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More Than This
480 pages
A mind-bending, desolate journey through the afterlife that slowly morphs into a profound meditation on trauma, reality, and the defiant choice to keep living.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like waking up in an empty, dust-covered world where every shadow holds a piece of a shattered past. It begins with an overwhelming sense of dread and isolation, wrapping the reader in an eerie, surreal atmosphere that is both claustrophobic and deeply sad. As the narrative accelerates into a propulsive, mind-bending thriller, the stark, visceral prose pulls you through layers of psychological trauma and philosophical questions about the nature of reality. It is a heavy, emotionally raw experience that does not shy away from the darkest corners of grief and despair, yet it ultimately builds toward a defiant, hard-won hope. This is a perfect match for readers who love high-concept, existential sci-fi anchored by intense coming-of-age struggles and a desperate search for meaning.
- Mood
- eerie
- desolate
- surreal
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- earnest
- urgent
- introspective
- philosophical
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- the nature of reality · trauma and grief · isolation and connection · finding meaning · queer coming-of-age
- The writing
- Sharp, visceral, and emotionally raw, balancing stark descriptions of a ruined world with deep psychological interiority.
- The arc
- Moves from profound despair and disorienting isolation to a hard-won, defiant hope and acceptance of reality's complexities.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave mind-bending, philosophical sci-fi grounded in intense, character-driven emotional trauma.
Content notes
- suicide
- drowning
- child death
- homophobia
- grief and trauma
- violence
About the book
A boy called Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he is here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighbourhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust and completely abandoned. What's going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this...
Description from Open Library.
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