After
Oh, Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer
Benjamin Kerei2021
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Mechanical Crafter
R.A. Mejia2020
A man is reincarnated into a fantasy world as a mechanical golem. He uses his crafting skills to level up and build a dungeon.
Same playful register, still litrpg
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same playful register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
Same playful register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Another fine myth
Robert Asprin1978
A magician's apprentice accidentally summons a demon from another dimension. The two form a partnership to navigate a series of mishaps.
Same playful register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Girl's Guide to Vampires
Katie MacAlister2003
An American woman travels to a Goth festival in the Czech Republic and meets a man she believes is a vampire. A mystery involving a killer unfolds.
Same playful register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
playful → dreamlike
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
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.
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
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.
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak+1
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
playful → meditative
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak0
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.
Same playful register
pace-1·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Love & Sleep
John Crowley1994
Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
Faster
playful → sardonic, still litrpg
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman2020
Earth is converted into an 18-level televised death game. A man and a cat must navigate traps and monsters to survive.
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
He Who Fights With Monsters, Vol. 1
Travis Deverell2026
An office worker is transported to a magical world where he must navigate a video-game-like system to survive. He uses sarcasm and new powers.
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
playful → tense
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
playful → propulsive
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
playful → propulsive
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Love & Sleep
John Crowley1994
Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → elegiac
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Unfinished Tales
J.R.R. Tolkien1980
A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Moonwise
Greer Gilman1991
Two women are pulled into a world created by their own folk-tales. The narrative uses dense, archaic language to describe a shifting landscape.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace0prose+2bleak+3
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.
playful → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose+2bleak+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
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+2bleak+3
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.
playful → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
