After
By Light Alone
Adam Roberts2011
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
The This
Adam Roberts2022
A series of interconnected narratives explore the rise of a hive-mind technology and its impact on human history and the future.
Same sardonic register, still dystopia
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
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Limbo
Bernard Wolfe1952
A brain surgeon returns to a post-nuclear society where citizens voluntarily undergo amputation to prevent aggression.
Same sardonic register, still dystopia
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
This Is the Way the World Ends
James Morrow1986
A man buys a suit to survive a nuclear war and is put on trial by the ghosts of people who will never be born. It is a satire of nuclear policy.
Same sardonic register
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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.
sardonic → elegiac, still philosophical sci-fi
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1 more ↓ ↑
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The Escapement
Tom Holt2007
A cynical engineer is forced into a brutal war involving clockwork technology and magic. The story concludes with a total lack of redemption.
Same sardonic register
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Denser prose
sardonic → dreamlike
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
City of Saints and Madmen
Jeff Vandermeer2001
A collection of stories, histories, and pamphlets about the city of Ambergris. It uses found documents to build a surreal urban history.
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
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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-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
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.
Same sardonic register
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
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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.
sardonic → meditative
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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.
sardonic → meditative
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To recover
sardonic → propulsive
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown2009
Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Walking Disaster
Jamie McGuire2013
This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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This Man
Jodi Ellen Malpas2013
An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.
sardonic → tense
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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.
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Real Murders
Charlaine Harris1990
A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.
sardonic → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
sardonic → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
sardonic → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
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The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
sardonic → playful
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Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
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.
sardonic → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
sardonic → meditative
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Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury1946
A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.
sardonic → elegiac
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For Us, the Living
Robert A. Heinlein2003
A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.
sardonic → earnest
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