I’ve got monsters on the brain. In the last several weeks I’ve torn through Baldur’s Gate 3 and finished Absolon Creed, R. S. Ford’s new book. With Halloween being tomorrow, what better time is there to curate a list of books and series that focus on monster hunting?
When I first had the idea to gather a list of monster hunting books I thought the recommendations would be rather easy to compile. Several of them, like The Witcher, surely were. But I found, as I was researching for a list of initial titles to then curate, that many series which began as focused monster hunting stories experienced scope creep and lost the plot as the series progressed. So I’ve spent the last few days curating this list, creating a list that runs the gamut both in publication date and the scale of fun to serious. I hope you’ll find something among these nine entries to scratch the seasonal spooky itch.
Absolon Creed by R. S. Ford
Just take a look at this cover. It's gorgeous. Kudos to the artist, Matt Griffin, for such a phenomenal painting.
Eldritch horrors stalk the streets of once-great Bastion. Absolon Creed, a famed knight in the Order of Draken, seeks to stop them. When two nobles are murdered he’s paired with newly-minted Knight Guinevere Blackemere to solve the case and discover a traitor in the Order’s midst. The book features fights with demons, reanimated corpses, warlocks, and supernaturally enhanced assassins. It’s a fun, quick read that doesn’t disappoint.
The Witcher Series by Andrzej Sapkowski
No list of monster hunters is complete without Geralt of Rivia, a mutated, sword-wielding professional who takes contracts on strigas, kikimoras, and worse. But, every list online will contain this recommendation. So I won't linger except to add my voice to the chorus: these books are worth your time. And also, to clarify that for the purest monster-hunting experience you should start with the short story collections The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, which are essentially a string of contracts.
Monster Hunter International Series by Larry Correia
If you want pure, unadulterated monster hunting this series is exactly what you want. Accountant Owen Zastava Pitt kills his werewolf boss with a desk and gets recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties. From there it’s vampires, orcs, gnomes, and Old Ones, fought with an enormous amount of firepower. It’s loud. It's pulpy. And importantly for the list I’m trying to curate, the hunting stays central throughout the long series.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
This book came out in my final months of high school. The movie came out the summer after my sophomore year of undergrad. My only recollection of either the book or the movie at the time is that I thought it sounded silly and so I never gave it a chance. Nowadays I still think the idea is silly but, so what? It’s fun and badass and just really-well done. The novel is written as a secret history, built from Lincoln’s hidden journals, reframing his life as a long war against vampires, starting with the creature that killed his mother. If you like Lincoln, vampire hunters, or playing absurd ideas with a straight-face this book is for you.
Kill the Beast by Serra Swift
After a faerie-made monster called the Beast murders her brother, Lyssa Cadogan vows to destroy it. She then spends thirteen years hunting faeries and their monstrous creations without ever finding the Beast. Then she meets Alderic, a dramatic dandy who has somehow found the Beast’s lair and pried loose one of its claws, the key to forging a sword that can kill it. The publisher pitches it as The Witcher crossed with Howl’s Moving Castle. Those are solid comps. It’s dark but with heart.
He Who Fights With Monsters Series by Travis Deverell
Have you jumped on the LitRPG/Progression Fantasy bandwagon yet? Well, perhaps bandwagon isn't the right word. That comes off as derogatory when instead I mean to ask is, have the legions of fans of this emerging genre convinced you to give it a go yet? The most recent self-published series to be picked up is He Who Fights with Monsters. I haven’t touched this one yet, but its premise is tailor made for the sort of book we’re after.
Jason Asano wakes up in a magical world where monsters spawn from rifts and an adventurers’ society exists to keep them in check. It’s built around fighting monsters, from small-fry beasts to world-threatening horrors, and gaining power from every encounter.If you like your monster hunting with stats, loot, and a long runway, this series has plenty of books to dive into. The third entry, Hero, will be traditionally published in just a few weeks. By July of next year the series’ first six books (thirteen have been self-published) will have been published.
Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard
I was ignorant of Soloman Kane for a long time, only knowing Robert E. Howard as the man behind Conan. If you’re a newcomer too, welcome. Solomon Kane is pretty sick. He's a grim, wandering Puritan swordsman hunting evil wherever he finds it. His foes include ghosts, vampires, harpies, and dark sorcerers. Pulp stories like these are what laid the groundwork for later monster hunters like Geralt. I’d recommend giving some of his stories a go if you’re at all interested in the foundations of this fantasy sub-genre.
The Laundry Files Series by Charles Stross
What if the government agency protecting us from monsters was as tedious as any other government agency? It’s a funny, odd premise for a series but don’t let that fool you. Bob Howard works for the Laundry, a secret British department that handles incursions from Lovecraftian horrors. In this world advanced mathematics can summon things from beyond. Stross brilliantly blends spy thriller, cosmic horror, and office satire into something entirely its own. It’s the funniest entry on the list and also, at times, one of the creepiest.
The Vampire Hunter D Series by Hideyuki Kikuchi
In a far-future wasteland ruled for millennia by vampire aristocrats, a lone half-vampire hunter named D rides from town to town taking contracts on nobles and the mutant horrors they leave behind. Kikuchi’s novels mix gothic horror, science fiction, and spaghetti western into a uniquely bleak and stylish world. Nearly every book follows a new job, making the series about as pure a monster-hunting experience as you’ll find.