Books like 'L'Esprit de L'Escalier'
Readers who enjoyed L'Esprit de L'Escalier by Catherynne M. Valente also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy horror urban fantasy dark fantasy supernatural myths retellings gothic dark
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City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
24 ratingsRevenge. It's something Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is very, very good at. Maybe the only thing. So when he learns that his oldest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, has been assassinated, he knows exactly what to do — and that no mortal force can stop him from meting out the suffering Shara's killers deserve... -
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
25 ratingsFrom holy cup comes holy light;The faithful hands sets world aright.And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,Mere man shall end this endless night.It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness... -
I Am Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney
21 ratingsFrom the publisher:"I'm coming for you, and nothing living or dead can stop me."One witch is the most feared, the most ruthless, and the most deadly of all the witches in the county. If she hunts for you, she will find you. If you have crossed her, you don't stand a chance. She is the witch assassin, and her name is Grimalkin.Grimalkin's one alliance is with Tom Ward, the Spook's apprentice... -
Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke
24 ratingsFans of dark fairy-tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing book based on Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed movie... -
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The Spook's Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney
25 ratingsAs 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 dangerous of the old gods, the Ordeen, is about to return there, bringing slaughter and devastation. Meanwhile, the Devil himself is still loose and if he and the Ordeen join forces, a new age of darkness will descend... -
The Spook's Blood by Joseph Delaney
19 ratingsTime is running out for Thomas Ward. His final battle against the Fiend is drawing near, and the Spook's apprentice has never felt more alone in his task. Isolated and afraid, the Fiend is set to send the greatest of his servants against him - Siscoi, a Vampire God more ferocious than anything he has yet faced... -
Apocalypse Redux, Book One by Jakob H. Greif
10 ratingsThe worst thing about the end of the world is we did it to ourselvesIsaac Thoma lived to see the last handful of survivors defeat the demonic champion. He is now alone, his past in ashes, the last and most powerful human on a blighted Earth. But what if he could go back?Hurled back in time, Isaac has one chance to change it all. A chance to warn humanity of their impending doom... -
Rise of the Huntress by Joseph Delaney
25 ratingsThe Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, have returned to the county after a long journey and a hard battle. But their troubles are far from over. Their home has been over-run by enemy soldiers.Tom, Alice and the Spook flee across the ocean to the island of Mona. It's on Mona that this small band fighting against the dark will face an old enemy grown terrifyingly powerful... -
The Spook's Mistake by Joseph Delaney
25 ratingsAs danger increases in the County, Tom is sent far north by his master to be trained by Bill Arkwright, another Spook. Arkwright lives in a haunted mill on the edge of a treacherous marsh and his training methods prove to be harsh and sometimes cruel. But he has toughened up many previous apprentices and now he must do the same for Tom and prepare him for the gravest dangers of his life... -
Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day by Jonathan L. Howard
14 ratingsJohannes Cabal has faced down the undead, ghosts, monsters, and Satan himself. But before all that, he fought the terrifying Bonewind, a supernatural being that devours life itself, and he did it all without leaving his house. "Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day" was the story that first introduced the necromancer of some little infamy back in 2004... -
The Hungry Dreaming by Craig Schaefer
6 ratingsThe discovery of lost letters between Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, describing historical events that never happened, sends shockwaves through the academic world. Meanwhile, a citywide surveillance program is coming to New York on a groundswell of dirty money and dead bodies. To hard-nosed Brooklyn reporter Nell Bluth, the two mysteries couldn't be more different... -
Born of Hatred by Steve McHugh
21 ratingsThere was a time when Nathan Garrett was feared. When the mention of his name was enough to stop his enemies in their tracks. That time has long since passed.When Nathan’s friend asks for help investigating a pattern of horrific crimes, he reluctantly agrees. But his investigation leads to a serial killer who is something more, or less, than human, a creature of pure malevolence and hatred... -
The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
19 ratingsWhile attempting to disprove that Homo vampiris, the vampire, could exist, Dr. Warthrop is asked by his former fiancé to rescue her husband from the Wendigo, a creature that starves even as it gorges itself on human flesh, and which has snatched him in the Canadian wilderness... -
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
