My girlfriend really likes the Southern Reach trilogy and is thoroughly enjoying Nicholas Binge’s Ascension right now after I lent it to her, so I’m trying to find more books that fit this mold. Along the lines of “an expedition is sent into a mysterious/dangerous/shifting/alien landscape and has to survive when everything gets extremely fucked up.”
So far I’ve suggested Darwinia and Ringworld, but what are some others?
Dan Simmons The Terror is amazing and fits quite well.
It is based on a true historical event. Victorian era explorers were trying to find the Northwest Passage (a channel that would let them cross the Americas) but they get stuck in the ice and things go very badly.
It’s horror but with a heavy dose of historical fiction. Very atmospheric. It’ll make you feel a chill on a hot summer’s day.
His book The Abominable is very much this as well, about a crew of alpinists ascending Mt. Everest.
One of the best horror novels in ever read