Recommendations based on Alif the Unseenby G. Willow Wilson

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Golem and the Jinni

    by Helene Wecker
    Two supernatural creatures from different mythologies, living in New York City, find companionship and friendship in each other.

    In the Polish town of Konin at the end of the 19th century, a corrupt kabbalist named Yehudah Schaalman creates a golem in the shape of a woman at the request of young Otto Rotfeld, who seeks a ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Redshirts

    by John Scalzi
    A group of space explorers uncover an unlikely conspiracy while on a mission to an alien planet.

    In the prologue, several senior officers of the Intrepid , flagship of the Universal Union, lament the unusually high number of casualties of low-ranking crew members during recent away missions and ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Neverwhere

    by Neil Gaiman
    A mysterious journey through a hidden realm of London, filled with danger and unexpected allies.

    Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew and his trials and tribulations in London. At the start of the story, he is a young businessman, recently moved from Scotland and with a normal life ahead. ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

    by Catherynne M. Valente
    A young girl embarks on an adventure across a magical land, learning lessons about the power of stories.

    Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind ... (Goodreads)

  5. Hild

    by Nicola Griffith
    A young girl's rise from obscurity to power, as she navigates a medieval world of danger and intrigue.

    Hild is born into a world in transition. In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, usually violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods’ priests are worrying. Edwin of ... (Goodreads)

  6. Americanah

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    An exploration of race, identity, and belonging as two Nigerian immigrants experience life in America and beyond.

    Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to ... (Goodreads)

  7. Uprooted

    by Naomi Novik
    A young woman's battle to save her home from a magical force, while uncovering secrets of her past.

    “Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human ... (Goodreads)

  8. Bring Up the Bodies

    by Hilary Mantel
    A gripping historical drama recounting the downfall of Anne Boleyn during the reign of Henry VIII.

    Bring Up the Bodies follows closely upon the events of Wolf Hall . The King and Cromwell —now Master Secretary to the King's Privy Council—are guests of the Seymour family at Wolf Hall. The King ... (Wikipedia)

  9. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

    by Karen Joy Fowler
    A family's secrets and a girl's quest for the truth about her own identity.

    The, New York Times, bestselling author of, The Jane Austen Book Club, introduces a middle-class American family that is ordinary in every way but one in this novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award ... (Barnes & Noble)

  10. Wool Omnibus

    by Hugh Howey
    Uncovering the truth behind a post-apocalyptic world, where society is hidden beneath a giant dome.

    The story of Wool takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth. , Humanity clings to survival in the Silo, a subterranean city extending one hundred forty-four stories beneath the surface. The series ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Art of Fielding

    by Chad Harbach
    A college baseball team's success and failures are intertwined with the lives of five individuals.

    Henry Skrimshander begins the novel as a 17-year-old playing on a Legion baseball team in Lankton, South Dakota. Although physically short and not muscular, Henry has an unusual gift for fielding, ... (Wikipedia)

  12. King of Thorns

    by Mark Lawrence
    A dark fantasy story of a teenage prince's quest for revenge and power.

    The second book in the Broken Empire series, Lawrence takes his young anti-hero one step closer to his grand ambition. To reach greatness you must step on bodies, and many brothers lie trodden in my ... (Goodreads)

  13. Dodger

    by Terry Pratchett
    A street urchin's journey of survival, maturation, and self-discovery through the labyrinthine streets of Victorian London.

    One night on the streets of London, a battered young woman leaps from a carriage , followed and assaulted by two men. The protagonist Dodger, a street urchin and tosher , emerging from a sewer drain, ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Kraken

    by China Miéville
    A giant squid goes missing from the Natural History Museum, leading a curator on a surreal journey through London's underground to find it.

    An inexplicable event has occurred at the Natural History Museum, London —a forty-foot specimen of giant squid in formalin has disappeared overnight. Additionally, a murder victim is found folded ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

    by Robin Sloan
    A young man's exploration of an unusual bookstore, unlocking a world of secrets.

