Sorry if this hurts anyone’s feelings, but I’m halfway through Mistborn: The Final Empire right now (no spoilers, please!) and I can’t shake the feeling that this is very much a YA novel. Maybe I’m too old and seasoned enough in the genre to see it?

I was told this was the perfect entry point to Brandon Sanderson’s “adult” fantasy, but what I’m reading feels like a coming-of-age story wrapped in a fantastic magic system. The world-building is top-notch and the prose is flawless (for its intended purpose), but the narrative feels like it’s holding my hand the entire time. I’m surprised by this, especially for an author who’s been compared to GRRM.

So, where am I wrong? What makes this an adult book? Is it simply that the main characters aren’t teenagers? Or is the YA label not a criticism, but a simple fact?

EDIT: since I can see this has exploded pretty much overnight I want to clarify something once more. This is not …

I just finished Babel by R.F. Kuang, and while I liked the magic system and imperialism angle, the class stuff felt kinda tacked on, like it was there but not really explored deep. It got me thinking about how many fantasy books have these huge societies with kings and peasants, but they barely touch on the real tensions between them. Like in Mistborn, the skaa vs nobles is central, and it works great, but a lot of other books just have poor folks as background noise. I grew up in a working-class area, so when books skip over that, it bugs me. Am I missing something, or do you feel the same? What fantasy books do class dynamics really well, without it feeling forced?

Obviously a slightly ragebaity title, but basically this. I’ve asked several times on here - and have gone over threads where other people were asking for the same - for fantasy that explores class as a topic through an anarchist and communist lense. Just at the very least no more of the same hero/saviour quasi-monarchy trope. Out of the many recommendations, so far I’ve tried the Curse of Chalion and Malazan. I cannot fathom how you would recommend either of the two for the criteria given above. So I started looking at recommendations more closely and of the things I’ve read, I’d say over half the time they are fully off the mark for what OP is asking for. How come we are so shit at recommending stuff to each other?

Edit: It’s probably not a surprise and surely not a good precedent, but I’m getting so much better recommendations on here than ever before lol. Bummer I’ve read most of them already.

For me: • When a character dies, I mourn them… and then they’re just randomly brought back in the next book or season. No foreshadowing, just cos the readers will be happy… sometimes it works but usually no… unless you kill them off for a brief period please just let them stay dead I think it ruins their character.

•	The whole “I am your father” reveal. Or worse: “your mother who’s been dead for 10 million years is actually alive!” Sure. How convenient.

•	“Actually, I am the true heir and I’ve been living in poverty this whole time under a different name but even I didn’t know I was the real queen of bla bla. Like I cannot believe I read 879 pages just to have that as the big reveal.

•	When a male author writes every female character as that cringey “girl boss feminist” stereotype… yes I am an amazing coder who is so smart and perfect and sexy and also ! I am not scared of men and I can stab them with no training … oh and I’m 5 foot tall and weigh 65 pounds… and I wear tight …

Wow, can’t wait to read all 7 books of this series! I hope there haven’t been any issues in finishing them…

Jokes aside, what a kick ass book, Lynch could have never written anything else after this let alone sequels and this would still go down as one of the best modern fantasy novels. I have both the sequels ready to read and will now join the crowd in patiently waiting for the rest to hopefully see the light of day but I’m feeling awfully satisfied for the time being.

Any other notable fantasy books about thieves or with similar vibes to this? I’d love to read those too!

I’m a huge fan of literary fantasy (The Buried Giant, Once and Future King, Wizard Knight, etc.)

But I’m in the mood for something that is faster paced, and more focused on a fun fantasy adventure than it is on themes, subtext, and social commentary.

Can anyone recommend a book that is just completely unashamed to be fantasy?

Medieval setting, kings, knights, dragons, quests, monsters, magical items, etc.

Honestly in the mood for something like Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Riyria, Inheritance Cycle, Eddings stuff, and so on.

Any recs?

