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After

Only Begotten Daughter

James Morrow1990

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Fourth Bear (Nursery Crime, #2)

    Jasper Fforde2006

    Detective Jack Spratt investigates the disappearance of a journalist last seen at the home of the Three Bears. It is a nursery rhyme satire.

    sardonic → playful, still satire

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • Dæmonomania

    John Crowley2000

    In the third book of the Aegypt cycle, characters in the 1970s and the Renaissance navigate secret histories and alchemy. It is a slow study.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • In search of serenity

    Pamela Griffin2010

    In 1939, an aspiring novelist meets a stranger who offers to repair her family home. His presence reveals secrets that upset her father.

    sardonic → earnest

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • A daughter for Christmas

    Margaret Daley2010

    A doctor moves to a small town to find the daughter he never knew. He befriends her adoptive mother while hiding his true identity.

    sardonic → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Carpe Jugulum

    Terry Pratchett1998

    A family of modern, sophisticated vampires attempts to take over a kingdom. Three local witches must find a way to stop them.

    sardonic → wry, still satire

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • Tehanu

    Ursula K. Le Guin1990

    A widow cares for an aging mage who has lost his magic. The story focuses on domestic life and the aftermath of past adventures.

    sardonic → meditative, still fantasy

    pace-2·prose0·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

Same sardonic register, still satire

3 more ↓

  • The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft

    Thomas M. Disch1999

    A substitute teacher discovers she has the power of witchcraft. She uses her abilities to manipulate her small town as her sanity deteriorates.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • 13 Dreams to Kill Cthulhu

    Raasiq Shaikh2026

    sardonic → tense, still fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak+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.

    sardonic → bleak

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2