strange plagues (further reading)
forced into unending sleep or perilous insomnia, repeating tedious daily routines until your body rots, watching as your skin starts to glow or your hands sprout scales - these novels feature illnesses that are far from typical
if you enjoyed / find yourself enjoying my strange plagues quest, you’ll find even more suggestions for further reading within the niche here!!!
created by moski
last updated April, 2026
![Heaven's Official Blessing I - [天官赐福 I]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568359009l/53153332.jpg)
Comments
the memory of animals by claire fuller and sister maiden monster by lucy a snyder both have mysterious plagues!
And yet ANOTHER banger list. Don't mind if I TBR this whole thing down 👀. One question, though, do you know if any of these books have elements of body horror in them? I can stomach a lot of things, but if there's something too gruesome, I can get dizzy 😅
omg thank u amanda!!!! u’re so sweet!!! i’ve only read a few of these tbh - from those, i know severance has some light body horror in a few scenes (from what i remember, mostly it’s bugs in / near the bodies). i know that wilder girls is about physical body changes! i’ll check on the others and get back to u :))
Omg thank you! You're a gem 🫶🏻, but don't worry if you don't know! I can find out while reading, and if there's anything too out there, I'll just skip hahaha. I was more worried about the few books that have parasites in them because I'm a little (a lot) traumatized by The Troop 😅😅
this is such a cool list? moski you’re my idol fr. also Heaven Official’s Blessing also has a weird and creepy plague.
agreed, this list is so cool!! but also i somehow forgot entirely about that plague 💀 i think it freaked me out so much i just suppressed everything about it in my memory
hahaha it was indeed a very traumatising arc on the whole
omg such an interesting list!! may i recommend annihilation by jeff vandermeer? haven't yet gotten to finish the books but the movie adaptation introduced a plant based type plague which i think would fit in this category too :)
oh ive been meaning to read that one - i did loveee the movie!! do you know if the plague aspect is in the book at all? thank you so much for the rec!
the movie was very good indeed (though i had to rewatch the ending so many times trying to fully absorb everything that had happened??), and i believe the plague aspect is also one of the main themes of the books, even though the word "plague" is not mentioned as such!
I think this mortal coil by Emily suvada would fit! there's an influenza virus that has a horrible and taboo way of immediate prevention and no vaccine or cure
moskiOP
ooo that sounds so neat!!! let me look into it!! thank you for the recommendation:)
ofc!
it's the first book in a trilogy
What a great list!!! Instead of adding books to my tbr, I save lists😭😭
Came here from your wonderful new quest 😊 May I reccomend The Impossible Resurection of Grief for this list?
It's a hard hitting one, readers may wanna check content warnings, but it's so interesting!
moskiOP
awesome, adding that now!!!
The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala! It’s a coral plague
