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After

The Alchemist's Door

Lisa Goldstein2002

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same earnest register, still historical fantasy

1 more ↓

  • Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon

    Lisa Goldstein1993

    In Elizabethan London, a bookseller discovers her son is a changeling while Christopher Marlowe becomes entangled in faerie politics.

    earnest → meditative, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → meditative, still historical fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Tourmaline

    Paul Park2006

    A girl from our world navigates a magical, alternate-history Europe where Romania is a superpower. The narrative is dense and non-linear.

    earnest → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Wandering Unicorn

    Manuel Mujica Lainez1965

    A shapeshifting fairy falls in love with a medieval knight and follows him through the Crusades. The prose is dense and formal.

    earnest → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The perfect Christmas

    Debbie Macomber2009

    A woman hires a grumpy matchmaker to find a husband. He assigns her three tasks to complete before he will introduce her to his chosen candidate.

    earnest → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Danger in the Shadows

    Dee Henderson2002

    A woman in witness protection hides from a kidnapper while a FBI agent works to keep her safe. The story incorporates elements of Christian faith.

    Same earnest register

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Princess

    Lori Wick2006

    In the fictional land of Pendaran, a prince enters an arranged marriage with a commoner who must learn the ways of the royal court.

    earnest → warm

    pace0·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.

    earnest → 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.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • 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.

    earnest → propulsive, still historical fantasy

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

    Greer Gilman2009

    A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

    earnest → dreamlike, still historical fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    earnest → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

    A collection of incomplete narratives and essays that expand the history, geography, and lore of Middle-earth.

    earnest → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The sad tale of the brothers Grossbart

    Jesse Bullington2009

    Two murderous brothers travel across 14th-century Europe to rob Egyptian tombs. They encounter monsters and religious zealots along the way.

    earnest → sardonic, still historical fantasy

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    earnest → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • 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.

    earnest → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2