I recommend these books.
* indicates I've only listened to the audiobook
| Author (Series) | Title | Brief Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Update 2023-05-08 | ||
| Joe Abercrombie (The Age of Madness) | A Little Hatred (#1) | Grimdark fantasy politics & war, character-driven |
| The Trouble with Peace (#2) | ||
| A Little Hatred (#3) | ||
| Daniel Abraham (The Long Price Quartet) | A Shadow in Summer (#1) | Character-driven decade-spanning look at power and world-shaping magic |
| A Betrayal in Winter (#2) | ||
| An Autumn War (#3) | ||
| The Price of Spring (#4) | ||
| Max Brooks | World War Z | Interview-style zombie apocalypse post-mortem |
| Margaret Atwood (MaddAddam) | Oryx and Crake (#1) | Incredibly bleak dystopia and apocalypse. The first book in the trilogy is a vivid look at the world through the eyes of a wonderfully flawed character. The later two books expand the points-of-view; still strong, but they can't compare to the first. |
| The Year of the Flood (#2) | ||
| MaddAddam (#3) | ||
| Update 2023-06-06 | ||
| Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale) | The Handmaid's Tale (#1) | Another dystopia, this one less technical than Oryx and Crake, though repeating similar themes. The limited point of view is once again compelling. |
| The Testaments (#2) | ||
| Susanna Clarke | Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel | Witty, eerie, magical, wonderous, humorous: this story is a massive enthralling tale with a strong setting. |
| Helene Wrecker (The Golem and the Jinni) | The Golem and the Jinni (#1) | Arabic & Jewish immigrant culture in New York with a lot of mysticism. |
| The Hidden Palace (#2) | Completes the story of the first book | |
| Update 2023-10-06 | ||
| Katherine Addison | The Goblin Emperor | Royal court political intrigue fantasy of manners |
| Arkaday & Boris Strugatsky | Roadside Picnic (trans. Olena Bormashenko) | Weird sci-fi with alien artifacts and strange happenings. Part of the inspiration for the Metro games. |
| Alfred Bester | The Stars My Destination | Villianous, expansive, offensive: a 1956 sci-fi novel filled of vengeance |
| Mark Twain | Adventures of Huckleberry Finn * | Cultureful, adventuresome, descriptive, rowdy: an American classic |
| Mary Beard | SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome | Detailed history with a healthy mix of significant figures and the general populace |
| "Shoggy" | The Adventures of the All Guardsmen Party | Warhammer 40k adventures, as an RPG story |
| "qntm" | SCP Foundation: Antimemetics Division Hub | Fascinating, enigmatic, exciting horror. |
See the reading blog tag.