The Water Dancer

The Stars Dispose

Michaela Roessner1997

In Renaissance Florence, a young cook works for Catherine de' Medici amidst political schemes and occult rituals. The pace is slow and deliberate.

Same meditative register, still historical fantasy

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

A Brief History of Seven Killings

Marlon James2014

A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.

meditative → propulsive

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

Ulysses

James Joyce1914

Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

meditative → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner1929

The decline of a Southern family told through four perspectives, including a non-linear stream of consciousness from a man with a disability.

meditative → elegiac

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

Kimberly Lemming2021

A spice trader saves a demon while intoxicated and joins his quest to kill a witch. The story features frequent sexual content and humor.

meditative → playful

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

meditative → playful

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Fantasy Lover

Sherrilyn Kenyon2002

A Spartan warrior cursed to be a love-slave inside a book is summoned by a modern woman. She takes him into the world to live as a man.

meditative → earnest

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Child 44

Tom Rob Smith2008

A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

meditative → tense

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

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.

meditative → sardonic

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

The Girl with Ghost Eyes

M.H. Boroson

A young priestess uses Taoist magic to fight spirits in 1890s San Francisco Chinatown. She must protect her community while her powers fade.

meditative → propulsive, still historical fantasy

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-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.

Same meditative register, still historical fantasy

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

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.

meditative → clinical

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

meditative → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

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.

meditative → sardonic

pace+1·prose0·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.

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut1969

Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.

meditative → sardonic

pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1