Books similar to Annihilation.
June 29, 2021 1:27 PM Subscribe
Need recommendations for sci-fi/horror novels similar to Annihilation.. Please recommend anything you've read that is well written, in the sci-fi or horror genre, and is an easy read while still being a great story. Preferably under 300 pages but that's not a strict rule if it's really compelling. Lovecraftian Cosmic horror/ body horror/ alien life form themes are a plus, but also not a requirement. Just looking for a few compelling hopefully mind-blowing reads for the rest of summer.
I don't read as much these days and what I do read is almost strictly non-fiction. But I recently read Annihilation cover to cover in two days. I liked the themes and liked that it was stripped down with not too much backstory or extremely intricate world-building. The characters were just plot devices without even names, and there was just enough backstory to make the narrator believable, at least as a character if not as an actual biologist. I don't seem to have the attention span these days for deeply layered Dune-esque fiction. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
I don't read as much these days and what I do read is almost strictly non-fiction. But I recently read Annihilation cover to cover in two days. I liked the themes and liked that it was stripped down with not too much backstory or extremely intricate world-building. The characters were just plot devices without even names, and there was just enough backstory to make the narrator believable, at least as a character if not as an actual biologist. I don't seem to have the attention span these days for deeply layered Dune-esque fiction. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Apologies if this is too obvious, but Annihilation wound up being the first book of a trilogy, and the other two books, Authority and Acceptance, are also very good.
posted by bassooner at 1:40 PM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by bassooner at 1:40 PM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
Perhaps the Laundry Files series by (mefi's own) Charles Stross? It combines Lovecraftian horror with spy fiction. The novelette "A Colder War" (online here) is an earlier (albeit darker) take on the same idea if you want a low-effort introduction.
posted by suetanvil at 1:42 PM on June 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by suetanvil at 1:42 PM on June 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
A lot of Jeff Vandermeer's recent work is in an Annihilation-ish vein - you have read the other two in the trilogy, right? - such as Borne, its sorta-sequel Dead Astronauts, and their kinda-spinoff The Strange Bird.
I also found some thematic and tonal similarities to a lot of Laird Barron's horror short stories. The Beautiful Thing that Awaits us All is a great starting point.
There's a lot more worldbuilding, but a lot of China Mieville's work leans into the body horror stuff in ways you might find compelling. His novel Embassytown in particular has some very alien aliens, but pretty much everything he writes makes me squirm at times in a good body-horror way.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:44 PM on June 29, 2021 [5 favorites]
I also found some thematic and tonal similarities to a lot of Laird Barron's horror short stories. The Beautiful Thing that Awaits us All is a great starting point.
There's a lot more worldbuilding, but a lot of China Mieville's work leans into the body horror stuff in ways you might find compelling. His novel Embassytown in particular has some very alien aliens, but pretty much everything he writes makes me squirm at times in a good body-horror way.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:44 PM on June 29, 2021 [5 favorites]
I was really chilled by The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon).
posted by gauche at 1:48 PM on June 29, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by gauche at 1:48 PM on June 29, 2021 [5 favorites]
Starfish by Peter Watts, maybe? Horror-inflected science fiction in a near future setting with a small group of modified humans living in an experimental geothermal station at the bottom of a deep sea rift. It doesn’t necessarily share themes with Annihilation, but it had a somewhat similar feel to me.
posted by cimton at 2:00 PM on June 29, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by cimton at 2:00 PM on June 29, 2021 [6 favorites]
The Raw Shark Texts could work, maybe veering more into metaphysical thriller vs horror but really interesting and fun and I found it a quick read (it's over 300 pages, but many pages have very little writing on them.
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 2:02 PM on June 29, 2021
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 2:02 PM on June 29, 2021
Also by Peter Watts is the incredible Blindsight (available free online), with has a "side-quel" companion called Echopraxia. Poke around his website to get a feel for things, like hive minds and the bicameral threat!
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:10 PM on June 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:10 PM on June 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
Have you read Solaris yet? Truly alien intelligence, lots of weird things happen that don't get explained, big hard scifi data dumps. I personally didn't care much for Annihilation, It had the shape of something I should have liked and wanted to like, but I didn't really like this particular book. I thought Solaris did a lot of similar things, but to tell a story I actually cared about.
