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Combine common axes
These books are ranked using the tone + premise labels extracted for Noughts & Crosses. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.
Tone labels used: heartbreaking, tragic, emotional, dark, angsty, heavy, shocking, thought-provoking, serious, depressing
Premise labels used: forbidden love, racial reversal, social hierarchy, oppressed underclass, alternate society, race relations
This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their tone + premise embeddings are close.
In a racist near-future society, a grieving young mother and a vengeful brother move toward a devastating reckoning.
Why this is here
Tone labels: bleak · heartbreaking · dark · intense · emotive · shocking · depressing · provocative · gritty · tragic
Premise labels: racial inversion · apartheid society · mixed-race child · parenthood · revenge · prejudice
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1479
In a divided dystopian society, a girl from the oppressed Gutter must navigate debt, identity, and freedom.
Why this is here
Tone labels: heavy · heartbreaking · painful · disturbing · thought-provoking · hopeful · unflinching · melancholic · heartwarming (mixed) · dark
Premise labels: class divide · indentured servitude · debt bondage · social experiment · coming of age · forged identity · freedom struggle · colonial allegory · institutional oppression
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1616
In a far-future America ruled by Black elites, two teen girls from opposite castes risk everything to survive and rebel.
Why this is here
Tone labels: dark · gritty · brutal · disturbing · uncomfortable · controversial · thought-provoking · intense · emotional · eye-opening
Premise labels: role reversal · racial hierarchy · class system · tyranny · resistance · escape · revolution · oppressed elite inversion · alternate future America · forced alliance
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1628
A Bronx teen considers a memory-erasing procedure that could free him from pain—or erase his true self.
Why this is here
Tone labels: dark · sad · heartbreaking · hopeful · bittersweet · emotional · intense · raw · heavy · thought-provoking · devastating · moving
Premise labels: memory erasure · sexual identity · coming out · self-discovery · happiness quest · second chance · forbidden love · futuristic medicine · trauma recovery · identity crisis
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1678
In a Death-Cast world, two troubled boys form a bond while facing suicide, secrets, and a dangerous future.
Why this is here
Tone labels: heavy · dark · heartbreaking · emotional · depressing · intense · bleak · hopeful · tragic · melodramatic · wrenching
Premise labels: suicide ideation · death prediction · survival race · forbidden hope · unlikely connection · living for another
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1694
In a walled postwar city, a human official’s daughter and a half-blood Darkling risk everything for a forbidden bond.
Why this is here
Tone labels: dark · bleak · gritty · tense · romantic · melodramatic · emotional · mysterious · dangerous · brooding
Premise labels: forbidden love · star-crossed lovers · cross-race romance · segregation · oppressive regime · postwar society · deadly conspiracy · class divide · race conflict · identity conflict
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1703
In a brutal near-future circus society, a privileged boy and an enslaved performer risk everything to escape oppression.
Why this is here
Tone labels: dark · grim · brutal · disturbing · unsettling · tense · harrowing · bleak · gritty · shocking
Premise labels: oppressed underclass · forbidden romance · circus survival · deadly performance · social divide · class oppression · racist society · escape mission · star-crossed lovers
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1705
In a post-nuclear future, a woman exiled from a female city and a wilderness man challenge a rigid gender order.
Why this is here
Tone labels: thought-provoking · provocative · unsettling · depressing · hopeful · tense · brutal · serious · reflective · controversial · interesting
Premise labels: gender reversal · female-led society · male exile · walled city · wilderness survival · divided societies · controlled reproduction · forbidden love · cross-cultural contact · social experiment
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1735
A masked rebel and a resistance leader are torn apart by betrayal, forcing love, vengeance, and survival to collide.
Why this is here
Tone labels: dark · emotional · heartbreaking · angsty · brutal · melodramatic · hopeful · intense · tragic · romantic
Premise labels: secret identity · double life · forbidden love · resistance uprising · tortured hero · betrayal · revenge · hidden heir · political overthrow
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1754
A debut short-story collection fusing horror, sci-fi, and fantasy to confront race, class, prejudice, and identity.
Why this is here
Tone labels: disturbing · unsettling · haunting · heartbreaking · provocative · dark · creepy · tense · emotional · thought-provoking · visceral · gloomy · surreal
Premise labels: Black experience · social horror · speculative social commentary · technological dystopia · racism · class conflict · prejudice · identity crisis · body horror · alternative realities
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1757
In a near-future England, a gay teen hides in plain sight under a brutal regime that criminalizes who he loves.
Why this is here
Tone labels: scary · dark · heartbreaking · hopeful · uplifting · emotional · distressing · haunting · timely · important
Premise labels: queer persecution · totalitarian regime · forbidden love · hidden identity · resistance · censorship
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1765
A young man in a gang-run dystopian Britain is pulled into crime to protect love, money, and family.
Why this is here
Tone labels: gripping · hard-hitting · emotional · tragic · dark · tense · intense · thrilling · depressing · heart-wrenching · action packed · thought-provoking
Premise labels: gang involvement · forbidden love · crime pressure · money temptation · revenge · racial inversion · dystopian society · underworld conflict · coming of age · best friends
Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise
Distance: 0.1777
