LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Drawing of the Dark

Tim Powers1979

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

    V. E. Schwab2020

    A woman makes a deal for immortality but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. She lives for 300 years until a man remembers her.

    wry → elegiac, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

wry → meditative, still historical fantasy

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.

    wry → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Vellum

    Hal Duncan2005

    Humans transformed into angels and demons fight across a multiverse for a book that controls reality. The narrative jumps through time and myth.

    wry → dreamlike, still reincarnation

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    wry → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Faster

wry → propulsive, still historical fantasy

3 more ↓

  • Touch the dark

    Karen Chance2006

    A clairvoyant woman is forced to work for a vampire senator to escape a mob boss. She navigates a supernatural underworld with high-speed action.

    wry → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Battle Ground

    Jim Butcher2020

    A wizard leads the supernatural defense of Chicago against an invading army led by a Titan. The book is a single, continuous battle.

    wry → propulsive, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Blood Engines

    Tim Pratt2007

    A sorceress who uses blood magic to power her spells defends her city from a rival. She makes ruthless choices to maintain her power.

    wry → sardonic, still urban fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Boneland

    Alan Garner2012

    An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

    wry → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

    Greer Gilman2009

    A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

    wry → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    wry → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Burning God

    R.F. Kuang2020

    A general leads a peasant army in a civil war across a fantasy version of China. She grapples with her sanity and the influence of a fire god.

    wry → bleak, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

    Andrus Kivirähk2015

    A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

    wry → elegiac, still historical fantasy

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+3

  • A Matter of Blood

    Sarah Pinborough2010

    A detective investigates a serial killer in a London plagued by a failing economy and a supernatural virus. The tone is consistently grim.

    wry → bleak, still urban fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak+3