    The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, but after a few days on the job, Clay ... (Goodreads)

  16. Howl’s Moving Castle

    by Diana Wynne Jones
    A young woman embarks on an adventure to break a curse and reclaim her identity in a magical world.

    18-year-old Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three sisters living in Market Chipping, a town in the magical kingdom of Ingary, where fairytale tropes are accepted ways of life, including that the ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    by Susanna Clarke
    A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.

    The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Rook

    by Daniel O'Malley
    A woman wakes up with no memory, but with supernatural powers and a letter from her past self. She must navigate a secret organization to uncover the truth.

    The book follows a young woman in her thirties who wakes up in a park surrounded by bodies wearing latex gloves. She's unable to remember anything about herself or how she or the bodies got there, ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Embassytown

    by China Miéville
    Exploring a distant alien city and unraveling its mysteries.

    Embassytown takes place mostly in the city of the title, on the planet Arieka. Embassytown exists on the very edge of the "Manchmal" (from the German for "sometimes"), which is suspected to be the ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Shepherd's Crown

    by Terry Pratchett
    An epic fantasy adventure filled with humor and wit, featuring a young witch's journey to save her home.

    Tiffany Aching is busy running her steading and taking care of the people of the Chalk. Jeannie, the Kelda of the Nac Mac Feegle , is worried that she's overworked. When Granny Weatherwax , Tiffany's ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Stone Sky

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A climactic finale to a trilogy, featuring a powerful woman's journey to save her world from destruction.

    Following the events of, The Obelisk Gate, , the former inhabitants of Castrima-under are moving north after damage by rival comm Rennanis has compromised the mechanisms of the geode and made it ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Vicious

    by V.E. Schwab
    Two former friends, locked in a cycle of revenge, use their superpowers to manipulate and destroy each other.

    Victor and Eli begin as college roommates and discover that near-death experiences, under the right conditions, can create superhuman abilities. When Victor tries to create his abilities, things go ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Habibi

    by Craig Thompson
    A love story between a young man and woman within the context of Middle Eastern culture.

    From the internationally acclaimed author of, Blankets , a highly anticipated new graphic novel. Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, Habibi tells the ... (Goodreads)

  24. I Shall Wear Midnight

    by Terry Pratchett
    A young witch must battle a malicious presence threatening her beloved land.

    Tiffany is working as the Chalk 's only witch in a climate of growing suspicion and prejudice. When the local Baron (for whom she had been caring) dies of poor health, she is accused of murder. ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Secret History

    by Donna Tartt
    A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.

    Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

    by N.K. Jemisin
    Yeine Darr is summoned to the city of Sky, where she must compete for the throne against two powerful cousins.

    Yeine Darr was born to Kinneth Arameri, who was heir to the Arameri throne but abdicated twenty years before the start of the story to marry Yeine's father, a Darre man. Kinneth was disowned by ... (Wikipedia)

  27. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

    by Karen Russell
    Magical realism tale of young girls raised by wolves, learning to become human in a strange new world.

    In these ten glittering short stories, debut author Karen Russell takes us to the ghostly and magical swamps of the Florida Everglades. Here, wolf-like girls are reformed by nuns; a family makes its ... (Goodreads)

  28. The Kingdom of Gods

    by N.K. Jemisin
    Epic fantasy saga of gods, goddesses, and mortals struggling to survive and understand a mysterious power.

    The Kingdom of Gods takes place about 100 years after the events of, The Broken Kingdoms, and centers around the godling Sieh. The god of childhood and mischief, he is suddenly transformed into a ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Norse Mythology

    by Neil Gaiman
    Epic tales of the gods and goddesses of Norse mythology, set in a world of giants, dwarfs, and monsters.

    “Remarkable.… Gaiman has provided an enchanting contemporary interpretation of the Viking ethos.”—Lisa L. Hannett, Atlantic Neil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. The Dispossessed

    by Ursula K. Le Guin
    A sci-fi exploration of utopian and dystopian societies, and the struggle for a better world.

    Librarian note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN, 9780061054884,. Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the ... (Goodreads)