I’ve just finished reading Susanna Clarke’s ‘Piranesi,’ and it was honestly one of the most outstanding books I’ve read in a while! (And had probably one of my favorite narrators I’ve ever read.) It looks like there have already been a lot of fantastic discussions about its themes and meaning in this sub, but one of the things I loved most about it was the way it invoked a sort of parallel world/universe to get us to reflect on the nature and limitations of our own world — a framework that made me think of another book I love, China Mieville’s ‘The City & The City,’ which does something similar but in a less magical/fantastical way.
I’m curious if anyone might have recommendations for similar books that employ that device — i.e. a setting that involves a world that’s subtly different to ours (or is connected to ours in some way?), but closer to magical realism or alternate history than hard sci-fi or fantasy.
I’m not sure if I’ve explained that very well haha, but honestly any recommendations that you feel give a similar vibe to either/both of those books would be appreciated! Thank you in advance!! 🙂
by chattahattan
3 Comments
Annihilation has the same exploration of an unknown area type of thing going for it plus memory stuff.
There’s always Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman?