LitQueuelitqueue

After

Lost

Gregory Maguire2001

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The silver bough

    Lisa Tuttle2006

    Three women arrive in a Scottish coastal town where ancient Celtic myths begin to manifest in the lives of the residents.

    Same meditative register, still contemporary fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • In the Night Garden

    Catherynne M. Valente2006

    A girl with tattooed eyelids tells a prince interlocking stories of monsters and folklore. The narrative is a series of nested myths.

    meditative → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Claw of the Conciliator

    Gene Wolfe1981

    An exiled torturer travels with a gem that can heal the dead. The narrative uses archaic vocabulary and an unreliable perspective.

    meditative → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    Same meditative register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • A Veiled Deception

    Annette Blair2009

    A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.

    meditative → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • It Starts with Us

    Colleen Hoover2022

    A single mother navigates a new relationship with her first love while managing a jealous ex-husband. The story alternates perspectives.

    meditative → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Assistant to the Villain

    Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023

    A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.

    meditative → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·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.

    meditative → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Tam Lin

    Pamela Dean1991

    A college student in the 1970s joins a group of classics majors and discovers their theater troupe is tied to a faerie blood sacrifice.

    Same meditative register, still contemporary fantasy

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    Same meditative register

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    meditative → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    meditative → cold

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    meditative → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2