Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura , Philip Gabriel
Childhood trauma. Check.
Split timeline. Check.
Transported to another world. Check.
Children competing for a prize (to the death?). Check.
This is Japan.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The king was pregnant.
An anthropologist-like character lands on a planet with people who exhibit sexually differentiated physical characteristics, male or female depending on the circumstances, for a few days every month.
Genly Ai’s task is to convince them to join the coalition of planets he comes from.
Le Guin uses this framework to explore the various ways in which this physical ambisexuality affects their society and, in doing so, explores how sex and gender affect our own.
The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson
I love food and I love reading. This book is an encyclopedia about food. I like it.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin , Mirra Ginsburg
The much more interesting but lesser known dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell’s 1984.
Not as prophetic as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World but it’s more consistently well written and has mostly aged better.
It’s more open to interpretation than I was expecting.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
In working through my thoughts after reading this trashfire of a novel book, I wrote five first drafts of a review. They’re incomplete but I’m posting them here mostly un-edited (just some typo fixes) for posterity. They’re either too incomplete, too snarky, too snooty or too mean-spirited to post on Goodreads.
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way by Ursula K. Le Guin
The most well put together rendition of the Tao Te Ching I’ve read with commentary and thoughts throughout from my lord and savior Ursula K. Le Guin.
You can’t go wrong with this one.
Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
A collection of short stories and novellas set in the Earthsea setting that Ursula wrote to help her find out how to continue the story when prompted to do so by her publisher.
There’s some great stories here but I prefer the Earthsea novels to this generally (don’t get me started on The Farthest Shore).
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky , Boris Strugatsky
I love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games! Especially the third one. It’s a game I always come back to over the years.
Reading through the original inspiration for the games was a real pleasure.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
A Memory Called Empire has big “Hugo award winner” energy: an interesting premise, consistent and intriguing world building, a promising start and a propulsive ending.
I loved my time with it and very excited to dig into the next book in the series although I suspect that it won’t be as good.
Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin
A sequel to both The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore.
Considering how uninteresting The Farthest Shore is, I’m confident saying that you can skip that book and go straight to Tehanu.
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Wylde
I’m not sure who to blame for how boring most of this book is:
- The British for their empire and the consequences of that on the Irish
- The Catholics for influencing the Irish and warping their existing folkloric beliefs
- Lady Wylde herself for presenting these stories in a very blunt and uninteresting way.
All of the above?
Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major
This was the first romance novel I’ve read. Sometimes you have to unleash your inner mom and read a book by a mom for moms.
I’m about as far from a mom as you can get but despite that, Cesca Major pulled me in with her writing in a way that I wasn’t expecting.
The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem
Stanislaw Lem pops off once again. I’m blown away at how he can integrate all these disparate emotions and ideas into one novel.
New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future by James Bridle
A bleak but compelling investigation on a variety of world ending issues we’re facing currently.
You have to be in the right mood for this text but if you are, you’re likely to learn something.
Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago
Everyone in a small and nameless country becomes immortal, hijinks ensue. death, with a small “d”, shows up, does some stuff then falls in love with a bass player.
The End.
The weakest of Jose Saramago’s work by far.
The Child Thief by Brom
An edgy retelling of Peter Pan by Brom, the illustrator who’s work you’ve definitely seen before (Doom II, Diablo II).
Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
A fantastic conclusion to the Book of the New Sun. Do not skip this one, it’s cool, it’s funny, it’s wacky, it’s begging to be read multiple times.
If you’ve got the right group, this would make for a great book club book.
Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Shadow & Claw is an omnibus containing the first half of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun which is a far future sci-fi fantasy epic following the story of Severian the torturer, a self described insane person who has trouble differentiating between reality, his memories and his dreams.
The Iliad by Homer , Emily Wilson
I love Greek mythology which definitely elevated my appreciation of this text.
If you’re not already a big fan of Greek mythology, you’re unlikely to get much out of it though.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
The precursor to N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, this is another fantasy setting fully divorced from Tolkien. For that reason alone, I’m into it.
It features a protagonist who gets entangled with the enslaved gods who are used and abused by the people in power. Hijinks ensue.
All's Well by Mona Awad
I appreciate the depiction of the alienation Miranda feels towards others caused by her chronic pain which is invisible to everyone else but very real to her.
It rings true to me as someone who struggled with chronic pain for a long time.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Madeline Miller, the first and the greatest of the authors writing Greek mythology fan fiction, like the hammer of Hephaestus, strikes again.
