The year of our war

He Who Drowned the World

Shelley Parker-Chan2023

Zhu Yuanzhang and General Ouyang compete for the throne of 14th-century China. Both characters pursue power through betrayal and sacrifice.

sardonic → tense, still grimdark

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The Light and the Dark

Mikhail Shishkin2013

Two lovers exchange letters that transcend time and space. One writes from a domestic life while the other writes from the front lines of a war.

sardonic → elegiac

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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.

sardonic → dreamlike

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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.

sardonic → dreamlike

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Final Offer

Lauren Asher2023

An alcoholic heir returns to his family's lake house to secure his inheritance. He finds his ex-girlfriend living there with a child he never knew.

sardonic → earnest

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Wielding a Red Sword

Piers Anthony1986

An Indian prince avoids an arranged marriage by accepting the supernatural office of War. He wields a sword that draws him into a conflict in Hell.

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Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

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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.

sardonic → propulsive

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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.

sardonic → propulsive

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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.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

sardonic → dreamlike

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Unfinished Tales

J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

sardonic → meditative

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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.

sardonic → dreamlike

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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.

sardonic → bleak, still grimdark

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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.

sardonic → cold, still grimdark

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The Darkness That Comes Before

R. Scott Bakker2003

A monk, a barbarian, and a sorcerer navigate a holy war. The narrative focuses on philosophical manipulation and a cold, strategic view of power.

sardonic → cold, still grimdark

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