LitQueuelitqueue

After

Rejected

Jaymin Eve2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still paranormal romance

1 more ↓

  • Desire Unchained

    Larissa Ione2009

    A demon-slayer is forced to work with a captive male she is supposed to hate. They are bound by a physical curse that requires proximity.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Face the Fire

    Nora Roberts2002

    A witch on a magical island must work with the man who broke her heart to stop a centuries-old curse. It is the final book in a trilogy.

    tense → warm, still paranormal romance

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Goddess of Light

    P.C. Cast2005

    The goddess Artemis sends her brother Apollo to modern-day Las Vegas to woo a mortal woman. The two must navigate their different worlds.

    tense → playful, still paranormal romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • No Rest for the Wicked

    Kresley Cole2006

    A suicidal vampire soldier regains his senses when he meets the Valkyrie assassin sent to kill him.

    tense → propulsive, still paranormal romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Mist

    Stephen King1980

    A group of townspeople is trapped in a grocery store by a thick mist containing lethal monsters while social order collapses inside.

    Same tense register

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Changes

    Jim Butcher2010

    A wizard discovers he has a daughter who has been kidnapped by vampires. He must race against time and sacrifice his principles to save her.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Promise of Blood

    Brian McClellan2013

    A Field Marshal stages a bloody coup against his king and must defend the new government using soldiers who gain magic powers from gunpowder.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → bleak

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+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.

    tense → cold

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+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.

    tense → bleak

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2