LitQueuelitqueue

After

Loving Reaper

Jenny Jinya2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • White Sand 1

    Brandon Sanderson2016

    A survivor of a slaughtered magical order uses sand-manipulation powers to escape a conspiracy. He partners with a woman from a different culture.

    tender → earnest, still fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

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

    tender → meditative

    pace0·prose+3·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.

    tender → playful

    pace0·prose+3·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Intrigues (Collegium Chronicles #2)

    Mercedes Lackey2010

    A telepathic orphan training at a magical academy is targeted by foreign spies. He must prove his loyalty while uncovering his true parentage.

    tender → earnest, still fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Under the Whispering Door

    TJ Klune2021

    A selfish lawyer dies and waits in a supernatural tea shop to transition to the afterlife. He befriends the shopkeeper and other ghosts.

    tender → warm

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • This Girl

    Colleen Hoover2013

    A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

    tender → earnest

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Mist

    Stephen King1980

    A group of townspeople is trapped in a grocery store by a thick mist containing lethal monsters while social order collapses inside.

    tender → tense

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Changes

    Jim Butcher2010

    A wizard discovers he has a daughter who has been kidnapped by vampires. He must race against time and sacrifice his principles to save her.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Promise of Blood

    Brian McClellan2013

    A Field Marshal stages a bloody coup against his king and must defend the new government using soldiers who gain magic powers from gunpowder.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Boneland

    Alan Garner2012

    An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tender → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • A Slow Regard of Silent Things

    Patrick Rothfuss2013

    A young woman lives alone in the tunnels beneath a university, finding meaning in discarded objects and daily rituals.

    Same tender register, still fantasy

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    tender → tense

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    tender → 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.

    tender → cold

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2