LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Aeneid

Publius Vergilius Maro1990

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Soul of the Fire

    Terry Goodkind1999

    Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell must stop a magical plague released by an ancient spell. It is the fifth book in the Sword of Truth series.

    elegiac → earnest, still epic fantasy

    pace0·prose-2·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • This Girl

    Colleen Hoover2013

    A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

    elegiac → earnest

    pace0·prose-3·bleak-2

  • The Score

    Elle Kennedy2016

    A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

  • To Sir Phillip, With Love

    Julia Quinn2003

    Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.

    elegiac → warm

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • A Memory of Light

    Robert Jordan2013

    The final volume of a long-running series where various nations and magical users unite for a final battle against an ancient evil.

    elegiac → earnest, still epic fantasy

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • First lord's fury

    Jim Butcher2009

    The final book of the series follows Gaius Octavian as he leads a military defense against an insectoid hive mind. It concludes the war.

    elegiac → propulsive, still epic fantasy

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Candide

    Voltaire

    A naive young man travels the world while his tutor insists that everything is for the best. He encounters a series of global catastrophes.

    elegiac → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Umbrella

    Will Self2013

    A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.

    elegiac → clinical

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The English Patient

    Michael Ondaatje1992

    Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

    Same elegiac register

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Underground Railroad

    Colson Whitehead2016

    Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Oryx and Crake

    Margaret Atwood2003

    A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.

    elegiac → sardonic

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1

  • A Little Life

    Hanya Yanagihara2015

    Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1