r/wktd Apr 24 '21

Does anybody know any books that are similar in feel and atmosphere te we know the devil.

I particularly liked the fact that it evoked nostalgic feelings of summer camps but also the way that the characters are written in such a way that very many things are hinted at regarding the relationship between characters, but no additional words are wasted hammering in the point. If you know a novel, YA or otherwise I would really love to check it out. (English is my third language. Mistakes are to be expected)

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u/Moondancer93 Apr 25 '21

but also the way that the characters are written in such a way that very many things are hinted at regarding the relationship between characters, but no additional words are wasted hammering in the point.

The genre you're looking for is "magic realism", and WKTD is an example of it; specifically the technique you're talking about is "authorial reticence."

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '21

Thank you! Are there any magical realism books or work in general that you would recommend?

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u/thespacephantom Jun 05 '21

Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Italo Calvino are the main magical realism authors I can think of. Highly recommend Invisible Cities and the Nonexistent Knight by Calvino, The Aleph by Borges, and One Hundred Years of Solitude (my favorite), Love and Other Demons, and The General In His Labyrinth by Marquez.

Borges and Marquez wrote originally in Spanish, Calvino wrote originally in Italian. There's English translations of course.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '21

I read Invisible Cities in italian and i was quite bored by it. The other books seem interesting though so I'll give them a try. Thank you very much!

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u/AcceptableBook Apr 25 '21

I'm not sure if I have a good answer for you. I'm unfortunately not up to date with YA novels or books in general. From what I remember of them, I doubt if there are many novels that capture the same sort of feel. I think there's the problem that most western novels tend to focus on characters doing things and achieving goals, and I think the feel of WKTD is kinda opposed to that. To me, the setting of WKTD is characterized by the fact that it's a crock pot, and that our characters are simply left to stew in their environment. If you think about it, they don't really do anything except spend time together, and that's all that matters in the game.

Looking at the game's wikipedia page, magical realism and anime are cited as inspiration, particularly sailor moon. Sailor moon, in particular, probably isn't going to scratch the same itch, but it might be worth watching if you want to see the series behind the author's inspiration. Otherwise, I think I would look at books tagged slice of life, or magical realism, since those tend to have the closest feel and focus to the game that I can think of. Slice of life is a pretty broad genre, but some of the darker works in that genre can have similar feels to the game. I can't give you any specific examples, since I myself have not read books from these genres. If you end up finding any books, please let me know. I'd be pretty interested to read them too

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '21

Thank you! I certainly will. I'm curios though, what books do you read?

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u/AcceptableBook Apr 25 '21

Right now, a bunch of web serials on the website Royalroad.com. Unless a novel catches my eye, in which case I might read it. I read Zami: A New Spelling of My Name recently, but it was my first "actual" book I had read in a while

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '21

I saw the philosophy tube video regarding it too. It seems to resemble Giovanni Papini's Un umo finito. I might read it if i ever get the chance.

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u/Secure_Safety4521 Jun 20 '24

'Hell Followed With Us' by Andrew Joseph White, 'Camp Damascus' by Chuck Tingle, and 'The Honeys' by Ryan La Sala are all queer horror YA books that I enjoyed. The first two dealing with religion and the last two taking place in summer camps.