LitQueuelitqueue

After

Yellow Blue Tibia

Adam Roberts2009

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Eastern Standard Tribe

    Cory Doctorow2004

    A man in a mental institution recounts his life as a corporate saboteur. He belongs to a tribe that coordinates its life around the EST time zone.

    Same sardonic register, still conspiracy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    Same sardonic register, still science fiction

    pace-1·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.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • All Those Vanished Engines

    Paul Park2014

    Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.

    sardonic → dreamlike, still alternate history

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Twelve Sharp

    Janet Evanovich2006

    Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is stalked by a mysterious woman while investigating a murder linked to her associate, Ranger.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

    A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

    sardonic → wry

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Lake House

    James Patterson

    A veterinarian and an FBI agent protect six genetically engineered children who can fly. They are pursued by a global conspiracy.

    sardonic → propulsive, still science fiction

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    sardonic → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • Hav

    Jan Morris2006

    A travel writer describes the culture and history of a fictional Mediterranean city-state before and after a massive political upheaval.

    sardonic → elegiac, still alternate history

    pace-2·prose0·bleak0

  • Looking Backward, 2000-1887

    Edward Bellamy1888

    A man falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000 to find the United States transformed into a socialist utopia.

    sardonic → earnest, still science fiction

    pace-2·prose-1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → bleak, still science fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Cat's Cradle

    Kurt Vonnegut1963

    A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Chain-Gang All-Stars

    Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah2023

    Prisoners in a private American penal system fight to the death in televised matches for a chance at freedom.

    sardonic → bleak, still satire

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2