Walk In Hell (The Great War, Book 2)

Blood & iron

Harry Turtledove2001

In an alternate history where the South won the Civil War, multiple characters navigate the political and social aftermath of a global conflict.

Same bleak register, still alternate history

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Against the Tide of Years

S.M. Stirling

The inhabitants of Nantucket, sent back to 1250 BC, expand their influence across the Bronze Age world through technology and warfare.

bleak → propulsive, still alternate history

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A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones / A Clash of Kings / A Storm of Swords / A Feast for Crows / A Dance with Dragons)

George R. R. Martin2012

Noble houses fight for a throne while an ancient threat grows in the north. The narrative shifts between many characters across two continents.

Same bleak register, still multiple pov

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On My Way to Paradise

Dave Wolverton1989

A pharmacist in a future Panama joins a mercenary army to pay for his escape from a war-torn Earth.

Same bleak register, still military sci-fi

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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.

pace0·prose+2·bleak0

All Those Vanished Engines

Paul Park2014

Three linked stories follow the Park family through an alternate history where the American Civil War ended in a two-nation settlement.

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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.

bleak → playful

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Phule's Company

Robert Lynn Asprin1990

A wealthy captain is court-martialed and sent to lead a group of military misfits on a remote frontier planet.

bleak → playful, still military sci-fi

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Hell Divers

Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016

Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Lines of Departure

Marko Kloos2014

An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.

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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.

bleak → dreamlike

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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.

bleak → meditative

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Elvissey

Jack Womack1993

Travelers from a corporate dystopia visit an alternate 1954 to kidnap Elvis Presley. They find a version of him that is dangerous and unstable.

Same bleak register, still alternate history

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Kaleidoscope Century

John Barnes1995

A mercenary wakes every ten years to a new body and a changing world. He uncovers his own history of atrocities across the 21st century.

Same bleak register, still military sci-fi

pace+1·prose0·bleak+1