November 2024
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    Hey

    I am looking for black friday book suggestions for somebody who struggles to stay interested when books become too complex in the prose. I am a late 20s male. In the past I have read:

    – The Eisenhorn Trilogy – Really enjoyed the story but did find it bordering on becoming too descriptive sometimes.
    – The Darth Bane Trilogy – Loved this, managed to get through it in a short time.
    – Six of Crows duology – Really enjoyed this, felt like the second novel got a bit too much into teen romance, but otherwise really enjoyed both books.
    – The Jurassic Park novels – Again, really enjoyed these

    As a child I loved the following series:
    – The Darren Shan novels
    – The Cherub series
    – The Hunger Games

    I am open to anything in fantasy/sci-fi but would prefer to stay away from books that follow too many young adult tropes. I want to read more, but often find ‘adult’ books too hard to get into and end up giving up 1/3 of the way through.

    by mileseverett

    10 Comments

    1. originalsibling on

      The Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis. The first (_Doomsday Book_), and the third and fourth (_Blackout_ and _All Clear_, which really go together as one story) are pretty serious; the second (_To Say Nothing of the Dog_) is more lighthearted.

    2. A couple of subversive fairy tales may be right up your alley. Try {{Too Many Curses}} and {{Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower}}

    3. A Wizard of Earthsea, The Name of the Wind – Tropes are everywhere though, and they don’t have to be a bad thing. Don’t let it spoil an otherwise good story. Regarding The Name of the Wind…pay no mind to the gomers whining about how the third book has never been written. Just read the first book as a standalone and enjoy it.

    4. {{The Giver by Lois Lowry}} — Quick dystopian read, good for ages ten and up (probably). Although Lowry is often credited for starting the YA dystopia trend, she wrote The Giver in response to her father’s memory loss. As an adult, I still reread this one every so often.

    5. If you’re worried about staying interested, readers have been blowing through the ~500 pages of *Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1* in like one sitting. It’s mad.

      It is hard scifi… but it was written so that people who like books where the math works will be satisfied, while readers who don’t care don’t feel lost/frustrated/thrown out of the story.

      Right now it’s $1.50 off on Amazon 🙂 imo check out the reviews first to see if it’s up your alley

    6. Try *All Systems Red* and the rest of the Murderbot books by Martha Wells. They’re novellas so they’re shorter.

      The Penric books by Lois McMaster Bujold are also novellas. The first one is *Penric’s Demon.*

    7. BigBortlesBrand on

      I’ve been trying to find something that scratches that Cherub itch since I was in junior high, loved that series

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