This is real niche but I’m craving it. I have no idea how best to describe this, but I will try!
Examples (books and non books):
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
- Room by Emma Donoghue
- The Maze Runner by James Dashner
- Severance (the show)
Elements of the type of story/setting I’m looking for:
– the nature of the setting is unknown or in question
– the characters cannot leave or have never left, and don’t know what it is like outside of the setting
– there is very limited flow of information, material, or people in or out of the setting
– there are strict, weird rules (“no one goes through that door”, “if you try to do [thing], [bad thing] will happen”, etc)
What I DON’T want:
– entire isolated societies (City of Ember, Silo)
– short term isolation where everyone remembers their past, knows why they’re there, and knows what’s outside (regular spaceship or prison settings with no twist)
– books that mostly take place AFTER the isolation has been escaped (like in Kimmy Schmidt—adjusting to the real world after years in a bunker cult. I want the story to be IN the bunker cult, ya know?)
I especially love it when there is VERY limited scope (very few characters, very few objects, everyone knows everyone, every detail is important).
Down for any genre! Sci fi, horror, fantasy, mystery, thriller, whatever!
Anyone have good book suggestions? Thanks in advance!
by IReadBooksSometimes
6 Comments
Seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton might fit the brief?
I Who Have Never Known Men definitely fits this. The POV is a girl who grew up in captivity in a bunker with 39 other women. The rest of them remember life before that but she doesn’t. They have no contact with anyone else except the guards who bring them food, and they don’t really know who is in charge or what has happened in the outside world since they became captives
Mexican Gothic
City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita
Heap by Sean Adams
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It’s such a good book!
Both of these books feature a group of kids who wake up trapped in a mysterious unknown location. If you liked The Maze Runner, I‘d highly recommend them:
The Unknown by J.W. Lynne
Alive by Scott Sigler