LitQueuelitqueue

After

Winter's Tale

Mark Helprin1983

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Photographing Fairies

    Steve Szilagyi1992

    A photographer investigates a village where children have captured images of fairies. He discovers a hallucinogenic plant and a local cult.

    Same dreamlike register, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Love Bites

    Lynsay Sands2004

    A vampire turns a coroner into an immortal to save her life after an accident. They navigate their new bond while being pursued by others.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1

  • Ghost Ship

    Clive Cussler2014

    Kurt Austin survives a yacht sinking but suffers from conflicting memories. He investigates a global cybercrime conspiracy to find the truth.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → earnest

    pace0·prose-3·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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-3·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.

    dreamlike → propulsive, still chosen one

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Among Others

    Jo Walton2011

    A teenage girl at a 1970s boarding school copes with her twin's death through books and subtle magic. It is written as a series of diary entries.

    dreamlike → tender, still magical realism

    pace-1·prose-2·bleak0

  • Boneland

    Alan Garner2012

    An adult Colin searches for his lost sister while an ancient shaman performs rituals in the same landscape. The two timelines mirror one another.

    dreamlike → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales

    Greer Gilman2009

    A triptych of stories set in a mythic Yorkshire, told in dense, archaic dialect. It follows the intersections of folk magic and celestial myth.

    Same dreamlike register, still historical fantasy

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

    Andrus Kivirähk2015

    A boy in medieval Estonia learns the ancient language of snakes to command animals as his forest culture is erased by Christian invaders.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still historical fantasy

    pace0·prose-2·bleak+2

  • The sad tale of the brothers Grossbart

    Jesse Bullington2009

    Two murderous brothers travel across 14th-century Europe to rob Egyptian tombs. They encounter monsters and religious zealots along the way.

    dreamlike → sardonic, still historical fantasy

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • The Fifth Season

    N. K. Jemisin2015

    A mother searches for her daughter across a continent undergoing a tectonic apocalypse. Some chapters address the reader in the second person.

    dreamlike → bleak

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2