Stories about magic are about as old as storytelling itself. These days, such tales often focus on children’s and teens’ adventures, but there are plenty of authors casting spells for older readers, as well—and some push genre boundaries. One notable example is Deborah Harkness’ bestselling 2011 paranormal romance fantasy novel, A Discovery of Witches, which launched a trilogy of books that inspired an AMC TV series that ran from 2018 to 2022. Indie authors have conjured up plenty of works of wizardry for adults, including these recommended titles:
The Battle for Arisha’s Mountain (2021), the first installment in Kelly Allers’ Final Age of Magic series, tells a tale with some familiar epic-fantasy elements; for example, its adult protagonist, alchemist Kaden Raylon, has seemingly prophetic dreams of his impending demise (“he…wondered if this is what it felt like to be old, to anticipate one’s own death”) and a coming “army of darkness.” However, the narrative also effectively delves into new realms by offering what our reviewer calls “magical multi-species chaos”: a fictional world that’s home not only to dragons, but also talking birds, angel-like Seraphs, and even reptilian fortune tellers. It also features graphic battle scenes that fans of the Game of Thrones TV series are likely to enjoy.
Stephanie Damore’s 2021 series-starter, Witchy Reservations, combines a cozy mystery with lively paranormal elements. Angelica Nightingale is an events planner at a Chicago hotel who’s called back to her enchanted hometown of Silverlake, Georgia, after 13 years away. Silverlake is home to a community of witches, including Angelica’s Aunt Thelma, who wants Angelica to help save her struggling hotel, the Mystic Inn. But when Thelma becomes a murder suspect, Angelica must clear her name with the help of her lawyer ex-boyfriend, with whom she has a fraught relationship—and she’ll also have to wield magic again for the first time in years. Kirkus’ reviewer favorably compares the work to Charlaine Harris’ popular Sookie Stackhouse novels (the inspiration for the HBO series True Blood) and notes that “Angelica makes for an effortlessly endearing Everywoman hero.”
Magical Midlife Madness (2020) by K.F. Breene also tells the story of a woman unearthing small-town secrets, but Jessie Evans’ circumstances are a bit different. For one thing, the middle-aged, recently divorced woman knows nothing of the town’s magic—at least, at first. At the story’s outset, Jessie enthusiastically takes a job as the caretaker of a mansion in the California mountain town of O’Briens, which she’d visited on vacation as a child. Before long, she’s hitting it off with attractive local bartender Austin Steele. However, she soon finds that the townsfolk are leading “magical double lives,” as our reviewer puts it, and that O’Briens is not what it seems; it all leads to a confrontation with evil, of course. Our review notes that the work includes “a few too many references to Jessie’s post-childbirth bladder,” but also “chatty, lively worldbuilding in a rollicking fantasy.” There’s little doubt, in any case, that many readers of a certain age will find it refreshing to follow the magical adventures of someone in their 40s.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
