Ten top YA historical fantasy books

Susie Dumond is a queer writer originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. She is the author of Queerly Beloved, Looking for a Sign, and Bed and Breakup, and she also talks about books as a senior contributor at Book Riot and a bookseller at her local indie bookstore. Dumond lives in Washington, D.C., with her spouse, Mickey, and her cat, Maple. When she’s not writing or reading, you can find her baking cupcakes or belting karaoke at the nearest gay bar.

At Book Riot Dumond tagged ten of the most enchanting YA historical fantasy books. One title on the list:

Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall

This high-flying graphic novel beautifully combines real history from 1930s Mississippi with a fantastical twist where racist anti-magic laws have led to illegal broom races with big prizes. Six members of the Night Storms team see an upcoming race as a chance to hone their powers and take control of their fate. Brooms is an enthralling tale with meaningful insights into the problems teens face in our real world.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten books where women were pushed to the edge

L.M. Chilton is a journalist with fifteen years of experience working on a variety of television shows, such as This Morning, Loose Women, and more. His writing has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Metro (London), and The Mirror (London).

The author's novels include Swiped and Everyone in the Group Chat Dies.

In 2024 at The Strand Magazine Chilton tagged "ten books where women take their lives and (mostly men’s’) deaths into their own hands." One title on the list:

YOU’D LOOK BETTER AS A GHOST by Joanna Wallace

Claire enjoys her part-time career as a serial killer, knocking off her victims for the most innocuous of crimes – cutting in front of her in line, or a severe lack of fashion sense. They appear to her as ghost-like entities, an indication that they’re going to be next on her hit-list. But when someone discovers her murderous little hobby, Claire has a new target. Fueled by a terrible childhood and the loss of her father to dementia, you can’t help but feel a degree of sympathy for this otherwise-cold-blooded killer.

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six espionage novels with charmingly clueless protagonists

Jonathan Payne is a British-American writer based in New York City.

His first novel, Citizen Orlov, was named a Book of the Month by Apple Books. It won the 2024 IBPA Silver Medal for Mystery/Thriller and the 2024 IPPY Bronze Medal for Suspense/Thriller.

Payne previously worked in national security for the British government.

He holds a Master of Arts degree in Novel Writing from Middlesex University, London.

Payne's new novel is Hotel Melikov.

[Q&A with Jonathan Payne]

At CrimeReads the author tagged six favorite espionage novels with charmingly clueless protagonists, including:

Graham Greene, Our Man In Havana

Greene’s hilarious, absurd thriller follows James Wormold, a struggling British vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba, who is recruited by MI6 to provide intelligence in exchange for cash he desperately needs. In order to keep the money flowing, Wormold begins to invent his intelligence, including by photographing vacuum cleaner parts and telling London they’re aerial photographs of secret military bases. When real life begins to imitate Wormold’s inventions, things begin to get very strange.

Alec Guinness gives a great turn as Wormold in Carol Reed’s 1959 movie adaptation.

Read about the other titles on the list.

Our Man in Havana also made Francesca Kay's list of the ten top books about the Cold War, Jesse Armstrong's top ten list of comic war novels, Allegra Frazier's top five list of books to remind you of warmer climes, Pico Iyer's list of four essential novels by Graham Greene and Alan Furst's five best list of spy books; it is one of Stella Rimington's six favorite secret agent novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten literary thrillers set in the artworld

Laura Leffler is a writer and art historian who builds stories within the gorgeous, strange, and sometimes terrifying art world. After receiving a master’s degree in post-war and contemporary art, she spent more than a decade working in commercial galleries, doing everything from art fair sales to condition reporting and logistics. Along the way, she witnessed more of that glittering world’s dark underbelly than she thought possible. Laura currently lives in Colorado with her family.

Tell Them You Lied is her first novel.

