After
Paladin of Souls
Lois McMaster Bujold2003
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Foundation (Valdemar
Mercedes Lackey2008
A thirteen-year-old boy is rescued from slavery in a gem mine by a magical horse. He is taken to a capital city to train as a royal protector.
Same warm register, still high fantasy
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Margaret Weis1984
A group of estranged friends reunites as dragons return to the world of Krynn. They protect a woman carrying a staff of lost religious power.
warm → earnest, still high fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Novice
Trudi Canavan2002
A girl from the slums attends a prestigious magic academy. She must navigate class prejudice and a dangerous secret held by the High Lord.
warm → earnest, still high fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Spellwright
Blake Charlton2010
In a world where magic is written, a dyslexic apprentice accidentally creates lethal typos. He must find a way to cast spells despite his disability.
warm → earnest, still high fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Shards of Time
Lynn Flewelling2014
Two spies investigate a locked-room murder on a sacred island where an ancient supernatural power has been released.
warm → wry, still high fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
warm → dreamlike
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Vellum
Hal Duncan2005
Humans transformed into angels and demons fight across a multiverse for a book that controls reality. The narrative jumps through time and myth.
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
The Silmarillion
J. R. R. Tolkien1977
A history of the First Age of Middle-earth, from the creation of the world to the fall of the Elven kingdoms. It is written as a mythic chronicle.
warm → elegiac, still high fantasy
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Ficciones
Jorge Luis Borges1945
A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.
warm → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
A Memory of Light
Robert Jordan2013
The final volume of a long-running series where various nations and magical users unite for a final battle against an ancient evil.
warm → earnest, still high fantasy
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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.
warm → sardonic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Stainless Steel Rat
Harry Harrison1961
A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.
warm → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
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.
warm → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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.
warm → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Unfinished Tales
J.R.R. Tolkien1980
A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.
warm → meditative, still high fantasy
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
warm → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
warm → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
warm → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
warm → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
warm → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
warm → tense
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
warm → bleak
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
warm → cold
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
