From orcs to elves to dragons, non-human beings in fantasy books often fall into two camps. Some are presented as basically human, if often exoticized. The rest are generally presented as bestial: They may or may not be able to speak, but at their core they’re not too different from beasts of burden. Regardless of the archetype, their thoughts, feelings and cultures (when they have any at all) are described in relation to a human or human-like surrogate. Both Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner and The Deep by Rivers Solomon (with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes) buck this tradition, creating non-human characters that are defined not by their relationship to humans but in the context of their own societies.

In her debut novel Unnatural Magic, C.M. Waggoner spins a coming-of-age tale of love, friendship and murder that is both universal and completely new. Unnatural Magic’s first strand of story is that of Tsira, a half-troll whose heritage has made it difficult to fit in among her home clan. When confronted with first a half-dead solider and then with an attempt on her own life, Tsira is forced from her solitary existence. The book’s second strand is that of Onna, a girl with a prodigious gift for magic and the guts to blaze her own academic path when she’s denied a higher magical education due to her sex. But as she embarks on her new scholarly adventure, Onna quickly becomes pulled into a hunt for a troll murderer—and unknowingly sets out on a crash course towards Tsira. Equal parts romance, bildungsroman and murder mystery, Unnatural Magic can’t decide on a genre archetype, and that’s a good thing. The resulting amalgamation is delightfully unpredictable.

Rivers Solomon’s The Deep, in contrast, is a story of pain and new beginnings. Holding the collective memories of an entire race of people isn’t easy. It is even less easy if your underwater-dwelling people are descended from the children of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by their captors and left to drown. Yetu’s duty is to remember the pain of her ancestors so that the rest of her people can live in the moment, free from the trauma of the past. She is freed from the memories only during an annual ceremony in which Yetu shares the history with her people. Overwhelmed at the prospect of taking back the memories of her ancestors, Yetu flees to the surface in the middle of one of these Tellings. On the surface, she will learn not just of the world her people left behind, but also of her people’s future. Philosophical and atmospheric, The Deep is not just a story of trauma. It is a story that looks carefully at the individual’s place in society and explores what it means to collectively heal and to move forward by accepting, but not forgetting, the past.

Unnatural Magic and The Deep are as different in tone, writing style and subject matter as two fantasy books can be. But what the two share is a deep sense of empathy. As readers, we are not meant to identify with either Yetu or Tsira as though they were human. Instead, both Solomon and Waggoner ask us to imagine beings different from ourselves and then to meet them without trying to force them into human-shaped boxes in our minds. The results are as challenging as they are enjoyable, and any reader willing to try something different will be rewarded handsomely for the effort.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go Behind the Book with C.M. Waggoner.

The two novels featured here represent speculative fiction escapism at its best—a gentle, magical love story and a story as refreshingly strange as it is affecting.

The House in the Cerulean Sea is the story of a rather round man named Linus Baker. Linus is used to rain and dour prospects. As a case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, he must perpetually deal with the inanity of a 1984-esque bureaucracy that decides the fate of orphanages for magical youth. But Linus’ bubble of depressed rule-following is popped when he is sent to investigate an island orphanage with potentially volatile charges and an eccentric orphanage master.

The book is also the story of a man named Arthur Parnassus. Arthur—the master of the orphanage in question—is a man whose trousers are perpetually too short but whose kindness and love for his charges is endless. As Linus goes deeper into his inquiry, both men begin to understand exactly what was missing in their lives.

The House in the Cerulean Sea is the book that I never knew I needed, but now that I have it, I could never bear to live without it. In its pages, TJ Klune shows us the worst bureaucracies and mundane cruelties of a fictionalized version of our own world. But he also shows us what we could be. Marsyas Island, with its enthusiastic magical children and eccentric caretaker, wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”—if Mr. Rogers tried to teach Lucifer moral philosophy, that is.

Simultaneously fluffy and heart-rending, The House in the Cerulean Sea is the perfect pick-me-up for anyone stuck inside or wishing for a peaceful day by the sea.