Circe rewrites the story of, well, Circe who you may have seen in Homer’s Odyssey. It was fantastic and I’m excited to read her previous novel, the Song of Achilles.
The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life by Lu Dongbin
- Conserve your semen.
- Achieve immortality.
- Rejoice.
The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book: 40 Fast, Easy, and Fun Tabletop Games by James D'Amato
A collection of small one shot tabletop RPGs. Their quality varies and not all of them will be interesting to the people you play with BUT there’s some bangers in here.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Feels like an Arthurian legend, a mix of fairy tales but grounded in a reality somewhat like our own with some fantastical twists layered into it.
Short and sweet, deserving of all the praise it has received.
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
The first novel in Terry Pratchett’s City/Night Watch series featuring the drunk and depressed Captain Vimes, the human who thinks he’s a dwarf Carrot, the everyman Nobby and the boomer Sergeant Colon. They act like a tight knit four man improv group, bouncing off each other really well and provide a great foundation for the humor, action and hijinks in the novel.
Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The best “second novel in a trilogy” that I’ve read in a while. To no one’s surprise, Adrian Tchaikovsky is responsible.
Eyes of the Void clicked for me when I realized that Adrian Tchaikovsky is an avid tabletop roleplayer and this novel comes alive because he’s basically role-playing (to perfection) all of his characters.
He’s thought about (and nailed) the way each character thinks and speaks based on where they’re from, who they are, their culture, etc. He’s great at this and you can see this in all of his work but The Final Architecture series feels built for him to flex his ability to write great characters.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express is similar to Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (the other Agatha Christie novel I’ve read recently).
Both novels involve Hercule Poirot on vacation traveling (on a train or on a boat respectively), with the soon-to-be murder victim asking Poirot for help, him declining and then after the murder occurs, Poirot proceeds to solve the murder.
But Death on the Nile was SO MUCH MORE of a compelling read for me. Murder on the Orient Express is… Uhhhhh… Express, it’s fast and straightforward. It doesn’t waste any time. As soon as possible you’re jumping straight into the murder followed by a by-the-numbers solving of the mystery.
Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes by Rob Wilkins
Terry Pratchett is an all-timer. The rare case of an author who is immensely popular for the right reasons.
This is a biography about him, and it’s the best one we’re going to get, written by the best person for the job (other than Terry Pratchett himself of course), his assistant Rob Wilkins.
It is what it says it is, the story of Terry Pratchett from the beginning to the very end.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Part 1: Amazing. Seems like this could have easily been an inspiration for the old school Fallout games I’ve always loved. Following one monk through the post-apocalypse is cool.
Part 2: Gigantic shift in tone. A less personal, more political story takes hold. Kind of hard to get through. The shift was really jarring.
Part 3: I haven’t gotten that far yet.
Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre
Not my cup of tea. Philosophy should be understandable, this text is incomprehensible.
Maybe if was downing absinthe with Sartre and his crew back in the forties when this was written, I would “get” it. As-is though, this is pretty hard to get through.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
It’s short and sweet (and sour) and that’s what makes this novel so special. It’s got one of the most unsettling POVs I’ve read in a while. It starts weird and only gets weirder from there.
It’s a great Halloween read. It’s got an Adams Family aesthetic (weird family in a mansion ostracized from their community) but with a less comedic tone.
Vengeful by V. E. Schwab
There’s no denying that V.E. Schwab is a great writer. She’s able to construct stories that entice you to keep reading despite the underlying story not being all it’s cracked up to be.
Her Villains duology leaves me feeling empty. She knows what the big moments she wants to have in her story are and she constantly steers her characters in the direction of those big moments without it feeling earned.
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
Hasn’t aged as well as the first two books in the series IMO.
It’s kind of a retread of the first book with a little bit of the 80s crack epidemic and reganomics commentary spliced into it. It’s not as evergreen as the other books.
Blindness by Jose Saramago
José Saramago refuses to use quotation marks, question marks and exclamation marks in his writing.
José Saramago mostly rejects the idea that paragraphs are a writing tool that exist and can be used to make a text more readable.
José Saramago mostly refuses to name his characters and chooses to refer to them instead by their job, title or some aspect of their appearance (eg. The “doctor’s wife”, the “girl with the dark glasses”).
Why does José Saramago do this?
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
A murder mystery set in a Warhammer 40k-esque far far future universe setting with necromancy at the core of everything. Also it’s horny but not explicitly so.
