Wolf Hunting (Wolf)

The magician's apprentice

Trudi Canavan2009

A healer's daughter discovers her magical abilities while defending herself. She becomes an apprentice to a local lord during a time of looming war.

pace0·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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

The Silmarillion

J. R. R. Tolkien1977

A history of the First Age of Middle-earth, from the creation of the world to the fall of the Elven kingdoms. It is written as a mythic chronicle.

earnest → elegiac, still high fantasy

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

My Roommate Is a Vampire

Jenna Levine2023

An artist moves in with a man who sleeps all day and speaks in an archaic style. She eventually discovers he is a vampire from the 1800s.

earnest → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

It Happened One Summer

Tessa Bailey2021

A socialite is sent to a small fishing town to run a dive bar. She enters a relationship with a local sea captain who doubts her competence.

earnest → playful

pace+1·prose-2·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.

earnest → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

The Stainless Steel Rat

Harry Harrison1961

A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.

earnest → playful

pace+2·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.

earnest → 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.

earnest → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

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.

earnest → elegiac

pace-1·prose+1·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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+1·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.

earnest → dreamlike

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

earnest → tense

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

The Poppy War

R.F. Kuang2018

A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.

earnest → bleak

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Seth Dickinson2015

An accountant infiltrates the empire that conquered her home to destroy it from within. She uses economics and politics as her primary weapons.

earnest → cold

pace+1·prose0·bleak+2