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The King in Yellow

Robert W. Chambers

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Similar in characterization + relationships

These books are ranked using the characterization + relationships labels extracted for The King in Yellow. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Characterization labels used: mad narrator, artist, painter, sculptor, mental patient, model, organist, obsessive, paranoid, unhinged, delusional, unreliable witness

Relationships labels used: love triangle, romantic obsession, friendship, rivalry, mentor influence, stalking, dependency, shared madness, power imbalance

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their characterization + relationships embeddings are close.

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Ice

Anna Kavan · 1967

An unnamed narrator pursues a fragile woman through a collapsing, ice-choked world where reality keeps slipping away.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: unnamed narrator · unreliable narrator · obsessive narrator · controlling men · violent rival · fragile woman · victimized woman · abusive men · psychological instability · hallucinatory mind · nameless characters

Relationships labels: love triangle · possessive desire · coercive control · codependent relationship · rivalry · obsession · victim-perpetrator dynamic · abuse · bullying · domination · stalking · triangular relationship

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1518

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Walking on Glass

Iain Banks · 2012

Three apparently separate lives in London and a surreal castle edge toward a strange, unsettling convergence.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: young artist · art student · paranoid man · delusional outsider · road worker · labourer · warrior · prisoner · female prisoner · enigmatic woman · aloof love interest · eccentric friend · impulsive · passive · obsessive · weak-willed · paranoid · mentally ill · bitter · irascible · naive · unreliable perception · morally ambiguous

Relationships labels: unrequited love · man-woman relationship · romantic obsession · infatuation · friendship · eccentric friendship · power imbalance · captivity bond · adversarial pair · quasi-lovers · manipulation · betrayal · dependency

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1684

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The Glamour

Christopher Priest · 1984

An amnesiac cameraman retraces a lost period of his life, uncovering love, deception, and a reality no one can quite see.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: amnesiac protagonist · cameraman protagonist · controlling lover · mysterious lover · obsessive ex · unreliable character accounts · traumatized protagonist

Relationships labels: love triangle · romantic obsession · abusive relationship · controlling relationship · past lover · ex-boyfriend rivalry · reconciliation · sexual coercion

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1703

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Immaculate Conception

Ling Ling Huang · 2025

A jealous art student uses mind-linking technology to stay close to her gifted friend in a near-future class-divided world.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: unlikable protagonist · obsessive narrator · tortured artist · art prodigy · ambitious striver · morally ambiguous · ruthless · insecure · envious · codependent · compelling narrator

Relationships labels: female friendship · toxic friendship · codependency · obsession · enmeshment · rivalry · mentor student · marriage · power imbalance · possession · friendship vs rivalry

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1733

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Ambergris

Jeff Vandermeer · 2020 · Ambergris

Three interconnected Ambergris books trace a fungal city’s hidden history through shifting forms, voices, and genres.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: artists · historians · detectives · missionary · socialite · academic · unreliable narrator · compromised detective · mad artist · obsessive narrator · bitter narrator · outcast

Relationships labels: siblings · brother sister dynamic · romantic obsession · professional rivalry · power imbalance · occupier and occupied · colonizer colonized · community conflict · secret relationship

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1814

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City of Saints and Madmen

Jeff Vandermeer · 2001 · Ambergris

A fragmented, illustrated chronicle of a strange city where fungus, squid, art, and madness blur fact and fiction.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: madmen · saints · artists · historians · academics · missionaries · authors · lovers · squidologists · merchants · politicians · narrators as characters · unreliable historians · obsessive characters · delusional characters · outsiders

Relationships labels: obsession · unrequited love · artist-critic tension · author-text relationship · reader-text relationship · academic rivalry · colonizer-colonized · community conflict · power struggle

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1888

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Metallic Realms

Lincoln Michel · 2025

An obsessive fan chronicles a troubled sci-fi writing collective and their stories as fiction, fandom, and real life blur.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: unreliable narrator · obsessive narrator · unlikable protagonist · socially awkward · lonely · insecure · self-absorbed · neurotic · delusional · hapless · wannabe writer · fanboy · hanger-on · creative collective · misfit artists · millennial creatives · burned-out writers · sympathetic villain · toxic fandom

Relationships labels: best friends · roommates · creative collaboration · group conflict · group dissolution · friendship fallout · codependency · boundary violations · power imbalance · rivalry · jealousy · manipulation

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1910

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Evil for Evil

K.J. Parker · 2007 · Engineer Trilogy

An exiled engineer and rival rulers navigate war, love, and betrayal as an unstoppable plan tightens around a doomed city.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: engineer · exiled protagonist · sociopath · psychopath · ruthless strategist · competent leader · morally gray characters · monstrous genius · unlikable characters

Relationships labels: love triangle · forbidden love · marriage · romantic quadrangle · betrayal · family separation · political alliance · rivalry · power imbalance · assistant-rival relationship

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1918

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The Cipher

Kathe Koja · 1991

A troubled couple discovers a mysterious black hole in an apartment building storage room and becomes obsessed with what it changes.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: failed poet · video store clerk · bartender · artist · slacker · underachiever · addict · co-dependent · passive narrator · self-destructive · obsessive · unlikable characters · moral rot · art poseur · emotional abuser

Relationships labels: toxic romance · co-dependent relationship · obsessive love · on-again off-again relationship · sexual obsession · friend group · power imbalance · dependency

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1932

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As She Climbed Across the Table

Jonathan Lethem · 1998

A professor loses his physicist lover to a strange, selective void created in a campus lab.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: anthropologist narrator · particle physicist · academics · professors · quippy protagonist · dysfunctional characters · quirky characters · obsessive characters · spurned lover

Relationships labels: romantic triangle · boyfriend-girlfriend · unrequited love · obsessive attachment · love rival · academic couple · breakup · possession and desire · dependency

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1936

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Behold the Man

Michael Moorcock · 1969 · Karl Glogauer

A troubled man time-travels to biblical Palestine and becomes entangled in the origins of Christianity.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: troubled protagonist · neurotic protagonist · misfit · outcast · unlikable protagonist · messiah complex · self-loathing · intellectual protagonist · psychologically damaged · antihero

Relationships labels: failed romance · toxic relationships · love-hate relationship · family tension · parental abandonment · girlfriend conflict · mentor influence · community belonging · romantic dissatisfaction

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1949

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Motorman

David Ohle · 2023 · Moldenke

A persecuted man navigates a bizarre, surveilled future of fake weather, artificial skies, and body-altered identities.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: persecuted protagonist · fragmented self · emotionally numbed · paranoid · enigmatic antagonist · mad scientist · bureaucrat · mentor figure · physically altered · alienated

Relationships labels: mentor relationship · romantic relationship · rivalry · pursuer and pursued · surveillance power dynamic · friendship · dependency

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1951

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