25 Best Fantasy Books That Are Basically Horror Stories

Published Oct 6, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage and co-lead of Superheroes, Tom Bacon now works with the movies and books teams. He's a lifelong fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and loves franchises such as Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon. Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too. Sign in to your ScreenRant account There's naturally a massive overlap between fantasy and horror. In truth, most of the classic horror stories are fantasies; they feature supernatural races, demonic entities, vampires, zombies, and the like. The most horrific tend to be what Farah Mendelshon calls "intrusion fantasies," where a supernatural world invades everyday life; many add a supernatural element to real world objects, bringing them to life in the most sinister ways. Naturally, as we approach Halloween, fantasy readers will be tempted to pick up something a little darker than their usual fare. To be sure, many will head to the best Stephen King books, but there's so much more than that. Whether you like high fantasy, intrusions, or dark academia, here are some of the best we recommend reading. 5 Portal Fantasy A portal fantasy is basically the opposite of the intrusion fantasy (although some begin with an element of supernatural invasion). These tend to follow the pattern of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia or J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, where people discover a hidden world at the back of a wardrobe or walk through a wall at Platform 9 3/4. But not all portal worlds are as benign as Narnia or Hogwarts; in the best horror-style portal fantasies, the entire world is twisted and corrupt. Here are the pick of the crop. The Hollow Place by T. Kingfisher (Published: October 2020 / Purchasable here): A young woman discovers a dangerous portal in her uncle's house, plunging into a multiverse of worlds inhabited by predators that can hear your thoughts. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (Published: November 2006 / Purchasable here): A 12-year-old boy mourning the death of his mother finds himself drawn into a twisted fantasy world when the Book of Lost Things begins to whisper to him. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Published: September 2020 / Purchasable here): Welcome to the infinite home of Piranesi, a building with no limits that he lives to explore — but that hides a terrifying secret. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (Published: January 2018 / Purchasable here): First in a two-book series, this tells the story of a 17-year-old who discovers her family's secret connection to the magical Hazel Wood. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (Published: January 2015/ Purchasable here): It's no surprise to see Holly Black's name on this list, and The Darkest Part of the Forest is an unusual portal fantasy in that it kicks off in a world where humans and monsters already coexist. 4 Gothic Fantasy Brooding and atmospheric, Gothic fantasy lends itself perfectly to horror. It frequently explores themes of death, madness, forbidden knowledge, and isolation; plus this is the province of so many demons, vampires, zombies, werewolves, and the like. Unlike traditional Gothic fiction, though, these fantasy stories tend to create immersive worlds with magic systems as well. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Published: June 2020 / Purchasable here): A terrifying twist on Gothic horror set in Mexico in the 1950s, Mexican Gothic sends a glamorous debutante into a house that invades her very dreams with haunting images of blood. The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (Published: October 2021 / Purchasable here): Jane Shoringfield's wedding night goes horrifically wrong when her husband is transformed into a paranoid man she cannot trust. Soon she discovers she's been plunged into a dark mirror-verse of the world she knew. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas (Published: May 2022 / Purchasable here): A thrilling fantasy set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, featuring a remote house, a sinister haunting, and a woman pulled into their clutches. The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller (Published: March 2022 / Purchasable here): A dying emperor charges a concubine with investigating his own murder, kicking off a thrilling whodunnit set in an intricate world of dark magic. The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec (Published: February 2021 / Purchasable here): A banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, but her blissful life turns sour when she gradually recovers her psychic powers and foresees her new family's fate. 3 Folk Horror Fantasy Folk horror fantasy is a little different. It's rooted in the supernatural forces of traditional folklore and mythology, sometimes brought to life in the present day, and sometimes in its own time. It tends to use mythology to create an atmosphere of dread, making it remarkably appealing. The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy (Published: January 1978 / Purchasable here): The classic folk fantasy horror, The Wicker Man stars a police sergeant on the trail of a missing girl who realizes he may be the true target of strange, shamanistic and erotic events. The Ritual by Adam Nevill (Published: May 2011 / Purchasable here): A group of friends get lost in the forests of Sweden, stumbling across the remnants of an ancient civilization and a bestial presence that haunts their every step. The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher (Published: October 2019 / Purchasable here): When Mouse's grandmother dies, she discovers that sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real — and they're looking for you. The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (Published: June 2021 / Purchasable here): Inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology, The Wolf and the Woodsman is the story of an outcast woman abandoned by her gods, forced on a dangerous quest in an epic enemies-to-lovers story. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Published: January 2017 / Purchasable here): A wild and willful young woman finds herself at the center of a tale of spirits, ancient evils, and the mysterious winter-king Frost in the first book of a stunning trilogy. 2 Dark Academia Fantasy Dark academia fantasy is set in a scholarly world, combining the rigors and disciplines of academic life with the dangers of intellectual obsession. Hogwarts is far from the most creative magical school in fiction, but these stories tend to focus on an older age-group, with isolated communities becoming increasingly absorbed by magical secrets. Often, they gaze into the abyss, and the abyss gazes back. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Published: October 2019 / Purchasable here): Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class, charged with investigating secret societies. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And, sometimes, they prey on the living. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (Published: January 2020 / Purchasable here): Each decade, only six of the most talented magicians earn a place at the Alexandrian Society. But the experience will bend and break them, and only five of the class ever survive the society's twisted mind-games. Babel by R.F. Kuang (Published: August 2022 / Purchasable here): Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. But when one student finds himself caught between Babel and the Opium Wars, he must choose his side. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Published: September 2020 / Purchasable here): An absolute classic of the genre, A Deadly Education explores a school with one of the best magic systems in all fiction, complete with phenomenal (and sinister) relationships. Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (Published: January 2007 / Purchasable here): A critically acclaimed Russian novel, Vita Nostra is a dark fantasy that blends adventure, magic, science, and a philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence. 1 Urban Fantasy Finally, urban fantasy tends to place the supernatural in a contemporary city or modern society. Again, that lends itself well to intrusion fantasies, a mainstay of the horror genre. Some variants riff on this in the same manner as Sarah J. Maas' Crescent City, creating exotic world where modern civilization co-exists with magic, and that creates tremendous potential for supernatural horror. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (Published: June 2015 / Purchasable here): Carolyn was once a normal American. But that was before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father. And now, as she wages war to create a new god, she has failed to remember what it is to be human. The Changeling by Victor LaValle (Published: June 2017 / Purchasable here): A dark fairy tale of New York, when a father is launched on a quest to find his missing wife and child. His odyssey takes him to a forgotten island, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (Published: February 2016 / Purchasable here): People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there. That's the simple principle behind Victor LaValle's classic, as a storm builds in Brooklyn that might swallow the world. The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (Published: August 2022 / Purchasable here): Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, only to encounter fantastical nightmare forces that will reshape his life. Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (Published: January 1998 / Purchasable here): The Night Watch series tells the story of the Others, an ancient race of magicians, shape-shifters, vampires, and other supernatural beings that live among us, and swear allegiance to either the powers of Darkness or the forces of Light.