World War Z

Only Human

Sylvain Neuvel2018

The pilots of a giant alien robot return to Earth after ten years to find the world on the brink of nuclear war. Told through interviews.

Same clinical register, still epistolary

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Flood

Stephen Baxter2008

The sea level rises globally due to water leaking from the Earth's crust. Four former hostages watch as civilization slowly drowns over decades.

Same clinical register, still apocalyptic

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

The Man-Kzin Wars

Larry Niven1989

A collection of stories detailing the first contact and subsequent interstellar wars between peaceful humans and predatory, cat-like aliens.

Same clinical register, still military scifi

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

The Three-Body Problem

Liu Cixin2006

During China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends a signal into space. Decades later, scientists face a global conspiracy.

Same clinical register

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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.

clinical → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

clinical → sardonic

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

The Kaiju Preservation Society

John Scalzi2022

A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Smokin' Seventeen

Janet Evanovich2011

A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

clinical → wry

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

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.

clinical → propulsive

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.

clinical → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

clinical → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

The Forge of God

Greg Bear1987

Scientists and government officials realize Earth is being systematically dismantled by an alien presence.

clinical → elegiac, still apocalyptic

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Cat's Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut1963

A writer researches the creator of the atomic bomb and discovers a substance that freezes all water. He joins an island cult.

clinical → sardonic, still apocalyptic

pace0·prose0·bleak+1