LitQueuelitqueue

After

This Is the Way the World Ends

James Morrow1986

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Chronic City

    Jonathan Lethem2009

    A former child star and a pop-culture critic wander a surreal, snow-covered Manhattan filled with conspiracies and virtual realities.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Denser prose

Same sardonic register, still satire

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Too Like the Lightning

    Ada Palmer2016

    In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.

    Same sardonic register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

sardonic → playful, still satire

3 more ↓

  • Year zero

    Reid, Robert2012

    Aliens discover that Earth's music is the best in the galaxy and they owe humanity trillions in copyright fines.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Tuesdays with Morrie

    Mitch Albom1994

    A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.

    sardonic → tender

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Warrior Rising

    P.C. Cast2008

    Goddesses transport a modern woman to ancient Troy to seduce and distract Achilles. It is a lighthearted fish-out-of-water romance.

    sardonic → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

  • 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.

    sardonic → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Dandelion Wine

    Ray Bradbury1946

    A twelve-year-old boy experiences a series of vignettes over one summer in 1928 Illinois. The chapters focus on small-town life and aging.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-3

  • For Us, the Living

    Robert A. Heinlein2003

    A 1930s pilot wakes up in the year 2086. The book consists of long dialogues explaining the social, economic, and sexual norms of the future.

    sardonic → earnest

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3