After
The Star Kings
Edmond Hamilton1949
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing faster
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same propulsive register, still chosen one
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Planet of the Damned
Harry Harrison1962
A champion athlete is sent to a hostile planet to stop a nuclear war. He must survive the lethal environment and negotiate with its inhabitants.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Star Hunter
Andre Norton1961
A guide brainwashes a young man into posing as a lost heir on a jungle planet. The imposter soon struggles to distinguish truth from his programming.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Star Trek - Into Darkness
Alan Dean Foster2013
The crew of the Enterprise pursues a rogue operative who has attacked Starfleet. It is a novelization of the 2013 film.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
propulsive → wry, still space opera
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
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, still space opera
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
Perhaps the Stars
Ada Palmer2021
A global war between ideological factions reaches its conclusion. The story is told through a dense, 18th-century style narrative voice.
propulsive → meditative, still space opera
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+1
The Citadel of the Autarch
Gene Wolfe1983
Severian reaches the front lines of a war and fulfills his prophecy. The story concludes his journey through a dying, far-future Earth.
propulsive → meditative, still chosen one
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
Empty Space
M. John Harrison2012
Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.
propulsive → dreamlike, still space opera
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-3prose+3bleak+2
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+2
Slower
- pace-3prose+3bleak+2
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+2
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → meditative
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-3prose+3bleak+1
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·bleak+1
- pace-3prose+3bleak0
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·bleak0
- pace-3prose+3bleak+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.
propulsive → playful
pace-3·prose+3·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
Consider Phlebas
Iain Banks1987
A shape-shifting mercenary works for an alien empire to retrieve a rogue AI during a galactic war. He faces a series of deadly set-pieces.
propulsive → bleak, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+2bleak+3
An Exchange of Hostages
Susan R. Matthews1997
A surgeon is drafted into a space empire's corps of torturers. He tries to maintain his ethics while being trained to inflict pain.
propulsive → clinical, still space opera
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story
Stephen R. Donaldson
A space pirate, a victim, and a police officer are trapped in a cycle of abuse and betrayal. The narrative shifts perspectives to reveal lies.
propulsive → bleak, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
Dark Age
Pierce Brown2019
An outlawed revolutionary fights a losing war on Mercury while an exiled heir attempts to reclaim a space empire. It is a violent military epic.
Same propulsive register, still space opera
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+2bleak+3
Salt
Adam Roberts2000
Two groups of colonists with opposing ideologies settle on a salt-covered planet, leading to a total breakdown of their society.
propulsive → bleak, still planetary romance
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