This novel is trying to do a little too much IMO and fails to tell a cohesive story that works all the way through as a result.
It’s not bad, far from it. It’s just inconsistent and a little long.
The Martian by Andy Weir
An astronaut is abandoned on Mars after a dust storm separates him from his crew. Through journal entries, he tells the story of how he tries to survive.
Cain by Jose Saramago
Old Testament fan fiction written by the militantly atheist Jose Saramago.
Color me intrigued.
Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler
I was blown away by the premise of Dawn (the first novel in the trilogy) and its execution. The remnants of humanity, after a nuclear apocalypse occurs, are “saved” by aliens and forced to choose between mating with their saviors or never being able to have children again. The rest of the novels didn’t hit me as hard but they were interesting nonetheless.
Vicious by V. E. Schwab
In Vicious, V. E. Schwab writes some great prose and hooks you with a lot of writing gimmicks (past, present and future POVs, extremely convenient circumstances/decisions to set up exciting scenes, etc.) but she struggles to create a believable narrative with likeable characters.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Weird vignettes about humans landing on Mars and colonizing it.
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
“The Raven Tower” is one of the worst books I have ever read. I’ve only covered the tip of the iceberg in this review because reading through this book has left me completely drained of energy. Please don’t read this book, it is beyond trash. If you really want to, I can’t stop you but I really wish I could.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao
Xiran Jay Zhao strikes again. I was blown away by her YA novel Iron Window a few months ago so when I saw her next novel Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor on sale, I snatched it up.
Once again, Xiran has interwoven ancient Chinese history and mythology seamlessly with an anime inspired aesthetic (Yugioh in this case whereas Iron Window was very Darling in the Franxx) serving it all through a genre appropriate lens.
Words are my Matter by Ursula K. Le Guin
1/3 essays about life 1/3 book forewords 1/3 book reviews
All written by Ursula K. Le Guin between 2000 and 2016.
Ursula K. Le Guin is great, so to no one’s surprise there’s a lot to love about this text.
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
A short magical realism novel about a girl, her mother and her step father who’s a human size crane, the bird that is.
Hijinks ensue.
Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins
It’s heartbreaking. I’m tearing up by page 4. This series is advertised as a story for kids but it’s written in such a way that it’s just as interesting reading through it as an adult. A younger reader wouldn’t catch all the subtext (and there’s a lot of it).
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
Felt more like a soap opera than a space opera at times.
There’s a lot of people thinking about, talking about and having sex. There’s a lot of scheming and plotting that sometimes makes sense but often doesn’t.
So I rolled with it, strapped on my suspension of disbelief pants and enjoyed the ride.
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
I’m torn on this one. I enjoyed it but it was missing a bit of polish.
I enjoyed the cast of characters being mostly of Canadian Indigenous ancestry (well, except the villain). It’s not something I’ve seen before (which either speaks to my uncultured-ness or the lack of minority voices in the media I’m exposed to… or both).
Everyday Ethics: Inspired Solutions to Real-Life Dilemmas by Joshua Halberstam
Joshua Halberstam is the king of strawmanning. Every chapter involves him describing these absurd caricatures of human beings and then using them to try to say to something interesting (keyword: try).
All the Names by Jose Saramago
Another Jose Saramago banger. In All The Names, we follow the story of Senhor José as he works in, navigates through, and subverts, the bureaucracy of the Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Every paragraph screams Saramago, if you know you know, if you’re into that, you’re into that.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Big robots,
fighting off aliens,
piloted by pairs of young men and women (mostly boys and girls), with the men draining the life force from the women (often killing them in the process).
Wu Zetian, eventually becoming the Iron Widow, is sold to the army by her family to become a concubine-pilot. She has a plan to avenge her sister, burn the system to the ground and build it back up again.
Dayummmmmm this was good.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
This book is terrible. I read through this whole novel and I don’t have anything to show for it.
I probably should have put the book down and lit it on fire when the gigantic black Rastafarian sumo wrestler in a diaper showed up. I probably should have stopped reading when the profoundly unlikable protagonist turns out to be a pedo. I probably should have stopped reading when I realized that none of the characters were interesting.
Good Thinking: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World by David Robert Grimes
A compelling and instructive book on the many logical fallacies we are guilty of committing ourselves and exposed to through the media and internet.
A book that made me feel as though it was written specifically for me. A must read book that very few people will read.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
I love nonsense. Yumyum.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic story following a messiah-like figure who wishes to both: survive the horrific world she lives in with ripped from the 90s headlines / Mad Max roving gangs of murderers and rapists while also founding her own religion.
