Shelf of Worlds
A running list of fantasy recommendations for old souls, wanderers, witches, and anyone who feels the world tremble at its seams.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."
~ Lewis Carroll
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A curated scroll of fantasy books for old souls, wanderers, witches, dreamwalkers,
and anyone who suspects there are more worlds than the one we stand on.These books are linked through Bookshop.org. If you purchase through those links, I receive a small 10% commission — at no extra cost to you. Part of the sale goes directly to supporting independent bookstores across the country. It's a quiet win-win for readers, dreamers, and local shops keeping the literary world alive.
Filter by mood below — the same three Houses you know: Hearth for warmth, Ruin for shadows, Whimsy for strangeness.
Fairy Tale — Stephen King
Ruin Whimsy
A boy steps through a shed door into a ruined kingdom that feels both cursed and familiar. It’s a story about choosing who you’ll be when the world you enter is already broken—and whether you can carry light into a place that’s forgotten it.
Piranesi — Susanna Clarke
Whimsy
ruin
A quiet man tends to an infinite House of tides and statues, believing it loves him back. It’s gentle, sacred, and unsettling in the way truth is unsettling—like remembering a dream you lived in too long.
Spinning Silver — Naomi Novik
hearth
ruin
Three women wrestle with hunger, cold, pride, and the kind of magic that demands payment. It’s a story about claiming your own worth when the world has priced you low—and how power grows in unlikely hands.
The Scholomance Trilogy — Naomi Novik
Ruin
A girl with too much power and too little trust tries to survive a school that eats the weak. Brutal, funny, and sharp—it’s about choosing kindness in a place built to punish it.
Chaos Walking Trilogy — Patrick Ness
Ruin
A boy whose every thought spills into the air meets a girl who carries real silence. What follows is raw and human and terrifying—a story about becoming yourself in a world that has already decided what you are.
Tress of the Emerald Sea — Brandon Sanderson
hearth
whimsy
A soft-hearted girl crosses a deadly sea because love nudges her forward. It’s sweet, imaginative, and quietly brave—the kind of tale that reminds you heroism often looks like hope refusing to die.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter — Brandon Sanderson
Hearth
whimsy
Two exhausted artists tethered by magic and circumstance learn how to carry each other’s burdens. Tender, strange, and full of gentle wonder—like finding color in a place that thought itself gray.
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England — Brandon Sanderson
whimsy
A man with no memory stumbles into medieval chaos with only a glitching handbook to guide him. Chaotic, clever, and self-aware—perfect for when you want something weird that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
1984— George Orwell
ruin
A bleak look at what happens when power rewrites truth itself. Cold, relentless, and important—because it shows how easily a person can disappear while still standing in plain sight.
Circe — Madeline Miller
Ruin
Hearth
A witch tells her own story for once. It’s about exile, transformation, and carving out a life from the scraps the gods leave behind. Fierce and tender in equal measure.
The Song of Achilles — Madeline Miller
ruin
A love story that feels both ancient and painfully familiar. Soft at first, then devastating—about devotion, destiny, and the ache of loving someone the world was already planning to break.
Under the Whispering Door — TJ Klune
hearth
A man dies, finds a tea shop on the edge of the afterlife, and learns—slowly, stubbornly—how to be a better person than he ever managed while living. Gentle, queer, and healing.
The House in the Cerulean Sea — TJ Klune
Hearth
A strict caseworker visits a home full of magical children and discovers belonging where he least expected it. Cozy, colorful, and full of found-family magic.
Demon Copperhead — Barbara Kingsolver
Ruin
A boy grows up in the shadow of poverty and addiction, scraping together a life that keeps trying to fall apart. It’s raw, cruel, and stubbornly full of heart—an Appalachian saga that refuses to look away.
Starling House — Alix E. Harrow
Ruin
A girl with nothing to lose is drawn to a house that knows her better than she knows herself. Southern gothic, gritty, and full of teeth—about inheritance, longing, and places that claim you back.
The Hazel Wood — Melissa Albert
Whimsy
Ruin
A girl whose family is cursed by stories learns those stories want her home. Dark, literary, and edged with fairytale menace—the kind of book that reminds you magic has claws.
The Book of Lost Things — John Connolly
ruin
whimsy
A boy grieving his mother slips into a world where stories twist, sharpen, and take on teeth. Dark, fairytale-haunted, and aching with the things we lose on the way to growing up.
In the Lives of Puppets — TJ Klune
Hearth
whimsy
A found family of odd machines sets out to save the human they love. Soft, strange, queer, and full of that unmistakable Klune warmth — a reminder that even metal hearts can glow.
Ready Player One — Ernest Cline
whimsy
ruin
A neon-bright treasure hunt through a collapsing future, stitched together with nostalgia, game lore, and stubborn hope. A fast, immersive story about escape — and the cost of living outside yourself too long.
The Unmaking of June Farrow — Adrienne Young
Hearth
Ruin
Whimsy
A woman haunted by visions walks through the cracks in time to uncover her lineage. Atmospheric, romantic, and beautifully tangled — a story about inheritance, second chances, and the magic of choosing yourself.
Howl’s Moving Castle Trilogy — Diana Wynne Jones
whimsy
hearth
A chaotic wizard, a stubborn girl under a curse, and a castle that refuses to stay still. Charming, sharp, and full of sideways magic — the trilogy feels like being welcomed into a very strange, very lovable household.
Vicious — V. E. Schwab
ruin
A quiet man tends to an infinite House of tides and statues, believing it loves him back. It’s gentle, sacred, and unsettling in the way truth is unsettling—like remembering a dream you lived in too long.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess — Sue Lynn Tan
whimsy
Hearth
Inspired by Chinese legend, this is a luminous story of magic, devotion, and destiny. Beautiful, romantic, and full of celestial wonder — a true myth-lover’s feast.
The Night Circus — Erin Morgenstern
Whimsy
Hearth
Ruin
A black-and-white circus that appears without warning and a rivalry that becomes a love story. Lush, atmospheric, and impossibly enchanting — a world that feels like stepping into a dream.
⊹ More worlds will be shelved soon.⊹