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All Darkness Met

Glen Cook1980

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  • Chronicles of the Black Company (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #1-3)

    Glen Cook

    A cynical mercenary company works for a powerful sorceress. The story is told through the journals of the group's doctor and historian.

    bleak → sardonic, still grimdark

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Light and the Dark

    Mikhail Shishkin2013

    Two lovers exchange letters that transcend time and space. One writes from a domestic life while the other writes from the front lines of a war.

    bleak → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

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  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

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

    bleak → wry

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Playing with Fire

    Gena Showalter2006

    A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

    bleak → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Digital Fortress

    Dan Brown1998

    The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Stainless Steel Rat

    Harry Harrison1961

    A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.

    bleak → playful

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  • Mind's Eye

    Douglas E. Richards2014

    A man discovers he has the ability to access the internet and process data directly with his mind. He is hunted by a secret organization.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle2013

    A geneticist and a counter-terrorism agent uncover a global conspiracy involving human evolution and an ancient Antarctic discovery.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-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.

    bleak → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Wisdom of Crowds

    Joe Abercrombie2021

    A violent revolution overthrows the social order in a fantasy industrial city. Characters from all social classes struggle to survive the purges.

    bleak → sardonic, still grimdark

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    bleak → cold, still grimdark

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Darkness That Comes Before

    R. Scott Bakker2003

    A monk, a barbarian, and a sorcerer navigate a holy war. The narrative focuses on philosophical manipulation and a cold, strategic view of power.

    bleak → cold, still grimdark

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1