
After
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Sue Lynn Tan2022
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same earnest register, still high fantasy
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Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Margaret Weis1984
A group of estranged friends reunites as dragons return to the world of Krynn. They protect a woman carrying a staff of lost religious power.
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The Novice
Trudi Canavan2002
A girl from the slums attends a prestigious magic academy. She must navigate class prejudice and a dangerous secret held by the High Lord.
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Spellwright
Blake Charlton2010
In a world where magic is written, a dyslexic apprentice accidentally creates lethal typos. He must find a way to cast spells despite his disability.
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The Measure of the Magic
Terry Brooks2011
A young Knight of the Word must use a powerful black staff to defend a valley of refugees from an invading army and a demonic presence.
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1 more ↓ ↑
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Son of the Storm
Suyi Davies Okungbowa2021
A scholar in the city of Bassa aids a wounded warrior from a mythical land. They flee a conspiracy to uncover suppressed magic and history.
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Denser prose
earnest → dreamlike
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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.
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- pace-1prose+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.
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3 more ↓ ↑
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Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
earnest → meditative
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- pace-1prose+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.
earnest → playful
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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.
earnest → meditative
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To recover
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Closer to Home
Mercedes Lackey2014
An orphan spy-in-training at a magical academy uses telepathy to investigate a conspiracy against his mentor.
earnest → warm, still high fantasy
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Assistant to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023
A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.
earnest → playful
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3 more ↓ ↑
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Fearless Fourteen
Janet Evanovich2008
A bounty hunter searches for a missing bank robber while a stoner guards a cop's house. The plot involves a hidden nine-million-dollar fortune.
earnest → playful, still love triangle
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Alec
L.A. Casey
A young woman navigates a relationship with her brother's best friend in Dublin. It follows their transition from childhood friction to romance.
earnest → playful
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Brutal Prince
Sophie Lark2020
The heirs of two rival Chicago mafia families are forced into an arranged marriage to prevent a gang war.
earnest → sardonic
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Faster
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A Memory of Light
Robert Jordan2013
The final volume of a long-running series where various nations and magical users unite for a final battle against an ancient evil.
Same earnest register, still high fantasy
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Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman2020
Earth is converted into an 18-level televised death game. A man and a cat must navigate traps and monsters to survive.
earnest → sardonic
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
earnest → 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.
earnest → propulsive
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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.
earnest → propulsive
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Slower
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Unfinished Tales
J.R.R. Tolkien1980
A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.
earnest → meditative, still high fantasy
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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.
earnest → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+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.
earnest → elegiac
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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.
earnest → dreamlike
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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.
earnest → dreamlike
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Heavier
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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.
earnest → bleak
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
earnest → tense
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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.
earnest → bleak
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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.
earnest → cold
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