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That Hideous Strength

C.S. Lewis

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for That Hideous Strength. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: anti-totalitarian, scientific control, inner circle, marriage under strain, spiritual warfare, apocalyptic conspiracy, academic intrigue, technocracy, good vs evil, prophetic dreams

Setting labels used: Earth, England, university setting, college setting, academic setting, fantastic realism, mythic reality

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

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Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet / Perelandra / That Hideous Strength

C.S. Lewis · 1996 · The Space Trilogy

A philologist is swept into cosmic journeys that turn science fiction into Christian allegory, philosophy, and moral conflict.

Why this is here

Premise labels: interplanetary travel · cosmic conflict · spiritual allegory · Christian allegory · temptation narrative · good vs evil · alternate Eden · world rescue · scientific hubris · alien encounter

Setting labels: Mars · Venus · Earth · English university town · rural English college town · academic setting · other worlds · cosmic cosmology · pre-spaceflight imagination · mythic reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1977

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Good Omens

Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman · 2007

An angel and a demon try to stop Armageddon after the Antichrist is misplaced and the world starts to go sideways.

Why this is here

Premise labels: apocalypse · end of world · antichrist · prophecy · baby swap · found child · rival factions · unlikely alliance · thwart doomsday · misplaced child

Setting labels: England · Oxford · English countryside · Earth · modern world · contemporary setting · heaven and hell · apocalyptic setting · small town · urban setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2177

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Parasyte, Volume 4

Hitoshi Iwaaki · 2008 · Parasyte (8 Volumes Edition)

A teen secretly linked to a parasite is pulled into escalating danger as other parasites infiltrate society and politics.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien invasion · body sharing · secret identity · parasitic takeover · humanity vs inhumanity · social infiltration · psychic sensitivity

Setting labels: high school · contemporary Earth · urban society · human society · political sphere · school setting · social infiltration setting · scientific/observational reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2183

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Nightfall

Isaac Asimov · 1941

On a world of perpetual daylight, scientists race to confront the first darkness in millennia before panic destroys civilization.

Why this is here

Premise labels: perpetual daylight · first darkness · eclipse event · apocalyptic premise · fear of the unknown · civilization collapse · science vs religion · alien perspective · thought experiment

Setting labels: alien planet · perpetual daylight · six suns · eclipse cycle · university setting · observatory setting · apocalyptic setting · fictional world · cosmological setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2286

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Cloak of the Light

Chuck Black · 2014 · Wars of the Realm

A college student who regains strange sight after an accident uncovers a hidden battle between light and dark.

Why this is here

Premise labels: spiritual warfare · hidden realm · alternate dimension · chosen witness · supernatural sight · scientific accident · missing friend · blindness and recovery · good vs evil

Setting labels: modern day · college setting · high school setting · contemporary world · unseen realm · heavenly realm · earthly realm · military family background

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2319

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Everything Belongs to the Future

Laurie Penny · 2016

In a near-future Oxford, an anti-aging drug deepens inequality and a group of activists tries to fight back.

Why this is here

Premise labels: life extension · class inequality · activist rebellion · wealth monopoly · anti-aging drug · gerontocracy

Setting labels: Oxford · near future · late 21st century · dystopian future · English setting · college town

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2329

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The Circle Trilogy

Ted Dekker · 2008 · The Circle

A man trapped between two linked realities must survive terror, revelation, and spiritual war to save both worlds.

Why this is here

Premise labels: parallel realities · dream travel · dual worlds · apocalyptic threat · virus outbreak · spiritual warfare · chosen hero · end-times allegory

Setting labels: modern world · alternate world · two realities · dreamscape · apocalyptic setting · symbolic fantasy world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2336

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Hard to Be a God

Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky · 1966 · The Noon Universe

An undercover historian from a utopian future is sent to a brutal feudal world and forbidden to interfere.

Why this is here

Premise labels: non-interference · undercover observer · advanced civilization · feudal planet · social experiment · historian agent · godlike power · moral dilemma · intellectual persecution · civilizational change

Setting labels: alien planet · Earthlike world · medieval society · feudal kingdom · court setting · distant future · utopian Earth · middle ages

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2384

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Tidal Creatures

Seanan McGuire · 2024 · Alchemical Journeys

Moon incarnations investigate a string of divine murders while alchemists scheme to seize the Impossible City.

Why this is here

Premise labels: moon deities · murder mystery · incarnated concepts · hidden conspiracy · protect the city · power struggle

Setting labels: college campus · Impossible City · contemporary fantasy · alternate reality · mythic cosmology · night sky · Everything

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2386

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1984

George Orwell · 2022

A dissident in a total surveillance state risks love and sanity as the regime rewrites truth and thought itself.

Why this is here

Premise labels: totalitarian control · surveillance state · state propaganda · historical revisionism · thought control · forbidden dissent · forbidden love · resistance movement · power for power · manufactured truth · language control · brainwashing

Setting labels: dystopian future · London · Oceania · totalitarian state · postwar future · surveillance society · wartime state · fictional superstate · gray urban setting · controlled society

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2393

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Vicious

V.E. Schwab, Victoria Schwab · 2013 · Villains

Two brilliant college rivals test a theory about near-death powers, then spend years hunting each other for revenge.

Why this is here

Premise labels: superpowers · revenge · academic experiment · near-death experiences · morally grey characters · anti-heroes · hero villain ambiguity · villain origin story · competition · betrayal

Setting labels: college · university · near-future · urban · gritty world · superhero world · scientific reality · alternate world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2396

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The Two Doctors Górski

Isaac Fellman · 2022

A traumatized graduate student in magical psychiatry confronts an abusive mentor, mind reading, and a split self.

Why this is here

Premise labels: academic abuse · mind reading · identity crisis · self-splitting · magical psychiatry · toxic mentorship · trauma recovery · ethical mind alteration

Setting labels: university setting · graduate school · academic institution · England · United States · contemporary setting · alternate world · magic-as-normal world · academic magic

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2398

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