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Ccs posted:Reddit went and created a list of what they think are the best fantasy books of the past decade. I disagree with this list, and especially the rankings of the books, but it gives a pretty good picture of what general fantasy readers think is good, alongside a few Kindle Unlimited series that are only popular with redditors. "1 Stormlight Archive Brandon Sanderson 222 2 The Broken Earth N.K. Jemisin 115 3 The Kingkiller Chronicle Patrick Rothfuss 88" I don't want to be mad at the mob, but I'm mad at the mob anyways 
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Oct 21, 2020 16:24
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quantumfoam posted:Noon: 22nd century remains out of print (and is expensive and keeps getting more expensive), while Hard to be a God & The Inhabited Island got re-published recently/have ebook editions (which is why I mentioned those two books as alternate choice first reads for the Noon Universe setting). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon:_22nd_Century gives barebones details on the short stories in it. Strugatsky books are pretty easy to find for a reasonable price (I have the S.F. Masterworks edition of Hard to be a God which was especially cheap) which makes it even more frustrating that Noon: 22nd century is so hard to get hold of.
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Oct 21, 2020 16:30
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This isn't "novels that people think are the best", it's favorite novels as a popularity contest. If you poll people about movies you'll find plenty of marvel movies because they have broad appeal, even if most people's favorite movie ever is not gonna be one of them.
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Oct 21, 2020 16:30
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Cicero posted:This isn't "novels that people think are the best", it's favorite novels as a popularity contest. I think you'll find that this list which like 200 random reddit posters voted in is a sign of the downfall of literature, and is fully representative of all fiction readers across the globe, per the erudite interpretations of the wise and might goon scifi/fantasy thread posters who are way better in every way.
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Oct 21, 2020 16:39
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"Popular nerd books are popular among nerds" Oh no
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Oct 21, 2020 16:52
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thanks to the recs recently I started Orconomics and I am really glad I did. I've been avoiding it for years since the name/KU status made me think it'd be full of whacky memes. Much better written than I was expecting and a nice change of pace from the grimdark poo poo I've been reading.
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Oct 21, 2020 17:23
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I find it heartening that any community on racist misogynist hellsite reddit dot com would put Jemisin at #2
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Oct 21, 2020 17:37
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Clark Nova posted:I find it heartening that any community on racist misogynist hellsite reddit dot com would put Jemisin at #2 Yeah, reddit is sloooowly turning around from where it was 4 years ago.
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Oct 21, 2020 17:50
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Reddit? No thanks, I'll stay on SA where nothing bad has ever happened
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Oct 21, 2020 17:54
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Clark Nova posted:I find it heartening that any community on racist misogynist hellsite reddit dot com would put Jemisin at #2 Yeah I had that thought too. Honestly I agree with whoever said it earlier, the actual order is pretty dumb but to be expected with a popularity contest, but there's a much better representation of women authors than I ever would have expected. Faint praise, but it could be much worse.
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Oct 21, 2020 18:26
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Clark Nova posted:I find it heartening that any community on racist misogynist hellsite reddit dot com would put Jemisin at #2 The mod team on r/fantasy is pretty proactive about nipping that poo poo in the bud.
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Oct 21, 2020 18:27
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StrixNebulosa posted:"1 Stormlight Archive Brandon Sanderson 222 From the books I have read of the list I would say it has a 50% accuracy IMO which is roughly the same as this thread. Although so much Sanderson.
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Oct 21, 2020 18:31
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Most of reddit is basically fine, you just hear about the horrible partsTheAardvark posted:thanks to the recs recently I started Orconomics and I am really glad I did. I've been avoiding it for years since the name/KU status made me think it'd be full of whacky memes. Much better written than I was expecting and a nice change of pace from the grimdark poo poo I've been reading.
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Oct 21, 2020 19:28
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Who are Mark Lawrence and Josiah Bancroft and should i care about them
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Oct 21, 2020 19:41
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They're authors. I think Mark Lawrence is actually responsible for Josiah Bancroft's Senlin Ascends blowing up. Personally I really liked Lawrence's Red Queen's War trilogy, I dropped Senlin a third of the way through though out of boredom (though it seems a well crafted book and I may go back later).
