Voksbarnet

Damiano

R. A. MacAvoy1984

A young lutenist and wizard navigates the Italian Renaissance with the help of the Archangel Raphael and a talking dog.

pace0·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.

elegiac → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Tourmaline

Paul Park2006

A girl from our world navigates a magical, alternate-history Europe where Romania is a superpower. The narrative is dense and non-linear.

elegiac → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

elegiac → meditative

pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

Love on the Brain

Ali Hazelwood2022

A neuroscientist must co-lead a NASA project with a man she believes has hated her since grad school.

elegiac → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Starter Villain

John Scalzi2023

A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

elegiac → wry

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

elegiac → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Mind's Eye

Douglas E. Richards2014

A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Atlantis Gene

A.G. Riddle2013

A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

Same elegiac register

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

Greer Gilman2009

A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

elegiac → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Among Others

Jo Walton2011

A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

elegiac → tender

pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Song of Kali

Dan Simmons1985

An American poet travels to Calcutta to find a manuscript by a dead writer. He encounters a cult that worships the goddess of destruction.

elegiac → bleak, still horror

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

The Damnation Game

Clive Barker1985

An ex-con becomes a bodyguard for a billionaire who made a deal with a supernatural gambler. The debt comes due through gore and resurrection.

elegiac → bleak, still horror

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

The Burning God

R.F. Kuang2020

A general leads a peasant army in a civil war across a fantasy version of China. She grapples with her sanity and the influence of a fire god.

elegiac → bleak, still historical fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1