Riot Recommendation

25 of Your Favorite Fantasy Books Set in the Real World

María Cristina García lives in New York with her favorite spouse, her favorite toddler, her favorite cat, and her second-favorite cat. When not ranking members of her household, she's catching up on Supergirl, strumming her mandolin, or trying to beat the clock on her library loans. Twitter: @MeowyCristina Blog: MeowyCristina.com

This giveaway asking you to recommend your favorite fantasy books set in the real world is sponsored by The City of Lost Fortunes by Bryan Camp.

The fate of New Orleans rests in the hands of a wayward grifter in this novel of gods, games, and monsters.

Jude has been lying low since the storm, which caused so many things to be lost that it played havoc with his magic, and he is hiding from his own power, his divine former employer, and a debt owed to the Fortune god of New Orleans. But his six-year retirement ends abruptly when the Fortune god is murdered and Jude is drawn back into the world he tried so desperately to leave behind. A world full of magic, monsters, and miracles. A world where he must find out who is responsible for the Fortune god’s death, uncover the plot that threatens the city’s soul, and discover what his talent for lost things has always been trying to show him: what it means to be his father’s son.


Far-off kingdoms are all well and good, but a fantasy novel set in the real world we know can really spark the imagination as we go about our daily lives. We asked you to tell us your pick for those books in exchange for a giveaway entry, and here are just some of your submissions:

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo

Skin by Kathe Koja

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Experimental Film by Gemma Files

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber

Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book One by Kevin Hearne