Uhhhhh very interesting. It’s a shame that Octavia E. Butler wasn’t able to finish the series. Her work is always interesting if a little uneven.
Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life by John Gray
I’m deathly allergic to cats (especially unneutered cats) so despite liking them in theory, I can’t spend much time with them.
I’m not allergic to philosophy though. This book talks about cats, talks about philosophy and uses the promise of cats to ease you into thinking about philosophy.
At least, that’s what I think it’s trying to do?
Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee
A compelling historical portrayal of the lives of the men involved in writing for and/or editing the influential Astounding science-fiction magazine since it was first published in the 1930s.
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
This novel suffers from middle book syndrome. It continues the story set up in the first book and, hopefully, sets up the third and final book.
The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
A short semi-biographical discussion and guide on meditation.
TBH I sped through this, I need to read it again.
I remember it having some pretty funny moment where the author puts Jesus on blast.
The Essential Tao by Thomas Cleary
I much preferred Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English’s translation of the Tao Te Ching. I’m not an ancient Chinese scholar so I can’t speak to how faithful this translation is compared to the original manuscript.
But I can say that the poetry doesn’t flow well and some translation choices left me scratching my head — wondering if Thomas Cleary understands how the English language works.
A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
An absolute page turner if I’ve ever read one (I couldn’t put this book down). Each time I sat down to read, it only took a few sentences to transport me completely into this world that V.E. Schwab has so carefully built.
A Gathering of Shadows develops the characters introduced in the previous book (along with some fresh faces), portrays the evolution of their relationships with one another and sets everything up for what I’m confident is going to be a riveting conclusion to the trilogy.
Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines
This book is a joke and not a very funny one. It fails completely in its stated goal of being funny.
The tonal clash between the comedic intent of the author and the violent story centered around a group of janitors trying to stop a genocide is jarring.
The characters are nothing more than caricatures and this is a trainwreck waiting to happen given the inclusion of a comic relief autistic character.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A great space opera by the king of writing alien aliens. It’s a fantastic romp where we follow free adventures of a ragtag group of scoundrels doing their best to save the universe.
What could have been just “another one of those” is greatly elevated by the Adrian Tchaikovsky touch.
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Fantastic genre-bending sci-fi.
My mind’s eye has never been very good so I rarely latch on to descriptions of the spaces that characters find themselves in. But, the descriptions of Solaris’s space station and the planet it’s orbiting were so vivid and interesting that it elevated the story for me.
The space station’s color scheme of white combined with stripes of vibrant colors lit by the alternating blue and red hues of the system’s both suns was breathtaking.
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
The Light Brigade is a story about breaking people down and putting them back together again, both mentally and physically, to turn them into perfect soldiers/monsters.
It’s a wild ride that kept me hooked all throughout. It subverts many of the science fiction tropes you’re familiar with to keep you guessing.
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is described as the “Queen of Mystery” and the “Queen of Crime”.
After reading through Death on the Nile for the first time, I’d recommend that we add the “Queen of Camp” to that list.
Death on the Nile is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I don’t think that was the intention of the author almost one hundred years ago when it was first published but reading it now I was chuckling nonstop at how campy and absurd it is.
Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin mostly successful attempt to write a story in the world of a Wizard of Earthsea told from the perspective of a girl and, eventually, woman.
Ged shows up and steals the show a little bit from Tenar which Le Guin will rectify in the subsequent novels.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
There’s a, soon-to-be wizard, on a archipelago world. He goes to wizard school and becomes xXx#1_Mage_NAxXx.
A classic fantasy story elevated by Le Guin’s poetic use of words. Struggles to give women in the story the story they deserve, an issue dealt with in the subsequent novels.
Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny
In fair puzzles there should always be a way out. But I saw no doorways in the sand, and try as I might I could not make the puzzle fall fair.
Doorways in the Sand tells the story of Fred Cassidy the “Eternal Student”, a man who’s spent 13 years of his life as an undergrad.
He does everything he can to avoid getting a degree so he can continue benefiting from his uncle’s generous will, predicated on him being in school (once he graduates he’ll be cut off).
Fred’s idyllic existence is disrupted by the theft of a priceless alien artifact, the star-stone. He’s a person of interest for reasons outside of his control and so he is pursued by humans and aliens alike who think he can help them find the stone (can he?).
“You are a living example of the absurdity of things.”
Hijinks ensue.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
The shake that passes will echo. The wave that recedes will come back. The mountain that rumbles will roar.
