I love stories without a clear moral conclusion – the kind that have you questioning what the right answer actually is and if the bad guys are all that bad to begin with. I’m in the mood for a head scratcher and would love some suggestions if you have any!
by Far_Bumblebee_4184
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Onsters of men by patrick ness
I know it’s a bit lame but I think it was inferno by Dan brown. I actually rooted for the bad guys there.
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K Jemisin
The Taming of the Shrew
“Never let me go” and “Klara and the sun” both by Kazuo Ishiguro. Made me think about how much life is really worth
On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
Heh heh, those are some of my favorite ones. I’m partial to science fiction precisely because it can introduce incredibly complex ethical issues that really don’t have a clear answer. I find a lot of Octavia Butler’s work really puts the question of consent, free will, and free choice into the crosshairs with the Xenogenesis trilogy being a big one (do we owe it to the aliens who rescued our species from extinction and the earth from dying to change the way we live and more crucially reproduce in a way that removes part of our fundamental humanity even though that change is the only real potential of removing the self destructive tendencies that brought us to extinction in the first place), the Patternmaster series and Fledgling (is it okay to put people in a state of sexual and domestic subservience if said individuals are kept incredibly happy through mental manipulation), etc.
Just finished the Echo Wife this week which also had a lot of questions of consent, loss of autonomy, purpose, and free will in dealing with cloning.
Also just finished Children of Time which places the last refugees of an extinct human species from a dead earth in an inevitable trajectory with a different earth species that evolved to intelligence elsewhere that leaves you trying to decide whether you are actually on team “maybe humanity should just go extinct”. And sets up a very deliberate prisoner’s dilemma.
Where the Crawdads Sing