The Books of Magic

Imajica

Clive Barker1991

A forger, a woman with hidden influence, and a gender-shifting assassin travel through five parallel worlds to reconcile Earth with the Imajica.

Same dreamlike register, still dark fantasy

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Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ray Bradbury1962

Two boys discover a traveling carnival that grants wishes at a terrible cost. They must find a way to stop the sinister showman.

Same dreamlike register, still dark fantasy

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From the Files of the Time Rangers

Richard Bowes2005

Greek gods manipulate human history through a mosaic of stories involving time-traveling agents and a future American president.

Same dreamlike register, still urban fantasy

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The Divine Invasion

Philip K. Dick1981

God returns to a futuristic Earth in the form of a young boy to reclaim the planet from a fallen angel. Reality shifts through layers of memory.

Same dreamlike register, still chosen one

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The Citadel of the Autarch

Gene Wolfe1983

Severian reaches the front lines of a war and fulfills his prophecy. The story concludes his journey through a dying, far-future Earth.

dreamlike → meditative, still chosen one

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Too Like the Lightning

Ada Palmer2016

In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.

dreamlike → sardonic

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Playing with Fire

Gena Showalter2006

A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

dreamlike → playful, still urban fantasy

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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.

dreamlike → earnest, still urban fantasy

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Skin Game

Jim Butcher2014

Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.

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Warbound

Larry Correia2013

In an alternate 1930s, people with magical abilities fight a war against a trans-dimensional threat. It is the final book in a trilogy.

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Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany1975

An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

Same dreamlike register

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Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino1972

Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.

dreamlike → meditative

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Black Easter

James Blish1968

An arms dealer hires a black magician to release all the demons of Hell onto Earth for one night. It is a technical look at ritual magic.

dreamlike → cold, still dark fantasy

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Perdido Street Station

China Miéville2000

A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.

dreamlike → bleak, still urban fantasy

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