'Weapons' isn't about "nothing." It's literally a story about grief
Fancy some fantasy that'll heebie your jeebies? Plenty of magical worlds can horrify just as easily as they enchant. One could argue that most horror falls under the fantasy umbrella. Ghosts, goblins, ghouls? All those mythical critters were invented by fairy tale tellers of old. If you're looking for fantastical stories that are more Brothers Grimm than Disney princess, this list has got you covered. Here are 10 fantasy books for horror fans, some so scary that you won't even be able to spot the difference.
The King of Horror's magnum opus, Stephen King's seven part mega-novel The Dark Tower is a departure from the author's well trodden path of traditional terror - it doesn't take place in Maine, and it isn't about a schoolteacher in a blue chambray shirt. Serving as the central spoke around which King's multiverse revolves, The Dark Tower is a story of obscure architecture and the man who seeks it. Hailing from a fallen Arthurian kingdom, Roland Deschain is a gunslinger knight errant. A lofty romantic and a brutal pragmatist, Roland wanders across a wasteland world in order to complete his chivalric quest by any means necessary. Fighting incorporeal demons, Lovecraftian horrors, and some very nightmarish lobsters, Roland and his band of multiversal adventurers trudge through alternate realities each more horrible than the last. Featuring heroes and villains from King's other stories, The Dark Tower is best enjoyed after reading a smattering of the author's best books. The Stand, It, Salem's Lot, familiar evils from each novel take turns rearing their ugly heads, only for Roland to put a bullet right between their eyes.
Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is the Hot Topic version of Dune, and I mean that as the highest of praise. In a star system ruled by an undead emperor and nine planet controlling Houses, the swordswoman Gideon is an indentured servant of the extra goth-y Ninth House. In exchange for her freedom, the Ninth House's scion Harrowhark Nonagesimus offers Gideon an out: all she has to do is accompany Harrow to a gothic mansion where the Emperor has organized a series of trials for necromancers and their bodyguards. While Gideon jumps at the opportunity to leave the Ninth House in the graveyard dust, she soon finds herself bonded to Harrowhark when a murder mystery ruins the mansion's mood. The vibe wasn't the only thing killed - and Harrow and Gideon have to get to the bottom of things before they're next.
Indra Das' The Devourers is one of the best werewolf fantasy books on the market. Part alternate history, part genderqueer allegory, the plot follows an Indian academic who comes into possession of a bloodstained tome bound with human skins. As the professor works to translate the macabre manuscript, he finds himself captivated by the bloody love story written within. It's a chronicle of two werewolf lovers, who feasted on flesh in the wilds of seventeenth century India, and were hunted in return. Nasty, romantic, and rife with queer undertones, The Devourers is a work of beauty and brutality that any horror fan is sure to howl for.
While it's shelved as fantasy, China Miéville's Perdido Street Station shares literary DNA with classic mad scientist sci-fi. In the steaming city of New Crobuzon, a back alley scientist named Isaac is approached by a wingless bird creature looking to fly again. In order to fulfill his client's request, Isaac begins collecting flying critters to experiment on - one of which is a juvenile government lab project that has been spoon-fed hallucinogenic drugs. After the aforementioned baby beastie metamorphoses into a full grown Lovecraftian horror, Isaac must use all of his mad wit to save his city from the creation he unleashed. An urban fantasy creature feature, Perdido Street Station's star monster is one of the most harrowing in fiction. It doesn't devour human flesh, but human minds.
The Vorrh by Brian Catling feels like a high fantasy version of sci-fi eco-horror novel Annihilation. The colonial German town of Essenwald is sat next to an environmental anomaly, a vast and quite possibly infinite stretch of forest known as "The Vorrh." Said to hold the Garden of Eden within its dark heart, many an adventurer has attempted to cross the forest - none have returned. Willing to test the odds, an English soldier ventures into The Vorrh with nothing but a bow, and finds plenty more oddities along the way. Ghosts, angels, robots, famous historical writers, the Vorrh is full of mysteries from across dimensions - almost as if the forest itself is able to bend reality to its whim. One could also call this story high fantasy version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but whatever you do, don't call out too loud - the things in the forest might hear you.
Christopher Buehlman's Between Two Fires is dark fantasy set in the Dark Ages - made even darker by the forces of Darkness itself. As if The Black Death wasn't bad enough, France is now plagued with demons. Heaven and Hell decided the Medieval Era was as good a time as any for Armageddon, and are now using Europe as their battleground. Disgraced knight turned brigand Thomas is attempting to eke out a living by depriving his countrymen of theirs, but when he stumbles across a little girl who claims to have godly power, he attempts point his moral compass back towards good. In a The Last of Us style surrogate father/daughter journey across a disease-ridden world, Thomas embarks on a journey to Avignon to convince the pope of young Delphine's potential to save humanity - or die trying.
The Library At Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is the story of Carolyn - the adopted daughter of God. At least, that's her best guess when it comes to her mysterious father's identity. Raised in isolation alongside twelve other adoptees, Carolyn and her surrogate siblings were schooled in magic by their supernatural daddy. Now that their father has gone missing, Carolyn begins to wonder who will inherit their papa's magic library - and all Creation with it. Like a dark fantasy Fortnite, The Library at Mount Char quickly devolves into a full blown battle royale between Carolyn and her siblings. There can be only one God, after all, and this brood is willing to use any means necessary to claim the title. After all, casual murder was part of their dad's home school curriculum, and they're willing to put their schooling to the test on each other.
The first of R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing trilogy, The Darkness That Comes Before is the forebodingly titled chronicle of the second end of the world. On the continent of Eärwa, the first apocalypse happened long before - heralded by a cult that worshipped a cosmically horrible divinity called the No-God. Beginning on the eve a massive Holy War, the plot follows a nation under the grip of a charismatic monk named Anasûrimbor Kellhus - who is able to manipulate people with the efficiency of Dune's Bene Gesserit. As Kellhus marshals the forces of Eärwa to lay bloody waste to neighboring countries, the No-God's dark hand appears to be guiding the fate of the world once again. The first chapter is like the flush of a continent sized toilet, and the rest of book is watching civilization circle the drain.
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw is The Little Mermaid with teeth - literally. After coming ashore to marry a prince like in the Disney movie, this mermaid princess had a different idea of "happily ever after." She used her royal alliance to spawn hundreds of sharp-toothed daughters, who devoured the kingdom and left the royal family in ruins. In the bloody aftermath, the mermaid princess and a mysterious plague doctor journey across the bone-picked world - attempting to live off the scraps. After encountering the last of her ravenous daughter in a rural village, the princess and the plague doctor will need to fight to survive the children's insatiable hunger. It's a novel where the monster won, and is now dealing with the existential crisis of deciding what to do next.
The Changeling by Victor LaValle is like a classic fairy tale - dark and horrifying. The plot revolves around one of the most insidious mythical critters in world folklore: the changeling. In the olden days, it was believed that fae spirits would spirit away children in the night, leaving a shapeshifting doppelgänger in their place. New York City book dealer Apollo Kagwa suspects the old storytellers were telling the truth when his wife Emily begins to believe that something is wrong with their newborn child. After his wife commits a terrible act and disappears without a trace, Apollo goes on the hunt for his missing family - though he might not like what he finds.