Unsong
Unsong by Scott Alexanderby Scott Alexander
Shares rank 8 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
Recommended as a fun, amusing historical fantasy with religious themes; critics say its ending lacks resolution.
Recommended as a fun, amusing historical fantasy with religious themes; critics say its ending lacks resolution.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun, amusing historical fantasy
“a very fun piece of historical fiction / religious fantasy”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife” “Unsong is extremely amusing to me for some reason.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026” “great book, very enjoyable”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Ending lacks resolution
“the book kinda just ends without a whole lot of anticlimax or resolution”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| Unsongby Scott AlexanderThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I actually thought the ending was pretty alright. Well, most of it.”
“the book kinda just ends without a whole lot of anticlimax or resolution”
“a very fun piece of historical fiction / religious fantasy”
“Unsong is another favorite.”
“great book, very enjoyable”
“Unsong is extremely amusing to me for some reason.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.