15 Best Dark Fantasy Children's Books of All Time
15 Best Dark Fantasy Children's Books Of All Time.
such as The Graveyard Book, The Twits, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, In the Night Kitchen
Welcome to an insightful journey through the '15 best dark fantasy children's books of all time,' written by Muhiuddin Alam on the book recommendations and reviews site, ReadingAndThinking.com.
Over the years as a leading authority on literary expertise, I've created numerous articles on the topics of Parenting and Children's Reads, many of which can be found on this site. I'm also a regular contributor to other book-related websites and publications.
I have received many requests to recommend some of the dark fairy tales for children. In response, I'm pleased to offer my expert recommendations in this article.
I will recommend the darkest children's fantasy books in this post, which is based on my in-depth study and extensive research in this field.
Some notable children's dark fantasy tales include The Graveyard Book, The Twits, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, In the Night Kitchen, Goosebumps, A Monster Calls, The Blade Itself, Blood Ex Libris, Fortune Favors the Cruel, Three Dark Crowns, Demon Hunter, and The Pariah.
These aren't the only dark magical tales for children on this topic. Below, you'll find 15 children's gothic fantasy books with detailed descriptions of each of these outstanding resources, helping you make well-informed decisions in your dark fantasy adventure journey.
So, when I suggest these children's eerie fantasy stories, it's because I've read a lot and want to share the best ones with you. I'm all about making your reading experience awesome. Trust in a guide deeply immersed in the literary books and stories. I love books just like you do!
15 Best Dark Fantasy Children's Books of All Time
The best-selling dark fantasy books on the list are beyond your imagination. Generally speaking, when it comes to fantasy, will give people a feeling of "relaxation" and "freedom".
Indeed, relaxed and free fantasy can be said to be a major feature of two-dimensional creation. But there are also many fantasies to create dark works.
In such dark fantasy fiction books, we can see the protagonist challenge the cruel fate, we can see the fierce battle, and it will also make people think after watching it.
1. The Graveyard Book
If you've read a lot of the articles on my blog then you will have noticed that over the last sort of two years, I started reading Neil Gaiman's books and then I absolutely fell in love with his books in addition to this book.
I also have two other Neil Gaiman books on this list and they are 'Coraline' and 'Instructions' which is a picture book.
that's really lyrical and beautiful by him kicking it off with 'the graveyard book'. this is a story about a young boy named Bod whose name is short for nobody effectively bod's whole family gets murdered by this scary antagonist whose name is Jack and god who's a teeny tiny little toddler sort of totals out the door by accident and then up the hill and finds refuge in a graveyard and so the ghosts of the graveyard let him in and they end up protecting him from this antagonistic murderous figure.
but overall a beautiful middle-grade story I love this so incredibly much and I think it is a beautiful brilliant book.
2. The Twits
The Twits by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake
If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. Intertwined old man and old lady.
Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, nastiest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything—except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds to put in their Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. But the Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don't just want out, they want revenge.
3. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell
For the past two weeks, I've been reading those scary stories on my iPad with the quilt over my head every night. Reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was a novelty experience for me because I hadn't read ghost stories in a long time since I grew up. The book is split up into five different sections, they are jump stories, stories with true ghosts, stories about all kinds of things, danger stories, and humorous stories. I really enjoy reading them.
One of my favorite stories in this book is Cold as Clay, which belongs to the stories with true ghosts. I like it because it's romantic. This is a story of two people in love who were separated by the girl's father, and the boy got sick and then died of a broken heart.
However, the girl did not know this. One day, the boy came on his best horse to get the girl home. The boy's head was as cold as clay so the girl wrapped her handkerchief around the boy's head, which sets the stage for the coming scary point. They went home but the boy was gone.
The girl's father told her the truth, and later, they opened the boy's grave and around the corpse's head, they saw the girl's handkerchief. For me, the plot was so moving that I forgot it was a horror story.
Not only is the prose terrifying, but the illustrations that go along with the stories are also terrifying. The illustrations were curated by illustrator Stephen Gamaliel. All of the drawings are in black and white, adding to the suspense of the stories. One of the illustrations that I remembered accompanied the story “The Big Toe”.
The photo is of a weird-looking boy who holds a shovel that is longer than his height, staring at a giant finger that grew out from the ground. This picture impressed me so much that even though I closed my eyes, I could see it and hear the groaning “Where is my to-ooooh?”
One particularly interesting story is “The Ghost with the Bloody Fingers”. The story takes place in a haunted room in a hotel where the ghost hid in the closet. One day, a man took to the haunted room when he began to play his guitar, the ghost appeared and moaned “Bloody fingers! Bloody fingers!”. Ordinary people probably would have been scared off.
