LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Greenstone grail

Amanda Hemingway2004

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Reindeer People

    Robin Hobb1988

    A healer and her son live among nomadic tribes in a prehistoric wilderness. She flees a shaman who wants her son's magical potential.

    dreamlike → meditative, still mythic fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

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.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still mythic fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    Same dreamlike register, still mythic fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Little, Big

    John Crowley1981

    A man marries into a family living in a massive house where the borders of the natural world blur. It follows several generations over a century.

    Same dreamlike register, still contemporary fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Pawn of Prophecy

    David Eddings1982

    A farm boy travels with a storyteller and a sorceress to recover a stolen magical orb. It is a traditional quest through various kingdoms.

    dreamlike → earnest, still chosen one

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Warrior Rising

    P.C. Cast2008

    Goddesses transport a modern woman to ancient Troy to seduce and distract Achilles. It is a lighthearted fish-out-of-water romance.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Sundays at Tiffany's

    James Patterson2008

    A lonely woman is reunited with her childhood imaginary friend, who has returned to her life as a physical man.

    dreamlike → warm, still contemporary fantasy

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    dreamlike → propulsive, still chosen one

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Little, Big

    John Crowley1981

    A man marries into a family living in a massive house where the borders of the natural world blur. It follows several generations over a century.

    Same dreamlike register, still contemporary fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    Same dreamlike register, still mythic fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Tam Lin

    Pamela Dean1991

    A college student in the 1970s joins a group of classics majors and discovers their theater troupe is tied to a faerie blood sacrifice.

    dreamlike → meditative, still contemporary fantasy

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Pet Sematary

    Stephen King1983

    A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    dreamlike → bleak, still chosen one

    pace+1·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.

    dreamlike → cold

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2