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Oct 21, 2020 19:46
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Cicero posted:They're authors. I think Mark Lawrence is actually responsible for Josiah Bancroft's Senlin Ascends blowing up. Personally I really liked Lawrence's Red Queen's War trilogy, I dropped Senlin a third of the way through though out of boredom (though it seems a well crafted book and I may go back later). I liked the idea behind Senlin Ascends, but the actual execution was pretty dull, yeah.
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Oct 21, 2020 20:07
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I enjoyed the prince of thorns trilogy from Lawrence (via audiobook). It was sort of grimdark for the sake of being grimdark though.
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Oct 21, 2020 20:12
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Cardiac posted:So I just finished the first book in the Nevernight series by Krisioff. Yup, definitely a fun read. His other series is decent too if you want eco-steampunk
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Oct 21, 2020 20:15
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Selachian posted:I liked the idea behind Senlin Ascends, but the actual execution was pretty dull, yeah. Agreed. I ended up slogging through it, then the next in the series, but it just sort of drags despite a really cool premise.
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Oct 21, 2020 20:25
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Baru shoutout on Tor https://www.tor.com/2020/10/21/9-complicated-female-narrators-who-will-surprise-you/
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Oct 22, 2020 05:44
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I just finished the first Baru and everybody should read Baru. Well done General Battuta.
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Oct 22, 2020 06:02
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StrixNebulosa posted:"1 Stormlight Archive Brandon Sanderson 222 God I'm petty but it really bugs me that some entries are for a whole series and others are for an individual novel in a series. Please be more consistent in your bad opinions! I did like the Broken Earth trilogy though.
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Oct 22, 2020 08:32
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Tars Tarkas posted:Baru shoutout on Tor https://www.tor.com/2020/10/21/9-complicated-female-narrators-who-will-surprise-you/ Can't believe they would spoil the title of the fourth book like that. "Traitor, monster, tyrant, hot mess—Baru cannot keep track of who she is supposed to be, not even when she’s alone"
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Oct 22, 2020 08:33
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I really liked the Book of the Ancestor series by Mark Lawrence, at least the audiobooks. I had come off a bunch of fairly demanding books and they hit a nice balance between 'grim dark' and 'magic boarding school'. Not perfect by any means but a pretty neat setting and decent characters. The framing story that worked for a couple effective twists in the first book kind of boxed him in on the second and third though. I've been meaning to pick up the one that just came out in the same setting but haven't gotten around to it. Picked up the first Prince of Thorns book on sale and didn't make it past the first chapter, the casual discussion of rape put it well on the wrong side of grim dark.
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Oct 22, 2020 16:20
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Also the reddit poll reminded me of the Michael J Sullivan books, which I stumbled onto the exact same way: looking for trashy fantasy audiobooks from a narrator I enjoyed off Tana French books. The first set is a very light, enjoyable buddy comedy of a set of thieves with hearts of gold that I plowed through quickly, but the prequel series, woof. It started out fairly promisingly, then stalls out for a while, briefly gets interesting again, and ends with one of the biggest disasters I've seen in ages to the point where I'm probably done with the author forever. It even ruined the entire original series by turning it into every single event was ACTUALLY meticulously planned by a mastermind deity.
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Oct 22, 2020 16:26
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team overhead smash posted:Can't believe they would spoil the title of the fourth book like that. My fav is still Spaceship Baru Cormorant
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Oct 22, 2020 16:30
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The GSV Baru Cormorant oc do not steal
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Oct 22, 2020 17:01
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Finished Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings this week. It's a novella set in Australia with a girl and 2 maybe friends trying to unravel the mysterious history of the town and some disappearances. That sounds vaguely Scooby Doo-ish, but it's not. It's got the present interspersed with sort of folktales that build up a mystical history of the area. It definitely leans creepy, but I'm not sure it's full blown horror. Still, if creepy folktale fits your Halloween reading agenda, maybe give it a go.
