After
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Warbound
Larry Correia2013
In an alternate 1930s, people with magical abilities fight a war against a trans-dimensional threat. It is the final book in a trilogy.
Same propulsive register, still urban fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Lexicon
Max Barry2013
A secret organization trains recruits to use specific words as tools for mind control. A talented runaway becomes a top student in their school.
Same propulsive register, still urban fantasy
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Lost in Time
A.G. Riddle2022
A man is exiled to the Triassic period for a murder he didn't commit while his daughter tries to bring him back.
Same propulsive register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Thieves of Heaven
Richard Doetsch2006
A master thief breaks into the Vatican to steal two ancient keys. He must flee across continents when he discovers what the keys actually unlock.
Same propulsive register, still heist
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Claimed By Shadow (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 2)
Karen Chance2007
A clairvoyant who can travel through time is magically bound to a master vampire while various factions try to seize her power.
Same propulsive register, still urban fantasy
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Shadow & Claw
Gene Wolfe1983
A torturer travels across a far-future Earth where technology is indistinguishable from magic. He recounts his exile in dense, archaic prose.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak+1
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer2016
In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.
propulsive → sardonic
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Valis
Philip K. Dick1981
A man experiences a beam of pink light that imparts vast information. The narrative explores his mental breakdown and search for God in California.
propulsive → meditative
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
Radiance
Catherynne M. Valente2015
A documentary filmmaker disappears on Venus in an alternate 1980s solar system. The story is told through scripts, interviews, and letters.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
To recover
propulsive → playful, still urban fantasy
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Big bad beast
Shelly Laurenston2011
A wolf-shifter Marine investigates a hybrid fighting ring while dealing with her persistent boss. It is a paranormal romance set in an urban world.
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Night Pleasures
Sherrilyn Kenyon2002
An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Shadow Music
Julie Garwood2007
An English princess is sent to the Scottish Highlands to marry a laird she has never met. She becomes entangled in a local feud and a murder mystery.
propulsive → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Highland Velvet
Jude Deveraux1982
A 16th-century Scottish clan leader is forced to marry an Englishwoman, leading to a conflict of loyalties and cultures.
propulsive → tender
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Howl at the Moon
Christine Warren2007
A human soldier goes undercover to investigate a werewolf scientist and falls for her best friend, a high-ranking pack assistant.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak+1
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
propulsive → dreamlike
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
Beelzebub's tales to his grandson
Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950
An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak-1
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak-1
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak0
Heavier
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville2000
A scientist in a sprawling, industrial city agrees to help a winged refugee fly again. His research accidentally unleashes a psychic predator.
propulsive → bleak, still urban fantasy
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood1985
In a totalitarian state with a plummeting birth rate, a woman is enslaved as a reproductive vessel. She records her daily life and memories.
propulsive → cold
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+1bleak+2
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis1992
A student travels to 14th-century England while a virus spreads in the present. She arrives during the Black Death due to a technical error.
propulsive → bleak
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell1996
A Jesuit priest joins a mission to a newly discovered planet. The story is told in flashbacks after he returns as the sole, traumatized survivor.
propulsive → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Watchmen
Alan Moore1986
Retired masked vigilantes investigate the murder of a former teammate. The story takes place in an alternate 1985 on the brink of nuclear war.
propulsive → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
