After
Agatha H and the Airship City
Phil Foglio2011
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing faster
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Beneath London
James Blaylock2015
An eccentric detective explores a hidden civilization discovered beneath London. He is pursued by a wealthy murderer intent on keeping the secret.
Same playful register, still steampunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Changeless
Gail Carriger2010
A woman without a soul investigates a plague of spontaneous ghost-disappearances in Victorian London. She travels to Scotland via dirigible.
Same playful register, still steampunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The Alloy of Law
Brandon Sanderson2001
A lawman returns from the frontier to a developing city to save his family estate. He uses metal-based magic to fight a criminal syndicate.
Same playful register, still steampunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Flash Gold
Lindsay Buroker2011
In a frozen mining town, an inventor teams up with a mercenary to protect her engine design from a criminal syndicate.
playful → wry, still steampunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak0
A Master of Djinn
P. Djèlí Clark2021
In 1912 Cairo, Agent Fatma investigates the murder of a secret brotherhood. The case involves steampunk technology and ancient magic.
Same playful register, still steampunk
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
playful → dreamlike, still chosen one
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien1939
A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
Love & Sleep
John Crowley1994
Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.
playful → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
Love & Sleep
John Crowley1994
Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.
playful → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak+2
Boneland
Alan Garner2012
An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.
playful → elegiac
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak+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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
Unfinished Tales
J.R.R. Tolkien1980
A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.
playful → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-2prose+1bleak+3
The Alchemy of Stone
Ekaterina Sedia2008
An alchemist automaton is caught in a political struggle between gargoyles and her creators. She must find a way to wind her own heart key.
playful → elegiac, still steampunk
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin2015
A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.
playful → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+3
Pet Sematary
Stephen King1983
A family moves to Maine and discovers a burial ground that can return the dead to life. They use it, and the consequences are absolute.
playful → tense
pace-1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace-1prose0bleak+3
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.
playful → bleak, still chosen one
pace-1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
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.
playful → cold
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
