LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Centaur

Algernon Blackwood1911

5 of 6 directions open — nothing slower

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Starless Sea

    Erin Morgenstern2019

    A graduate student finds a book describing his own childhood and searches for a hidden underground library. The narrative is non-linear.

    Same dreamlike register, still mythic fiction

    pace+1·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.

    Same dreamlike register, still mythic fiction

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Soldier of Sidon

    Gene Wolfe2006

    A mercenary in ancient Egypt loses his memory every time he sleeps. He records his days in a scroll while interacting with gods and spirits.

    dreamlike → meditative, still mythic fiction

    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.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still mythic fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World

    John Mark Comer

    A pastor argues for a slower pace of life based on Christian principles and his own experience with burnout.

    dreamlike → earnest

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Redshirts

    John Scalzi2012

    Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+3·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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+3·prose-2·bleak0

  • Monster Hunter International

    Larry Correia2007

    An accountant kills his boss, who has become a werewolf, and is recruited by a private company that hunts monsters for government bounties.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+3·prose-2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

    Andrus Kivirähk2015

    A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still mythic fiction

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    dreamlike → bleak

    pace+2·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.

    dreamlike → tense

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+2