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Oct 22, 2020 17:29
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Yarrington posted:Also the reddit poll reminded me of the Michael J Sullivan books, which I stumbled onto the exact same way: looking for trashy fantasy audiobooks from a narrator I enjoyed off Tana French books. The first set is a very light, enjoyable buddy comedy of a set of thieves with hearts of gold that I plowed through quickly, but the prequel series, woof. It started out fairly promisingly, then stalls out for a while, briefly gets interesting again, and ends with one of the biggest disasters I've seen in ages to the point where I'm probably done with the author forever. It even ruined the entire original series by turning it into every single event was ACTUALLY meticulously planned by a mastermind deity. Yeah I enjoyed the Riyria books, and the Age of * books started out interesting but he really went off the rails in the final three. I'd need to read positive reviews before I gave another series of his a try. One thing I like about the author is that he completely finishes a series before he releases the first book, so at least I can know they will be released at a steady rate.
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Oct 22, 2020 19:26
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Coraline by Neil Gaiman - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1192/ The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J5X5LVQ/
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Oct 22, 2020 22:23
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pradmer posted:The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner - $1.99 A fairly topical book for our current age.
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Oct 23, 2020 09:51
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C.M. Kruger posted:A fairly topical book for our current age. Yah. Brunner wrote a lot of quite serviceable, entertaining stories. And approximately four truly great works, of which that is one.
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Oct 23, 2020 11:34
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D-Pad posted:Black Library just started a new Warhammer Crime series. All books in the series will take place in one continent spanning hive city that all the authors got together and created deep lore for. There are no space Marines, the vast majority of citizens have very little idea about the wider imperium. The two releases so far are very very good. Basically bladerunner detective novels. You don't have to be into 40k or know anything about the universe to enjoy them. They are just good sci fi. Bloodlines is the first novel, written by Chris Wraight one of the best authors writing for BL and the other is a short story anthology called No Good Men that is also excellent. I highly recommend anybody who likes sci fi crime stories check them out regardless of your feelings or lack thereof about 40k. I just finished the novel and can confirm that it is way better than it has any right to be and could easily stand alone as a cyberpunk novel without the W40K stuff. I particularly liked the subplot with the main character's mistress. That was some delightfully sneaky worldbuilding that I didn't see coming at all.
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Oct 23, 2020 13:15
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Yoon Ha Lee's (Machineries of Empire) new novel is finally out. Phoenix Extravagant is set in a fantasy version of Korea shortly after an invasion from (what I assume to be) fantasy Japan. The main character is a young nonbinary person who doesn't really care about the whole "conquered country" thing as long as they can continue to paint. Unfortunately for them it turns out their conquerors need artists to make their magic war robots work. I'm not very far in but I like what I've read so far (not exactly a surprise when it comes to Lee though.)
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Oct 23, 2020 14:19
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Circe looks cool, is it worth adding to my pile of "i will get to one day" fantasy?
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Oct 23, 2020 14:40
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I'd put John Brunner in the "definitely read, but library copy their work if possible". Mainly because Brunner's writing style is very experimental '60s/'70s New Wave scifi, and sometimes that combination just does not work. I would classify Brunner's STAND ON ZANZIBAR & THE SHEEP LOOK UP books as disaster porn, just like Fritz Leiber's THE WANDERER is disaster porn. SFL Archives just had the first mentions of Mercedes Lackey, Jo Walton, and the very first mention slash review of Richard Kadrey's work. Current favorite 1988 SFL Archives thing is a SFLer going next level internet stalker/Private Investigator discovering the internet for the first time, and flat out asking people to doxx someone-else for them.
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Oct 23, 2020 15:36
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https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/surreal-new-bookstore-opened-china
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Oct 23, 2020 16:46
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The Eon series (Legacy, Eon, Eternity) by Greg Bear - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YMZ3RT/ The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E6HYNGE/
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Oct 23, 2020 17:12
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algebra testes posted:Circe looks cool, is it worth adding to my pile of "i will get to one day" fantasy? The Madeline Miller book? It's very very good.
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Oct 24, 2020 16:35
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TheAardvark posted:thanks to the recs recently I started Orconomics and I am really glad I did. I've been avoiding it for years since the name/KU status made me think it'd be full of whacky memes. Much better written than I was expecting and a nice change of pace from the grimdark poo poo I've been reading. For anyone in the UK Orconomics is available to read for free as part of Amazon's Prime Reading.
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Oct 25, 2020 11:09
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