I really like books with unique, sharp, well-executed concepts. I'm looking for some new ones. Does anyone have any suggestions?
For example, some ones I've really liked are:
-[Middle Grade With a Name I've Forgotten]: Basic premise: You're a traveler, and you've come across a town in which every inhabitant has died. Every inhabitant has a gravestone except the last person to die, because there was no one left to bury them. Each gravestone has an epitaph that's a single four-line poem. You only get to hear from each character once, because they only have one headstone each. Your job is to figure out what happened to the town.
-Piranesi: Basic premise: You are one of only two living people in the world, and you live in a labyrinth. Then, you begin to suspect the existence of a third human.
-The Man in the Empty Suit: A time traveler visits the same hotel on his objective birthday every year for a birthday party, in which the only guests are himself from each year of his life. Then one of the versions of him is murdered, and he must solve his own future murder as the timeline begins to unravel.
-The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: You are trapped in a house for one day, at the end of which someone will be murdered. You will reincarnate as a different person and relive the day seven times, but you do not know who. You can work with your future selves, but you cannot know if the people claiming to be you in the future are telling the truth, or lying to throw you off. If you cannot prevent the murder, you can never leave the house.
-Oona Out of Order: A woman lives each year of her adult life out of order.
Now that I write them all out, these all seem to have some element of mystery or a puzzle, but that's not a requirement. What high-concept books have you loved? What was the coolest or most unique concept you've seen in a book? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
by NewtsCommitTaxFraud
2 Comments
* The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe by D. G. Compton. One of the most well0-written books I’ve ever read. Set in the future where most illnesses have been cured, but the main character receives a rare terminal diagnosis.
* Void Star by Zachary Mason. Follows a cast of characters in the high tech far future. Also very well-written.
* The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers. Very creative and well thought out setting. A group of people end up stuck at a space ship rest stop unexpectedly.
* The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Ambassador goes to a genderless society.
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