Books like The City in the Middle of the Night

A haunting exploration of radical empathy and toxic devotion set against the harsh extremes of a tidally locked world. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The City in the Middle of the Night.

claustrophobic
alien
shadow-drenched
oppressive

01
Victories Greater Than Death
Charlie Jane Anders
A thrilling, friendship-fueled space opera about stepping into a massive legacy and realizing the universe is far more dangerous and wondrous than expected.
Shares:
- earnest
02
Six months, three days, five others
Charlie Jane Anders
A wry, offbeat collection of speculative tales that uses the bizarre to illuminate the deeply human.
Feels:
- imaginative
- offbeat
- thoughtful
03
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
Becky Chambers
A warm, character-driven pause in the stars that feels like sharing a hot drink with strangers while a storm rages outside.
Shares:
- earnest
- empathetic
04
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Alix E. Harrow
A lush, defiant love letter to the magic of storytelling and the hidden thresholds that lead us to where we belong.
Shares:
- earnest
05
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers
A warm, character-driven journey through the stars that feels like coming home to a family you never knew you had.
Shares:
- earnest
06
Children of Time
Adrian Tchaikovsky
A sweeping, deep-time evolutionary epic that will make you root for the most unlikely of sentient species.
Shares:
- alien
- melancholic
- empathetic
- radical empathy
07
Blackfish City: A Novel
Sam J. Miller
A gritty, ice-cold plunge into a floating dystopian metropolis where political fury meets mythic wonder.
Shares:
- claustrophobic
- empathetic
08
Embassytown
China Miéville
A mind-bending, linguistic puzzle box of a novel that explores the terrifying and transformative power of language.
Shares:
- claustrophobic
- alien
09
The City We Became
N. K. Jemisin
A fierce, reality-bending love letter to the messy, beating heart of a metropolis under siege.
Feels:
- kinetic
- surreal
- urgent
10
A Memory Called Empire
Arkady Martine
A brilliant, paranoid plunge into the seductive heart of an expansionist empire, where poetry is a weapon and memory is a ghost.
Shares:
- claustrophobic
11
Binti
Nnedi Okorafor
A tense, culturally rich journey through the stars where mathematics and ancestral traditions become the ultimate tools for survival.
Shares:
- claustrophobic
- earnest
- radical empathy
12
New York 2140
Kim Stanley Robinson
A sprawling, hopeful love letter to a drowned but defiant metropolis.
Shares:
- earnest

Back to The City in the Middle of the Night