LitQueuelitqueue

After

Lord of the Rings

Cedco Publishing2001

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Nights at the Circus

    Angela Carter1984

    A journalist follows a traveling circus to interview a winged aerialist. The story moves from London to Siberia through a series of vignettes.

    analytical → playful

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

    Carl Sagan

    A scientist explains the scientific method and provides a toolkit for spotting fallacies and pseudoscience.

    analytical → earnest, still philosophy

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    analytical → playful

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    analytical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1

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.

    analytical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·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.

    analytical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·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.

    analytical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak0

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.

    analytical → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    analytical → playful, still philosophy

    pace-1·prose0·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.

    analytical → tender

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    analytical → bleak

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+2

  • 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.

    analytical → cold

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Song of Kali

    Dan Simmons1985

    An American poet travels to Calcutta to find a manuscript by a dead writer. He encounters a cult that worships the goddess of destruction.

    analytical → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2