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What book(s) are you currently reading or listening? May 6 (literature.cafe)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm finishing up The Golden Enclaves, the last of the Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik. It fulfills The Jerk with a Heart of Gold square, but in getting in to it, it also fits the LGBTQIA+ representation square. I've gotten started on so many great series in the last few years doing reading challenges and this year I'm going to try and get caught up with a bunch of them. I'm super excited!

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I just finished Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. Never have I read such a good book that so desperately need an editor. Final third could have been chopped in half or more without losing anything.

Just started on Translation State by Ann Lecke. Hasn't pulled me in yet as much as her other books.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I've now tried a few different LitRPG books and almost universally that's been my experience, "you have a really good core, but you really needed someone to help you refine this". It can be frustrating.

I haven't read any Lecke yet, but I have a few on my TBR, is there a better one to start with?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I still haven't read a LitRPG that I can remember. I'm sure there were young adult fantasy novels in the 80s/90s that would qualify before the term came around. Did you ever find a good refined one?

I think these days I end up reading mostly from the Fantasy of Manners subgenre which is where I would put Hands of the Emperor, plus some of Noviks early novels which is what prompted me to respond to this question.

I say start with Ancillary Justice by Lecke. Amazing debut novel and won the Hugo, nebula, and a bunch of other awards.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The challenge with LitRPG is the same challenge with fanfic. They are written and just put out into the aether for fans. The good ones are most often from people who are experienced writers and used to dealing with power creep and resisting putting in every joke or reference you can think of.

My favorites are Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnmann and This Trilogy is Broken by JP Valentine. Ready Player By Ernest Cline is mostly 70s-80s reference fan service but mostly holds up. There are some from the 70s and 80s that are prototypical of the genre where people enter some sort of VR like Tron or their D&D setting and some of those are solid. He Who Fights with Monsters gets a bunch of recommendations typically but it struggles as time goes on.

So far I've enjoyed all of Novik's works that I've read.