Labyrinth

The House Girl

Tara Conklin2013

A lawyer looks for a plaintiff for a reparations lawsuit, while a slave in 1852 Virginia plans her escape from a plantation.

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Dæmonomania

John Crowley2000

In the third book of the Aegypt cycle, characters in the 1970s and the Renaissance navigate secret histories and alchemy. It is a slow study.

earnest → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

Ficciones

Jorge Luis Borges1945

A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

earnest → meditative

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

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

pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

Two for the dough

Janet Evanovich1996

An inexperienced bounty hunter tracks a man who jumped bail for shooting his friend. She competes with a vice cop to find him first.

earnest → playful, still mystery

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Catering to Nobody

Diane Mott Davidson1990

A Colorado caterer is accused of poisoning a guest at a wake. She investigates the murder to save her business and includes recipes in the text.

earnest → warm, still mystery

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Real Murders

Charlaine Harris1990

A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.

earnest → wry, still mystery

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Monster Hunter International

Larry Correia2007

An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

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

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

Among Others

Jo Walton2011

A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

earnest → tender

pace-2·prose0·bleak0

Was

Geoff Ryman1992

Three timelines connect a Kansas girl in the 1880s, Judy Garland on set, and a dying man in the 1980s. It examines the reality behind the Oz myth.

earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Havoc, in Its Third Year

Ronan Bennett2004

A magistrate in a 1630s English town tries to maintain order as religious extremism and plague take hold. The social fabric slowly dissolves.

earnest → bleak, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

earnest → bleak

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2