LitQueuelitqueue

After

Storm Born

Richelle Mead2008

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • A Brush of Darkness

    Allison Pang2011

    Abby Sinclair is caught between a demonic debt and various supernatural factions in a city of elves and incubi. She must navigate a love triangle.

    sardonic → wry, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • In the Night Garden

    Catherynne M. Valente2006

    A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

sardonic → playful, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Bitten & Smitten

    Michelle Rowen2006

    Sarah is accidentally turned into a vampire and must rely on a grumpy, centuries-old vampire to teach her how to survive.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Here Be Sexist Vampires

    Suzanne Wright2013

    A female vampire enters a male-dominated pack and challenges their hierarchy while being pursued by their leader.

    Same sardonic register, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

sardonic → propulsive, still urban fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Burn for Me

    Ilona Andrews2014

    A private investigator with the ability to tell truth from lies is hired to find a fire-user. She is forced to work with a dangerous billionaire.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Ill Wind

    Rachel Caine2003

    A weather warden on the run from the law uses her ability to control storms to protect people from rogue elemental forces.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Battle Ground

    Jim Butcher2020

    A wizard leads the supernatural defense of Chicago against an invading army led by a Titan. The book is a single, continuous battle.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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