I got back into reading this year. I spoiled myself with Donna Tartt and Gyllian Flynn books as well as House of Leaves. Then, I felt a bit of burnout so turned to easy romance reads. I like both, but now that I want something complex again, I’m finding it hard to find what I’m looking for.
By complex, I mean the characters are developed in a “show, don’t tell way,” rather than being sort of a basic copy-paste, self-insert feel that a lot of KU books have. I want to feel like I understand the characters so thoroughly that I know them and can anticipate how they might react, even if the story has major twists like Gillian Flynn tends to have.
Piranesi approached the feeling I’m talking about. In particular, there was a passage where Piranesi put the ornaments back in his hair to make a good impression, and mistook the other character’s polite toleration as approval, but it was not explicitly stated in the book. I was impressed by that moment, that it wasn’t laid out but left up to my intuition.
I guess I’m looking for a book that doesn’t assume I need that kind of moment spelled out. Doesn’t have to be in the mystery or horror genres (in fact, I’d be impressed to see it in a book with a lighter mood), but I suspect it’s easier to write these type of moments in said genres.
I hope I’ve explained myself well. Thanks!
by Interesting_Study647
1 Comment
George R.R. Martin “Song of Fire and Ice Series” with the first book which you have probably heard of called Game of Thrones.
Multiple characters get their own POV chapters as unreliable narrators for the story. There is a lot of complexity, history, world building and of course, dark power politics. Intertwined with this is a number of mysteries and plots that one can’t be sure what the answer to is. The most mysterious characters like the chief spy-master/Spider and Littlefinger are not given POVs so one never knows what they are quite up to.
The HBO series did answer some of those that people used to guess at as the show writers were given a general summary by Martin. The biggest downside — he never finished the last two books and I don’t think he will before he dies.