Red Earth and Pouring Rain

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

Zoraida Córdova2021

A matriarch summons her family to her funeral to collect their magical inheritance. Years later, her descendants travel to Ecuador to find her origin.

Same dreamlike register, still magical realism

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.

Same dreamlike register, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Ink

Hal Duncan2007

Gods and mortals clash in a shifting city where reality is written on skin. The story follows a cycle of mythic archetypes across time.

Same dreamlike register

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Winter's Tale

Mark Helprin1983

A thief and a flying horse navigate a mythic version of New York City across a century. The prose focuses on the city's mechanics and magic.

Same dreamlike register, still magical realism

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Mile High

Liz Tomforde2023

A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Behind the Net

Stephanie Archer2024

A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

She Went All the Way

Meg Cabot2002

A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

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.

dreamlike → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·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.

Same dreamlike register, still historical fantasy

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.

Same dreamlike register, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Tehanu

Ursula K. Le Guin1990

A widow cares for an aging mage who has lost his magic. The story focuses on domestic life and the aftermath of past adventures.

dreamlike → meditative

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

Andrus Kivirähk2015

A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

dreamlike → elegiac, still historical fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

The sad tale of the brothers Grossbart

Jesse Bullington2009

Two murderous brothers travel across 14th-century Europe to rob Egyptian tombs. They encounter monsters and religious zealots along the way.

dreamlike → sardonic, still historical fantasy

pace+1·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.

dreamlike → bleak

pace+1·prose0·bleak+2