I loved this NY Times article about author Kiran Desai, who accidentally wrote a draft of her book with over 5,000 pages and “no center.” Afterwards, it took her around 8 years to find the narrative’s center, to cut, to craft, and finally, to publish.

A free version of this paywalled article is found at https://archive.ph/546Xh

Hey everyone!

I’ve been seeing a lot of videos where creators are offering their hot takes, and very often those hot takes involve discussing audiobooks and whether they constitute reading or not.

At least to me, I figured that for those who are visually impaired and may not have books translated in Braille, audiobooks become a means for them to read through listening. Or is there some other aspect to it that I’m unaware of?

Happy to know your thoughts and opinions thanks!

P.S. Since I’m getting downvoted, I wanted to clarify that I do consider audiobooks to be reading. Just asking why others seem to not consider it so.

P.P.S. I appreciate everyone clarifying on why they consider it listening versus reading. My question was a genuine one and I don’t see why I should get downvoted or judged for it. I never implied that audiobooks are superior or inferior to reading physical books.

I finished 11/22/63 a few days ago, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Stephen King has some great stories (Salem’s Lot is my fave), but this one is markedly different.

Partly because the main “point” of the story focusing on the JFK assassination or whatnot, is actually the least interesting part of the whole story.

Instead, the way he describes Jake/George’s life, describes the feel of the 50s and 60s, and the chemistry between the characters in the town of Jodie is just mesmerizing. The descriptions of the taste of root beer and ice cream. The school dances, the meet-cutes, the characters.

I can’t get it out of my head! I felt like I just lived in a different reality while reading it, I was so immersed in the way he built the world of America in the 50s and 60s.

To me it felt much more DaVinci Code than rigorous sci-fi. It used pop science concepts to build a feeling of realism, but it was not in fact remotely realistic.

I think describing it as hard sci-fi can set readers, such as myself, up with the wrong expectations going into the book, which can lead to some confusion in the last third where some of the big reveals are very much not remotely sciency.

DaVinci code for physics would probably be a more apt description to me.

Edit: to elaborate slightly, Knowing that a book is not hard sci-fi means I’m not going to assume the author has rigorously researched the science, and therefore I will not have to spend mental energy sorting out true facts from creative liberty. It also helps me judge the book on its strengths.

Edit 2: it seems that there are a lot of different opinions on what the term hard science fiction means. To me it meant sci-fi that sticks closely to what we know about physics, And that is what I was referring to when …

I’ve learned that the truth is often weirder than I realized. What novel has the weirdest aliens?

Looking for books that feel like a fever dream or have significant portions that feel that way. My favorite books that I’d put in this category are:

Ice by Anna Kavan

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Downward To the Earth by Robert Silverberg

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (to a slightly lesser extent)

What are your favorites? Annihilation is on my list already.

Edit: thanks for recs! Will come back and check more tomorrow!

Edit 2: wow, what a response, you people rule. I have a great list now, thanks so much!

I can usually connect with at least one aspect of a science fiction novel, and I enjoy almost all of the ones I read. However, sometimes I couldn’t understand what most people found interesting about some extremely popular books.

Has that happened to you? If so, which novel? And why?

I’ll start the dances by admitting that I didn’t like Rendezvous with Rama.

I really wanted to like it, but constantly being in awe when >!very little happens and the characters leave without understanding anything!< is not my preferred type of reading experience. The writing style was a bit cold, which didn’t help.

What novel captures the resourcefulness of a post apocalyptic society?

Even in the “Legendary Women of Sci Fi” post there wasn’t any mention of her, which I find to be a shame. Grass is easily one of my favorite Sci-Fi novels with some great ideas and moments as well as a very pertinent message behind it. Gibbons Decline and Fall and Beauty I also find to be fun reads. On top of the concepts I feel her characters have strong and entertaining personalities especially in Grass. Any other Tepper fans here?

It seems on the linear Comedy Central channel, while it is listed, it did not air as a rerun at 9 p.m. as it was supposed to. The episode featured Cartman playing as a figure which resembled Charlie Kirk.