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The Tusks of Extinction

Ray Nayler

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Similar in tone + premise

These books are ranked using the tone + premise labels extracted for The Tusks of Extinction. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Tone labels used: sad, brutal, hopeful, elegiac, thoughtful, contemplative, heavy, tense, heartbreaking, philosophical, grim, quiet

Premise labels used: de-extinction, mammoth revival, consciousness upload, animal cognition, poaching conflict, conservation mission, species survival, extinction ethics, human-animal interface, revenge

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their tone + premise embeddings are close.

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Przewalskis hest

Maja Lunde · 2019 · Klimakvartetten

Three lives across centuries are linked by Przewalski horses, as survival, conservation, and family collide.

Why this is here

Tone labels: dark · sad · bleak · depressing · heart-wrenching · hopeful · touching · emotional · melancholic · anxiety-inducing · somber · beautiful

Premise labels: endangered species · rewilding · species extinction · climate collapse · family survival · human-animal bond · conservation mission · post-collapse survival

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1564

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The Afterlife Project

Tim Weed · 2025

Two timelines race against human extinction: one scientist survives the deep future, while others search for a way to continue the species.

Why this is here

Tone labels: bleak · beautiful · haunting · hopeful · grim · dark · emotional · thought-provoking · meditative · urgent · bittersweet · philosophical · suffused with beauty · dour

Premise labels: human extinction · species survival · future mission · last chance · fertility quest · scientific rescue · deep future · post-collapse survival · lonely survivor · repopulation

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1574

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The Island of Last Things

Emma Sloley · 2025

At the last zoo on Earth, a rule-bound keeper is drawn into a daring plan that could save animals or destroy everything.

Why this is here

Tone labels: bleak · hopeful · heartbreaking · melancholy · poignant · haunting · tender · quiet · contemplative · atmospheric · lyrical · sad · suspenseful · mood-driven

Premise labels: last zoo · animal extinction · zookeeper dilemma · sanctuary quest · animal rescue · captivity vs freedom · conservation ethics · dying world

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1691

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Starość aksolotla

Jacek Dukaj · 2015

After an extinction event, uploaded minds in machine bodies struggle to rebuild society and define what remains human.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholic · bleak · grim · philosophical · intellectual · haunting · alienating · serious · contemplative · pessimistic

Premise labels: global extinction · mind upload · digital survival · posthuman society · robot bodies · rebuilding civilization · body-soul question · humanity after apocalypse · virtual consciousness · machine habitation

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1699

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Arboreality

Rebecca Campbell · 2022

Linked stories follow a Vancouver Island community as climate collapse forces them to salvage books, grow food, and remake life.

Why this is here

Tone labels: haunting · lyrical · poetic · elegiac · melancholic · bittersweet · somber · hopeful · quiet · reflective · disturbing · tender · haunted by loss

Premise labels: climate collapse · ecological collapse · community survival · adaptation · resilience · resource scarcity · knowledge preservation · art under pressure · living architecture · intergenerational survival · local resilience · post-apocalypse

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1708

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Under the Eye of the Big Bird

Hiromi Kawakami · 2024

Interlinked future-fables track humanity’s strange, fragmented attempts to survive extinction, love, and change.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholy · mournful · eerie · brooding · gentle dystopia · quiet · dreamlike · surreal · utopic · pastoral · technical · haunting · uneasy · contemplative

Premise labels: human extinction · future humanity · posthuman survival · cloning · bioengineering · AI governance · interlinked stories · evolutionary experiment · communal life · reproduction crisis

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1717

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After World

Debbie Urbanski · 2023

An AI archivist records the last human on Earth as civilization ends and the planet rewilds.

Why this is here

Tone labels: bleak · grim · melancholy · elegiac · haunting · somber · poetic · strange · dark · unsettling · intimate

Premise labels: last human · AI narrator · human extinction · rewilding · digital afterlife · climate collapse

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1765

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City

Clifford D. Simak · 2004

A future-history fix-up where dogs preserve the myths of humanity as Earth passes from humans to robots and other heirs.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholic · nostalgic · philosophical · calm · pastoral · elegiac · thoughtful · tender · quiet · sad

Premise labels: human extinction · post-human future · dog civilization · robot helpers · future history · oral tradition · mythic history · species succession · civilizational decline · uplifted animals · surviving Earth · legacy of humanity

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1774

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The Trees

Ali Shaw · 2016

After trees erupt across the world overnight, a reluctant man joins a small group crossing a transformed England to survive and find loved ones.

Why this is here

Tone labels: haunting · lush · eerie · brutal · gorgeous · hauntingly lovely · melancholy · quiet · uncanny · whimsical · meditative · uneasy · dark · hopeful

Premise labels: nature reclaims world · forest apocalypse · survival journey · search for loved one · ecological quest · mystical forest · world transformation · human-nature conflict

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1808

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Ark

Veronica Roth · 2019

As Earth nears destruction by asteroid, a young botanist must decide what—and who—matters most before the final ark leaves.

Why this is here

Tone labels: melancholic · somber · quiet · contemplative · tender · poetic · understated · bleak · hopeful · reflective · moody

Premise labels: asteroid impact · evacuation story · last humans · seed preservation · plant cataloging · planetary extinction · human survival · final choice

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1813

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Trashlands

Alison Stine · 2021

In a flood-ravaged future where plastic is currency, a mother in a junkyard camp fights to reclaim her stolen child.

Why this is here

Tone labels: bleak · haunting · somber · gritty · dark · hopeful · melancholy · tense · thought-provoking · emotionally heavy

Premise labels: climate apocalypse · post-collapse survival · plastic economy · mother-child separation · art as resistance · community survival

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1814

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The Bear

Andrew Krivak · 2020

In a post-collapse wilderness, a father prepares his daughter to survive alone, until a bear guides her home.

Why this is here

Tone labels: lyrical · melancholic · haunting · quiet · pensive · gentle · hopeful · elegiac · serene · bittersweet · somber · dreamlike

Premise labels: last humans · father-daughter bond · wilderness survival · journey home · nature reclaiming · human-animal communication · survival skills · post-collapse world

Semantic match: ranked by tone + premise

Distance: 0.1853

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