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After

The Illustrated Man

Ray Bradbury1951

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More like it

Same elegiac register, still dystopian

1 more ↓

  • Kiteworld

    Keith Roberts1985

    A society lives under a theocracy that uses giant kites to ward off demons. The story follows several generations across a changing landscape.

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Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Sugar Rain

    Paul Park1989

    During a revolution against a theocracy, a doctor in exile tries to protect his family while a new, pragmatic faith rises.

    elegiac → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Infinite Jest

    David Foster Wallace1996

    A sprawling narrative centered on a tennis academy, a halfway house, and a lethal film. The text includes hundreds of pages of detailed endnotes.

    elegiac → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Against the Day

    Thomas Pynchon2006

    A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.

    elegiac → playful

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To recover

3 more ↓

  • Sea of Greed

    Clive Cussler2018

    Kurt Austin investigates the destruction of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The trail leads to a billionaire with a plan to end the oil age.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Modern Romance

    Aziz Ansari2015

    A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Tuesdays with Morrie

    Mitch Albom1994

    A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.

    elegiac → tender

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Faster

3 more ↓

  • Ready Player One

    Ernest Cline2008

    A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.

    elegiac → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Red Rising

    Pierce Brown2014

    A laborer on Mars discovers his caste is being lied to and undergoes surgery to infiltrate the ruling elite. He joins a brutal war games academy.

    elegiac → propulsive, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • All Systems Red

    Martha Wells2017

    A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.

    elegiac → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Beelzebub's tales to his grandson

    Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950

    An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.

    elegiac → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • 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, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    elegiac → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Winterlong

    Elizabeth Hand1990

    In a decaying, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., a girl with empathic powers is drawn into the plots of a decadent ruling class.

    elegiac → dreamlike, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Testament of Jessie Lamb

    Jane Rogers2011

    A teenager decides to volunteer for a medical program that will end her life to save humanity from a biological catastrophe.

    elegiac → earnest, still dystopian

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Handmaid's Tale

    Margaret Atwood1985

    In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.

    elegiac → cold, still dystopian

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1