The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Seventeen year-old Quentin Coldwater has always had a knack for card tricks and an almost perverse interest in a children’s fantasy book series, so it’s almost no surprise that when he heads off for his Princeton interview he ends up following a wayward slip of paper through a mysterious thicket that leads to an exclusive, and highly secretive, private school for burgeoning magicians instead. With humor, imagination and great characterizations Grossman has managed to create a coming-of-age story filled with wild adventure that takes a bite out of predictable fantasy.

Laura

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

For readers who loved The Time Traveler’s Wife but couldn’t find a connection with Niffenegger’s last two works, it’s time to rejoice! With her latest effort Niffenegger once again dips into the realm of extraordinary; this time involving ghosts instead of time travel. Her Fearful Symmetry brings us two sets of twins, the people who love them, and the lengths they’ll go to get what they want. When beautiful twins Julia and Valentina inherit their aunt’s London flat they get more than they expected upon arrival. It seems that their aunt (their mother’s twin) maybe be lingering on. Several other well-developed characters are impacted by the twins’ arrival. Her Fearful Symmetry is a modern gothic that is delightfully creepy.

Laura

Darling Jim by Christian Moerk

A charismatic, but possibly psychotic, traveling storyteller enchants the Irish countryside with his tale of a bewitched man/wolf. Three sisters and their aunt end up captivated in ways that come to no good. When a ne’er-do-well postman happens upon the diary of one of the sisters he becomes involved in unraveling the mystery of their involvement with Darling Jim. Deliciously creepy.

Laura

The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint

In The Mystery of Grace, fantasy writer Charles de Lint explores the afterlife as a confusing limbo for certain unfortunate individuals who are only allowed to “cross over” to the real world twice a year. When fully tattooed, auto restoration-loving Altagracia, “Grace,” crosses over and clicks with her obvious soul mate, John, she’s determined to find a way out of her captive existence.

Laura