LitQueuelitqueue

After

Ruthless Fae

Caroline Peckham

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Black Jewels Trilogy (The Black Jewels, #1-3)

    Anne Bishop

    A young girl is the prophesied queen of a matriarchal magical society. Three powerful men protect and compete for her in a world of rigid castes.

    propulsive → bleak, still dark fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+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-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • About a Dragon

    G.A. Aiken2008

    A sardonic fantasy romance where a dragon shifter and a human woman are forced together. It features heavy banter and fated mate tropes.

    propulsive → sardonic, still fantasy romance

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Book of Hope

    Jane Goodall2021

    A dialogue-based book where Jane Goodall discusses her life's work and her reasons for remaining optimistic about the environment.

    propulsive → earnest

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • The Man Who Quit Money

    Mark Sundeen2012

    A biography of Daniel Suelo, who abandoned currency in 2000. It follows his daily life scavenging and living in caves in the Utah wilderness.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Hounded

    Kevin Hearne2011

    A two-thousand-year-old Druid lives in modern Arizona and runs an occult bookshop. He must fight a vengeful Irish god who wants his sword.

    propulsive → wry

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Ivanhoe

    Walter Scott1800

    A Saxon knight returns to 12th-century England to win back his inheritance and the woman he loves amidst Norman conflict.

    propulsive → epic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

    Django Wexler2023

    A woman stuck in a time loop decides to stop trying to save the kingdom and instead attempts to become its villain. She uses past lives to plan.

    propulsive → sardonic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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-2·prose+3·bleak0

  • 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-2·prose+3·bleak+2

  • 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-2·prose+3·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • 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-1·prose+2·bleak+2