic battles, sieges, mages, and carnage.
Steven Eriksen has been both lauded and criticized for his extreme detail, and that extends to his magic system. In Malazan, magic comes from warrens, a realm from which mages...
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The Prince Of Nothing book 1 Start here
26. The Darkness That Comes Before
by Bakker, R. Scott
- On the same lists
This book and the Prince of Nothing trilogy, as well as the other books that follow, are so dark that you'll need a shower after reading them. And therapy. This...
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A Song Of Ice And Fire book 1 Start here
27. A Game Of Thrones
by Martin, George R. R.
- On the same lists
While Martin's epic contains a lot of brutality towards women, it also shows how women, surviving in a man's world, can use their cunning, charm, and looks to run the...
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28. The Demon Cycle
by Brett, Peter V.
- On the same lists
At night, Peter V. Brett’s world changes. Demons rise from the planet’s core, infused with supernatural powers and with a hunger for human flesh.Constant bombardment has knocked humans back into...
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29. Broken Empire / Red Queens War
by Lawrence, Mark
- On the same lists
The first in The Broken Empire series, this gritty and violent novel focuses on a single character, who is an anti-hero, with a very dark past.
Mark Lawrence doesn’t use an abundance of technical explanations and diagrams, but that doesn’t make his magic system any less interesting. In fact, it lets him focus on his astonishing...
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The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever book 1 Start here
30. Lord Foul's Bane
by Donaldson, Stephen R.
- On the same lists
Epic Fantasy that's also very High Fantasy. Features an antihero hero.
Lord Foul's Bane begins the epic Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, a series in which a leprosy-stricken man in the real world is transported to a stereotypical fantasy world....
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to The Spook's Apprentice.
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