strange plagues
forced into permanent sleep or permanent insomnia, reliving tedious daily cycles until your body rots, maybe your skin is glowing with constellations - these novels feature illnesses that are far from typical
created by moski
last updated January, 2026
Comments
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
And yet ANOTHER banger list. Don't mind if I TBR this whole thing down đ. 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 đ
omg thank u amanda!!!! uâre so sweet!!! iâve 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 itâs bugs in / near the bodies). i know that wilder girls is about physical body changes! iâll check on the others and get back to u :))
Omg thank you! You're a gem đ«¶đ», 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 đ đ
the memory of animals by claire fuller and sister maiden monster by lucy a snyder both have mysterious plagues!
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!
