LitQueuelitqueue

After

Larque on the Wing

Nancy Springer1994

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Wishing Game

    Meg Shaffer2023

    A teacher's aide competes against three others on a private island to win the only new copy of a famous author's final book.

    Same playful register, still contemporary fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Soldier of Sidon

    Gene Wolfe2006

    A mercenary in ancient Egypt loses his memory every time he sleeps. He records his days in a scroll while interacting with gods and spirits.

    playful → meditative

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ink

    Hal Duncan2007

    Gods and mortals clash in a shifting city where reality is written on skin. The story follows a cycle of mythic archetypes across time.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Tours of the Black Clock

    Steve Erickson1989

    A ghostwriter for Hitler's private pornography lives in a surreal version of the 20th century where history and memory blur.

    playful → dreamlike, still magical realism

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    playful → meditative, still magical realism

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    playful → tender, still magical realism

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    playful → tense

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+3

  • 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.

    playful → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+3

  • 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.

    playful → cold

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3