System of a Town: Intriguing SFF Books with Mythical and Mysterious Towns

Shara Thivani is a spy sent to the city of Bulikov as a junior diplomat, to secretly search for a murderer. Bulikov was built by the gods and was once the most powerful place on the Continent, until the people rose up and ended it. And as Shara tries to hunt for a killer without anyone catching on, the presence of the ancient gods and their ways still permeates everything.

This is an amazing, award-winning fantasy YA novel! Elatsoe is a Lipan Apache teen growing up in a town called Willowbee in an alternate America, who has the ability to raise the spirits of dead animals. When her cousin dies in an accident, it is Elatsoe who is visited by his ghost, who tells her that it was no accident. But proving he was murdered will be hard in a town that gives off creepy and sinister vibes, with unfriendly citizens who conspire to keep Willowbee’s secrets.

This fun middle grade puzzle fantasy is also set in an alternate United States, in a New York City built by mysterious twins. The Morningstarr twinscame to NYC in the 1700s, constructing buildings and transportation systems that had never been seen before. Five decades later, they disappeared, but not before sharing that the city itself was a cipher, and whoever figures out the puzzle will find a whole lot of treasure. Centuries later, few of the Morningstarr buildings still exist and their puzzle is still unsolved, but one young boy is determined to find the answer—and the treasure—to save his apartment building from being torn down.

And in this fantasy steeped in Scottish folklore, the existence of a thriving settlement comes at a price. The citizens of Mistaken have led prosperous existences, benefiting from the lumber of the forest that surrounds the settlement. The forest is filled with all kinds of frightening creatures, but thanks to a deal Mistaken’s founders made, they stay out of Mistaken. Unfortunately, the other side is that anyone who is in Mistaken can never get out. And when Greer’s love disappears beyond the borders of Mistaken, she goes after him and learns the truth of their home.

While driving in his hometown of Muddy Gap, Wyoming, pie enthusiast and blogger Denver Bryant sees what appears to be a UFO explode in the sky. But when he asks around, no one else knows what he’s talking about, or even believes him. Then the citizens start to act strangely and weird things fall from the sky. Soon, Denver discovers that he can’t leave Muddy Gap, as reality begins to warp. With the help of a handsome bartender, Denver attempts to find the source of the trouble before the town, and existence as he knows it, is gone forever.

Last, but not least, this exciting epic fantasy is full of gods and magic! After a war with the gods destroyed much of the world, the survivors struck a deal with one of the gods. In exchange for having the world returned to how it was before the war, the humans would serve the god Kluehnn for eternity. However, Kluehnn is a trickster, and the humans are changed. But one young woman refuses to submit to Kluehnn, and desperate to save herself and her sister, she begins to harness the magic of the powerful gems that the humans must mine for Kluehnn, determined to use the unusual resources of their magical land to stop him.