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After

Thunderer

Felix Gilman2007

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Secret Commonwealth

    Philip Pullman2019

    A twenty-year-old Lyra travels across Europe and Asia while estranged from her daemon. The story explores the philosophical nature of Dust.

    tense → elegiac, still fantasy

    pace0·prose+2·bleak0

Denser prose

tense → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Ficciones

    Jorge Luis Borges1945

    A collection of short stories exploring philosophical paradoxes, infinite libraries, and imaginary encyclopedias.

    tense → meditative

    pace0·prose+3·bleak-1

  • At Swim-Two-Birds

    Flann O'Brien1939

    A student writes a story about a man whose own characters rebel and plot against him. It incorporates Irish myth and multiple layers of fiction.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose+3·bleak-2

  • Love & Sleep

    John Crowley1994

    Pierce Moffett researches the history of magic while living in a small town. The narrative shifts between his life and the Renaissance.

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak-1

To recover

tense → playful, still fantasy

3 more ↓

  • The Princess Bride

    William Goldman1973

    A farm boy seeks to rescue his true love from a prince. The story is presented as an abridged version of a fictional historical text.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • Tress of the Emerald Sea

    Brandon Sanderson2023

    A girl leaves her island to rescue a friend from a sorceress. She travels across oceans made of dangerous, reactive fungal spores.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • The Devils

    Joe Abercrombie2025

    A group of monsters and criminals is recruited by the church to protect a fantasy Europe from an impending elven invasion.

    tense → elegiac, still fantasy

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Changes

    Jim Butcher2010

    A wizard discovers he has a daughter who has been kidnapped by vampires. He must race against time and sacrifice his principles to save her.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak0

  • Promise of Blood

    Brian McClellan2013

    A Field Marshal stages a bloody coup against his king and must defend the new government using soldiers who gain magic powers from gunpowder.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak0

  • A Memory of Light

    Robert Jordan2013

    The final volume of a long-running series where various nations and magical users unite for a final battle against an ancient evil.

    tense → earnest

    pace+2·prose+1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Habitation of the Blessed

    Catherynne M. Valente2010

    A priest finds the lost kingdom of Prester John. The story is told through three nested layers of journals, myths, and historical accounts.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak-1

  • 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.

    tense → meditative, still fantasy

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Unfinished Tales

    J.R.R. Tolkien1980

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

    tense → meditative

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    Same tense register

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → bleak

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → cold

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1