Eva’s Comments (group member since Nov 18, 2019)

Eva’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

I'm also planning to give this a try this month. :-)

I'd like to nominate The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons for fantasy, and

The Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley for SF.

I agree - I loved this book and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm reading it and loving how charming and playful it is so far.

I'd like to nominate

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos for Fantasy

and

War of the Maps by Paul McAuley for SF

For fantasy, I nominate
We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson.
I've heard so many good things about this series and its interesting characters and world!

For SF, I nominate the new release
Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney.
It's an Asian Hawaiian noir mystery set in a huge underwater city in the future. I've read the beginning already and it seemed extremely cool and well-written.

Yes, Lightbringer was one of my favorite series, as well, especially for how smart it is and all the plot twists and reveals, as well as the strong character growth and diverse cast (in every sense of the word, everyone is so unique). It's not flawless, but I was glued to the page all the way through. Some of the scariest villains I've ever read, too!

I'd like to nominate

by Anna Stephens - reading Black Sun made me realize how much I'd like to read more books set in a world inspired by the pre-Columbian Americas, and this is the start to a new epic fantasy series, has good ratings from people I trust, and sounds really exciting.

For SF, i'd like to nominate

by Ian McDonald which I've heard a lot of great things about.

Also important to keep in mind: while Middle-Grade is checked for content (graphic violence/gore, graphic sex, rape, swearing, etc.), there is no such legal limitation for YA - any book can be marketed as such regardless of content, although the convention is to usually keep YA a little less graphic than adult books.

But I think another YA characteristic apart from age of the protagonist may be writing style: I've noticed that usually, YA means quick pacing, intense emotion/melodramatic description to increase drama and tension, easy to read (not dense), usually not very challenging/emotionally harrowing, plus some wish-fulfillment. That makes them great relaxation literature for when you want a nice, quick read to capture your mind when real life is exhausting. I think this ease of reading and their ability to grab and hold even an ADHD mind's attention is what makes them so popular. Personally, I read mostly adult literature, but I understand the appeal.

Paul wrote: "I tend to avoid books marketed as YA, partly as they're clearly not meant for me but I also admit to a bit of snobbery on the subject; I've been in a train carriage to see at least five or six adul..."

Both Harry Potter and His Dark Materials are Middle-Grade, though. YA is for age 13 and up, and the majority of its readers are over 21. 😉

Thank you, Kathi! I didn't know we'd read these series as a group, I'll check out the threads. Glad to hear you enjoyed Reality Dysfunction. :-)

Shel wrote: "I just ripped through Recursion by Blake Crouch in two days - I stayed up too late last night finishing it because I couldn't put it down. I remember it was nominate..."

Me too, I listened to it on audio in a single day! It was so gripping. 😀 Sadly, half of my book club hated it. 😢

I'm also about to start my Peter F. Hamilton journey (with The Reality Dysfunction, don't try to dissuade me, I thought long and hard about it) but I have to read some group/buddy reads first.

I've just finished Caliban's War and I'm still really loving this series (have already watched it on TV, but weirdly it's still just as entertaining even though I know what's going to happen).

Now about to start the buddy read The Ghost Brigades, and have already started The Waking Fire - which so far is AMAZEBALLS: intelligent steam punk high fantasy with big trade corporations instead of kingdoms, an old fallen empire, very cool fantasy cultures, a complex magic system that relies on drinking the blood of various types of dragons, and interesting, eccentric characters. I have a feeling I'm going to love this series!

Lol, maybe we can just read both? 34 sounds like enough people to at least do a buddy read!

MadProfessah wrote: "I understand lots of people like the Temeraire
Books but I bounced hard off book #2 when it seemed indistinguishable from book #1. DNF and Never looked back!"

Same! I liked Temeraire, bounced off bored with book 2, then thought Uprooted was okay, then liked Spinning Silver, but Novik has yet to fully wow me.

I agree about short stories: anthologies always take me much longer to read than novels, because I feel as if I need to let a story settle and digest it properly and think about it afterwards.

For Fantasy, I'd like to nominate Kings of Paradise by Richard Nell. It won the Indie Readers Discovery Award in 2018, has a great GR rating, and some of my GR friends love it with great passion. "The novel's brilliant world works on so many levels; it has a rich political landscape, moral complexity, and immense environmental challenges, all told in beautiful, thoughtful prose." - Indiereader

For SF, I nominate A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. We've read book 1 as a group and I've heard this also works as a standalone: you don't have to know book 1 to enjoy this. My reason for this suggestion: the first book just felt like a warm hug and a fun time spent with friends in a cool universe, and that's exactly what I will want to read when the cold winter and X-Mas time come around.

I'm excited to read the newest Hugo winner! I've heard it has court intrigue, a murder mystery, and a cool future culture, and that it's very sophisticated and smart. :-)

I'm a very late joiner, but I'd also love to read this book as soon as possible (gotta finish one of my current reads first) - it sounds fascinating!

Oh, Cyteen sounds fascinating, thank you for the recommendation!

For me it was also a 4 star read, I really enjoyed it but it didn't quite dig deep enough into the background, didn't question enough (I think that book 2 will probably do just that).

In terms of "everyone fighting" being unrealistic: it's easy to miss, but e.g. the Bathunga are mentioned as an alien race with which humanity is not at war or in conflict with. We are following the very limited perspective of soldiers, who are obviously only sent where there is violent conflict, not where humanity gets along with aliens just fine. So I'm assuming that it's complicated: some get along, some don't, and some (such as the Consu) view fighting as a religion and the best way to honor and consecrate planets (which would make it very hard to achieve any kind of peaceful collaboration with them, they'd see the mere suggestion as a sacrilegious insult).

So, in short: I just saw it as yes, there is lots of peace in galaxy, but also war and that's where our protagonists are sent. It's possible that I read it wrong, but this head canon made the most sense to me.

Oh, After Atlas sounds really good! I'll give Planetfall a try soon.