However, the man paid no attention to it, he just kept strumming his guitar. The ghost kept moaning, and its fingers kept bleeding. Finally, the guitar player looked up. “Cool it, man! Get yourself a Band-Aid”. What a humorous man! what an interesting story!
The back of the book reads, “ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is an ageless collection of chillingly scary tales and legends. Read if you dare!”
Although I'm an adult now and reading these stories doesn't scare me so much, I still enjoy reading these stories very much. Halloween is coming. In this spooky season, I think maybe it's the time to scare my friends off by telling these stories to them, "Where is my to-ooooh?".
4. In the Night Kitchen
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
A young boy named Mickey sleeps in his bed when he is disturbed by noise on a lower floor. Suddenly, he begins to float, and loses all of his clothes as he drifts into a surreal world called the "Night Kitchen".
He falls naked into a giant mixing pot that contains the batter for the "morning cake". While Mickey is buried in the mass, three identical bakers (who closely resemble Oliver Hardy) mix the batter and prepare it for baking, unaware (or unconcerned ) that there is a little boy inside. Just before the baking pan is placed into the oven, the boy emerges from the pan, protesting that he is not the batter's milk.
To make up for the baking ingredient deficiency, Mickey (now covered in batter from the neck down) constructs an airplane out of bread dough so he can use the measuring cup as a hat and fly to the mouth of a giant milk bottle. Upon reaching the bottle's opening, he dives in and briefly revels in the liquid.
After his covering of batter disintegrates, making him naked again, he pours the needed milk in a cascade down to the bakers who joyfully finish making their morning cake.
With dawn breaking, the naked Mickey crows like a rooster and slides down the side of the bottle, back into his bed, where he has magically clothed again, "cake-free and dried".
This is a book that adults will only give 2-3 stars when they read it for the first time, and children who read it will definitely give it 5 stars.
5. Goosebumps
Goosebumps by R. L. Stine
Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas created and authored by RL Stine. Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997.
6. A Monster Calls
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay
This is a sad book. But it tells a story of overcoming grief.
The demon showed up at midnight as always, calling the boy's name from under the yew tree in the cemetery.
But the boy is not afraid of the devil, because he is already facing a fact that is more terrifying than the devil, his favorite mother is stepping into the shadow of death day by day.
He doesn't want to live with his eccentric grandmother, and his school days are bleak - he has to endure both bullying from his classmates and exaggerated sympathy from his teachers.
No, he doesn't want that. He wants to run away. Escape completely from this world. But then the devil appeared. He was summoned by the boy unintentionally, to exchange three stories for one story belonging to the boy.
But it's not just a story. This is a very dangerous truth, and it is the most vulnerable fear at the bottom of my heart.
Similar to The Book of Lost Things by the talented Irish writer John Connery, A Monster Calls is also a masterpiece about life and loss, it is a fantasy novel, but no fantasy is more real, it's truly terrifying.
"A Monster Calls" is a novel as well as a picture book. British illustrator Jim Kay's extraordinary experimental illustrations and words complement each other.
As a result, the book has won awards for both words and illustrations, becoming the only one in the history of publishing to receive awards at the same time.
The only book to receive the Carnegie Award for Literature and the Kate Greenway Award for Illustration. These two awards are the highest in the UK book industry (children's book category).
In addition, "A Monster Calls" is also the best book of the year by the "British Independent", "Chicago Sun", "Wall Street Journal", "Publishers Weekly", "New York Times" and other journals and magazines.
The author, Patrick Ness, was born in the United States and settled in London, England at the age of 28. He taught creative writing at Oxford University for three years, and his students were often older than the teacher.
He also writes book reviews for the UK's largest newspapers such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and other specialist media. He was a goth in his youth and wrote radio comedies about vampires and other funny gossip.
7. The Blade Itself
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
When it comes to the setting of Western fantasy novels, warriors and dragons, wizards and castles, dwarf musketeers, pointed-eared elves and the vast magical world always come to mind.
After reading the mages with boundless mana who control lightning and turn clouds and rain, the writing style of fantasy novels that do not easily use magic has gradually entered the mainstream. Such as the well-known "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.
This book is also such a "low magic" fantasy work that is different from the traditional routine. "This is an era where magic is disappearing..." Although this setting abandons the imagination's exploration of the boundaries of magic, it strengthens the response to real life and the portrayal of human nature.
Therefore, in this work, you can see the embedding of many realistic factors, which also gives readers more space for thinking. While my reading time was fairly fragmented, the fluency of the overall reading experience didn't suffer as a result.
