r_books

Oona Out of Order is confusing the shit of out me. Please help! I am about a 1/4 of the way through the audio book. I mention that it’s audio because it’s hard to flip back and reference things. Currently Oona, is on her second jump. Both jumps her mother said something like “this is your first jump!” Or “it’s only your second jump”. How did people in her life know what jump she is on? It seems like they are two parallel lives: one where original Oona is living normally and writes the letters at the end of the years. The other where a time traveling Oona is living in the present, just in mixed up years. How do these two time continuums exist together? Maybe it gets explained later? My neurospicy brain is having a hard time getting through the book without understanding this. TY! https://redd.it/1vot3w6 @r_books

"Charity and Sylvia" adaptation accusations investigated thoroughly # https://buttondown.com/thene/archive/charity-and-sylvia-the-extraordinary-claims-of/ # From a blog called "Witchcraft for Cyborgs": "Charity and Sylvia: the extraordinary claims of Rachel Hope Cleves" about a non-fiction book and a Graphic Novel based on a same-sex couple in Vermont. Cleves, author of the first book, claimed that second was a deviously uncredited adaptation of her non-fiction book and causes a dust-up on Bluesky. Read the link to get a well-reasoned, linked and sourced take-down of that claim. https://redd.it/1voi9fe @r_books

Review: “The Complex” by Brian Keene “The Complex” by Brian Keene is one of the most action-packed horror books I’ve ever read. I’ve been reading Keene for years now, and this is one of the many reasons why he’s one of my all-time favorite horror authors, because this book is a powerhouse of a read. Before I dive into my review, I found several trigger warnings while reading. They are… \- Suicide \- Death of a dog \- Cancer \- Drinking and driving \- Rape \- Drugs \- Violence against kids \- Violence against pets \- Dead animals \- Transphobia If any of these trigger you, please do not read this book. Moving along, I love how Keene mentioned the music he listened to while writing this book. As a fellow metalhead, I was happy to see so many bands mentioned, especially one of my all-time favorites, Black Sabbath. Speaking of which, I’m throwing on “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” as I write this review. My goodness, the intro to “The Complex” was incredible. Keene did a phenomenal job of setting the stage for all the madness that was to come. I was unsure of what was happening until the horror hit right from the start, and it was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Reading this book felt like watching a movie unfold, with its dynamic characters, individual storylines, and how every action mattered. I was immediately invested in every character that was introduced. They were memorable, with each one standing out for who they are, what they believed in, and how they would survive the horrors around them. This is one of those kinds of books that is a genuine page-turner. I was excited to see how everything would unfold and to try to make sense of the chaos going on. There are numerous intricate layers of storytelling here, from the choices characters had to make to the overwhelming amounts of horror. Speaking of the horror, the sheer levels of gore, bloodshed, and violence all made my horror heart happy. I made many weird faces while reading, as it was all top-notch. Some kill scenes were so brutal, I read them twice because they were that vicious, especially when it came to the bloody race at the end. Don’t worry. I would never spoil anything for my fellow horror readers, but the ending was perfect. It will shock many, but it ended in a way I didn’t see coming and left me with one of the best reading experiences of the year. I regret not reading this book sooner, even though it has been available for a long time. I give “The Complex” by Brian Keene a 5/5 for being an adrenaline-fueled action horror book that will blow your mind. It’s a little over 200 pages long and will leave a lasting impression on you when you're done. The characters, events, bloodshed, horror, and several creepy moments were riveting, and I’ll remember this book for years to come. https://redd.it/1voc6gc @r_books

