I am looking for books similar to "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft(ive pretty much read everything from lovecraft), "Eversion" by Alastair Reynolds, "Das Eulentor" by Alexander Gruber (dont know if this book ever released in another language), "The Hollow Places" by T. Kingfisher, I also tried reading "Ascension" by Nicholas Binge but it wasnt really to my taste. Hope you have some ideas. thx in advance

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[–] 42 points 2 months ago (7 children)

I love these kinds of books. A few suggestions:

  • Randezvouz With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
  • Solaris by Stanisław Lem
  • House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (not sure about this one, haven't read it yet.)
  • Ringworld by Larry Niven

Hope you find something that fits your tastes and looking forward to other suggestions.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    I'll second Rendezvous with Rama. It's an excellent book, fitting exactly with the theme. OP is looking for. The first sequel is pretty decent, but the two books in the series after that, while I liked overall, I think they lose the magic that made the original so special.

    I'll also say House of Leaves is also fantastic. It's disturbing and confusing and really well written. I'd recommend picking up a physical copy if you can, because for this particular book, there's stuff done with the printing, type setting, font colors, and style that's hard to replicate on an e-reader. Top tier book!

    I haven't read the others you mentioned, but they're all on my reading list.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Even the first Rendezvous With Rama sequel (Rama Returns?) is pretty unreadable these days. You can tell distinctly which parts are written by AC Clarke and which by his co-author - Clarke retains the interesting science fiction, his co-author is too busy obsessing over which astronauts his two female characters are going to bang on any given day.

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    [–] 22 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Sphere, by Michael Crichton

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  • [–] 18 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    The Hyperion series, particularly the first book has some of that. And can be read without reading the other books.

    A Deadly Education series is pretty much this to an extent. And a series I love!

    The Silo series is adjacent to this, I love all three books.

    The Expanse series has a few books that fit the bill but you really can't skip to those books so it may not be what you're looking for.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Seconding Hyperion. But adding the caveat you should consider reading the second book in the series too, at least, since the first ends a bit on a "cliffhanger" and has no conclusion really.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Annihilation has some freaky/disturbing unknown structure exploration in it.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

    Jack McDevitt writes a series which is basically space archaeology. You may like those. I think Engines of the Gods is thr first one.

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    [–] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Iain M. Banks created a whole universal alien system called "The Culture" which are mostly sentient machines. Also woven in is how humans evolved. There are several books of his that exist in the universe of "The Culture". I haven't read his stuff in a while but remember being intrigued while reading them.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    "Piranesi" or "There Is No Antimemetics Division"

    Though the later is more about exploration of hard to grasp cognitive concepts than a structure.

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    [–] 7 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    There's a few authors who carried on the Lovecraftian tradition - August Derleth, Clark Aston Smith, Robert Bloch (although his most notable work is not Lovcraftian - he wrote the book Psycho, later filmed by Hitchcock). Later on Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.

    Then there's the kind of post-Lovcraftian stuff - Thomas Ligotti is the big name in that area.

    There's also a few modern authors who tried to bring modern sensibilities to Lovecraft's work. Ruthanna Emrys' re-imagining of the Innsmouth based events for example.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago

    In Blindsight, a spaceship crew explores a huge and incomprehensible alien spaceship. While the book has some interesting thoughts on sentience and intelligence, the plot makes no sense and the crew are cruel sociopaths.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Adrian Tchaikovsky

    Walking To Aldebaran.

    Astronaut finds an artifact orbiting past Saturn...

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but There is no Antimemetics Division by QNTM revolves around ideas / beings / structures / civilizations that are literally unknowable.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    That's a pretty common feature in Alastair Reynolds's works, though it's not always the primary focus.

    The "Revelation Space" series of books features that trope pretty heavily, and it's also plot relevant. There's also the "Revenger" series where the main characters' job is to explore ruins from failed "turnover civilizations" and extract valuable loot to sell and fund their expeditions.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 2 months ago

    The only other books Ive read from him are the Inhibitor cycle and medusa chronicles and while yes inhibitor cycle features archeaology I wasnt aware that he may have more of what Im looking for. Thanks

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    [–] 5 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    I'm going to give you a list that may be more on the fringes of what you want.

    You might be interested in Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show, and its sequel Everville. It's been a while since I've read them. I think Everville had more of the eldritch stuff, but I don't recall whether it holds up on its own.

    Peter Cline's 14 fits what you want, though it has a bit more of a modern tone. The Fold takes place in the same world.

    American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennet.

    The Way Up Is Death by Dan Hanks

    An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A lone astronaut explores a maze on the moon that kills people who break arbitrary and unexplained rules.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    If manga counts, Blame has an absurdly enormous anomalous structure.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    In the same direction but with a bit humour thrown in and with 2 girls as characters: Girls Last Tour, where they drive on a Kettenkrad through the ruins of a a gigantic multilayered futuristic city with industrial complexes. They explore the last remnants of human civilisation, so also part future anthropology.

    Now that I'm thinking about it, a few mangas have something like that, but only 2 more come to my mind right now:

    • Dungeon Meshi (very strong world building in this one)
    • Second half of BioMega (from same author as Blame, but not as good in my eyes)
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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    14 by Peter Clines is phenomenal and right up your alley. It is the first of a series and I think the second one is best and 3rd one is completely optional to read as far as the over arching plot.

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    [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Since you read German: I highly recommend Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher from Walter Moers.

    It takes a bit to get there but after the first part of reaching Buchhaim, then the catacombs below it are the main focus. And for me the exploration of the unknown areas there makes it my favourite book.

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    [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Rimworld by Larry Niven?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Ursula le Guin has a bunch in the Hainish Cycle I can think of. My favourite of those is Vaster than Empires and More Slow.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Just FYI, the genre you're describing is called BDO (Big Dumb Object).

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  • [+] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)
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    [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    Saw House of Leaves and Annhilation mentioned. Didn't A Wrinkle In Time have a bit of this as well?

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