After
The Slow Regard of Silent Things
Patrick Rothfuss2014
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Slow Regard of Silent Things
Patrick Rothfuss2013
A young woman lives alone in the tunnels beneath a university, finding meaning in discarded objects and daily rituals.
dreamlike → tender, still fairy tale
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Prisoner in Fairyland
Algernon Blackwood1913
A retired businessman returns to his childhood home and enters a dreamlike world through the collective imagination of children.
Same dreamlike register, still fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The cygnet and the firebird
Patricia A. McKillip1993
A firebird's arrival at a castle coincides with a magical curse that transforms people into objects. Two women must navigate a dreamlike landscape.
Same dreamlike register, still fairy tale
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Bear and the Nightingale
Katherine Arden2017
In medieval Russia, a girl can see the household spirits that protect her village. She must act when a new priest forbids the old rituals.
Same dreamlike register, still fairy tale
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Honeycomb
Joanne Harris2021
A collection of interconnected fairy tales follows the Lacewing King through a dreamlike realm. It is told in short, episodic chapters.
Same dreamlike register, still fairy tale
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
In the Night Garden
Catherynne M. Valente2006
A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.
Same dreamlike register, still fairy tale
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
The Claw of the Conciliator
Gene Wolfe1981
An exiled torturer travels with a gem that can heal the dead. The narrative uses archaic vocabulary and an unreliable perspective.
Same dreamlike register
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
dreamlike → meditative
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien1939
A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.
dreamlike → playful
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Love & Sleep
John Crowley1994
Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.
dreamlike → meditative
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak+1
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman2020
Earth is converted into an 18-level televised death game. A man and a cat must navigate traps and monsters to survive.
dreamlike → sardonic
pace+3·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
The Stainless Steel Rat
Harry Harrison1961
A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.
dreamlike → playful
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak+1
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+3·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak+1
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+3·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak+1
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
pace+3·prose-2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin2015
A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.
dreamlike → bleak
pace+2·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak+3
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+2·prose-1·bleak+3
- pace+2prose-1bleak+3
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
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+3
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
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+2·prose0·bleak+3
