LitQueuelitqueue

After

Defender

C. J. Cherryh2001

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register, still space opera

1 more ↓

  • Pandora's Star

    Peter F. Hamilton2004

    In 2380, humanity uses wormholes to settle hundreds of planets. An astronomer spots a star disappearing, prompting a mission to investigate.

    tense → meditative, still space opera

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Empty Space

    M. John Harrison2012

    Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.

    tense → dreamlike, still space opera

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Fractal Prince

    Hannu Rajaniemi2012

    A post-human thief is sent to Earth to steal a memory from a city made of digital ghosts. The prose uses dense, unexplained jargon.

    tense → dreamlike, still space opera

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → wry, still space opera

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Every Boy's Got One

    Meg Cabot2004

    Told through emails and travel logs, two adversarial witnesses travel to Italy for their friends' secret elopement.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-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.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Chilling Effect

    Valerie Valdes2019

    A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.

    tense → playful, still space opera

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Project Hail Mary

    Andy Weir2021

    A man wakes up on a spaceship with amnesia and two dead crewmates. He must use scientific experiments to remember his mission and save the sun.

    tense → propulsive, still hard sci-fi

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Star Kings

    Edmond Hamilton1949

    A 20th-century man swaps bodies with a prince 200,000 years in the future. He must lead a galactic empire against a tyrant's fleet.

    tense → propulsive, still space opera

    pace+2·prose-2·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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • White Mars, or, The mind set free

    Brian W. Aldiss1999

    A group of scientists and thinkers attempts to establish a utopian society on Mars after Earth is cut off by a global catastrophe.

    tense → earnest, still hard sci-fi

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Flood

    Stephen Baxter2008

    The sea level rises globally due to water leaking from the Earth's crust. Four former hostages watch as civilization slowly drowns over decades.

    tense → clinical, still hard sci-fi

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Echopraxia

    Peter Watts2014

    A biologist is caught on a mission toward the sun alongside a pilot and a group of transhuman monks. It explores consciousness and evolution.

    tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Beyond the Aquila Rift

    Alastair Reynolds2001

    A spaceship crew wakes from cold sleep to find they have overshot their destination by light-years. They must face the reality of their location.

    tense → bleak, still hard sci-fi

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2