LitQueuelitqueue

After

Forests of the Heart

Charles de Lint2000

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • A Red Heart of Memories

    Nina Kiriki Hoffman1999

    A woman who talks to inanimate objects meets a man who can walk through walls. They travel together, using their magic to help people they meet.

    Same tender register, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → elegiac, still mythic fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Vellum

    Hal Duncan2005

    Humans transformed into angels and demons fight across a multiverse for a book that controls reality. The narrative jumps through time and myth.

    tender → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    tender → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • One Perfect Kiss

    Jaci Burton2018

    A high school English teacher and a football coach navigate a relationship in a small Oklahoma town. Both characters deal with past failures.

    tender → warm

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Dark Lover

    J. R. Ward2005

    A vampire king seeks revenge against the slayers who killed his parents while protecting a woman discovering her own supernatural heritage.

    tender → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires

    Molly Harper2012

    A human woman works as a daytime assistant for vampires. She breaks her professional rules to help a poisoned client survive.

    tender → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

tender → propulsive, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • 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+2·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.

    tender → sardonic, still urban fantasy

    pace+2·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.

    tender → sardonic, still urban fantasy

    pace+2·prose0·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → meditative

    pace-1·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.

    tender → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

    pace-1·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.

    tender → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → elegiac, still mythic fiction

    pace0·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.

    tender → bleak, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·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.

    tender → bleak

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2