Changer

Industrial Magic

Kelley Armstrong2003

A witch investigates a series of murders within the corporate world of supernatural cabals. She must navigate internal magical politics.

warm → propulsive, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak0

In the Night Garden

Catherynne M. Valente2006

A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.

warm → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

warm → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Boneland

Alan Garner2012

An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

warm → elegiac, still mythic fiction

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Truly, Madly

Heather Webber2010

A woman with the psychic ability to find lost objects takes over her family's matchmaking business. She teams up with a cynical private investigator.

warm → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Being a Green Mother

Piers Anthony1987

Orb, the daughter of Fate, assumes the role of Nature. She uses her magical songs to manage the world's ecology and confront a demonic threat.

warm → earnest, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond2011

A city woman moves to a remote cattle ranch after falling in love with a cowboy. She details her transition to country life and farm chores.

Same warm register

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Battle Ground

Jim Butcher2020

A wizard leads the supernatural defense of Chicago against an invading army led by a Titan. The book is a single, continuous battle.

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Blood Engines

Tim Pratt2007

A sorceress who uses blood magic to power her spells defends her city from a rival. She makes ruthless choices to maintain her power.

warm → sardonic, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Sandman Slim

Richard Kadrey2009

A magician crawls out of Hell to hunt the people who murdered his girlfriend in Los Angeles. He uses black magic and a stolen shotgun.

warm → sardonic, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Love & Sleep

John Crowley1994

Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

warm → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Moonwise

Greer Gilman1991

Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.

warm → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Unfinished Tales

J.R.R. Tolkien1980

A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

warm → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

Andrus Kivirähk2015

A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

warm → elegiac, still mythic fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

A Matter of Blood

Sarah Pinborough2010

A detective investigates a serial killer in a London plagued by a failing economy and a supernatural virus. The tone is consistently grim.

warm → bleak, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin2015

A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

warm → bleak

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2