At Tertulia the author tagged ten favorite literary thrillers set in the artworld. One title on the list:

Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand

The title of this book refers to the deterioration of an image each time it is reproduced–think of zooming in on a digital image of an old photograph reproduced in a black and white newspaper. Hand’s novel is a seriously dark and gritty tale of a photographer of a certain age who embarks on a journey to the remote islands of Maine to interview her once-upon-a-time artistic idol—only to find herself embroiled in a missing person’s case.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Generation Loss is among Caroline Wolff's six female characters who defy traditional archetypes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top speculative books for fans of "Pluribus"

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged "five great speculative books, chosen for various similar aspects as Pluribus" [the sci-fi show that’s the brainchild of Vince Gilligan, the writer-producer-director behind shows like Breaking Bad and Better Caul Saul]. One title on the list:

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

In Pluribus, Carol is one of the few people left on the planet who are not infected by the alien virus. In this inventive novel, Laura Byrd is the only person left alive on Earth. She’s a scientist at an isolated Antarctic research station, so when the killer virus spreads across the globe, it doesn’t reach her. But the other layer to this story is the City, a liminal space where the dead reside as long as someone alive on Earth remembers them. So when everyone dies on Earth except Laura, the City is then only populated by people she remembers.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Brief History of the Dead is among Tim Thornton's top ten books about the afterlife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five novels about living near serial killers

Amy K. Green is a contemporary American author from New England who made an unconventional journey to becoming a writer. Originally pursuing a career in accounting, her transition to writing came after years of working in corporate finance and film production.

Growing up as an only child in a small New England town, Green credits her active imagination to solitary hours spent playing in the woods and her enthusiasm for pop culture. Her debut novel, The Prized Girl, published in 2020, was written during downtime between film productions. The novel showcased her skill in crafting complex narratives.

Green’s new novel is Haven't Killed In Years.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "five books that hinge on living in the close proximity of a serial killer." One title on the list:

Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, the Serial Killer

Korede is bitter. She’s sick of cleaning up after her little sister, literally. Ayoola kills her victims and relies on Korede to handle the aftermath. From the first page, My Sister, The Serial Killer contrasts the complexities of family loyalty with morality.

Korede’s loyalty is tested when her longtime unrequited love asks for her sister’s phone number. Korede knows what it means to be one of the men in Ayoola’s life, or more accurately, how it ends.

I love how this story weaves in glimpses of the past to explain Korede’s mindset. She was her sister’s protector from a very young age and that relationship does not dissipate after one murder…or two…or maybe three? Korede’s struggle is a fascinating conundrum and an unnerving story.

Read about the other titles on Green's list at CrimeReads.

My Sister the Serial Killer is among Anna Barrington's six social thrillers that will make you question who you can trust, Kate Alice Marshall's six great thrillers featuring sisters (and murder), Margot Douaihy's four novels that show the power of siblings in mysteries & thrillers, Francesca McDonnell Capossela's seven books about women committing acts of violence, Tessa Wegert's five thrillers about killer relatives, Catherine Ryan Howard's five notable dangers-of-dating thrillers, Sally Hepworth's top five novels about twisted sisters, Megan Nolan's six books on unrequited love and unmet obsession, Sarah Pinborough's top ten titles where the setting is a character, Tiffany Tsao's top five novels about murder all in the family, Victoria Helen Stone's eight top crime books of deep, dark family lore, and Kristen Roupenian's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten brutal survival thrillers

At Fully Booked Laura Tarallo tagged ten books like The Running Man, including:

Vertical Run by Joseph R. Garber

One morning, you show up at work and suddenly everyone is trying to kill you. That’s Vertical Run, a claustrophobic thriller that trades game shows for office buildings and contestants for conspiracies.

While less grand in scale, the paranoia is thick enough to slice. It’s a game of corporate cat-and-mouse, and it never stops moving.

Why we recommend it: Sometimes, claustrophobia is the deadliest enemy. Perfect for fans of paranoid, high-stakes chases where every shadow could be your last. It’s the kind of thriller that keeps your pulse pounding long after the final page.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books about forbidden desire

Amy Shearn is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed novels Dear Edna Sloane, Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and How Far is the Ocean From Here. She has worked as an editor for Medium, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Modern Love column, Slate, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Oprah, Coastal Living, Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Catapult, The Millions, The Rumpus, and many other publications.

Shearn has an MFA from the University of Minnesota, and currently lives in Brooklyn with her two children.

Her latest novel is Animal Instinct.

