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Fiction Filters

Trope tagging and searching for books

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Books

Tragic ending

Synonyms are not being included. Include synonyms?

Minor Detail

Cover art for Minor Detail
by Adiana Shibli

Series:

Genres:

Historical fiction

Tropes:

Amateur detective, Close-knit community protects their own, Implied Autism, Kidnapping, Loosely based on a true story, Rape

Characters:

Adult characters, Autistic character(s), Journalist, Soldier

Time Periods:

1940-1949, Information Age

Places:

Israel, Palestine, State of Palestine

Feed

Cover art for Feed
by Mira Grant

Series:

Newsflesh

Genres:

Dystopian fiction, Political thriller, Zombie horror

Tropes:

Character blog, Dystopia, Pandemic, Politics, Road trip, Unreliable narrator

Characters:

Blogger, Characters in their 20s, Journalist

Time Periods:

Short-Term Future

Places:

America, California

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

by Seth Dickinson

Series:

The Masquerade

Genres:

Fantasy, Historical fantasy, Speculative fiction

Tropes:

Feelings denial, Feelings realization, Rivals to lovers, Unreliable narrator, Women loving women

Characters:

Character with substance abuse issues, Character(s) with TBI, Lesbian main character(s), Morally grey main character

Time Periods:

Places:

A Little Life

Cover art for A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara

Series:

Genres:

Contemporary fiction

Tropes:

Bury your gays, Everyone is gay, Found family, Friends to lovers, Priests are pedophiles, Straight with an exception, Tragic backstory

Characters:

Time Periods:

Information Age

Places:

New York City

Gideon the Ninth

Cover art for Gideon the Ninth
by Tamsyn Muir

Series:

The Locked Tomb

Genres:

Occult mystery, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Sword and sorcery

Tropes:

Anyone can die, Dysfunctional family, Everyone is gay, Tragic backstory, Unreliable narrator, Women loving women

Characters:

Characters in their late teens, Cisgender woman main character(s), Lesbian main character(s), Loner, Necromancer, Orphan, Queer side character(s), Warrior

Time Periods:

Long-Term Future

Places:

Castle, Fictional planet, Outer space

Gyo: The Death-Stench Creeps

by Junji Ito, Yuji Oniki

Series:

Genres:

Cosmic horror, Creature horror, Horror Graphic Novel, Science fiction horror

Tropes:

Anyone can die, Apocalypse, Last man standing, Science caused the apocalypse, Science goes wrong, Stranger than fiction, Survivor by coincidence

Characters:

Characters in their 20s, East Asian main character(s), Heterosexual main character, Japanese main character

Time Periods:

Information Age

Places:

Beach, City, Japan

Strange the Dreamer

by Laini Taylor

Series:

Genres:

High fantasy

Tropes:

Characters:

Adult characters, Ageless or immortal characters, Characters aged over 50, Characters in their late teens, Librarian, Magic user, Teen main character(s)

Time Periods:

Iron Age (Fantastical)

Places:

City, Fantastic world, Unnamed

Search books…

Include:

Genres

Tropes

Character Traits

Setting: Time Period

Setting: Location

Sex Ratings

Language Ratings

Violence Ratings

Ending Type

Content Notes or Warnings

Appeal

Publication Date

Note that we don't have dates for all the books in our database.

Exclude:

Genres

Tropes

Character Traits

Setting: Time Period

Setting: Location

Sex Ratings

Language Ratings

Violence Ratings

Ending Type

Content Notes or Warnings

Appeal

Authors

Publishers

Publication Date

Note that we don't have dates for all the books in our database.

Search Tips

  • use “quotation marks around a phrase” to search for an exact phrase
  • use – in front of a word or quoted phrase to exclude it from the search results, e.g. -“enemies to lovers”
  • right now, the checkbox options aren’t narrowed down as you search, but stay tuned! We’re working on it.

This is an academic research project on crowdsourced tagging and building a vocabulary for fiction.

How does this work?

  1. Add books to our database, if the book you want to tag isn’t already there. You can import your books from StoryGraph or Goodreads if you want to save time.
  2. Add tags to the books. Your tag set is your own, and you’ll be able to come back and edit it if you want. Other taggers can’t view your tag set or overwrite your tags.
  3. View the book, and use the tags to see what other books share your favorite tropes and characters!
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