After
A Better World
Marcus Sakey2014
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Deadline
Seanan McGuire2011
A grieving journalist investigates a conspiracy involving a faked death and the origins of the zombie virus.
Same tense register, still thriller
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Logan's run
William F. Nolan1967
In a future where everyone is executed at age 21, an enforcer becomes a fugitive. He attempts to reach a rumored sanctuary.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Test
Sylvain Neuvel2019
An immigrant takes a British citizenship test that turns into a high-stakes psychological simulation. It is a short, dialogue-heavy novella.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Vox
Christina Dalcher2018
In a near-future America, women are fitted with bracelets that deliver electric shocks if they speak more than 100 words a day.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Golden State
Ben H. Winters2019
In a California where lying is a crime, an officer investigates a death that contradicts the official record.
Same tense register, still dystopian
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
William S. Burroughs
A series of nonlinear vignettes follow a drug addict's hallucinations and travels. The prose is fragmented and satirical.
tense → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → sardonic
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Sometimes a Great Notion
Ken Kesey1964
A family of independent loggers in Oregon refuses to join a local strike. The perspective shifts rapidly between characters, often mid-paragraph.
tense → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
Brutal Prince
Sophie Lark2020
The heirs of two rival Chicago mafia families are forced into an arranged marriage to prevent a gang war.
tense → sardonic
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
Insatiable appetites
Stuart Woods2015
Stone Barrington manages a mentor's estate while an old flame reappears. He navigates legal disputes and threats from a new enemy.
tense → wry, still thriller
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
Better Off Dead
Lee Child2021
Jack Reacher investigates a staged car crash in Arizona and infiltrates a dangerous local crew to find a missing woman.
tense → propulsive, still thriller
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace-2prose-1bleak-2
A Veiled Deception
Annette Blair2009
A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose-1bleak-2
It Starts with Us
Colleen Hoover2022
A single mother navigates a new relationship with her first love while managing a jealous ex-husband. The story alternates perspectives.
tense → earnest
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
tense → bleak, still dystopian
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak-2
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.
tense → playful
pace-3·prose+2·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace-2prose0bleak+1
The Testament of Jessie Lamb
Jane Rogers2011
A teenager decides to volunteer for a medical program that will end her life to save humanity from a biological catastrophe.
tense → earnest, still dystopian
pace-2·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
tense → cold, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
tense → bleak, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess1962
A teenage gang leader is imprisoned and subjected to state-mandated psychological conditioning. The story is told in a slang called Nadsat.
tense → sardonic, still dystopian
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
A Scanner Darkly
Philip K. Dick1977
An undercover narcotics agent in a near-future California becomes addicted to the drug he is investigating and begins to spy on himself.
tense → bleak, still dystopian
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