[The Page 99 Test: How Far Is the Ocean from Here; Writers Read: Amy Shearn (March 2013); Q&A with Amy Shearn; My Book, The Movie: Dear Edna Sloane; The Page 69 Test: Dear Edna Sloane; The Page 69 Test: Animal Instinct; Writers Read: Amy Shearn (March 2025); My Book, The Movie: Animal Instinct]

At Tertulia Shearn tagged "nine great works of fiction about characters who lust after what they’re not supposed to." One title on the list:

Panpocalypse by Carley Moore

One of the first great pandemic novels to appear, this initially serialized book tells the story of Orpheus, who is queer, disabled, poly, and searching the city for her long lost love, Eurydice. What she finds is a portal that takes her to a lesbian bar in 1930s Paris. I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to live inside of a fictional world as much as I do this one.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four academia-centered mysteries

Peggy Townsend is an award-winning journalist and author. Her work has appeared in Catamaran literary magazine, Santa Cruz Noir, The Boston Globe Magazine, Memoir, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. Twice she lived for seven weeks in her van, traveling to Alaska and along the back roads of the U.S.

Townsend's new novel is The Botanist's Assistant.

At CrimeReads she tagged four favorite academia-centered mystery novels, including:

Katy Hays, The Cloisters

While this delicious novel is set at The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden in New York City, academic research is at its core. Art-history student Ann Stilwell is a summer hire at the museum and is thrilled to dig into the history of fortune-telling as her research project.

When Stilwell, however, discovers a fifteenth-century deck of tarot cards that may or may not tell the future, she is pulled into a world of obsession, secrets and greed. Smartly written and wonderfully plotted, The Cloisters is one of those novels you won’t soon forget.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten titles that refuse to dramatize or sanitize mental illness

Fredrik deBoer is a writer and academic. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Playboy, and Harper’s among many others. His nonfiction books include The Cult of Smart (2020) and How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement (2023). He holds a PhD in English with a concentration in writing assessment and higher education policy from Purdue University.

The writer's new novel is The Mind Reels.

At Electric Lit deBoer tagged ten books

that make a noble attempt at negotiating the gap between interior illness and exterior narrative. They don’t sanitize the disorientation, the self-doubt, the breakdowns that follow breakdowns; they resist turning mental illness into a metaphor or exotic spectacle.

One title on the list:

Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America by Elizabeth Wurtzel

Few memoirs have ever been more willing to make the memoirist look unsympathetic than Prozac Nation; three decades after its release, the book’s critics still don’t understand its self-awareness. A raw memoir of depression lived in excess—an excess of shame, despair, and spectacularly fractured ambition. Wurtzel writes of growing up bright, sensitive, full of promise, then gradually being undone by an illness that induces acute panic, long stretches of exhaustion, and humiliations she feels she can’t escape. Wurtzel’s language is blistering, grandiose, and often unbearably earnest. Long passages feel (and are) performative, as critics have charged, but with a purpose: Wurtzel understood that depression makes you pretentious, selfish, and myopic—and that the most unlovable parts of her are the parts she must learn to live with. Prozac Nation doesn’t offer tidy lessons, only a voice that says, this is what it was like. In that willingness to be ugly, the book is an act of great bravery.

Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

Writers Read: Elizabeth Wurtzel (June 2008).

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight notable true stories from history about survival

Carolina Ciucci is a teacher, writer and reviewer based in the south of Argentina. She hoards books like they’re going out of style. In case of emergency, you can summon her by talking about Ireland, fictional witches, and the Brontë family. At Book Riot she tagged eight compelling true stories from history about survival. One title on the list:

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Mount Everest seems tailor-made for survival stories… that is, if you survive it. That’s what Jon Krakauer did, barely, when a deadly snowstorm unleashed during his descent. One of the only two survivors, this book explores the allure of such a lethal mountain, on top of recounting Krakauer’s story.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Into Thin Air is among Amy McCulloch's eight thrilling books about mountaineering, four books that changed Rupert Guinness, Jeff Somers's five best books where nature is the antagonist, Nicole Dieker's top nine books even non-readers will love, James Mustich's five top books about mountaineering, and Ed Douglas's ten best survival stories.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 15 best "Frankenstein" retellings

Emily Burack is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site.

At Town & Country she tagged fifteen of the best Frankenstein retellings, including:

Eileen M. Hunt’s Artificial Life After Frankenstein is not a retelling; rather, it uses Shelley’s work as a lens to understand the “ethics and politics of making artificial life and intelligence in the twenty-first century.” Hunt is a professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame; Publishers Weekly reviews that her book “succeeds as an impressive and resounding challenge to technology-driven doomsday scenarios, replacing these with a vision of a gentler, kinder future in which humankind preserves both its existence and its best, most humane qualities.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see seven great horror novels inspired by Frankenstein.

--Marshal Zeringue