LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Walking Dead, Vol. 1

Robert Kirkman2004

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic

1 more ↓

  • White Horse

    Alex Adams2012

    After a global pandemic and nuclear event, a woman travels across a decimated landscape to find her family.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

bleak → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Blindness

    José Saramago1999

    An epidemic of sudden blindness strikes a city, leading to the collapse of social order. A small group struggles to survive in a filthy asylum.

    Same bleak register

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    bleak → dark

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000

    L. Ron Hubbard2000

    A human survivor leads a rebellion against the Psychlos, an alien race that has strip-mined Earth for a thousand years.

    bleak → propulsive, still post-apocalyptic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Under the Whispering Door

    TJ Klune2021

    A selfish lawyer dies and waits in a supernatural tea shop to transition to the afterlife. He befriends the shopkeeper and other ghosts.

    bleak → warm

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • This Girl

    Colleen Hoover2013

    A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

    bleak → earnest

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Cell

    Stephen King2006

    A signal sent through cell phones turns people into murderous killers. An artist walks across New England to find his son among the survivors.

    bleak → tense, still zombie fiction

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 28 Days Later

    Alex Garland2002

    A man wakes from a coma to find London deserted and overrun by humans infected with a rage virus. He joins a small group of survivors.

    Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • The Fall

    Thomas A. Watson

    A survivalist uses his preparation and skills to protect his family during a sudden global collapse. The focus is on tactical defense.

    bleak → earnest, still post-apocalyptic

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    bleak → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    bleak → meditative

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak-1

Heavier

Same bleak register, still post-apocalyptic

3 more ↓

  • One

    Conrad Williams2009

    A man walks across a scorched, post-apocalyptic Britain to find his son. He encounters red rain, ruins, and cannibalism.

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Resistance

    William C. Dietz2009

    In 1951, an American soldier joins the British resistance against an evolving alien species that has conquered Europe. It is a military war story.

    bleak → tense, still post-apocalyptic

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Fall of the Governor: Part One

    Jay Bonansinga

    This novel tracks Philip Blake's transformation from a desperate father into the dictatorial villain known as the Governor.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1