On the pleasures of reading old, out-of-print books. I've been trying to read up on what china was like in the 19th century in as vivid detail as possible. This search has taken me from relatively mainstream history books, to niche articles, to older, more academic sources and then finally to primary sources like letters, journals, or memoirs. It was on account of this hunt that the story of Ms. Ruth Bradford felt into my lap.   ‘Maskee!’ The Journal and Letters of Ruth Bradford, 1861–1872 was published by Prospect Press in 1938 and, as far as I can tell, was never republished. It makes sense. Its a pretty niche topic and the only reason I was interested in it was for her descriptions of China. For a brief bit of background: Ruth Bradford was the then twenty year old daughter of the newly appointed American ambassador to treaty city of Amoy (today Xi'an) in Qing Dynasty China. To get there the ambassador, Ruth and Ruth's brother left New York mid-September 1861 aboard the Julia G. Tyler and began what would be six grueling months of travel until finally reaching Hong Kong on April 17th, 1862. They have to go by sail. I guess I knew logically wind was a factor. But I didn't appreciate the fact that winds, like other weather phenomenon, come and go. No wind, meant no movement, no movement meant days and days and days of sitting idly in the broiling heat and salty air, staring at water so smooth and still that — as Bradford mentions many a time — it looks like a giant sheet of clear glass. It also means truly awful cabin fever, mind numbing boredom and, as the only single, 20 year old woman aboard the ship, numerous courtings and proposals.  It’s a fascinating pressure cooker motivations, resentments, fears and desires. Bradford’s uses a bold, brash style in her diary and is remarkably candid in her observation on the men all around her and the few older women along as minders. Alas, her writings on China weren’t near as interesting and then the trip back to America in 1865 is basically a rehash of the trip to Amoy. So all in all its not a hidden classic, it's not some underrated gem, and I can see why it had such a limited print run. But I never would have learned that information about the age of sail — and from a woman's perspective, in her own words no less — anywhere else. Since then I've taken notes and the day I write something — if I write something — I'll remember to touch on the claustrophobic atmosphere a long trip by sea can bring out in a person among other things. https://redd.it/1vokozo @r_books

Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens Why has it taken me so long to give Little Dorrit a chance? I do not know. It was clearly an error of some magnitude. Maybe the most remarkable thing about it is: it's one of the last three things he wrote. This, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend were his LAST THREE BOOKS. And I don't know about you, but if someone asks me to recommend a Dickens book, I always go for Great Expectations. That grotesquerie in the first chapter, when the mystery dude holds him upside down and he gets food for the guy... unbelievable. But anyway. Different book, right? Dickens, really, in Little Dorrit, he's in his full flood of creativity. His CHARACTERS!! OMG. A lady of such ominous stature, that she could "enrolll in the Foot Guards without much fear of discovery." Pancks, tugboating his proprietor around life. Flintwinch, suggesting as forcefully and brutally as possible -- with no actual violence, mind you -- that his wife is dreaming. And now. I'm not even halfway through and Dickens has revealed a second set of perspectives, through which to view characters with whom we are already comfortable and familiar. We have cozied up to them and not been rejected. We have been offered, and taken, tea. They're members of the family now. And now he's taken these originals and either REMOVED the lenses from our glasses or ADDED lenses -- you can't tell which -- and the possibility of looking at the whole story from a completely different angle is unavoidable. I'm speaking of Tattycoram and Miss Wade. Good grief, Charlie Brown. You know: Dickens was really quite a good author, I must say. Quite a good author. https://redd.it/1voj7xk @r_books

When Eastern Cultivation Fiction Is Written in English, What Gets Lost? I’ve been thinking about this after reading more English-language cultivation and xianxia-inspired fiction. Cultivation comes from a literary and cultural tradition that can feel very different from the fantasy traditions many English-language readers grew up with. At the same time, more Western writers are now writing cultivation-inspired fiction in English, and some of it is genuinely excellent. But there is another kind of author: someone from a Chinese-speaking cultural background who is bilingual and writes the story directly in English, rather than translating a Chinese novel into English. That distinction interests me. A translated novel has one set of challenges. But what happens when the author can create in both languages? Some things might carry over naturally: the cultivation system, mythology, symbolism, ideas about fate and immortality, or the way characters understand self-cultivation and the world around them. Other things may not. Humor can work very differently between languages. A metaphor that feels completely natural in Chinese can feel distant in English. Even the way a character speaks can carry cultural assumptions that are difficult to reproduce directly. At the same time, a Western writer approaching cultivation from the outside may have an advantage in accessibility. They may naturally frame unfamiliar ideas in ways that feel more intuitive to an English-speaking reader. So I’m curious about the literary question, rather than the commercial one. If two cultivation novels were equally well written, but one was written in English by a Chinese-speaking bilingual author drawing directly from that cultural background, while the other was written in English by a Western author interpreting the tradition from the outside, would that difference affect your reading experience? Would you notice it? Would you even want to notice it? And where do you think the line is between cultural authenticity and simply being easier to enter as a reader? I’d especially like to hear from readers who have read both Chinese and English-language cultivation or xianxia fiction. https://redd.it/1vogvp5 @r_books