FWIW I've only read it once so far and it was the (bad, most in print) polishtofrenchtoenglish translation, and the next time I read it will be this version.
posted by phunniemee at 2:13 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
FWIW I've only read it once so far and it was the (bad, most in print) polishtofrenchtoenglish translation, and the next time I read it will be this version.
posted by phunniemee at 2:13 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
More of Lem may fit:
- The Futurological Congress
- Eden
The horror elements are quite light and in the first more comic and existential, but there is a lot of WTF is going on here?
posted by chiefthe at 2:20 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
- The Futurological Congress
- Eden
The horror elements are quite light and in the first more comic and existential, but there is a lot of WTF is going on here?
posted by chiefthe at 2:20 PM on June 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
I recently read The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. They're both short, intense, and extremely compelling. They aren't cosmic horror, but I think they'd otherwise fit what you're looking for.
posted by darchildre at 2:27 PM on June 29, 2021
posted by darchildre at 2:27 PM on June 29, 2021
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke hits a lot of the same notes of loneliness, mystery, and slippery identity. It's a deserted, archaeological puzzle rather than a fecund, florid one, but I think it scratched the same itch for me.
posted by fountainofdoubt at 2:38 PM on June 29, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by fountainofdoubt at 2:38 PM on June 29, 2021 [10 favorites]
I also came in to recommend Peter Watts, especially Starfish. After reading it I commented to my partner that it had the same vibe as Annihilation (also it is really good).
posted by DTMFA at 3:42 PM on June 29, 2021
posted by DTMFA at 3:42 PM on June 29, 2021
Blood Music by Greg Bear is body horror about an "alien" invader in your veins.
posted by SPrintF at 3:45 PM on June 29, 2021
posted by SPrintF at 3:45 PM on June 29, 2021
You might try Lovecraft Country, which has an overall arc but is in many ways an anthology of closely related stories that drop an African American family into Lovecraftian horror tales. And also segregationist horror tales.
Similar subject matter by an African American author is the novella The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle.
posted by mark k at 5:27 PM on June 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
Similar subject matter by an African American author is the novella The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle.
posted by mark k at 5:27 PM on June 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
Just as a general thing, Annihilation reminded me of New Wave science fiction from the 60s and 70s-- a movement to include more experimental literary style and pessimism in sf. Specific works aren't coming to mind, but maybe some JG Ballard?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:28 PM on June 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:28 PM on June 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
VanderMeer has a new book out, Hummingbird Salamander, which is a present-day/near-future thriller with similar themes of ecological/ontological collapse.
As for other authors, I’d throw Atwood’s MaddAdam Trilogy in there, in terms of being hauntingly beautiful and utterly depressing.
posted by Coda at 7:03 PM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
As for other authors, I’d throw Atwood’s MaddAdam Trilogy in there, in terms of being hauntingly beautiful and utterly depressing.
posted by Coda at 7:03 PM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir might be okay for you. This is the first of two and a third is in the pipe. No body weirdness but definitely some other types of weirdness that is fun, interesting and compelling.
The Last Human by Zack Jordan might also be okay for you. No weird body stuff but definitely aliens and "what is a body if you have many of them that share a single brain". It starts out fun, gets serious, becomes a little philosophical then hits grandiose.
Any of Jeff VanderMeer's earlier work will be just fine for you.
I fell in love with China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. There is definitely some world-building going on here but what a world! In fact, despite being stylistically very far apart, Chine Mieville and Jeff VanderMeer may have some thematic similarities.
If you're thinking of the Stross Laundry Files mentioned above - and you should because they're a lot of fun, then you should also consider Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. Well written, clever, easy to read and easy to follow. It's more modern world fantasy than horror or sci-fi but still quite compelling, if that's your thing.
posted by ashbury at 7:47 PM on June 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
The Last Human by Zack Jordan might also be okay for you. No weird body stuff but definitely aliens and "what is a body if you have many of them that share a single brain". It starts out fun, gets serious, becomes a little philosophical then hits grandiose.
Any of Jeff VanderMeer's earlier work will be just fine for you.
I fell in love with China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. There is definitely some world-building going on here but what a world! In fact, despite being stylistically very far apart, Chine Mieville and Jeff VanderMeer may have some thematic similarities.
If you're thinking of the Stross Laundry Files mentioned above - and you should because they're a lot of fun, then you should also consider Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. Well written, clever, easy to read and easy to follow. It's more modern world fantasy than horror or sci-fi but still quite compelling, if that's your thing.
posted by ashbury at 7:47 PM on June 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
Yes! First, yes read the second two books. Also suggest Hummingbird Salamander, it's quite good. I also read Ambergris by him (it's three combined books) and felt it dragged seriously in the middle (it's quite long) so maaaaybe don't try that one. Some body horror in it but way too much backstory if that's not your thing.
