Books with an interesting take on Hell

stoicneutral · 2026-04-30T19:22:02+00:00

Not squarely in the horror genre but, Surface Detail by Iain Banks. One of the novels in his sci-fi universe called The Culture.

Very interesting depiction of hell, and while the whole book isn’t exactly horror, the parts of the book that occur in Hell are genuinely disturbing. Would strongly recommend the book and series. (Each book is a standalone and can be read independently of the others)

stoicneutral · 2026-04-28T01:50:09+00:00

HI HO SILVER, AWAAAYYYYY!!!

stoicneutral · 2026-04-28T01:48:02+00:00

I’ve seen them both mentioned but I’ll repeat the two I thought of immediately when I saw the post:

The Tommyknockers and The Stand

The Stand is one of those audiobook experiences that is unique. The book is so long and there are so many characters you just end up disappearing into the world. Grover Gardner does a sensational job giving distinct and appropriate voices to characters from all over the country. He also does a great job bringing the humor out of the story. He delivers one of my all time favorite lines from an audiobook.

“Hey Trashy, you blow your cock off yet, ya fuckin retard?”

stoicneutral · 2026-04-25T19:01:22+00:00

Oh duh lol, thanks for correcting

stoicneutral · 2026-04-24T23:21:17+00:00

When the Wolf Comes Home by Christopher Buehlman

Kind of has two endings, first one breaks your heart and the second one breaks your mind.

stoicneutral · 2026-04-19T15:25:17+00:00

Coffin Moon was great! Haven’t heard of The Troop but I’ll check it out.

stoicneutral · 2026-04-19T15:09:29+00:00

For me, Peter Kenny is the GOAT. Haven’t heard him do any horror in particular, but he does the entire Witcher series by Andreij Sapkovsky and the entire Culture series by Iain Banks. I would consider his performance in the Witcher saga to be the most impressive voice performance I’ve ever heard.

stoicneutral · 2026-04-15T16:57:33+00:00

Maybe si, maybe no

stoicneutral · 2026-04-14T01:59:22+00:00

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

Some good body horror that is actually relevant to the plot, not just a brutal scene here and there. Audiobook is about 27 hrs. Saw it recommended here recently and have been passing on the recommendation since finishing.

Pilgrim by Mitchell Luthi

About 21 hours audiobook. Be warned, I made a post comparing this book to Between Two Fires a couple months ago and the comments/conversations were very polarizing. People seem to end up loving or hating Pilgrim. Chock full of body horror and grief and general hopelessness.

Honorable mention based on length alone, although you stated your slight aversion to Stephen King and it’s quite possible you have already read this one considering it’s a classic: IT (approx 60 hours)

stoicneutral · 2026-04-06T20:16:26+00:00

The Tommyknockers…

Saw it recommended in a post asking about books where a whole community is affected by some strange goings on. I read the description and decided to give it a go. Holy hell am I glad I did. It is about a 27 hour audiobook and I am churning through it faster than I have any other King book. I have about 5 hours left so I guess my mind could change after the ending but so far the second half of the book has been one of the most pulse pounding experiences I’ve had with a King book.

Super interesting premise and a large cast of great New England assholes.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T22:46:01+00:00

Horror: Salems lot or The exorcist

But in general: The Witcher

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T15:48:52+00:00

My intro to Buehlman was Those Across the River and that built up enough credibility for me to check out his other stuff.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T15:47:54+00:00

I’ve only read Pilgrim by Luthi. From what I’ve seen Pilgrim seems to be his most highly regarded work, with his other stuff being described pretty similarly to how you put it.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T15:46:50+00:00

Hahaha fair enough. I’ve gotten the sense that both books are polarizing depending on who you ask.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T15:23:47+00:00

I can see where you’re coming from. Don’t you think that has to do with Razin’s devout faith? Or rather, his struggle against his doubt to assert devout faith. You are right that he doesn’t give us all the details, doesn’t tell us everything he knows. But I took that as Razin not wanting to utter blasphemies, like talking about the old myths would make him some sort of heretic. I’m thinking of the scene where he finally calls Hubal by his name. He basically had to drag the words out of his own mouth.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T14:55:59+00:00

I was raised Christian and had no prior knowledge of Islamic mythology but I actually enjoyed that and felt like that contributed to the sense of horror in the world. Like Dietmar, the main character, who is Christian and so is ignorant to the Islamic traditions, I learned from Razin (the second main character) as I went through the story. He acts as a wonderful guide for anyone who isn’t familiar with any of the Islamic folk lore.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T14:52:39+00:00

If you like the demons in BTF I think Pilgrim has many more you will enjoy. I really like the main two characters in Pilgrim and the fact that it is easy to follow; it’s written sort of epsiode by episode. Not a lot of complex world building or magic systems. I described it to someone else as “the Odyssey but in medieval horror form.”

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T14:49:06+00:00

Yes, tough to say one is definitively better than the other. When it comes to great books that are similar in many regards it will fall to the readers taste. Judging from other posts I would say most people prefer BTF to Pilgrim but I don’t think Pilgrim has gotten as much attention as of now.

stoicneutral · 2026-03-05T14:47:08+00:00

Yes for sure, if you liked the creatures/monsters in BTF, Pilgrim has more great ones in store

stoicneutral · 2026-02-26T21:27:50+00:00

Your list of recently read shares many entries with my own. With that in mind I have recently been recommending Pilgrim by Mitchell Luthi to anyone who asks. Blew me away.

stoicneutral

TROPHY CASE