LitQueuelitqueue

After

Serpent Mage

Greg Bear1986

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Beginning Place

    Ursula K. Le Guin1980

    Two young adults from the suburbs discover a gateway to a land of eternal twilight. They must confront a shadow creature to save the inhabitants.

    Same meditative register, still portal 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, still chosen one

    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 ↓

  • The Longest Ride

    Nicholas Sparks2013

    An elderly man trapped in a car crash remembers his late wife while a young couple's romance develops nearby.

    meditative → tender

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Steal Like an Artist

    Austin Kleon2012

    A series of short, illustrated principles for creative work. It focuses on remixing existing ideas and establishing productive daily habits.

    meditative → playful

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Sundays at Tiffany's

    James Patterson2008

    A lonely woman is reunited with her childhood imaginary friend, who has returned to her life as a physical man.

    meditative → warm, still contemporary fantasy

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    meditative → playful

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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.

    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

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    meditative → dreamlike, still portal fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    meditative → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·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.

    meditative → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

    meditative → 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.

    meditative → bleak, still chosen one

    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