The Fifth Season is a story about suffering and trying to find moments of pleasure and peace in a broken world.
The POV characters are all persecuted and forced to suffer because of circumstances outside of their control.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
Gaslight, Manifest, Philosophize.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Humm…
It was OK.
Unlike The Galaxy and The Ground Within (also written by Becky Chambers), this novella doesn’t have a lot of space (see what I did there?) to develop its characters and have you care about them.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
The Murderbot Diaries series so far have been extremely cyberpunk.
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Thud! by Terry Pratchett tells the story of Sam Vimes, head of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and his fellow coppers trying to solve a dwarf’s murder. The upcoming anniversary of the thousands years old Battle of Koom Valley is keeping tension high between the dwarves and the trolls; making it harder for the constables of the Watch to keep the peace and solve the crime.
Thud! is a Terry Pratchett novel through and through. There’s ample comedy interlaced with impactful action scenes with just a little bit of drama sprinkled in. This time around, it’s a little grittier and darker than usual.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
All Systems Red is a novella written by Martha Wells, the first in her Murderbot Diaries series.
The titular Murderbot is a sentient robot-human hybrid, a slave to a mega corporation, tasked with protecting the humans it’s told to protect.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Murderbot has hacked its governor module, granting it the ability to refuse any orders given by its corporate overlords.
Once again, Murderbot finds itself protecting humans, prospectors surveying a planet, when things start going wrong.
Hijinks ensue.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
Uhhhhhh. Heavy sigh.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Terry is dedicated to the bit. More than anything he is committed to creating absurd worlds that feel real. His work has aged beautifully because the world we live in is as absurd as it’s ever been and it’s only getting more absurd from here on out.
Small Gods is about an autistic savant (pour a drink every time Terry Pratchett includes an autistic character in one of his Discworld books) named Brutha who is a lowly priest/monk in the church of Om. Hijinks ensue.
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
“They think.”
“Not thinking like us, though.”
“Well that’s to be expected.”
Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
A few different cooky POV characters doing their own thing, eventually meet up to save big T Time.
The second Terry Pratchett book I read, I preferred Going Postal but this one is no slouch.
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Going Postal is my favorite Terry Pratchett novel. I’m facepalming right now for not writing my thoughts down about this book.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is a science fiction novel about a diverse cast of characters from all over the galaxy, stuck at an inter-planetary truck stop for an indeterminate span of time, getting to know one another and helping each other overcome (or make peace with) problems in their personal lives.
As the characters learned about each other and gradually opened up about themselves, I started to see parts of myself reflected in them making me feel invested in the mostly low stakes interactions occurring between the characters.
A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab
It was an enjoyable romp but doesn’t necessarily hit the highs of the previous books in the series. As the third and final(ish) book in the series I was expecting something a little bit more. Or maybe I was expecting a little bit less, a more tightly edited and polished story. Either would have been nice.
Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
Cassandra in Reverse is a novel about a woman in her early 30s with a fascination for Greek mythology who has just been dumped by her boyfriend of 4 months and fired from her job in PR.
In that moment, something snaps and she gains the ability to go back in time. She becomes like her namesake from myth who could see into the future but was cursed to never be believed.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
I really loved it…
I was skeptical at first (I’ve been burned too many times by boring and tropey fantasy novels that so many people love) but V. E. Schwab reeled me in with some gritty and edgy fantasy that felt really “real” to me.
I was so immersed in the world that I was tearing up by the end of the book which doesn’t happen to me very often (one character’s arc really spoke to me)
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
Which of us are people and which of us are meat?
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
“We’re going on an adventure!”
If you liked the previous novel in this series, Children of Time, you’re likely to enjoy this one just as much if not more (I definitely did). If you haven’t read it, I suggest you start with that one (also great) and then read this sequel. Otherwise, you’ll be missing out.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
I guess this is what happens when a tremendously successful author with a single published novel to her name spends 16 years writing another one.
I read Susanna Clarke’s first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, as a kid and, now, I’ve forgotten what it was about and if I enjoyed it (or not).
After reading Piranesi, I’m unlikely to forget this one and how I felt reading through it.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A very human story with Alien aliens, AI/human constructs and time “travel”.
The first Adrian Tchaikovsky story I read and perhaps the best. Once you pick this book up, you won’t be putting it back down until it’s done.
To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu
To Hold Up the Sky is a collection of short stories from Liu Cixin who’s mostly known for his Three Body Problem trilogy.