40 ratingsFrom the author of the extraordinary Vampire Chronicles comes a huge, hypnotic novel of witchcraft and the occult through four centuries... -
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Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
26 ratingsBefore Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales. Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne... -
To Charles Fort, with Love by Caitlín R. Kiernan
6 ratingsTo Charles Fort, with Love is award-winning fantasist Caitlín R. Kiernan's third collection of short fiction, a haunting parade of the terrible things which may lie beyond the boundaries of science, the minds which may exist beyond psychology, and the forbidden places which will never be located in any orthodox globe... -
A Vintage From Atlantis by Clark Ashton Smith
6 ratingsPublished in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S... -
The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
10 ratings"The City Beautiful is the haunting, queer Jewish historical thriller of my darkest dreams." —Dahlia Adler, creator of LGBTQ Reads and editor of That Way Madness LiesDeath lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together. Chicago, 1893... -
Ouroboros Ouzo by Jonathan L. Howard
10 ratingsWhat if you could see the future? What if the future could see YOU? Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has discovered a way to give some insights into how he should conduct his future researches; by drinking a glass of the legendary "Ouroboros Ouzo." Rare and precious, the liquor is reputed to give a once in a lifetime glimpse into what may be... -
Exeunt Demon King by Jonathan L. Howard
12 ratingsJohannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has faced many horrors during his career, but in this tale he tells of an early encounter with something that horrified even him.Pantomime.A provincial theatre has seen a series of strange deaths. The young Cabal investigates, even though this requires him to don red tights, a curling moustache, and become... the Demon King... -
The Shotgun Arcana by R.S. Belcher
12 ratingsR. S. Belcher’s debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets.1870... -
Veiled in Moonlight by C.J. Archer
14 ratingsWhen a young gentleman is murdered by a shape shifter, Charlie and Lincoln interrogate their contacts and uncover a plot with links to the royal family—and links to more than one member of the ministry's committee. At the heart of the mystery is a sinister love triangle, corruption, lies, and treason... -
Beneath a Waning Moon by Elizabeth Hunter, Grace Draven
14 ratingsTwo delightfully dark tales of Gothic romance from Elizabeth Hunter and Grace Draven.In A Very Proper Monster, Josephine Shaw spends long nights filling the pages of her Gothic stories with the fantastic and the macabre, unaware that the suitor her father has arranged is one of the dark creatures she’s always dreamed... -
A New Darkness by Joseph Delaney
16 ratingsA chilling new trilogy from the author of the internationally bestselling The Last Apprentice series! Tom Ward is an apprentice no longer—now he is a fully fledged spook battling boggarts, witches, and other creatures of the dark. This three-book arc will introduce brand-new readers to Joseph Delaney’s haunting world, and delight longtime fans... -
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A Coven of Witches by Joseph Delaney
17 ratingsBeware a girl in pointy shoesA girl wearing pointy shoes might be a witch. And the first thing a spook's apprentice learns is never, ever to trust a witch.In this bone-chilling collection of tales, you will learn exactly why that is, as you encounter:a fair and beautiful woman with green scales running down her spine . . . (John Gregory, set before book 1, book 0... -
I Am Alice by Joseph Delaney
18 ratingsI must be brave.I must do what has to be done.I am Alice.Alice is the most powerful witch the county has ever seen. She may one day be the most evil. But Alice is also the best friend -and true love- of Tom Ward. Together they work to defeat the Fiend -the world's greatest evil- once and for all.They have nearly everything they need, all except a blade hidden in the Dark, the Fiend's domain... -
Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
42 ratingsA boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls... -
The End of the Story by Clark Ashton Smith
10 ratingsPublished in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S... -
The Death of Me by Jonathan L. Howard
10 ratingsJohannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has this much in common with Emily Dickinson; because he could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for him. Well, perhaps not that kindly... -
Curse of Dracula by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
10 ratingsMaxine Parker expected to lose her life when the Vampire King swept through her city like a plague. She did not expect to lose her heart to him as well. Caught between her desire to protect the living and her love for Dracula, she suddenly finds herself the enemy of the hunters who had once been her allies... -
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette
12 ratingsThe dead and the monstrous will not leave Kyle Murchison Booth alone, for an unwilling foray into necromancy has made him sensitive to--and attractive to--the creatures who roam the darkness of his once-safe world. Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own . . -
The Book of Cthulhu by Ross E. Lockhart, Caitlín R. Kiernan
