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The real monsters are the humans

This is the preferred term. Synonyms are included. You can turn off synonyms.

Broader terms: General tropes

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

Search books…

Keyword

Include:

Genres

Contemporary romance
Sports romance
- Hockey romance
Fantasy of manners
Science fiction
Fantasy
Contemporary fiction
New adult fiction
Alternate history
Science fiction and fantasy

Tropes

Men loving men
Women loving women
Enemies to lovers
Friends to lovers
Found family
Unreliable narrator
Dysfunctional family
Politics
Ensemble cast
Fish out of water

Character Traits

Characters in their 20s
East Asian main character(s)
White/European diasporic main character(s)
Queer main character(s)
Lesbian main character(s)
Teen main character(s)
Characters in their late teens
Adult characters
Character(s) with depression
Hockey player

Setting: Time Period

Information Age
Regency Era
Long-Term Future
Short-Term Future
2010-2020
1900-1910
1800-1810
Victorian Era
1980s
1960s

Setting: Location

Outer space
Secondary World
England
London
College
City
New York City
United States
Japan
Massachusetts

Sex Ratings

Youth: discussed or implied sexuality or sensuality
Teen: fade to black or closed door sex acts, on-page sensuality
General: no apparent sexuality or sensuality
Explicit: on-page, highly detailed sex acts
Adult: on-page, moderately described sex acts
Mature: on-page, vaguely described sex acts

Language Ratings

Some profanity
Frequent profanity
No profanity

Violence Ratings

Life-threatening violence
No violence
Frequent Violence
Violence 4+: graphic, infrequent, life-threatening
Non-life-threatening violence
Violence 2: infrequent, non-life-threatening
Infrequent violence
Violence 1: no violence
Graphic violence
Violence 5+: graphic, repeated, life-threatening

Ending Type

Happily ever after
Bittersweet ending
Happily for now
Open ending
Tragic ending
Hopeful ending
Cliffhanger ending
Triumphant ending
Ambiguous ending
Incomplete ending

Content Notes or Warnings

Body horror
Main character death
Murder
Secondary character death
Child abuse
Gun violence
Period typical homophobia
Internalized homophobia
Systemic homophobia
Toxic romantic relationships

Appeal

Flawed characters
Likeable characters
Vibrant characters
Complex characters
Detailed world building
Character-driven
Funny
Hopeful
Cozy
Single point of view

Publication Date

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

Exclude:

Genres

Contemporary romance
Sports romance
- Hockey romance
Fantasy of manners
Science fiction
Fantasy
Contemporary fiction
New adult fiction
Alternate history
Science fiction and fantasy

Tropes

Men loving men
Women loving women
Enemies to lovers
Friends to lovers
Found family
Unreliable narrator
Dysfunctional family
Politics
Ensemble cast
Fish out of water

Character Traits

Characters in their 20s
East Asian main character(s)
White/European diasporic main character(s)
Queer main character(s)
Lesbian main character(s)
Teen main character(s)
Characters in their late teens
Adult characters
Character(s) with depression
Hockey player

Setting: Time Period

Information Age
Regency Era
Long-Term Future
Short-Term Future
2010-2020
1900-1910
1800-1810
Victorian Era
1980s
1960s

Setting: Location

Outer space
Secondary World
England
London
College
City
New York City
United States
Japan
Massachusetts

Sex Ratings

Youth: discussed or implied sexuality or sensuality
Teen: fade to black or closed door sex acts, on-page sensuality
General: no apparent sexuality or sensuality
Explicit: on-page, highly detailed sex acts
Adult: on-page, moderately described sex acts
Mature: on-page, vaguely described sex acts

Language Ratings

Some profanity
Frequent profanity
No profanity

Violence Ratings

Life-threatening violence
No violence
Frequent Violence
Violence 4+: graphic, infrequent, life-threatening
Non-life-threatening violence
Violence 2: infrequent, non-life-threatening
Infrequent violence
Violence 1: no violence
Graphic violence
Violence 5+: graphic, repeated, life-threatening

Ending Type

Happily ever after
Bittersweet ending
Happily for now
Open ending
Tragic ending
Hopeful ending
Cliffhanger ending
Triumphant ending
Ambiguous ending
Incomplete ending

Content Notes or Warnings

Body horror
Main character death
Murder
Secondary character death
Child abuse
Gun violence
Period typical homophobia
Internalized homophobia
Systemic homophobia
Toxic romantic relationships

Appeal

Flawed characters
Likeable characters
Vibrant characters
Complex characters
Detailed world building
Character-driven
Funny
Hopeful
Cozy
Single point of view

Authors

Martha Wells
Rainbow Rowell
Seth Dickinson
James S.A. Corey
Cat Sebastian
Georgette Heyer
Laini Taylor
F.C. Yee
Michael Dante DiMartino
Tamsyn Muir

Publishers

Self Published
Tor Books
Macmillan Audio
TorDotCom
Forge
Orbit
Del Rey
First Second
Berkley Publishing
DAW

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.

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