May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons by Elizabeth Bumiller. A very interesting non-fiction read. Here's my review. I really recommend everyone to read it. Elisabeth Bumiller, a journalist for The Washington Post, came to India in the 1980s and over the years, travelled to all parts of the country, examining the paradoxes, problems, triumphs and realities of the lives of India's women: from village women of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala to prominent parliamentarians, politicians, movie-stars, intellectuals, police officers, meeting and interviewing them. She notes that 'a woman's role in Indian society is full of contradictions'. While enormous numbers of them are illiterate, many hold important positions in politics and the arts. While most suffer discrimination and poverty, others are transforming India into a modern nation. Bumiller brings out these paradoxes in a clean, insightful style that makes the vast complexities of the lives of India's four hundred million women accessible and compelling. Bumiller documented really well. I really liked the chapter where she talked about the feminist movements that was happening in 80s in India, dividing it into three categories- first consisting of urban, elite women coming from educated backgrounds, 2nd- also educated women from mostly from working class more closer and taking in rural issues. And lastly- the rural peasant women. She met and interviewed different feminist women, trying to understand their objectives and how these movements have shaped and are shaping the lives of women in India. As Indians, we often find that how even after living in a same country, we live completely different lives with completely different experiences. A village woman in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh living in shackles of extreme patriarchy to village woman of Bodh Gaya, Bihar, despite living in extreme poverty knows about her rights. And in complete contrast to a working professional living in Delhi who doesn't know that extreme patriarchy and misogyny that many Indian women still have to suffer. Interestingly, the writer even puts her own thoughts and views. Admiration, amazement, sympathy and sometimes rage and disgust. In the 5th chapter where she examines the female infanticide and sex- selective abortions, while witnessing a pregnant woman, coming from educated rich background from Bombay, going through a chorionic villus(a recent technology from the West to check the birth defects) to know the gender of fetus. _"As I watched the wire's journey on the screen of the ultrasound machine, I slowly became disgusted. It had been building all week, but I think seeing this woman with her examination table, so exposed and, in a sense, so violated by the her legs spread on the forces of her society, caused something to snap in me. What did India have, I thought, to take the newest technology from the Wes and use it for something as reprehensible as the slaughter of female babies?"_ Here, I see both her rage and disgust, that we feel after knowing this. We even see her self-realization. As she says towards the end, _"...asking Veena Bhargava how she rationalized painting the homeless rather than working among them, had sought a justification for why I was interviewing interesting artists instead of helping out myself. But realize now I was searching for a larger answer, for one that woul have helped me define my whole purpose in India. I have come to the conclusion that if I did not work among the poor, I have at least told their stories and unveiled a part of their lives. This book was my mission to inform, to enlighten, and to prove that the women of India are more like us than they are not."_ https://redd.it/1vohbzo @r_books

Looking to read more literary fiction by women writers? Check out r/litficbywomen. This is a brand-new subreddit that anyone can join. We welcome posts about authors, book reviews, recommendation requests, monthly wrap-ups, and much more. So far we've done an intro post and talked abot our 5 star reads, lesbian coming-of-age novels, and classics to read in 2027. Note: If you have any kind of issue with having a subreddit focused on women writers, you are of course free to comment about that but please know that I will not be responding. https://redd.it/1vofqcj @r_books

