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After

Crusade

Taylor Anderson2008

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Ender's Shadow

    Orson Scott Card1999

    A genetically engineered street urchin joins a space-based military academy. He navigates the same events as Ender Wiggin from a new perspective.

    Same propulsive register, still military sci-fi

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

propulsive → dreamlike, still alternate history

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → dreamlike

    pace-2·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.

    propulsive → sardonic

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Valis

    Philip K. Dick1981

    A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Sergei

    Roxie Rivera2013

    A Russian mob enforcer protects a woman from his own world while trying to keep his romantic interest in her a secret.

    propulsive → tense

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • The Grimoire of the Lamb

    Kevin Hearne

    propulsive → playful

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • Dark Lover

    J. R. Ward2005

    A vampire king seeks revenge against the slayers who killed his parents while protecting a woman discovering her own supernatural heritage.

    Same propulsive register

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

propulsive → tense, still military sci-fi

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    propulsive → wry

    pace+1·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.

    Same propulsive register

    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.

    propulsive → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Hav

    Jan Morris2006

    A travel writer describes the culture and history of a fictional Mediterranean city-state before and after a massive political upheaval.

    propulsive → elegiac, still alternate history

    pace-2·prose+1·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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Dark Age

    Pierce Brown2019

    An outlawed revolutionary fights a losing war on Mercury while an exiled heir attempts to reclaim a space empire. It is a violent military epic.

    Same propulsive register, still military sci-fi

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    propulsive → cold

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Doomsday Book

    Connie Willis1992

    A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.

    propulsive → bleak

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2