Can also highly recommend Peter Watts. Blindsight works as a standalone book, I haven't read the others in that series. The rifters books, starting with Starfish is a great bit of world building but mostly told through characters, and some really interesting and unusual trauma-informed fuckery (Watts can be super dark).
Just in case you haven't read the Murderbot books, they're definitely becoming an AskMe fave. They start with this book. They are short interesting reads, have a little humor in them but not too much.
Zone One by Colson Whitehead is a good standard zombie horror book written by someone who is good at writing.
Robert Charles Wilson wrote a series of books starting with Spin which are a lot more straightforward scifi but good but they're on the long side. You might want to try A Bridge of Years first which is closer to your page length sweet spot and see if you like it and, if so, go back and check out the spin trilogy.
posted by jessamyn at 7:53 PM on June 29, 2021
Can also highly recommend Peter Watts. Blindsight works as a standalone book, I haven't read the others in that series. The rifters books, starting with Starfish is a great bit of world building but mostly told through characters, and some really interesting and unusual trauma-informed fuckery (Watts can be super dark).
Just in case you haven't read the Murderbot books, they're definitely becoming an AskMe fave. They start with this book. They are short interesting reads, have a little humor in them but not too much.
Zone One by Colson Whitehead is a good standard zombie horror book written by someone who is good at writing.
Robert Charles Wilson wrote a series of books starting with Spin which are a lot more straightforward scifi but good but they're on the long side. You might want to try A Bridge of Years first which is closer to your page length sweet spot and see if you like it and, if so, go back and check out the spin trilogy.
posted by jessamyn at 7:53 PM on June 29, 2021
I will join the chorus recommending Peter Watts' Blindsight as having a lot of the same vibe as Annihilation - intelligent well-equipped people up against something scientific and antithetical to human life and reason. Disclaimer that I don't think anyone would call it an easy read.
Also Roadside picnic for the reasons given above, and also what a quick read it is.
Providence by Max Barry is a brilliantly unsettling book about a small crew on a largely automated starship as part of a forever war against mysterious aliens. It's obvious from the off that the really unsettling parts are the ship itself and the crew's cabin fever. Very compelling chapter-to-chapter and definitely hits your easy read requirement.
A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon is a detective story in a city where there's no natural light, and the most important decision you can make is what time zone you subscribe to. Light and dark take on meanings that aren't entirely metaphorical and the book sits in an uncomfortable middle ground between gritty realism and dream logic. There's sequels too, taking place in differently warped and unreal locations outside the city that I've not read yet, but fully intend to.
The City and The City by China Mieville another murder mystery in a weird city. There are two cities, separate by law but overlapping in space so it's illegal to acknowledge or even to observe the city you're not currently inhabiting. This sounds like magical realism or metaphor but it is played entirely straight.
posted by Lorc at 1:23 AM on June 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
Also Roadside picnic for the reasons given above, and also what a quick read it is.
Providence by Max Barry is a brilliantly unsettling book about a small crew on a largely automated starship as part of a forever war against mysterious aliens. It's obvious from the off that the really unsettling parts are the ship itself and the crew's cabin fever. Very compelling chapter-to-chapter and definitely hits your easy read requirement.
A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon is a detective story in a city where there's no natural light, and the most important decision you can make is what time zone you subscribe to. Light and dark take on meanings that aren't entirely metaphorical and the book sits in an uncomfortable middle ground between gritty realism and dream logic. There's sequels too, taking place in differently warped and unreal locations outside the city that I've not read yet, but fully intend to.
The City and The City by China Mieville another murder mystery in a weird city. There are two cities, separate by law but overlapping in space so it's illegal to acknowledge or even to observe the city you're not currently inhabiting. This sounds like magical realism or metaphor but it is played entirely straight.
posted by Lorc at 1:23 AM on June 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
N'thing Roadside Picnic. If you like it, Snail on the Slope is another great Strugatsky brothers book that shares some setting and tone similarities with Annihilation.
Victor LaValle really meets your criteria well -- The Ballad of Black Tom was 100% a homage to Lovecraft (minus the racism) and all of his books are fantastic. I really like The Devil in Silver and The Changeling, but I don't think you can go wrong with him.
This is much too long and challenging for what you're looking for, but, in case it helps anyone else, Samuel Delany's Dhalgren is similarly set in a subsection of the world where normal rules don't quite apply and the narrator is not consistently certain of his identity. (It's like 900 pages and has very little linear plot, so it's a commitment!)