Great Scott! A Close Read of MacKenzie Scott’s Ambitious Substack Novel. The philanthropist’s first published work in years—and since her divorce from Jeff Bezos—is a sprawling, Dickensian narrative that could have used more editing. https://www.vanityfair.com/story/mackenzie-scott-substack-novel https://redd.it/1voays2 @r_books

author examining any facet of humanity.   I would rate Between Two Fires 2.5/5.    # What are your thoughts on the novel?    https://redd.it/1vo7dgk @r_books

were playing in the water.” (309)  “When she saw the impish humor in his eye, she was cooked.” (298)  “He slipped into a pleasant dream of children laughing.  What children?  Oh.  Those.” (360)  I also noticed a prose tick that weaves through the narrative. The author will repeat a verb of an adjective, I’m assuming, to try and draw emphasize.  “So strong he’s so strong. But the nature of her scream changed as the thing in the orange robes changed. She screamed...” (370)     In only one instance did I feel the tick strengthened the story, which is as Thomas and Delphine encounter unknowable, otherworldly creatures during the climax.  “Six wings, six wings, and two wings.  Twelve headed thing, fly-headed thing, lion thing.” (371)  I feel this repetition of words works in this instance because it mirrors the action, and the sounds of the repetition of the words gives the language depth as the word’s sounds conjures more and more things appearing, gives language to the unknowable creatures that are appearing, and plays into the poetic language of the St James bible.   4. Why Did the Author Write this?  As I read, shortly after Matthieu succumbs, I pondered why the author wrote this story. The characters did not change after his death. I remember only once instance of them remembering their dear friend, so the purpose was not to illuminate some truth the author was trying to examine or understand, such as how we move on from the darkness of our past and still see hope in the future.  In another brief book review one of their critiques was that it was damning to Christianity as it showed God in an unfavorable light, who simply was not there, but I have the opposite opinion. In a way it is a DnD campaign taking place under a Christian guise. No other religions are examined and Christiany hardly is and only subtextually. Delphine, literally sees and talks to both Christian Demons and Christian Angels, giving legitimacy to Christianity and diminishing the faith of other religions like the Judaism. Only the Christian god or lore is shown to be the true god in this story.  When Thomas is tortured in hell, with methods that are similar to the ones that were used by the Inquisition, the author makes no subtle or direct reference to the history of anguish that religion has inflicted on opposing ideologies and their own people, such as the crusades, enslavement, oppression and the sheer number of people hurt by religion or on the opposite end, those who benefited from the religion. I saw no use for adding the weighty Christian element except the fact that it was historically accurate to the place and time. I know the author went on a trip to 'study the time' but its a story filled with monsters. I learned nothing about this period except that the handle of a sword may have had animal skin on it. This brings me to the overarching problem I had with this novel. Which is that it seemed destitute in meaning or had nothing to examine.   Even in genre fiction, I feel, there should be some under arching idea or ideas the author is examining, such as in another recent genre novel I recently finished: Sphere, by Michael Criton. In Sphere, the author examines the unconscious and how our past selves influence our present selves. Most of it is hidden in the subtext, but the subtext makes the reader engage with the ideas within the novel and because of it, the story becomes more memorable as the reader carries it within them, even after they have finished the story. But in Between Two Fires things happen, and the subtext is almost nonexistent, which makes the writing seem very surface level. When the novel ended, because I never felt the weight of the trauma the characters carried, and the subliminal, subtextual ideas presented in the novel seemed to be non-existent, the story truly ended for me after the last page. Everything was told and held no room for myself to stay in the dream world.   Two Fires did entertain me, but I was often brought out of the story by the writing and mutability of the

