History WretchedHive / Literature

* The underground city of Valtagan and capital of Hamar in the novella ''[[https://www.wattpad.com/story/123095410-the-angaran-chronicles-hamar-noir/ Hamar Noir]]'' is this. The main character Anargrin being accosted by criminals quite quickly as he investigates the streets.

* Dead Donkey, Nevada, from ''Literature/YouAreDeadSignHerePlease''. The main municipal pasttimes is arson and Muleball, a sport [[NonIndicativeName have nothing to do with mules or balls]] but that consists of people beating each other up on the street and stealing each other's valuables. The main income is from tourism, which is to say, the city offers free trips there for the gullible and then charges them outrageous fees for the trip back home.

** The Dipple--a refugee camp featured in several novels, such as ''Literature/{{Catseye}}'' and ''Judgment on Janus''. Its ugliness is thrown into sharp relief by the fact that it is located in Tikil, the only city on the pleasure planet of Korwar.

** Subverted in ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', which has a bar named "Biers", a bar for supernatural creatures which contains at least a dozen deadly creatures every evening, but which is perfectly safe for a blind old widow named Mrs. Gammage to visit every evening. The creatures even go so far as to act like bar regulars she remembers from before the bar became "Biers", and protect her when she is not in the bar.

* Any urban environment in WilliamGibson's novels counts as this, but particularly the settlements that each of his cyberpunk trilogies are named after: [[Literature/SprawlTrilogy the Sprawl]] -- a continent spanning enclosed megacity; and [[Literature/BridgeTrilogy the Bridge]], a lawless community built on the carcass of a crumbling Golden Gate Bridge. Literature/{{Idoru}}'s 'Walled City', an online community comprised almost entirely of hackers and (modeled after the real life wretched hive, the Kowloon Walled City) might also count, despite being virtual.

* Cenaria, capital of Cenaria, in TheNightAngelTrilogy.

* Verel in ''[[Creator/DavidEddings The Tamuli]]''.

* Cenaria, capital of Cenaria, in TheNightsAngelTrilogy.

* In the ''MutantChronicles'' novels based on the games, Luna was one big Wretched Hive.
* ''ConanTheBarbarian'': The pirate town of Tortage in the Barachan Islands. And throughout almost all ''Conan'' media, Shadizar, otherwise known as Shadizar the Wicked, capital of Zamora, Crossroads of the World.

* In JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Phoenix Exultant]]'', Talaimannr is the truly wretched home of everyone whose uncivilized habits make them unfit for society.

* In William King's ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Warhammer 40000 SpaceWolf]]'' novel ''Wolfblade'', the underhive that they raid because of the {{Cult}}. There are dispossessed people down here, and a [[GoodShepherd Brother Malburius]], ministering and acting as TheMedic, but also plentiful horrors.

* Creator/MichaelMoorcock's [[Literature/TheElricSaga Elric]] character was once compelled to visit a city called Nadsokor, also known as the "City of Beggars". This city's population consists entirely of those who are physically, mentally, and morally deformed.

* DanBrown's ''Literature/DigitalFortress'' inexplicably depicts ''[[DanBrowned Seville, Spain]]'' as one of these. Its description was so over the top that [[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20050828/ai_n14899886 Seville's local government actually invited Brown to visit the city]] to prove him wrong. Bizarrely, he claims to have done so before writing the book.

* [[Literature/BasLagCycle New Crobuzon]] from ChinaMieville's ''PerdidoStreetStation'' [[Literature/TheScar and]] [[Literature/IronCouncil sequels]] blows most examples here out of the water in terms of sheer ugliness. It's ruled by vicious capitalists who ignore crime against ordinary citizens, but send death squads to deal with dissenters, essentially ensuring that the city stays a brutal lawless mess forever.

* AndreNorton

* The planet Farius Prime plays this role in the StarTrekNovelVerse.

* Literature/ASymphonyOfEternity has [[HubCity Maramanakama]] that up untill now was a pretty decent place to live, untill the conflict between the Empire and the resistance turned in into [[SceneryGorn Hellhole, courtesy of a massive artificial forest fire, man made earthquake, an intentional volcanic erruption and destruction of it's sanitation system]],[[{{Understatement}} that makes it a not so pleasent place to live anymore.]]

* Old Undertown from ''TheEdgeChronicles'': polluted, impoverished, crime-ridden, full of thugs and cutthroats, and generally unpleasant. However, its also the beating heart of society on the Edge, and is at no point portrayed as completely inhospitable or beyond hope. Until the Rook Trilogy that is, when nearly half of it is destroyed and the rest becomes nearly dystopian. [[spoiler:It eventually gets destroyed, which is probably a good thing]].

* Tarbean in ''TheKingkillerChronicle''.

* The ''XWingSeries'' has Gavin Darklighter from Tatooine going to the underlevels of Coruscant and thinking that "if Mos Eisely was considered the armpit of the galaxy, this part of Coruscant could be considered anatomically lower and decidedly less hygienic." A few chapters on, Corran Horn, wandering around and not paying attention to his surroundings like an ''[[TooDumbToLive idiot]]'', finds himself at a very low-level bar. He was a cop, and thinks to himself that his beat on Coronet City had seedy spots, but they appeared positively immaculate and safe compared to here. He'd chased fleeing Selonians through sewers with better atmosphere and more consistent lighting than this bar, the Headquarters.

* Creator/MichaelMoorcock's [[TheElricSaga Elric]] character was once compelled to visit a city called Nadsokor, also known as the "City of Beggars". This city's population consists entirely of those who are physically, mentally, and morally deformed.

* Ysai, the capital city of the planet Gammu from ''Heretics of Literature/{{Dune}}'' definitely counts. Miles Teg notes the development of the city was purposefully directed into something "worse than ugly", and Reverend Mother Lucilla is eventually driven to tears after seeing the corrupt, desperate and dangerously violent state of the city's inhabitants firsthand. Think about that for a moment. The city was so bad it made a ''Reverend Mother'' cry.

* MichaelMoorcock's [[TheElricSaga Elric]] character was once compelled to visit a city called Nadsokor, also known as the "City of Beggars". This city's population consists entirely of those who are physically, mentally, and morally deformed.