I’m going to try to be much more specific in this post because I feel like there are many books I can’t find with these vibes? I am 23F and looking for books that go with the mood of my age and love for fantasy escapism. Music that could fit this vibe could be Cocteau Twins, Cemeteries, Grouper, Angel Olsen & this song specifically Love No More – The Durutti Coloumn
Anyways, favorite books are One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, and I kinda liked Ninth House by Leigh Burdogo.
I love the moody and gothic vibes in the movie Emily (2022) starring Emma Mackey.
The things i love most about these are the moody / angsty female main characters (ages around 17-25) who are still ambitious and clever. They’re driving the plot for their personal desires whether it’s to make their life better or save people they love. I prefer gothic fantasy & magic, new adult (no YA or booktok). I also love first person. As i’m getting away from YA and more into NA, I still am not trying to read anything too horrific (or hyper sexual) Oh and I love a romance subplot (Elspeth & Ravyn were beautiful from One Dark Window but didn’t consume the story). M/F Please!
Some examples of things i’m not interested in: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Gideon the Ninth (it seemed unserious to me personally & as a heterosexual the F/F doesn’t excite me) and I don’t know if i would enjoy Naomi Noviks books since they look too young for what i’m looking for? Convince me if i’m wrong! I also read Heartless Hunter and 3/5… i hate love triangles and flat characters, sorry! Serpent of Wings & Night same reason with flat characters.
Apologies for the long text, I’ve been scouring the web for days now! Any recommendations would be helpful!
by zoom2moon
1 Comment
Aren’t One Dark Window & The Cruel Prince YA booktok books? They’re still well written, but that makes me less sure about what you’re looking to avoid.
Either way, if you like those there’s no reason you wouldn’t like Naomi Novik – Uprooted and Spinning Silver are both firmly adult literature, and her Scholomance trilogy still has extremely mature content and themes despite starting with the characters as teenagers. It gets occasionally called YA because of that, but I would say it’s decidedly not.