After
Forever Peace
Joe Haldeman1997
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Forever War
Joe Haldeman1974
A soldier fights an interstellar war where time dilation means centuries pass on Earth during his missions. He returns to a world he no longer knows.
meditative → sardonic, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
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.
meditative → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Orphanage
Robert Buettner2004
After aliens attack Earth from Ganymede, a young orphan joins a desperate military mission to invade Jupiter's moon using improvised technology.
meditative → earnest, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Shadow Of Freedom
David Weber2013
Admiral Michelle Henke defends a star sector against the Solarian League. The book focuses on fleet logistics, politics, and tactical maneuvers.
meditative → clinical, still military sci-fi
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
War Dogs
Greg Bear2014
Soldiers are deployed to Mars to fight an alien threat on behalf of another species. The narrator recounts the mission from a hospital bed.
meditative → tense, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
Against the Day
Thomas Pynchon2006
A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.
meditative → playful
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
meditative → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Phule's Company
Robert Lynn Asprin1990
A wealthy captain is court-martialed and sent to lead a group of military misfits on a remote frontier planet.
meditative → playful, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
A Galaxy Unknown
Thomas DePrima2010
An ensign uses her tactical skills to rise through the ranks of a space navy while fighting pirates and internal bureaucracy.
meditative → earnest, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Sea of Greed
Clive Cussler2018
Kurt Austin investigates the destruction of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The trail leads to a billionaire with a plan to end the oil age.
meditative → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Modern Romance
Aziz Ansari2015
A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.
meditative → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Warrior Rising
P.C. Cast2008
Goddesses transport a modern woman to ancient Troy to seduce and distract Achilles. It is a lighthearted fish-out-of-water romance.
meditative → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
meditative → tense, still military sci-fi
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
Lines of Departure
Marko Kloos2014
An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
Hell Divers
Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016
Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak0
A Plague of Demons
Keith Laumer1965
A secret agent investigates the disappearance of entire battalions. He discovers an alien invasion and has his brain transplanted into a giant tank.
meditative → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
- pace+2prose0bleak0
Fortune's Pawn
Rachel Bach
A power-armored mercenary joins the crew of a suspicious cargo ship to earn enough money for her elite military dreams.
meditative → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
- pace+2prose0bleak0
The Killing of Worlds
Scott Westerfeld2003
Captain Laurent Zai fights a lone ship-to-ship battle against invaders while Senator Nara Oxham uncovers the Emperor's secrets.
meditative → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
Slower
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
Same meditative register
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak-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.
meditative → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
meditative → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
Kaleidoscope Century
John Barnes1995
A mercenary wakes every ten years to a new body and a changing world. He uncovers his own history of atrocities across the 21st century.
meditative → bleak, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
meditative → propulsive, still military sci-fi
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
meditative → cold
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
meditative → bleak
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
meditative → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