14 ratingsThe Cthulhu Mythos is one of the 20th century's most singularly recognizable literary creations. Initially created by H. P. Lovecraft and a group of his amorphous contemporaries (the so-called "Lovecraft Circle"), The Cthulhu Mythos story cycle has taken on a convoluted, cyclopean life of its own... -
The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason
16 ratingsNow the undead of Rome race to unravel an ancient mystery--and only one woman can stop them... As Rome prepares for its Carnivale, the new leader of the city's vampire hunters, Lady Victoria Gardella Grantworth de Lacy--must prove herself as never before... -
The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
18 ratingsJohannes Cabal and his rather inexact powers of necromancy are back once more. This time, his talents are purchased by The Fear Institute as they hunt for the Phobic Animus - the embodiment of fear... -
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Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
25 ratingsIn America, demons wear white hoods.In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die... -
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
46 ratingsThis second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises... -
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
29 ratingsThe critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.Chicago, 1954... -
Slither by Joseph Delaney
19 ratings"My name is Slither, and before my tale is finished you'll find out why."The dark is full of terrifying creatures. And Tom Ward—the seventh son of a seventh son, and the Spook's last apprentice—hasn't seen all of them. Far from the county, one named Slither has lived for hundreds of years, hunting blood.But a dying father binds the monster to a bargain... -
A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge
18 ratingsThis is the story of a bear-hearted girl . . .Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding. Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard... -
The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors by Joseph Delaney, Patrick Arrasmith
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... -
Rises The Night by Colleen Gleason
16 ratingsThe saga of Victoria Gardella continues as the glorious nineteenth-century city of Rome gives rise to a new threat from the immortal undead....Lady Victoria Gardella Grantworth de Lacy has been a vampire slayer for just over a year, balancing her life as a peer of Society with the dangerous role that takes her out on moonlit streets, stake in hand... -
The Litany of Earth by Ruthanna Emrys
12 ratingsThe state took Aphra away from Innsmouth. They took her history, her home, her family, her god. They tried to take the sea. Now, years later, when she is just beginning to rebuild a life, an agent of that government intrudes on her life again, with an offer she wishes she could refuse. "The Litany of Earth" is a dark fantasy story inspired by the Lovecraft mythos... -
The Tale Of The Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater
12 ratingsAll I ever wanted was the freedom to live life as I pleased, despite my aristocratic parents’ hopes I’d secure a prestigious husband. But my fate was far more terrible than an arranged marriage when my family became prisoners to one of the most fearsome and powerful vampires of all time, Count Vlad Dracula... -
Of Visions & Secrets by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
11 ratingsThe darkness took Emma's brother. Now it yearns to claim her.When Emma Mather's twin brother, Elliot, goes missing from Arnsmouth University, she is determined to stop at nothing to find him. Yet as she follows the clues left behind, she learns that there are far more sinister monstrosities lurking in the shadows of her city than she could have ever imagined... -
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Slave Pits of the Tyrannical God by Brian McGoldrick
8 ratingsBetrayed by the person he trusted most, Brand, formerly Mark McGuinness of Earth, has been enslaved and given to a DokkAlfar Wytch, Elan'fer'sha. Trapped deep within the heart of the Great Citadel of Gor'achen, he is thrown into a gladiatorial stable and marked to be the new Champion for the stable... -
The Elder Ice by David Hambling
6 ratingsLovecraftian weird fiction set in 1920s London.In this atmospheric novella, ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is on the trail of a mysterious legacy. A polar explorer has died, leaving huge debts and hints of a priceless find. His informants seem to be talking in riddles, and Harry soon finds he isn't the only one on the trail -- and what he's looking for is as lethal as it is valuable... -
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
30 ratingsA lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A Dowry of Blood is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation. Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king... -
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
27 ratingsThese are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr... -
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
18 ratingsWhen Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry, her sister seems scared of her, and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out... -
The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
18 ratingsTwo sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found--but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting...
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