Books › Among Others
Hugo Award for Best Novel 2012 · Nebula Award for Best Novel 2012
Among Others
483 pages
A quiet, fiercely intelligent love letter to the science fiction and fantasy books that save us when the real world becomes unbearable.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like discovering the secret diary of the smartest, loneliest girl in your high school and realizing she speaks your exact language. Unfolding at a leisurely, introspective pace, the narrative is steeped in a cozy yet haunted melancholy, balancing the mundane realities of boarding school with the ambiguous, quiet presence of magic. It is less about epic battles and more about the profound, life-saving comfort of paperbacks, libraries, and finding your own tribe. The prose is intimate, wry, and fiercely bookish, capturing the raw edges of grief and the slow, tentative steps toward healing. It will deeply resonate with anyone who ever used science fiction and fantasy as a shield against a difficult world.
- Mood
- melancholy
- cozy-yet-haunted
- quiet
- nostalgic
- Tone
- introspective
- wry
- earnest
- bookish
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- the saving power of literature · processing grief and trauma · finding chosen family · the ambiguity of magic · coming of age in isolation
- The writing
- Written as a teenager's diary, the prose is intimate, fiercely intelligent, and deeply conversational, peppered with sharp literary critiques.
- The arc
- The protagonist moves from isolated, grief-stricken survival to a cautious, hopeful embrace of community and the future.
- Who it's for
- Readers who grew up seeking refuge in science fiction and fantasy paperbacks and love quiet, character-driven stories about the magic of reading.
Content notes
- grief
- death of a sibling
- parental abuse
- chronic pain and physical disability
About the book
Seeking refuge in fantasy novel worlds throughout a youth under the shadow of a dubiously sane half-brother who dabbled in magic, Mori Phelps is forced to confront her mother in a tragic battle and gains unwanted attention when she attempts to perform spells herself.
Description from Open Library.
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