Or any story that flips the chosen one archetype on its head
been thinking all about this ‘chosen one’ trope since I rewatched The Matrix

First off, I love wheel of time and this isn’t a criticism post haha. Wheel of time was the first fantasy series I ever read and completed so I expect every series to be like it in my head.

It’s just the time in which plots are resolved in WOT is so slow, whenever I read another series I am shocked at how fast somethings get resolved, like something will happen that needs resolution and I’m expecting it to come into play 5 books later, nope it’s at the end of the current book or even sooner.

Idk if it’s a good thing, maybe I’m a bit traumatized with the glacial pacing, still love the series tho 😂

The trope of the Cleric class using a blunt mace as their weapon is common.

What’s the logic behind this? Holy magic and blunt damage? Where did this come from?

Looking for novels that have a female lead who is very, very powerful. To be clear, not just marginally better than peers but actually ridiculously powerful. I’ve seen this trope with male characters and I really want a female version. Bonus points for magic users. Thanks!

So as a big fan of Bujold I had been recommended Kushiel’s dart a few times but never got to actually reading it

after a reading slump of a few months decided on a whim to start the series and OH MY GOD

Phedre no Delaunay is one of the most fascinanting main characters I’ve ever read. the book works exactly the way I like, not focusing on the war scenes or chases or whatever (though it has plenty of action, girl has LIVED) but on her courtesan/spy work

the cultures, the characters, the betrayals, wow I just love it

just wanted to share as I have no one irl who would even know this book exists

tell me about your favorite things about this book!

edit: spelling

Well written mysteries with interesting world building and great characters? Pump that straight into my veins!

I’m looking for mysteries that lay out the pieces properly, with investigators who actually work the case, and whose answers don’t come out of left field, plus a world I can get lost in

Any other recommendations for Fantasy Poirots, SciFi Sherlocks, Xianxia Columbos, or anything of the sort?

People have been wanting half-star ratings for so many years, and it’s been available on basically every other reading tracker app for ages, so it feels weird that it finally happened. Why now?

I know the backstory for Barnes & Noble’s revival with the Waterstones guy turning things around, and while I think it is great that they have been able to open so many stores in recent years instead of closing or going bankrupt, I am truly perplexed by why it is doing so well.

The books cost near or at list price both in the store and online, so it’s not like it is offering savings compared to, say, an independent bookstore down the street. And with Amazon offering fast shipping within a couple of days (or even same day or within hours), it is much more expensive. For instance, a new hardcover of Yesteryear is $14.99 on Amazon, half the price of the $30 it costs at B&N in the store.

Is it catering to impulse purchases? A new one opened near me, and while I go to browse, I can’t stomach paying $20 for a paperback or $30+ for a hardcover.

Are any of you regular B&N customers and willing to share why you shop there instead of an independent bookstore if the prices are …

I’m looking for a new sci-fi book. Something with good horror but also an intellectually demanding science or philosophy part.

Kind of like Peter Watts blindsight with more horror. Thank you!

One of my first Neal Stephenson reads and my first cyberpunk read in literature form. I’ve always heard of this book being the predecessor to the genre as a whole and wanted to finally get around to reading it. And I really enjoyed!

Best way I can sum up the overall reading experience was that it was just chaotic fun for the most part. The world and settings that Stephenson was able to imagine and build up back in the 90s is very impressive and prophetic in a lot ways. I’m not tech savvy enough or know the full history of it to know how 100 hundred percent accurate Stephenson’s concepts are to what we have today in terms of virtual reality. But from the little I do know about VR and computers, the book is pretty close to the actual thing which is a bit crazy for me to wrap my head around.

The amount of violence and action in the book wasn’t something I expected going into it. Science fiction books I’ve read before tended to lean more into the world …

Going through the first book. The content is entertaining but I am missing any gravitas or central struggle other than killing mobs. Does it get better in the coming books?

I have been reading mostly short stories recently due to limited time and I’d love to read some opinions and recs from everyone.

Short stories are a great way for writer’s to show their chops, some can get real cool concepts with quite a limited number of pages.

Recently I’ve read Stories of Your Life and Other and Exhalation by Ted Chiang (both compilations of his short stories, The Alchemist one in Exhalation is simply phenomenal, Liking What You See: A Documentary is such a fun read too), some Tchaikovsky stuff, Beyond the Aquila Rift by Reynolds and Stephen King.

The Culture has always been a blindspot, and I was determined to get to it sometime this year.

On paper, I’m close to the target demographic - I enjoy space operas, especially the ones that include intergalactic dalliances with aliens (Mass Effect was semi-formative). And trite as it is to say it, living through 2026 does have me pondering the idea of a society run by benevolent AGI, and any fiction advertising a similar premise would’ve drawn me in.

The Culture is very much an alluded-to concept in Consider Phlebas, neither the core setting nor a concrete entity involved in the events of the plot. There are, of course, a few active Culture-aligned agents in the thick of it - Balveda, Unaha-Closp - but we spend slivers of the total word count in their heads, and they’re mostly subordinate to the whims and whimsies of one Bora Horza Gobuchul.

Horza is… an okay protagonist. I wouldn’t call him one-dimensional, but there aren’t really a lot of …

Hello there, reddit. I’m James McAvoy, here to answer your questions.

my directorial debut, CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’, is out in US theaters starting weekend.

Synopsis: Two friends with thick Scottish accents try to land a record deal by posing as hip-hop artists from California. As fame beckons and the lies pile up, their friendship gets put to the test.

Here’s the US trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hfDwS_TVU

Tickets/showtimes/info/etc: https://www.magentalightstudios.com/film?slug=california-schemin

I’ll be back at around 10:00-11:00 AM ET this morning to answer your questions. Please ask away. Hope to see you all at the movies!