Compared with the big time and space narrative from the third-person perspective, the POV perspective of this book provides readers with more perspectives to understand the story and saves the trouble of sorting out the big timeline.
Therefore, it naturally creates a very distinct character. characters. The barbarian hero forced to wander in the mountains, the weak and narcissistic young knight, the torturer with legendary experience, the female warrior full of hatred... These characters appear one after another, forming a team to save the world.
Author Joe Acrobi uses his powerful pen to construct a world of kingly fantasy and uses intense action scenes as the main thruster. While the rhythm is steady and progressive, there are plots, murders, and wars running through.
Even though the protagonists are in different environments, they do not give readers a strong sense of separation, but gradually become integrated with the core main line of the story, which is fascinating. The same routine is also useful in the game "Octopian Traveler".
The only pity is that there is no world view map in this edition of the book, which makes it impossible to reflect where the place is when many place names appear in the book, and there is only a vague concept of its distribution.
Since the author has only read the first volume of the story, I do not fully understand the various foreshadowings in the book: character motives, historical disputes, etc., so the analysis of the plot is left blank for the time being.
I would like to mention two features of this book under the framework of low magic: wonderful descriptions of cold weapon fighting and vivid social portrayals.
The author's familiarity with the use of cold weapons makes most of the fighting scenes very smooth. Personally, I especially like Logan's experience of being in the wilderness before he officially met the first mage.
The psychological description of Rogan's first entry into the United Kingdom is also extremely exciting, using Bayaz's mouth to say that Adua looks beautiful and rich, but in fact, it is shrouded in shadow: "Behind this high wall, they were shouting and arguing wildly, Biting each other endlessly. Old wounds never scar, they only grow stronger, take root, and ingrain with age.
Fighting between people is always the most popular drama. They're not like you, Luo Roots. They will greet you with a smile, flatter you, call you brothers and sisters, and give you gifts, but in the end, they will hurt people with arrows. You will find this is a strange place."
This is not the epitome of prosperous cities in ancient and modern history. One of them? Finally, the book depicts a period of conceptual change: the rise of populism and the disintegration of the old sense of monarchy.
It is in such a process from high magic to low magic that the meaning of fantasy is constantly being rewritten. As the book expresses, after the age of dragons and magic, there will be more poems waiting for us to discover.
8. Blood Ex Libris
Blood Ex Libris by Raven Belasco
It all started when the dark and mysterious stranger showed up at my children’s reading hour. Of course, I noticed him. I’d been single (and bored) for longer than I care to admit. Me, I’m Anushka (Noosh) Rosetti, head librarian.
He turned out to be a vampire. And not just any vampire: Vlad Dracula. Although he goes by another name these days, and he says he’s changed his violent ways. He definitely seemed more of a lover than a fighter. At first.
In a whirlwind of passion and blood-drinking, I made a crucial but impulsive decision: share blood with him a third time, and give up normal human society forever, making my life among the “am’r”—that’s what the vampires call themselves.
The whirlwind just keeps spinning faster. Before I know it, I’m at an am’r summit meeting—and then, abducted by Vlad’s oldest enemy. He’s hoping to use me to undo all of my lover and my new family’s plans to save am’r society from tearing itself apart.
I thought I was just going to archive some ancient books, but somehow I have to keep myself from being used as a pawn by the craziest bad guy ever, escape back to the good guys (and I’m not sure how “good” they really are) across a desert (I don’t even know what country I’m in!) and not be killed in the process. I don’t know how I will survive the next five minutes, never mind saving my beloved’s life, too….
Blood Ex Libris is the first book in a brand new, dark urban fantasy series mixing horror, history, and blood-soaked romance featuring a snarky librarian heroine, a sensual but complex hero in the story of a life that unfolds in unexpected ways from humdrum to death-defying thrills, from Middle America to the middle of an unknown desert, surrounded by sword-fighting, explosions, and the ultimate drama of immortals meeting death.
9. Fortune Favors the Cruel
Fortune Favors the Cruel by Kel Carpenter
Quinn Darkova, freed from the chains of slavery, wants nothing more than vengeance against those who sold her. But with her dark powers on the rise and her ascension nearing, Quinn's blood retribution will have to wait in favor of her immediate survival.
Lazarus Fierté is a nobleman without equality. He's as controlling as he is stubborn, and for the last six years, he's been waiting for a woman to appear, not just any woman. A Maji of great power, capable of terrible things. She could be the key to everything he holds dear.
His savior ... or his destroyer.
The only thing he didn't predict was that she would become both.
10. Three Dark Crowns
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Kedel Black is a rising star in teenage novels in recent years. His masterpiece "Anna in Blood" has been translated into 19 languages, and the film copyright was purchased by Stephanie Meyer, the author of "Twilight". "Shadow Crown" is her gorgeous transformation of epic fantasy.
