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After

Alcestis

Katharine Beutner2010

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same elegiac register, still mythic fiction

1 more ↓

  • Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr

    John Crowley2017

    A crow named Dar Oakley lives through two thousand years of human history, moving between the world of the living and the realm of the dead.

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Ink

    Hal Duncan2007

    Gods and mortals clash in a shifting city where reality is written on skin. The story follows a cycle of mythic archetypes across time.

    elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

    Greer Gilman2009

    A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

    elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    elegiac → meditative, still historical fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

elegiac → playful

3 more ↓

  • Mile High

    Liz Tomforde2023

    A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Behind the Net

    Stephanie Archer2024

    A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • She Went All the Way

    Meg Cabot2002

    A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

elegiac → dreamlike, still mythic fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    elegiac → meditative, still historical fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Boneland

    Alan Garner2012

    An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

    Same elegiac register, still mythic fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The sad tale of the brothers Grossbart

    Jesse Bullington2009

    Two murderous brothers travel across 14th-century Europe to rob Egyptian tombs. They encounter monsters and religious zealots along the way.

    elegiac → sardonic, still historical fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Fifth Season

    N. K. Jemisin2015

    A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Pet Sematary

    Stephen King1983

    A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

    elegiac → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1