After
A Second Chance
Jodi Taylor2015
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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A Symphony of Echoes
Jodi Taylor2014
Historians travel through time to observe major events firsthand. In this installment, they visit Victorian London and the Mary Rose.
wry → playful, still historical fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Operation Bounce House
Matt Dinniman2026
A rancher and his friends defend their planet against corporate mercenaries who treat the extermination of colonists as a remote-controlled game.
wry → tense, still found family
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
The Empress of Mars
Kage Baker2008
A woman runs the only bar on a corporate-owned Mars colony. She manages her family and a diverse clientele while the planet is terraformed.
Same wry register, still found family
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Nettle & Bone
Ursula Vernon2022
A princess leaves her convent to kill an abusive prince. She completes three impossible tasks and gathers a group of unusual outcasts to help.
Same wry register, still found family
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
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The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Catherine Webb2014
Harry August is born, lives, and dies, only to be reborn in the same year with all his memories. He discovers a conspiracy to end the world.
Same wry register, still historical fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
Denser prose
wry → dreamlike
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
wry → sardonic
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- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
wry → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
wry → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
wry → earnest
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The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
wry → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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All Rhodes Lead Here
Mariana Zapata2021
A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.
wry → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
Hannah's List
Debbie Macomber2010
A widower receives a letter from his late wife suggesting three women he should date. He begins to interact with each woman over the following year.
wry → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
wry → warm
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Warbound
Larry Correia2013
In an alternate 1930s, people with magical abilities fight a war against a trans-dimensional threat. It is the final book in a trilogy.
wry → propulsive, still historical fantasy
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
Same wry register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
wry → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
Same wry register, still found family
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
wry → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
wry → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
wry → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Beelzebub's tales to his grandson
Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950
An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.
wry → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
Love & Sleep
John Crowley1994
Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.
wry → meditative, still historical fantasy
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
The Habitation of the Blessed
Catherynne M. Valente2010
A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.
wry → dreamlike, still historical fantasy
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
wry → cold
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
wry → bleak
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
wry → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
wry → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
wry → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