A Book Review & Discussion: Between Two Fires: A Masterpiece, a Mess, A DnD Bestiary, a Critique of Christianity, an Evangelical Story, or an Amalgamation of All Five? Recently, I searched for another enjoyable read and scrolling through book suggestions, this book came up many times.  I knew nothing about this book and had no assumptions before reading it, besides the fact that many people enjoyed it.  Between Two Fires begins during the Black Death, as Thomas de Girvas: a Knight, rescues a young girl named Delphine. Along their journey they befriend a sorrowful priest named Mattieu.  Eventually prophecy compels them along their journey to Paris and then to Avignon.  I enjoyed parts of the book and the Author: Christopher Buhlman, sticks, mostly, to his strengths, which is action writing and bestowing life into the horrifying creatures he creates. If you are a fantasy fanatic, I would recommend this book to you, but if you are not, perhaps some of these critiques may also resonate with you, just as myself, in how some of the author’s choices may hinder or elevate the readers’ enjoyment of the story.  # Spoilers: My enjoyment of the story started fading around half way in. At the time I wasn't sure why, but I started talking notes to understand the 'why' and to become a better writer myself. After finishing the book I ruminated and thought a bit about the book. A few things stuck out to me. 1. The characters lack change or change is never experienced or felt by the reader. Thomas might be gravely wounded but the next chapter will start when they set off again, and his great injuries healed and that time as partners sharing shreds one another is minimaly there. This, through an episodic story engine, where someone is hurt or nearly hurt, then healed through the passage of time--the white space between chapters, diminishes the impact of the injuries the characters face and lessens the injuries to no more than the initial shock value of the injury obtained.  2. The story structure does not contribute to the story. The story is also told cyclically which, I feel, only harms the story. This works wonderfully in a memoir, but in a fictional story that glosses over the spiraling nature of trying to heal from trauma, it hinders the characters’ development as well as the reader’s understanding of the characters.  The reader may consciously, or unconsciously feel the repetition of the story structure, which is: New place --> Monster/Villain --> Injury --> Onwards towards their quest.  The characters, also, never dwell on their misfortunes, or ruminate on their past lives. Nearing the third quarter of the novel, the author, perhaps, tries to break his story structure and gives us the backstory of Thomas. But this decision perplexed me in the placement of Thomas’s backstory in the overarching story.   The reader has already spent a lot of time with the characters. We know the priest drinks and is having a crisis of faith, that Delphine sees or imagines otherworldly creatures, and that Thomas feigns an air of indifference and smugness to hide his pain. When Thomas’s backstory is told, the assumptions the reader gathered along their time with Thomas: how they percieve him, is wounded, thus wounding the reader’s perspective or notion of the character; they must reframe him from one picture to another. The backstory is told by the omniscient narrator and not by Thomas. There is no emotional weight through his backstory, only a series of sorrowful events.  The emotion is already lacking and whatever problem the author was trying to solve with placing the backstory three-forth through, is shadowed by what the author shows—action, and what the author does not show--the inner etchings of the three main characters.  3. The Author could have, perhaps, done one more pass at editing.  As I was reading, I found some prose/passages jarring through their vagueness and repetition of the language used.  Some examples are:  “His hands scooped the air as he spoke, like an Italian’s hands, but gently, as though they

A Void by Georges Perec I first read his Species of Spaces writings along with a few of his other essay's and I knew that he was a writer who just enjoyed writing and because of that it was fun at times to read his works though through out I wasn't too intrigued with what he was writing about though a few extra essay's that were added into the addition I had were very good and interesting so I decided to look more into his works so I picked up Life A Users Manual and though it had some very good and fun parts and I did enjoy reading it, I wasn't as enticed with it as I was hoping to be and mostly due to the lack of spare room I have on my shelves I just donated that book but if I did have the space I guess I would keep it. I knew he had the potential to write something that I would be ride or die for and eventually I picked up A Void I was drawn in at first notification of it's ambitious goal of avoiding a particular vowl as I think it was a bit of a pun according to our protagonist (A particular Vowl is Missing) Not only it's goal of avoiding such a sound it still told story upon story with humans and all conundrums we may catch us and any companion of ours stuck in in a joyous fashion. From a psychological corruption to parabolical sphynx's and a political conspiracy or two, it has a lot to say about many a thing and it was a joy to go through. I thought it was fun and enjoy the challenge of now writing without using the letter E and if anyone else has read it, I'd like to know your thoughts. https://redd.it/1vo3ukr @r_books

