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This post is auto-generated from RSS feed BOOK RIOT. Source: Where the Extraordinary is Ordinary
Where the Extraordinary is Ordinary
⚓ Books 📅 2026-07-06 👤 surdeus 👁️ 2
The family matriarch is a clairvoyant. It’s been raining in a town for five years. A young woman’s emotions bleed into the food she prepares and make all her sister’s wedding guests hella horny. If no one bats an eye when any of this happens, you might be reading magical realism or fabulism.
Born in Latin America and popularized by authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende, magical realism is a literary movement where the extraordinary is ordinary. Aing with its close cousin, fabulism, it’s a tradition where the supernatural is mundane, and one I’m drawn to especially in times of struggle or conflict. Regardless of how light or heavy the subject matter, there’s something about the bending of reality in these books that makes anything feel possible. That potential feels like hope, and like there might be some magic to be found in unexpected places.
These seven books are new and recent works of magical realism and fabulism, from historical fantasy inspired by Taíno mythology to anticolonial speculative fiction. And if you’re participating in the 2026 Read Harder Challenge, all of these titles satisfy Task #7: Read a work of magical realism or fabulism.
Must-Read Magical Realism and Fabulism
 Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália RodrigoThis historical fantasy (with a gorgeous cover!) is set in a world inspired by Puerto Rico and Taíno mythology, incorporating Caribbean carnaval culture and magical realism. Isla Bestia is a mysterious island where the wealthy elite come to indulge in all manner of revelry. Sofía is a freedwoman from a nearby colonized island who’s there to find her missing twin brother. Her resolve is strong at first, but there’s something about this place that threatens to undo her. To find her twin and make it out of Isla Bestia alive, she’ll have to peel back the curtain and find out what really goes on in this seemingly magical place. |
 The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim FuI fell hard for Fu’s writing through their short fiction in Lesser-Known Monsters of the 21st Century, so I was delighted to learn that we’re getting a new novel from this award-winning author. I love a novel perched in the uncanny valley and this story about a woman unmoored by the death of her controlling mother, a woman who, ever-obedient, buys a house built on shadowy foundations with her inheritance, sounds right up my alley. Lesser-Known Monsters taught me that Fu is the writer to tell an immersive story grounded in earthly issues and haunted by ghosts. —Sharifah Williams |