Small favor

Greywalker

Kat Richardson2006

After being clinically dead for two minutes, a PI can see a supernatural realm. She navigates Seattle's paranormal underbelly to solve cases.

sardonic → tense, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Dæmonomania

John Crowley2000

In the third book of the Aegypt cycle, characters in the 1970s and the Renaissance navigate secret histories and alchemy. It is a slow study.

sardonic → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

sardonic → 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.

sardonic → playful

pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

Wicked Appetite

Janet Evanovich2010

A Salem pastry chef discovers she is a 'finder' and must help a mysterious man locate ancient stones representing the seven deadly sins.

sardonic → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom, and the Fight of Our Lives Inside the Trump White House

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

The former Press Secretary recounts her time in the Trump administration. She describes daily operations and her defense of the president's policies.

sardonic → earnest

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

When He's an Alpha

Suzanne Wright2021

A cat shifter and a wolf shifter navigate a fated bond while investigating a threat to their pack.

sardonic → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Touch the dark

Karen Chance2006

A clairvoyant woman is forced to work for a vampire senator to escape a mob boss. She navigates a supernatural underworld with high-speed action.

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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.

Same sardonic register, 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.

Same sardonic register, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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.

sardonic → 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.

sardonic → 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.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

sardonic → 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.

sardonic → 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.

sardonic → tense

pace0·prose0·bleak+2