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After

Lessons in Magic and Disaster

Charlie Jane Anders2025

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Rosemary and Rue

    Seanan McGuire2009

    A half-fae private investigator is pulled back into the magical world she abandoned to solve the murder of a High Lady.

    Same tense register, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Night Pleasures

    Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

    An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.

    tense → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire

    Kerrelyn Sparks2005

    A vampire who broke a fang kidnaps a dentist who is afraid of blood. She is hiding from the mafia while he needs his smile repaired.

    tense → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Undead and Unwed

    MaryJanice Davidson2004

    After dying in a car crash, a fashion-obsessed woman wakes up as a vampire. She resists the local undead community's claim that she is their queen.

    tense → playful, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

tense → 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+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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → sardonic, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    tense → dreamlike

    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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → bleak

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Pet Sematary

    Stephen King1983

    A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2