After
Winter's Orbit
Everina Maxwell2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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The Host
Stephenie Meyer2008
An alien soul is implanted into a human rebel's body but finds the original consciousness still present. They must share one body to survive.
Same earnest register, still science fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Sandworms of Dune
Kevin J. Anderson1994
Refugees on a starship flee an artificial intelligence while a planet-sized sandworm is bred. It concludes the original series' major plot arcs.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Star Wars Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
Jason Fry2018
A novelization of the film following Rey's Jedi training and the Resistance's flight from the First Order. It includes expanded internal monologue.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Stardoc
S.L. Viehl
A surgeon flees Earth to work at a multi-species medical facility on a remote planet. She must treat alien biology while hiding her past.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Shards of Honour
Lois McMaster Bujold
Two officers from opposing planetary forces are stranded on a hostile world and must cooperate to survive.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
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Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
earnest → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
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Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
earnest → dreamlike, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Rakesfall
Vajra Chandrasekera2024
Two souls reincarnate across centuries of Sri Lankan history and a distant future. The narrative shifts through different bodies and realities.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
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Nova Express
William S. Burroughs1964
An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.
earnest → sardonic, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
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Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
earnest → dreamlike, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
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After Dark
Jayne Castle
A para-archaeologist finds a body in a museum and hires a dangerous man to help her navigate a city on an alien planet.
earnest → playful, still fake relationship
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
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Fifty Shades Darker
E.L. James2011
A young woman resumes her relationship with a wealthy businessman while starting a new job. They navigate his past and his specific sexual needs.
Same earnest register
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Night Pleasures
Sherrilyn Kenyon2002
An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.
earnest → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Release Me
J. Kenner2013
A billionaire with a need for control pursues a young woman who has her own secrets. They enter a physical relationship based on his terms.
earnest → tense
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
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Megan's Mark
Lora Leigh2006
A sheriff's deputy with psychic empathy tracks a killer alongside a genetically engineered feline-human hybrid who claims her as his mate.
Same earnest register
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
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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.
earnest → wry, still space opera
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
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The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
earnest → playful, still science fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens
Alan Dean Foster2001
A scavenger and a defecting soldier join the fight against a new galactic power. They search for a missing hero from the previous generation.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
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The Rookie
Scott Sigler2012
A talented but prejudiced quarterback joins a professional team of diverse alien species. He must lead them to win in a violent interstellar league.
earnest → propulsive, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
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Skylark DuQuesne
Edward Elmer Smith1966
Two rival geniuses must unite their space fleets to stop an alien threat. It features planet-destroying weapons and faster-than-light travel.
Same earnest register, still space opera
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
Slower
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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.
earnest → meditative, still science fiction
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
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Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
earnest → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
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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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
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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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
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Strangers
Gardner Dozois1978
An artist living among the alien Cian on a distant planet falls in love with a local woman and attempts to navigate their incompatible biology.
earnest → elegiac, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
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Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks1987
A shape-shifting mercenary works for an alien empire to retrieve a rogue AI during a galactic war. He faces a series of deadly set-pieces.
earnest → bleak, still space opera
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Hard to be a god
Аркадий Стругацкий2014
An observer from a technologically advanced Earth lives undercover on a planet stuck in a medieval state. He must watch atrocities without helping.
earnest → bleak, still science fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
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The Jaunt
Stephen King2009
A father explains the history of teleportation to his family while they wait to travel. He describes the danger of being awake during the trip.
earnest → tense, still science fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
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Hellspark
Janet Kagan1988
A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.
earnest → tense, still science fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
