After
The Book Eaters
Sunyi Dean2022
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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Twilight Eyes
Dean Koontz1985
A young man who can see monsters disguised as humans joins a traveling carnival. He hunts the creatures while trying to avoid the police.
Same tense register, still dark fantasy
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- pace0prose0bleak0
Ninth House
Leigh Bardugo2019
A freshman who can see ghosts monitors the occult rituals of Yale's secret societies. She investigates a murder on campus.
Same tense register, still dark fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Firestarter
Stephen King1980
A father and daughter go on the run from a secret government agency. The girl has the ability to create fire with her mind.
Same tense register, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
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Full Throttle
Joe Hill2019
Thirteen short stories featuring supernatural threats, including a killer truck, a magical hunting ground, and a librarian serving the dead.
Same tense register, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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An Unkindness of Magicians
Kat Howard2017
In a hidden magical New York, houses compete in a lethal tournament for power. A talented outsider enters the contest to dismantle the system.
Same tense register, still dark fantasy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
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Seven Surrenders
Ada Palmer2017
The leaders of global Hives struggle to maintain a centuries-long peace as secrets emerge. The narrator is biased and uses archaic language.
tense → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
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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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
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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.
tense → meditative
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
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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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Grunge
Larry Correia2016
A Marine killed in a bombing is resurrected to hunt supernatural creatures. He joins a private company that kills monsters for government bounties.
tense → sardonic, still horror
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
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.
tense → playful, still urban fantasy
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Flip This Zombie
Jesse Petersen2011
A married couple runs a zombie extermination and 'flipping' business. They treat the apocalypse as a series of domestic and financial hurdles.
tense → playful, still urban fantasy
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Electric Idol
Katee Robert2022
In a modern-day Olympus, Eros is ordered to kill Psyche but chooses to enter a fake marriage with her to protect her from his mother.
tense → playful, still urban fantasy
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
tense → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
tense → propulsive, still urban fantasy
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Skin Game
Jim Butcher2014
Wizard Harry Dresden joins a team of villains to rob a vault in the Underworld. It is a fast-paced heist set in a modern fantasy Chicago.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
tense → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
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All Systems Red
Martha Wells2017
A self-aware security android hacks its own governor module to watch soap operas while protecting a team of scientists on a distant planet.
tense → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
tense → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
tense → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
- pace-2prose+2bleak-2
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2
- pace-2prose+2bleak-1
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.
tense → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1
Heavier
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The Walking Dead: Compendium One
Robert Kirkman2009
A sheriff wakes from a coma into a zombie apocalypse. He leads a group of survivors through various temporary shelters over several years.
tense → bleak, still horror
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
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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.
tense → bleak, still urban fantasy
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Dead Inside
Chandler Morrison2015
A hospital guard and a doctor bond over their shared compulsion to consume human remains. It is a graphic work of transgressive horror.
tense → sardonic, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
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Rise of the Governor
Jay Bonansinga2018
Philip Blake seeks shelter in a zombie-infested Georgia. The story tracks his transformation into a ruthless authoritarian leader.
tense → bleak, still horror
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Black Easter
James Blish1968
An arms dealer hires a black magician to release all the demons of Hell onto Earth for one night. It is a technical look at ritual magic.
tense → cold, still dark fantasy
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
