Turn Coat

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·bleak-1

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

sardonic → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

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-2

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.

sardonic → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·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.

sardonic → propulsive, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Big bad beast

Shelly Laurenston2011

A wolf-shifter Marine investigates a hybrid fighting ring while dealing with her persistent boss. It is a paranormal romance set in an urban world.

sardonic → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Play Dead

David Rosenfelt2007

A defense attorney tries to prove a man's innocence by using a golden retriever as a witness to a five-year-old murder.

sardonic → wry

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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·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.

Same sardonic register, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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·bleak-1

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·bleak-1

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·bleak-1

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·bleak-1

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+1

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+1

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+1