I’ve been in a rut lately. I keep spending too much time staring to read stuff that isn’t speaking to me. I’ve recently been disappointed by Stars and Bones by Gareth Powell, Blood Circus by Camila Victoire, and Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan were ok but I wanted more, same for the Murderbot series by Martha Wells and the Hunt the Stars series by Jessie Mihalik. On the other hand I stopped reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons in the first few pages because that was WAY too much jargon too fast, and struggled through Seveneves by Neal Stephenson because the idea was good, only to get disappointed by the pacing. Most important for me are compelling world building that rolls out at a slower pace and complicated characters. I’ve recently been reading stuff from VE Schwab and enjoying it but still wanting it to be a bit more sophisticated. What should I read?
Pet peeves:
– underdeveloped, boring characters including the chosen one trope, especially if they “naturally” have some knowledge or skill
-Characters that don’t react like real humans. Like not reacting to violence, or acting like discrimination is unimaginable, or having no interpersonal conflict at all
– too much jargon too quickly and lots of just infodumping exposition at the beginning. Show me, don’t tell me!
– blatant preachiness; DNF Blood Circus because of this
– technology/magic systems that don’t have a mechanism to explain them
– the use of people’s sexuality, race, religion, and especially the use of the experiences of women and children as plot devices. Put the issues in, but make them realistic and do it respectfully, don’t just throw in a baby daddy to build tension and not get into it.
Looking for stuff like:
– the Wool series by Hugh Howey
– the Expanse series by James SA Corey
– The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
– The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
– the Craft series by Maxwell Gladstone
– the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir
– the Jade series by Fonda Lee
– Ninth House series by Leigh Bardugo
– Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
by Scared_Tax470
1 Comment
If you want complicated characters with character arcs, world building that isn’t info-dumped, story craftmanship inspired by Sanderson in a setting that’s kinda *The Expanse* x *The Martian*… I think you might very much enjoy *Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1* (first in a series, but the ending is “satisfying” even as it leaves the story open for a sequel)
Also, it’s pretty unrelated to what you’re looking for, it’s just *good*, is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Maybe start with his *Wyrd Sisters*?
Also, as for good world building, I love Atwood’s *Oryx and Crake* and Williams’ *Metropolitan*