The brief and frightening reign of Phil (2005)

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

2020 · 276 pages · 33 reviews

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known. For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth full of startling images of surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds. This description comes from the publisher.

Amnesia Moon

Jonathan Lethem

1995 · 247 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

A road trip through a post-apocalyptic America where the dreams of some can change reality, the pecking order is according to how lucky you are, and dog meat has become gourmet food. The protagonist, a youth named Chaos, makes the trip with a fur-covered girlfriend to find their past which they cannot remember.

Elric of Melniboné

Michael Moorcock

1972 · 192 pages · 5 reviews

Others: Mostly positive

Elric of Melniboné is a 1972 fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock. It is the first original full-length novel to feature Elric, the last emperor of the stagnating island civilisation of Melniboné who wields the cursed, soul-drinking sword Stormbringer.

Fancies and goodnights

John Collier

1965 · 328 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

Mrs Caliban

Rachel Ingalls

1982 · 125 pages · 2 reviews

Others: Mixed

In the quiet suburbs, while Dorothy is doing chores and waiting for her husband to come home from work, not in the least anticipating romance, she hears a strange radio announcement about a monster who has just escaped from the Institute for Oceanographic Research... Reviewers have compared Rachel Ingalls's Mrs. Caliban to King Kong, Edgar Allan Poe's stories, the films of David Lynch, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, E.T., Richard Yates's domestic realism, B-horror movies, and the fairy tales of Angela Carter--how such a short novel could contain all of these disparate elements is a testament to its startling and singular charm.

The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

2015 · 498 pages · 55 reviews

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

A SEASON OF ENDINGS HAS BEGUN. IT STARTS WITH THE GREAT RED RIFT across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. IT STARTS WITH DEATH, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. IT STARTS WITH BETRAYAL and long-dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy. This description comes from the publisher.