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After

The Summer Tree

Guy Gavriel Kay1984

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Paul takes the form of a mortal girl

    Andrea Lawlor2017

    A student in the 1990s uses his ability to change his physical sex and appearance to explore different queer subcultures across America.

    Same playful register

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Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Folded World

    Catherynne M. Valente2011

    In 1145, a priest travels to find the kingdom of Prester John, told through letters and shifting perspectives of his companions.

    playful → elegiac, still mythic fantasy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Tomb of Dragons

    Sarah Monette2025

    playful → elegiac, still mythic fantasy

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Shadow of the Torturer

    Gene Wolfe1980

    An apprentice torturer is exiled for showing mercy to a prisoner. He travels across a far-future Earth where technology is mistaken for magic.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Fifty Shades of Grey

    E.L. James2000

    A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

    playful → earnest

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    playful → wry

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • 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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·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.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Tehanu

    Ursula K. Le Guin1990

    A widow cares for an aging mage who has lost his magic. The story focuses on domestic life and the aftermath of past adventures.

    playful → meditative, still found family

    pace-2·prose0·bleak0

  • Little, Big

    John Crowley1981

    A man marries into a family living in a massive house where the borders of the natural world blur. It follows several generations over a century.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    playful → meditative

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Poppy War

    R.F. Kuang2018

    A war orphan enters a military academy and discovers shamanic powers. She leads a unit into a total war inspired by 20th-century Chinese history.

    playful → bleak

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • The Traitor Baru Cormorant

    Seth Dickinson2015

    An accountant infiltrates the empire that conquered her home to destroy it from within. She uses economics and politics as her primary weapons.

    playful → cold

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • Song of Kali

    Dan Simmons1985

    An American poet travels to Calcutta to find a manuscript by a dead writer. He encounters a cult that worships the goddess of destruction.

    playful → bleak

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2