This collection is a mixed bag. The stories range from very bad, to middling to great. Two (out of eleven) stories really spoke to me and the rest were mostly meh.
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
After forcing my way through the entire Southern Reach trilogy, I’ve decided to never read another Jeff VanderMeer novel.
Any goodwill I might have had for the author after reading Annihilation was siphoned away by the other two novels in the series.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
This book was OK but the movie is better.
Please do yourself a favor and do not read the rest of the novels in this series.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a dystopian novel from 1932 about dystopian shit and it has a lot to say about the dystopia we’re currently living in.
Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn by Brian Merchant , Claire L. Evans
A collection of science-fiction short stories that’ll make you go "huh, interesting…" and might encourage you to think about how technology affects your life currently and how it might affect it in the not so distant future.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman , Terry Pratchett
A cool guy devil and a flamboyantly effeminate angel living on Earth try to stop the end times from happening because they’ve come to enjoy all of Earth’s pleasures (mosly driving fast cars and reading, respectively). Also, there’s the anti-christ, a descendant of a prophet who’s predicted everything, some dude, etc. There’s a lot going on here.
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
An incompetent wizard is tasked with protecting a visitor visiting from a faraway land. A fantasy novel for people who don’t like fantasy novels.
Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis
Aliens on Earth in the early/mid 2000s and everything that follows from that. Sequel to Axiom’s End, continues Cora’s story and adds some new fresh characters (alien and otherwise) into the mix.
Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Set in 2007, the novel is about a U.S. government coverup of contact with extraterrestrial life. You follow the story of Cora, daughter of an exiled whistleblower, who finds herself in the middle of the whole ‘alien’ situation.
Mork Borg by Pelle Nilsson , Johan Nohr
MÖRK BORG is a pitch-black apocalyptic fantasy RPG about lost souls and fools seeking redemption, forgiveness or the last remaining riches in a bleak and dying world.
Wicked Ones by Ben Nielson
WICKED ONES is a Forged in the Dark tabletop RPG about a group of fantasy monsters building a dungeon, launching raids on the surface to gather a hoard, and pursuing your nefarious master plan.
The Boulder: A Philosophy for Bouldering by Francis Sanzaro
A collection of thoughts on the practice of bouldering, bringing it into conversation with arts and sports as varied as architecture, dance, skateboarding, painting, parkour, martial arts and gymnastics.
Living Beyond Borders: Growing up Mexican in America by Margarita Longoria
An anthology of short stories, comics, and poems from Mexican American authors.
Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters by Dominic Lopes , Bence Nanay , Nick Riggle
We all enjoy (and love to comment on) our experiences with media, cuisine, design, games and more. Clearly, aesthetic pursuits are an integral part of the human experience, this book tries to tell us why from three different points of view.
Performance Rock Climbing by Dale Goddard , Udo Neumann
Reference guide for experienced climbers who want to further hone their skills. Has newspaper comic-style characters as well as photos to show off the various techniques. Expresses a lot of information succinctly, it doesn’t waste your time.
9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes by Dave Macleod
A bunch of mistakes climbers (apparently) make and how to avoid them. Not as concrete and concise as I would like but if you’re willing to filter out the fluff, there’s some interesting information here.
Self Coached Climber by Dan Hague , Douglas Hunter
A climber’s guide to movement, training and performance.
Games: Agency as Art by C. Thi Nguyen
Games are a unique art form. They do not just tell stories, nor are they simply conceptual art. They are the art form that works in the medium of agency. C. Thi Nguyen’s Games: Agency as Art dives deep into these ideas and expands on them.
On Being Awesome: A Unified Theory of How Not to Suck by Nick Riggle
A philosophical exploration of what it means to be awesome and not suck, and a plea for more awesomeness in our personal, social, and public lives.
Monster of the Week by Micheal Sands
Monster of the Week is a standalone action-horror RPG for 3-5 people. Hunt high school beasties a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer, travel the country to bring down unnatural creatures like the Winchester brothers of Supernatural, or head up the government investigation like Mulder and Scully. It seems OK, nothing extraordinary or unique other than the conceit.
Heart: The City Beneath by Grant Howitt , Christopher Taylor
Heart: The City Beneath is a tabletop roleplaying game about delving into a nightmare undercity that will give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of – or kill you in the process. It is a dungeon-crawling, story-forward tabletop RPG that focuses on what characters have to lose in pursuit of their dreams in the chaotic darkness beneath the world. Weird but in a good way.