Hiroko Oyamada's books are great. I preferred The Hole to the The Factory, but they're both very compelling and in that weird/unreal but still tied to the natural world space Annihilation is in.
posted by snaw at 4:05 AM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
Victor LaValle really meets your criteria well -- The Ballad of Black Tom was 100% a homage to Lovecraft (minus the racism) and all of his books are fantastic. I really like The Devil in Silver and The Changeling, but I don't think you can go wrong with him.
This is much too long and challenging for what you're looking for, but, in case it helps anyone else, Samuel Delany's Dhalgren is similarly set in a subsection of the world where normal rules don't quite apply and the narrator is not consistently certain of his identity. (It's like 900 pages and has very little linear plot, so it's a commitment!)
Hiroko Oyamada's books are great. I preferred The Hole to the The Factory, but they're both very compelling and in that weird/unreal but still tied to the natural world space Annihilation is in.
posted by snaw at 4:05 AM on June 30, 2021 [2 favorites]
I agree with bassooner above, the rest of the trilogy is very good. When I finished Acceptance, I started over. I never do that. The trilogy is even better the second time.
posted by kingless at 6:07 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by kingless at 6:07 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Wanted to echo the recommendation for T Kingfisher’s Hollow Place. Very similar feel to Vandermeer but I liked it better (partly because I enjoyed her characters more than his).
posted by purenitrous at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2021
posted by purenitrous at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2021
You might consider The City We Became by NK Jemisin. It takes place in current day NYC, lots of Lovecraftian stuff.
posted by jeoc at 11:11 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by jeoc at 11:11 AM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
I haven't read Annihilation, but I'll also speak for The Hollow Places. It's immensely readable, it scared me silly, I'm starting to think the [spoiler] may haunt me forever, and it's very good.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:27 AM on June 30, 2021
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:27 AM on June 30, 2021
I read Michael Faber's "Under the Skin" last weekend, having just rewatched the film. I thought I knew what I was in for, but OMG it was so much more horrifying and I think ticks all of your boxes.
posted by kelper at 11:42 AM on June 30, 2021
posted by kelper at 11:42 AM on June 30, 2021
The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher was called out earlier, but The Twisted Ones by the same author was also amazing and fits. It might actually fit a little better, but I really enjoyed them both.
Otherside Picnic series by Iori Miyazawa: Less ecological strangeness and more Junji Ito / urban legends / creepypasta inspired, with elements of portal fiction. Inspired by Roadside Picnic.
posted by Anonymous Function at 2:09 PM on June 30, 2021
Otherside Picnic series by Iori Miyazawa: Less ecological strangeness and more Junji Ito / urban legends / creepypasta inspired, with elements of portal fiction. Inspired by Roadside Picnic.
posted by Anonymous Function at 2:09 PM on June 30, 2021
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was super readable with gorgeous imagery. I think it ticks most of your boxes. A creepy mansion, mysterious family, and a heaping helping of body horror (maybe a little too much for me).
posted by systematize at 3:36 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by systematize at 3:36 PM on June 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you all for the suggestions. Now I've got a buffet of books to choose from. Decisions decisions. Kelper, thanks for the reminder about Under the Skin. Loved the movie, as much if not more than Annihilation. And strangely enough having seen Annihilation first before reading the book made the book even more compelling, so that looks like maybe a good place to start.
posted by WhenInGnome at 8:45 PM on June 30, 2021
posted by WhenInGnome at 8:45 PM on June 30, 2021
There Is No Antimetics Division is brilliant. It's set in the SCP foundation universe which definitely inspired Annihilation's 'heavily-equipped team recon an anomaly' take. Basically, if you'd want a story that starts in the Annihilation research base with a lot of fun/scary/readable weiiiiird, check it out. Whole story [hub][first chapter] is online (started there) so can check out and see if style works for you.
And btw - if after any non-book reads, from SCP Foundation would recommend Red Lake, Flesh that Eats, Pattern Screamers, Taboo and What Happened to Site 32. These have a similar 'let's explore strange anomaly' vibe. Format takes some getting used to, but really worth powering through.
DM if want more SCP recs, read hundreds of them ;)
posted by litleozy at 7:03 AM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
And btw - if after any non-book reads, from SCP Foundation would recommend Red Lake, Flesh that Eats, Pattern Screamers, Taboo and What Happened to Site 32. These have a similar 'let's explore strange anomaly' vibe. Format takes some getting used to, but really worth powering through.
DM if want more SCP recs, read hundreds of them ;)
posted by litleozy at 7:03 AM on July 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
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