LitQueuelitqueue

After

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir2021

4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing faster

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Orbiter

    Warren Ellis2003

    A shuttle returns to Earth after ten years with a catatonic pilot and an empty crew. Three specialists investigate the ship's physical alterations.

    propulsive → earnest, still hard sci-fi

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → sardonic

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Gods Themselves

    Isaac Asimov1972

    A three-part story about the exchange of energy between Earth and a parallel universe. It follows a physicist, an alien triad, and lunar settlers.

    propulsive → clinical, still hard sci-fi

    pace-2·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Echopraxia

    Peter Watts2014

    A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.

    propulsive → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3

  • Beyond the Aquila Rift

    Alastair Reynolds2001

    A spaceship crew wakes from cold sleep to find they have overshot their destination by light-years. They must face the reality of their location.

    propulsive → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3

  • The Killing Star

    Charles R. Pellegrino1995

    Relativistic missiles destroy Earth without warning. The few human survivors in the solar system are hunted by an alien species using logic.

    propulsive → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+3