So I know this is a really specific recommendation, but it's a trope that I enjoy in fanfiction and would love to see in an actual novel.
Dark Matter/Recursion is basically what I'm after, but I specified non sci-fi because I'm not really looking for a scientific exploration of the topic. I'm happy with other genres like fantasy. I'm more in love with the idea of the protagonist waking up in a world that's so similar but just a little bit off. Their closest friends are different, people who are dead are now alive, technology has changed, etc. Bonus points for time travel into an alternate dimension.
edit for clarity: when I mean alternate dimension, I’m not looking for a story where people travel from Earth to a fantasy world. It’s more like that they were originally in the fantasy world, and “travel” to another timeline/reality where perhaps alternate history shenanigans happened, leaving MC with a different life in the same fantasy setting.
by New_Mistake_3482
10 Comments
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig maybe? I feel like what you’re describing is hard to find that isn’t sci-fi.
The Licanius Trilogy, by James Islington
I loved 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, although I know not everyone gets on with it. Weaveworld by Clive Barker might also fit the bill. Both are chunky though
*The Husbands* is close to what you’re looking for, without any traveling to different worlds—more the parallel but different existence.
You are mostly going to get fantasy for this request if you don’t want scifi! Here’s what i got
Gods of Jade and Shadow
Sabriel
Magic Kingdom for sale–Sold! (Brooks has this and another series I believe)
Arabat
The Bone Clocks (iirc! I might not!)
Kindred
11/25/64 (the Stephen King one I can’t remember the numbers correctly) or Fairy Tale or Gunslinger
Neverwhere
The Lathe of Heaven. The most scifi of this list but is so gooood
Oh I forgot my absolute favorite of this: The First Two Lives of Lukas-kasha
You are looking for “portal fantasy”. My favorite is the Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe.
I just finished Piranesi after seeing it recommended in so many different circumstances. I think it fits your request perfectly. I loved it.
Replay by Ken Grimwood uses the groundhog day trope (but over a much longer timeline). Highly recommend this one as a “what difference could a decision make” novel.
Maybe The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier? Time travel, drug induced, but make it gothic. Not fantasy, but fantastical.
The Thousand doors of January, A Spindle Splintered and Mirror Mended by Alix Harrow (one excellent novel and two super fun novellas)
Last Exit by Max Gladstone (exquisite prose but bleak)
Doors of Sleep by Tim Pratt (every time you sleep, you wake up somewhere different)