A Planet Called Treason

Jinian Star-Eye

Sheri S. Tepper1986

Jinian travels across a world of magic and strange biology to discover her heritage and stop a looming threat. It is the end of a trilogy.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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, still science fantasy

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

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

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

earnest → sardonic

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

Electric Idol

Katee Robert2022

In a modern-day Olympus, Eros is ordered to kill Psyche but chooses to enter a fake marriage with her to protect her from his mother.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Vampires Are Forever

Lynsay Sands2008

A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

The Mane Event

Shelly Laurenston2007

A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·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.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Skin Game

Jim Butcher2014

Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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

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

Sugar Rain

Paul Park1989

During a revolution against a theocracy, a doctor in exile tries to protect his family while a new, pragmatic faith rises.

earnest → bleak, still science fantasy

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

Winterlong

Elizabeth Hand1990

In a decaying, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., a girl with empathic powers is drawn into the plots of a decadent ruling class.

earnest → dreamlike, still science fantasy

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

Salt

Adam Roberts2000

Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.

earnest → bleak, still planetary romance

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2