After
Blackflame
Will Wight2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Wintersteel
Will Wight2020
Lindon and his allies compete in a global martial arts tournament. The focus is on training, gaining power, and tactical combat.
Same propulsive register, still progression fantasy
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Death Masks
Jim Butcher2003
A wizard for hire is tasked with recovering the stolen Shroud of Turin while being hunted by a professional assassin.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Touch the dark
Karen Chance2006
A clairvoyant woman is forced to work for a vampire senator to escape a mob boss. She navigates a supernatural underworld with high-speed action.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Lost Metal
Brandon Sanderson2022
Wax and Wayne track a shadowy organization to a city developing nuclear technology. It concludes the second Mistborn era.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Hunted
Kevin Hearne2011
A druid and his apprentice flee across Europe while being hunted by Artemis, Diana, and Loki.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
propulsive → dreamlike
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
propulsive → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Master of the Five Magics
Lyndon Hardy1980
A man attempts to master five distinct disciplines of magic by following their strict logical laws to save a kingdom.
propulsive → earnest, still progression fantasy
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
The Love Hypothesis
Ali Hazelwood2021
A biology PhD candidate enters a fake relationship with a young professor to satisfy a friend. They navigate academic politics and attraction.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Beautiful Bastard
Christina Lauren2013
An MBA intern and her demanding media executive boss engage in a series of sexual encounters while competing at work. It is an erotic romance.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
If You Give A Jerk A Gingerbread
Jana Aston
A cheerful baker enters a holiday competition and clashes with a cynical, high-profile pastry chef.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
The Hating Game
Sally Thorne2016
Two executive assistants at a publishing house compete for a single promotion through a series of psychological games and mutual sabotage.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak+1
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.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
Unfinished Tales
J.R.R. Tolkien1980
A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-3prose+2bleak0
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.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
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.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
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.
propulsive → tense
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
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.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
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.
propulsive → cold
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Song of Kali
Dan Simmons1985
An American poet travels to Calcutta to find a manuscript by a dead writer. He encounters a cult that worships the goddess of destruction.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
