The Book of Doors

Frostbitten

Kelley Armstrong2009

A female werewolf and her partner travel to Alaska to investigate a series of brutal murders that threaten to expose their kind to the world.

Same propulsive register, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Little, Big

John Crowley1981

A man marries into a family living in a massive house where the borders of the natural world blur. It follows several generations over a century.

propulsive → dreamlike, still contemporary fantasy

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

propulsive → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

propulsive → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Electric Idol

Katee Robert2022

In a modern-day Olympus, Eros is ordered to kill Psyche but chooses to enter a fake marriage with her to protect her from his mother.

propulsive → playful, still urban fantasy

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

propulsive → earnest

pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Score

Elle Kennedy2016

A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

propulsive → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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

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.

propulsive → sardonic, still urban fantasy

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

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.

propulsive → sardonic, still urban fantasy

pace+1·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.

propulsive → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Tam Lin

Pamela Dean1991

A college student in the 1970s joins a group of classics majors and discovers their theater troupe is tied to a faerie blood sacrifice.

propulsive → meditative, still contemporary fantasy

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Unfinished Tales

J.R.R. Tolkien1980

A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

propulsive → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

propulsive → 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.

propulsive → 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.

propulsive → tense

pace0·prose0·bleak+2