Weekly Recommendation Thread: August 14, 2026 Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in! **The Rules** * Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions. * All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post. * All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness. ____ **How to get the best recommendations** The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain *what* you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level. ____ All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort. If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook. - The Management https://redd.it/1vo30ho @r_books

Ai avoidance is making me read older books. I just wanted to see if anyone else wants to talk about this. I got a kindle unlimited subscription for the first time a couple months ago and have been astounded at the amount of Ai books on there and how many are being fed to me via the sponsored, suggested, and new feeds. More popular than major publications, my kindle would have me believe. I’m decent at spotting them but twice now in two weeks I was fooled and got a chapter into books I was excited about before realizing it was Ai written and putting it down. I don’t want to read Ai on principle but I also think it’s not very good. The plots might be ok, but the repetitive sentences and algorithmic/formulaic feel puts me off. Once you know the tells, they’re all you see and the story is not compelling anymore. I don’t want to support authors who are using this and I don’t want to feed my mind and waste my time with artificially generated books. So I thought, I’ll stick to major publishers! I hate that Ai is making me avoid indie publishing, but it is so rampant there. But then I see that even Major authors are using Ai now for ideas and editing and such. I get the ick from that too! So now I’m gravitating towards things that were written pre 2022. Idk why 2022, that’s just when my brain deems is likely more safe. Organic books, as you might say. Written pre 2020 is a huge plus! Super unlikely to have any Ai involvement, just a good old fashioned human authored and edited book. I realized today I’m doing this and thought, how interesting. In my attempt to keep Ai out of my life, I’ve now let Ai control the year of publication I read. There’s no option to not have Ai impacting my life and I’m pissed about it. No matter what, Ai is affecting my life and choices. I’m actively avoiding new releases because I feel like I can’t trust them. I feel like I can’t trust anything anymore because of Ai. I’m a musician, songwriter, and music producer and am literally being put out of my job by Ai and it is taking over my industry. Not just my livelihood and my dream job, but my joy I find in music as well. I feel like we’re so bombarded with inescapable Ai everywhere and reading was always my refuge to stressful life, so I really want to keep Ai out of my books. I need Ai OUT of my life, you know? But there is no option! Has anyone else been feeling similar or doing something like this? It feels very bleak right now within all creative industries, but especially in writing arenas. How can we trust what we are consuming is not artificially made? ‘Authors’ are even lying about it and saying their work is Ai free when it’s not. It’s wild out there. https://redd.it/1vo1at1 @r_books

"The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" by Yukio Mishima Usually when I travel to a country, I like to simultaneously read something by an author native to the place I'm visiting, so for my Japan trip this year I chose the aforementioned Mishima book because of it being lightweight and a standalone book (I know he also has a well regarded trilogy but that is a lot of book to lug and I prefer physical copies if possible). Also, a friend recommended Mishima to me some years ago. I'm about halfway through (it's only 200 pages or so) and holy moly I am struggling to find anything to compare this book to. I was originally put off by my friend's description of a book about a stuttering monk who is intensely obsessed with a temple. I mean where do you go with that? And I'll admit I have the phrase "the temple of the golden pavilion" ringing in my head just from its repetition in the hundred pages or so I've read, but Mishima has serious authorial juice and takes that premise to wild wild places. ​​​​​​​​​​ ​​ I know a bit about the author's tragic history and extreme politics, so I feel a bit weird reading it in the open in Japan, but no one has seemed to care or pay particular attention. I also don't know if I've ever read anything with such a misanthropic narrator. We get a bit of background about his disposition in his description of being mercilessly teased as a child for his stutter, but that leads to a messed up person to be inside the head of for 200 pages. It's the last day of my trip so I'm trying to save the rest of the book for the plane ride home. I certainly am not into the guy's politics, but if "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" is representative of Mishima's other works I am certainly going to read more from him. ​​​​​​​I see some chatter on here about "The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea" so I'll probably grab that at the bookstore near the train station where I got "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion". ​ Anyways, I posted this because I didn't see any discussion of "Golden Pavilion" in a search of this sub. What did people like or dislike about it? ​ ​​ https://redd.it/1vnp7dz @r_books