Kedel Blake aspired to be a writer since he was a child. He likes to read horror novels, and Greek mythology believes in vegetarianism, and respects animals when driving.
He has published several supernatural fantasy short stories and is active in various writing communities. Currently lives and writes in Washington State, USA.
Fans of acclaimed author Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood will devour Three Dark Crowns, the first book in a dark and inventive fantasy series about three sisters who must fight to the death to become queen.
In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers.
Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.
11. Demon Hunter
All that the ancient witch Annis wants is to avenge her father and defeat her enemies. However, it’s easier said than done, for her enemies are powerful Necromancers, deadly Archdemons, ruthless vampires – and her own mother. But after four hundred years of torment in the Lake of Fire, Annis will not give up.
They will know her fury. All of them. The Priesthood will suffer for the pain they caused her.
And there’s no way she’s letting them send her back to Hell. She might need a bit of time to adjust to the body of a young woman she possessed, and a bit more time to adapt to the modern city of Los Angeles, but she’ll manage.
She has to.
Because her enemies will not rest until she is dead. Again. But dying once was enough and now it’s her turn to strike back.
She is a powerful witch, the only daughter of the immortal Witch Queen Amelia, and she will have her vengeance.
12. The Pariah
The Pariah by Anthony Ryan
Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves.
But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path - one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier's life in the king's army.
Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive the war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance.
But as dark forces, both human and arcane, gather to oppose Evadine's rise, Alwyn faces a choice: can he be a warrior, or will he always be an outlaw?
Anthony Ryan was born in Scotland in 1970 but spent much of his adult life living and working in London. After a long career in the British Civil Service, he took up writing full-time after the success of his first novel Blood Song, Book One of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy.
He has a degree in history, and his interests include art, science, and the unending quest for the perfect pint of real ale.
13. The Dragonbone Chair
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
When Williams wrote the first volume, he was always in a warm-up state, and it was very slow.
Donkey Simon has all kinds of adventures along the way, the teacher like a sweeping monk (unfortunately hanged, let our kind and simple boy embark on the road of escape), the righteous and fearless prince (the leader of the resistance army), the knowledgeable dwarf (the medieval Google), the rich and handsome Prince Heather (mysterious elf, still with Japanese names!), and even the only daughter of the Supreme King fell in love with him.
At the end of the book, Snow Guard Simon also inexplicably raises the thorn sword that other warriors cannot lift and then stabs the ice dragon, the dragon's blood merged into his blood, is it the rhythm of the real dragon~
The novel may pay tribute to "The Lord of the Rings", but The magic setting inside is unique. Under the storm of ice and snow, in addition to the war of brutal death, there is a more desperate and grander demon-human struggle.
Memories, sorrows, and thorns, if human beings will survive and the world will return to the right path, the three swords will converge. The magnificent epic is about to come out!
Another advantage of the novel is that the writing is exceptionally beautiful. Kudos to the original author and translation! When reading, let the readers live in that distant and beautiful continent, flying like a gust of wind, flying over cities, forests, and snow-capped mountains...
Finally, I complained that the publishing house actually put the map in the second volume! I was in a daze reading the entire first volume!
14. Mexican Gothic
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The main origin is the director Mike Flanagan, whom he fell in love with in the past two years, last year's "The Haunting of Hill House" and this year's "The Haunting of Bly Manor" two mini-series won my heart.
And this year's "Ghost Manor" is also based on Henry James' famous book "The Turn of the Screw" and the movie "The Turning" released earlier this year.
True fans like me, of course, after watching "Ghost Manor", I also watched this poorly-reviewed movie together, and read the original book again.
Last month, I picked up more than a dozen books thrown by an unknown neighbor downstairs in my apartment. Most of them are new works from the past two years, including this Mexican Gothic.
This book was on the annual recommendations of both Goodreads and Barnes & Noble at the end of the year, so take it out and read it.
Noemí, who lives in Mexico City, received a letter of help from her cousin Catalina who was married to Mexico one day, so she got up and went to the place where she lived (the High Place manor not far from a city called El Triunfo) to find her.
During a short time living in the manor, Noemí gradually discovered the family surnamed Doyle and the secrets behind the manor. A few keywords associated with this secret include mushrooms, sleepwalking, end-to-end snakes, and eugenics.
There are many similarities between the feeling of reading this book and the feeling of reading The Screw Is Tightening.
