After
Cordelia's Honor
Lois McMaster Bujold1996
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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An Ancient Peace
Tanya Huff2015
A retired gunnery sergeant leads a team of specialists to recover ancient weapons from a tomb. They must prevent a galactic war.
earnest → wry, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Poison Study
Maria V. Snyder2005
A prisoner avoids execution by becoming a food taster for a commander. She is controlled by a daily poison that requires a daily antidote.
Same earnest register, still enemies to lovers
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Barrayar
Lois McMaster Bujold1991
A pregnant woman navigates a civil war and an assassination plot on a regressive military planet. She fights to protect her unborn son.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
On Basilisk Station
David Weber1993
A naval officer is exiled to a remote outpost with a single ship. She must manage a hostile crew and uncover a smuggling conspiracy.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Dorsai!
Gordon R. Dickson1960
Donal Graeme, a tactically gifted youth, rises through the ranks of a mercenary culture. He navigates interstellar conflicts to unify humanity.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
earnest → dreamlike
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In the Night Garden
Catherynne M. Valente2006
A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
The Claw of the Conciliator
Gene Wolfe1981
An exiled torturer travels with a gem that can heal the dead. The narrative uses archaic vocabulary and an unreliable perspective.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
earnest → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak-1
At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien1939
A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.
earnest → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
A Galaxy Unknown
Thomas DePrima2010
An ensign uses her tactical skills to rise through the ranks of a space navy while fighting pirates and internal bureaucracy.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Grunge
Larry Correia2016
A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.
earnest → sardonic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Uplift War
David Brin1987
A gorilla-like alien race invades the planet Garth. A small group of humans and uplifted chimpanzees lead a guerrilla resistance in the mountains.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
earnest → wry, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Star Nomad
Lindsay Buroker2016
A fighter pilot and a small crew of strangers attempt to escape a system-wide war in a freighter. It is a character-driven space adventure.
earnest → playful, still space opera
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Stainless Steel Rat
Harry Harrison1961
A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.
earnest → playful, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose0bleak0
A Plague of Demons
Keith Laumer1965
A secret agent investigates the disappearance of entire battalions. He discovers an alien invasion and has his brain transplanted into a giant tank.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Fortune's Pawn
Rachel Bach
A power-armored mercenary joins the crew of a suspicious cargo ship to earn enough money for her elite military dreams.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Killing of Worlds
Scott Westerfeld2003
Captain Laurent Zai fights a lone ship-to-ship battle against invaders while Senator Nara Oxham uncovers the Emperor's secrets.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Last Watch
J.S. Dewes2021
Exiled soldiers at the edge of the universe discover the vacuum of space is collapsing. They must repair the Divide with limited resources.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
earnest → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Unfinished Tales
J.R.R. Tolkien1980
A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Moonwise
Greer Gilman1991
Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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.
earnest → bleak
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- pace0prose0bleak+2
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.
earnest → tense
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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The Poppy War
R.F. Kuang2018
A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.
earnest → bleak
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Seth Dickinson2015
An accountant infiltrates the empire that conquered her home to destroy it from within. She uses economics and politics as her primary weapons.
earnest → cold
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Song of Kali
Dan Simmons1985
An American poet travels to Calcutta to find a manuscript by a dead writer. He encounters a cult that worships the goddess of destruction.
earnest → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