I finally read the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (plus a third book fanfic) I'm one of those who likes to read series when they are finished, mostly because I have bad memory for book plots, and I either have to read the whole series again with each new book or miss too many details. But, after decades of waiting, I thought I might as well give up hoping for the ending and read this series and ASOIAF. I don't like having to read them unfinished, but I figure that a really good unfinished story may be better than a less good finished one. At least now I'll be able to have my own opinion about these high profile series. Well, I'm glad I read the Kingkiller Chronicle. I thought it deserved the praise it has got. I enjoyed the writing style, the university setting, and the way magic worked. I enjoyed the mythology of the world, and I thought it's a series that rewards reading (or rereading) with attention to detail, because there is a lot to speculate about in terms of the mythology. There was richness to the storytelling. It wasn't perfect. I thought at times it was a bit too long for the plot, so it can get repetitive with all the "Kvothe looks for Denna" moments and so on. The main character can also give Gary Stu vibes sometimes, which is something that can rub some readers the wrong way. But these things did not spoil my enjoyment of the story. Having finished it, I wanted some sense of closure, so I looked for a third book kind of fanfiction that could scratch that itch, and the one that was most often recommended for that purpose was The Price of Remembering, by Not Patrick Rothfuss. It's not as good as having the third book. It's Kvothe telling the last part of his story in the third day, but it's less developed and more to the point than the actual canon is. However, it ties things up in a way I found satisfying, and the fanfiction author clearly has thought a lot about the plot and clues, and made use of many of the theories that hardcore fans have come up with. There were moments, like the revaluation about Kvothe's mother, that as soon as I read it I thought "of course it was meant to be this way, I don't know how I didn't think of it, it was so obvious". So not the same as the real thing, but it was good enough to give me some sense of closure that I wanted. If anyone wants to look it up, though, I'd personally recommend the original fanfiction that can be found in reddit as a Google doc link, and not the one you can find in its own site and in regular fanfiction sites, because that one is a rewrite and expansion of the fanfic done as a community project, using AI to make the style more similar to Rothfuss, and it just doesn't work too well for me. Yes, there's more similarity, but in a rather hollow way. Like, you read sentences that sound like Rothfuss but don't really add any meaning. I think the original fanfic is a better reading experience (to give an idea, it's about 300 pages, so clearly shorter than the canon books of the main series). Anyway, reading the series and the fanfic conclusion has been worthwhile for me, and I'm glad I have done so, even if we don't have the proper canon conclusion. I have a lot of respect for Rothfuss' storytelling, although it's a pity that for whatever reason he seems unable to finish it. By the way, the two novellas are worth reading too. They add absolutely nothing to the main plot, but they are delightful little stories in their own right. https://redd.it/1vnnfmn @r_books

King's insertion of himself into his own story, and I won't harp on it too much, but I did think it was dumb. That, combined with the frankly disgusting descriptions of eyes being plucked out and eaten, pimples being popped, and pus and snot being eaten, made books 6 and 7 maybe my least favourites of the series. Last: Mordred. What a goddamn waste of time. Mordred and Mia are the focus of a good amount of book 5 and all of book 6, not to mention how much he gets talked about in book 7. We spend all of book 7 worried about him, tracking how he's following, watching him observe the party in Thunderclap, seeing him kill people, and then what happens?? He gets food poisoning from eating Dandelo's horse?? And then he shows up and Roland just shoots him dead instantly?? This is what we spent two and a half books building up to? Nothing makes it more evident that SK had zero plans for this series, or makes it clearer why an outline is essential, than this decision. I don't think I will be recommending this series to anyone going forward. The whole thing just feels immensely unsatisfying. With everything that happens, I find myself going "yeah, sure, whatever", and that's not the kind of book I like to read. https://redd.it/1vnldst @r_books