There are hidden secrets in the closed and dark manor; ghosts are real, but they don’t often see people in black and white; people who are lost in the manor dream, sleepwalk, can’t distinguish between dreams and reality, and people who read books also It is equally indistinguishable between dreams and reality; the large-scale emotions render a gloomy atmosphere. Probably this is the commonality of the so-called "Gothic literature".
Compared with the thousands of complicated interpretations of "The Screw Is Tightening", Mexican Gothic is more concrete and understandable. Mexico in the title seems to have no more profound meaning in the story other than the location of the manor.
The Doyle family is a British immigrant, and no one speaks Spanish except for their cousin Francis. Generally speaking, it should be regarded as decent British Gothic literature, and "Mexico" is just a pretense.
Author Silvia Moreno-Garcia wrote another bestseller, Gods of Jade and Shadow, last year, which also received many positive reviews. Go look for it someday. If Mike Flanagan makes The Haunting of High Place, I'll be satisfied and love it!
15. Assassin
All in Voramis know the legend of the Hunter. Relentless. Immortal. Death walking. The greatest assassin who ever lived.
Pay the master killer his due and the Hunter will execute any target, and carry out any contract, no matter how impossible.
But when the Bloody Hand crime syndicate harms the innocents under his protection, they foolishly make an enemy of the one man they can’t afford to anger.
The price of Hunter’s vengeance is high—paid in blood and eternal damnation. Not even an army of crooks, cutthroats, and demonic creatures of nightmare can stand in his way.
He’s far more than just one man…he’s the Keeper-damned Hunter of Voramis.
"Darkblade Assassin is a masterful thrill ride that delves deep into the heart and gut-wrenching soul of a killer." -- ML Spencer, Author of Dragon Mage
I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy and science fiction are my genres of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of heroes, villains, and everything in between.
I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels.
Speculative fiction provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible.
It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand new way. Fiction at its very best!
Genre-Based Dark Fantasy Books:
Below I recommend some notable dark fantasy books in various categories for your children:
Top-notch short stories in the realm of dark fantasy
- "The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter
- "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
- "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
- "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs
- "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
- "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft
- "The Dunwich Horror" by H.P. Lovecraft
- "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft
- "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood
Captivating series within the dark fantasy genre
- "The Dark Tower" series by Stephen King
- "The First Law" trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
- "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" series by Steven Erikson
- "The Broken Empire" trilogy by Mark Lawrence
- "The Black Company" series by Glen Cook
- "The Powder Mage" trilogy by Brian McClellan
- "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan
- "The Stormlight Archive" series by Brandon Sanderson
- "The Kingkiller Chronicle" series by Patrick Rothfuss
- "The Gentlemen Bastards" series by Scott Lynch
Fiction books that delve into the shadows of dark fantasy
- "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
- "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch
- "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie
- "The City We Became" by N.K. Jemisin
- "The Library at Mount Char" by Scott Hawkins
- "The Gormenghast Trilogy" by Mervyn Peake
- "The Fifth Season" by N.K. Jemisin
- "The Poppy War" by R.F. Kuang
- "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow
- "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern
Dark fantasy tales for a mature audience
- "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman
- "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
- "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman
- "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly
- "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" by Catherynne M. Valente
- "The Hazel Wood" by Melissa Albert
- "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
- "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman
- "The Secret History of Moscow" by Ekaterina Sedia
- "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden
Dark fantasy reads for teens and young adults
- "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
- "The Mortal Instruments" series by Cassandra Clare
- "The Raven Cycle" series by Maggie Stiefvater
- "The Infernal Devices" series by Cassandra Clare
- "The Darkest Part of the Forest" by Holly Black
- "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black
- "The Diviners" series by Libba Bray
- "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
- "The Magicians" series by Lev Grossman
- "The Dark Artifices" series by Cassandra Clare
Romantic elements in dark fantasy children's literature
- "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
- "The Vampire Diaries" series by L.J. Smith
- "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series by Sarah J. Maas
- "The Selection" series by Kiera Cass
- "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater
- "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
- "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick
- "Fallen" by Lauren Kate
- "The Iron Fey" series by Julie Kagawa
- "The Chemical Garden" series by Lauren DeStefano
Chart-topping books in the world of dark fantasy
- "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
- "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin
- "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling
- "The Witcher" series by Andrzej Sapkowski
- "The Dark Tower" series by Stephen King
- "The Hunger Games" trilogy by Suzanne Collins
- "The Mortal Instruments" series by Cassandra Clare
- "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan
- "The Kingkiller Chronicle" series by Patrick Rothfuss
- "The Dresden Files" series by Jim Butcher
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About Muhiuddin Alam
Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ReadingAndThinking.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, Substack, Vocal, Flipboard, and Amazon KDP. Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel.