Where Klune’s work shows us a lighter world, Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink’s latest installment in the world of Night Vale shows us a stranger one. Set in a slightly off-kilter world where dog parks can be gateways to other dimensions and where a Vague, Yet Menacing, Government Agency hovers in helicopters overhead, much of The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home is remarkably normal historical fiction. The Faceless Old Woman tells us her story in a series of flashbacks, recounting first an idyllic childhood on the Mediterranean and then a life of crime and revenge after the tragic murder of her father. The story culminates with her death and travel to the town of Night Vale, where today she secretly lives in everyone’s homes.

Between chapters telling of swashbuckling adventures, the Faceless Old Woman talks to one of her hosts, a man named Craig. And while those talks feel like just another of the woman’s monologues made famous in the “Night Vale” podcast, they are anything but. As the story progresses, we learn that the Old Woman’s past and present are—unfortunately, horrifyingly—linked.

For readers unfamiliar with the Night Vale universe, never fear. While there are callbacks for readers in the know, the book requires no knowledge of the podcast in order to enjoy. (That said, you may find yourself reaching for a pair of headphones as soon as the book is over.) For fans of the podcast and the other Night Vale novels, The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home likely feels long overdue. Equal parts running joke and legitimate character, the Faceless Old Woman’s history has been rarely alluded to, but here she—and her world—comes alive, tempting readers with sweet oranges, the smell of the sea and the bitter taste of betrayal. Although we know the Old Woman’s fate, we also know that something remarkable must have happened along the way.

Find vividly drawn characters and worlds to get lost in with this trio of science fiction and fantasy reads.

★ Repo Virtual

Corey J. White’s fast-paced caper Repo Virtual had me hooked from the first page. Julius Dax, a part-time gamer and more-than-part-time thief, is hired by a messianic CEO to steal back a prize from a rival company. When JD and his friends find out what the company has stolen, they’re left with a choice: return a sentient artificial intelligence program to scheming corporate hands or find a way to save it. White creates a rich, grimy and charming cyberpunk world, and the action is snappy and never superfluous. The AI program has a real voice in the story, and that voice evolves as it learns what it means to be a person. Repo Virtual sets itself apart with its gleeful heart and underdog charm.

The Girl and the Stars

Summer might be on our doorstep, but Mark Lawrence lets the ice back in with his wondrous and chilling The Girl and the Stars, the first in his new Book of the Ice series. In a cold, dark world, children deemed too weak to survive are thrown into a deep, mysterious pit, never to be seen again. When Yaz sees her brother thrown into the pit, she goes in after him and discovers an entire world below the ice, along with answers to questions about herself she never knew to ask. Yaz is a worthy and tenacious heroine, wrestling constantly with her self-identity. Readers looking for an utterly fresh fantasy world would do well to give this one a try.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Alina Boyden shares why the zahhaks are a sort of “anti-dragon.”

Stealing Thunder

In the desert city of Bikampur, not everything is as it seems, and Razia, the stylish and capable protagonist of Alina Boyden’s Stealing Thunder, has secrets of her own. A dancer by day and a thief by night, Razia is living a contented new life after running from her past and transitioning from male to female. When she meets Arjun, the prince of Bikampur, at a lavish party, she finds herself on a collision course with the past she’s been trying to outrun for so long. Razia’s layers of complexity and Boyden’s ability to deliver a sharp internal narrative bring  gravity to each scene. There’s very little backstory or detail that isn’t necessary to the action, which makes everything feel trim and neat throughout. The Mughal India-inspired Bikampur is full of thrilling fantasy creations, such as the dangerous zahhaks (think of a dragon, but with various magical flavors). Come for the vivid world, stay for the intrigue, the dialogue and the top-notch character design.

Chris Pickens is a Nashville-based fantasy and sci-fi superfan who loves channeling his enthusiasm into reviews of the best new books the genre has to offer.