After
Polaris Rising
Jessie Mihalik2019
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing faster
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Born of Night
Sherrilyn Kenyon2009
An assassin in a space-faring empire falls for the woman who treats his wounds. He must protect her while evading the government that trained him.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Age of Deception
T.A. White
A woman with a hidden past as a soldier tries to survive on a frontier planet while avoiding detection by a powerful commander.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Professional: Part 1 (The Game Maker, #1a)
Kresley Cole
A Siberian enforcer tracks down a graduate student who is the secret daughter of a mob boss. He takes her into custody to protect her.
Same propulsive register, still forced proximity
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
An Accidental Goddess
Linnea Sinclair2005
A soldier wakes up 300 years in the future to find she is worshipped as a goddess. She must hide her identity from a suspicious admiral.
propulsive → warm, still space opera
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Burn for Me
Ilona Andrews2014
A private investigator with the ability to tell truth from lies is hired to find a fire-user. She is forced to work with a dangerous billionaire.
Same propulsive register, still forced proximity
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Middlemarch
George Eliot1800
Interconnected families in a 1830s English town navigate marriage, debt, and political change. The focus is on social realism and internal life.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
A middle-aged professor documents his obsession with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. He uses complex prose to justify his crimes.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert1856
A doctor's wife in provincial France seeks escape from her mundane life through expensive tastes and extramarital affairs.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Paradise Logic
Sophie Kemp2025
A young woman follows advice from a magazine to become a perfect partner. Her quest involves surreal jobs and messages from the beyond.
propulsive → epic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
Mad Mabel
Sally Hepworth2025
An eighty-one-year-old woman with a history of killing people tries to hide her past when a curious young girl moves into the neighborhood.
propulsive → dark
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak+2
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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak+3
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard1992
A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
SEAL the Deal
Cat Johnson2017
A Navy SEAL security specialist considers marriage while dealing with external threats. It follows a couple's evolving commitment.
propulsive → eerie, still space opera
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+1bleak+3
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë1846
Two families on the Yorkshire moors deal with the arrival and subsequent revenge of an adopted orphan. The story is told through nested narrators.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose0bleak+3
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway1929
An American ambulance driver and a British nurse conduct a love affair during the Italian campaign of World War I.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose0·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+1bleak+3
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
A country girl is sent to claim kinship with wealthy relatives. Her life is derailed by a sequence of social betrayals and rigid moral standards.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+1bleak+3
Brokeback Mountain
Annie Proulx1997
Two ranch hands begin a secret sexual and emotional relationship in 1963 Wyoming. The story follows their occasional meetings over twenty years.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3