I don't think I enjoyed The Dark Tower I'm a big fan of fantasy; I love a long book, I love a long series. I'm also a longtime fan of Stephen King, having read and loved a bunch of his horror novels. So I was really sure I would enjoy the Dark Tower. I started by reading the related books, including Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis, the Jack Sawyer books (which I loved, by the way; can't wait for the third). I've finally finished all 7 DT books, and here are my thoughts. The TLDR though is I think that Stephen King is much better at writing standalone stories than series. Every writer has their quirks, their idiosyncrasies, and I think SK's do not serve him well in this context. Fair warning, I'm spoiling a lot in this post. Firstly, I found the pacing of the series as a whole completely bizarre. Huge plot events happen at random points in the books. Roland loses his fingers immediately at the start of book 2. The riddle contest happens right at the start of book 4, strange place to have a story break. Books 5 and 6 feel like they drag and drag, and then the final book races through one plot point after another. Few of the books felt like they had a clear story arc, with the notable exceptions of 4 and 5 since they basically are standalone stories (and happen to have been my favourites). My main gripe with the story as a whole is the feeling that nothing ever seems to happen for any reason. The level of deus ex machina throughout is truly staggering, and lampshading it at the end does not make it a compelling literary device. He can call it ka all he wants, but so many things feel like they happen out of nowhere. The characters just know what to say and what to do and when to do it. Why? Because they just do. If I took a drink every time a character said that they didn't know how they knew something, they just do, I might have had a more enjoyable time. The single biggest disappointment in this regard was Roland's motivation for seeking the tower, a great mystery well set up in the first book. You spend four whole books wondering where his motivation comes from, wherefore his quest, only to find out that a magic glass ball just told him to. In relation to this, the characters as a whole are pretty boring and flat. Roland, Susannah, and Jake never seem to have any actual struggles. They learn to shoot and throw plates at the drop of a hat, simply acquiring god-like skill seemingly overnight. Ka. They grow and change hardly at all throughout the entire series. The only character with any interest in this regard is Eddie, who actually goes from his helpless junkie self to a courageous hero able to take responsibility and action. And then, of course, his death is also a complete anticlimax since King seems unable to stop himself from telling us he's going to die multiple times before it happens. Holding him up next to the rest of that ka-tet highlights how boring they are. I find myself also constantly irritated by the way SK would, seemingly at random, introduce new words, elements, devices into the story. The "nineteen" thing comes out of absolutely nowhere, a vague feeling among the party that immediately becomes a plot-driving magic word. "Chassit" also just gets bestowed from above; the fact that it's 19 in some language serves as no real justification. Who is Gan, and if he's so important in the universe (which book 7 would lead you to believe), why hasn't he been mentioned a single time before this? Saying "beware of Dandelo" is meaningless when we don't know what Dandelo is or why Eddie knows about it. The speech patterns from Mejis and the Calla are cute and all, but by the end of the series, long after leaving these places behind, it has devolved into a sort of folksy mish-mash that is pretty grating to read, especially with the random thees and thys thrown around (which he uses incorrectly, by the by). The sköldpadda (swedish for tortoise, if you didn't know) mcguffin, that just shows up to drive the plot forward before being tossed in a gutter, was especially maddening. Much has been said about Stephen

Island by Huxley I’m a little over 50 pages in, and I just had the thought “is this a response to Atlas Shrugged?” I looked up release dates and Island was published 5 years after Atlas Shrugged, lending credence to my theory, but I also don’t know if Huxley would have been exposed to Rand’s work, or have any interest in it even if there was exposure. Some of the language being used by the characters regarding productivity/capitalism/self-worth/determination made a bell go off in my head regarding a connection between the two works. Am I onto something here, or way off base? I’d love to hear other opinions on this comparison, or just general opinions on Island and Huxley’s work as a whole, because I’m honestly not sure if I’ll finish Island or not yet. https://redd.it/1vnkjfz @r_books