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Fiction Filters

Trope tagging and searching for books

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Books

Fish out of water

Synonyms are not being included. Include synonyms?

Banana Fish, Vol. 1

by Akimi Yoshida, Matt Thorn (Translator)

Series:

Banana Fish

Genres:

Conspiracy thriller

Tropes:

Betrayal, Conspiracy, Fish out of water, Hostage situation, Organized crime

Characters:

Adult characters, American main character, East Asian main character(s), Gangster, Photographer, Teen main character(s)

Time Periods:

1980s

Places:

New York City

A Hero Born

by Anna Holmwood (Translator), Jin Yong

Series:

Legends of the Condor Heroes, The Condor Trilogy

Genres:

Family saga, Wuxia

Tropes:

Arranged marriage, Band of misfits, Coming of age, Dysfunctional family, Fish out of water, Playing the long game, Shoot first ask questions later, Time skip

Characters:

Adult characters, Child characters, Daoist priest, East Asian main character(s), Martial artist, Oblivious hero, Teen main character(s)

Time Periods:

Jin Dynasty, Southern Song Dynasty

Places:

China, Mongolia

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford

Series:

Genres:

Coming-of-age fiction, Historical fiction, World War II fiction

Tropes:

Break up, Coming of age, Dysfunctional family, First love, Fish out of water, Forbidden love, Friends to lovers, Growing up, Miscommunication, Rekindled relationship, Secret relationship, Time skip

Characters:

Chinese American main character(s), East Asian diasporic main character(s), East Asian main character(s), Japanese American main character(s)

Time Periods:

Radio Age, World War II

Places:

Idaho, New York City, Seattle, United States, Washington

A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas

Series:

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Genres:

Fairy tale retelling, Fantasy

Tropes:

Beauty and the Beast retelling, Enemies to lovers, Feelings realization, Fish out of water, Forced proximity, Kidnapping

Characters:

Ageless or immortal characters, Artist, Fantasy species characters, Human characters, Huntress

Time Periods:

Places:

Fantastic world

The Monster Baru Cormorant

by Seth Dickinson

Series:

The Masquerade

Genres:

Fantasy

Tropes:

Deadly game, Fish out of water, Road trip, Unreliable narrator

Characters:

Femme fatale, Lesbian main character(s), Morally grey main character, Nonbinary main character(s)

Time Periods:

Places:

Fangirl

Cover art for Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell

Series:

Genres:

Contemporary romance, New adult fiction

Tropes:

Coming of age, Fish out of water, Friends to lovers, Sibling rivalry

Characters:

Characters in their 20s, Early adult characters, Writer

Time Periods:

2010-2020

Places:

College

Cackle

Cover art for Cackle
by Rachel Harrison

Series:

Genres:

Contemporary fiction, Urban fantasy, Witchcraft fiction

Tropes:

Fish out of water, Found family, Frumpy to fabulous, Hot witch, I don't need no man, The power was inside you all along, The real monsters are the humans, Unreliable narrator

Characters:

Ageless or immortal characters, Character(s) with anxiety, Character(s) with depression, Characters in their 30s, High school teacher, Morally grey main character, Teacher, White/European diasporic main character

Time Periods:

Information Age

Places:

Upstate New York

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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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