SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Let's start a thread for all things Storytel, so we don't have to talk about it all over the place!

Go to the bottom of the front page to see if it's available in your country. (Or maybe this link will work for a nifty list of countries.)

I'm often bursting to tell everyone about new things that pop up in the lists of new/upcoming books, so from now on I'll try to do it here. Everyone else please also do the same if you find a gem, new or old! Especially if it's marked as soon-to-be-removed.

Some of the new additions I found today:

Today: Empire of Wild (audio)
2020-07-31: The Empress of Salt and Fortune (audio)
2020-08-18: Silver in the Wood & Drowned Country (audio)

These were all on my TBR and to-buy list, the only reason I hadn't already bought Empress and Silver is because I was waiting for the next ones to be out.

Oh and of course Phoenix Extravagant has been on there for some weeks now, which is just cruel! :D It's one thing to wait for a book, and utter torture to have to see it on your shelf every day for months!

Damn ... I already bought "Empress of Salt and Fortune" as e-book :(. (well it was only € 2 so no damage done)

"Drowned Country" is great news! I liked the first one quite a bit and will put the sequel on my list right away.

I looked at upcoming books today and it’s clearly specifically targeted for a Danish audience; only books by Danish authors, or books in Danish, or crime, which is the big thing here. Same with all other categories, books by Danish authors or in Danish. I found none of the ones you mention.

However I searched for Silver in the Wood and it is indeed coming on August 18 here as well! Which is annoying because I just pre-ordered it with a credit on audible lol, but I can always return that.

Yeah, I'm super paranoid about buying anything these days. If I can, I wait about a week after pub date before buying, because sometimes they pop up on Storytel a bit later. Except for those authors who I love so much that I want to own everything they publish.

I think you can cancel the preorder?

In Finnish Storytel there's a different section for upcoming books in English, probably same on the Danish site?

Here's what I use:


New titles in English (FI)
Upcoming titles in English (FI)

New titles in English (DE)
Upcoming titles in English (DE)

New titles in English (DK)
Upcoming titles in English (DK)

Ooh! Great thread. I'm hardly ever checking the general lists, just checking for specific titles. But this has the potential to generate new, unexpected additions to TBR list ^^'

Tbh I had no idea there was a webpage lol. I only use the app for searching and listening.

I use the webpage mainly only when the app works too slowly (or when I'm tinkering on the laptop, anyway): the search on desktop is predictive - hence faster.

I use the website for browsing, because I can see a full page of books at a glance, and the app is super laggy when scrolling fast.

Oh and on the (Finnish) app the same stuff is under Categories -> English (bottom of list) -> New (near the top) and Coming Soon ( near the bottom)

Storytel sounds interesting. I am hesitant about any audiobook service that wants me to pay a monthly fee, because some months, I don't listen to any audiobooks at all. Now I've read that storytel also provides ebooks. Can I read thos on my ebook reader or download them in any way or can I just read them inside the app?

Only in the app. They do have their own e-ink reader, but that can't read anything except their books, and it's nowhere near as good as a Kindle. Also they have way more audiobooks than ebooks. They do often have a free trial month, at least in Finland, so maybe wait for one of those and then try it?

If you happen to have an Android ereader, then I guess you could use the app on that? I haven't tried it myself though, so can't say for sure.

Thank you for the info, Anna.
I do have an e-ink digital notepad that runs on Android and I'm in the process of finding out which apps I can install on it to read ebooks. Otherwise, I might buy a new open format ebook reader, but I'd rather use the gadgets I already have. (Part of having an ebook reader is saving resources, for me.)

I'm still skeptical about the monthly fee vs. me not listening to audiobooks every month, but I will do the trial period.

I've read two ebooks so far on storytel using the smartphone. I was VERY suspicious about that, cause my eyes are old (verifocal glasses team), but I was surprised how pleasant the reading on the little screen is. Now I'm looking forward to each time I find an ebook available there.

@Ines, I also was a bit unsure of the monthly fee, cause I already pay for audible. But quite soon storytel became my main source for audiobooks and I'm up to listening to more than 10 books/month. (the only reason I still keep the audible abo is our monthly reads. Some of them are over € 10 as ebook and not available on storytel, but on audible)

I also pay for audible, because there you keep the monthly credits you get and can use them whenever. That suits my audiobook habits, although I would love to have an alternative to amazon. I definitely don't want to read on my smartphone or a tablet in the evening, though. But I'll try it, one or two months won't kill me. :D Hopefully I can get the app to run on my notepad.

I don't know how to trigger it, but I get Storytel offers in my Instagram ads every single day. It's always for the 30 day free trial. Their normal trial is 14 days, so it makes sense to try and find that 30 day code. Googling might help, bloggers will sometimes have a code when Storytel isn't doing a direct offer to potential customers. It'll never be on their website though. Also if there is a book related event in Germany, like a book fair or something like that, they'll probably have an offer, but again it won't be on the website, it'll be in social media or on the fair's website. That's how I scored my current 7.50€/month subscription.

Oh wow, that's great Anna! I'm at 14.95€/month.

Awesome, I'll try to find something like this!

Gabi wrote: "Oh wow, that's great Anna! I'm at 14.95€/month."

wow, that's expensive.

Yeah it's insanely cheap. I think the normal price is absolutely reasonable, compared to say Audible, so I absolutely jumped on this deal the minute I saw it! I bought it for two years, hoping that there'd be another one this year or sometime, so I can get another year or two at a great price. I've only seen this type of deal during the Helsinki book fair and Black Friday, but not every year. Anyway, any deal type days it's worth to search and look at their social media!

Also, I think the fact that the kids mode is included is great! Your kid can listen to books on their own device, without seeing adult books. And no paying extra! And of course they have the family profile for more than one adult/kid pair. I don't know what the German children's (audio)book selection is like, but in Finnish it's fantastic!

Sorry, I don't mean to plug Storytel all the time everywhere, I'm just very happy with it, and have found it worth the (normal or discounted) price.

Silvana wrote: "wow, that's expensive."

You think so? It's the same as for one book in Audible, but it's truly unlimited. Scribd is ten bucks, right? And you only get 2-3 books if I understand correctly.

I listen to 20-30 books per month from Storytel. If I bought all of them from Audible, I'd be homeless.

In 2019, I paid 0.44€ per book from Storytel. I don't own the books of course, but since I plan on continuing to pay that amount for my books, I can reread anything I want. And of course I do buy audiobooks from authors I want to support or ones I love so much I want to own, or that aren't on Storytel. But for a single listen, it doesn't make sense to pay $15 USD when I can pay 0.44€.

It is absolutely worth the price. For audible I pay roughly 10 € and get only one book for it. The rest I have to pay separately (and that is 8.40 minimum). For my 15 € storytel this month I already listened to 16 audiobooks, so I'm under € 1 per book.
For a multi-mega-massive audiobook listener like me it's paradise.

I was too slow with my answer (doing English vocabulary with one kid and maths with the other simultaneously ^^') Anna's equation is even better.

I have a spreadsheet that calculates this for me, because of course I do XD

Spreadsheet lovers high-five! 🖐

✋

New stuff alert!

Sisters of the Vast Black audio added today, and He, She and It coming on September 4th.

Anna wrote: "Silvana wrote: "wow, that's expensive."

You think so? It's the same as for one book in Audible, but it's truly unlimited. Scribd is ten bucks, right? And you only get 2-3 books if I understand cor..."

I could only listen to max 3 audio books a month (or maybe 4 if they were all novellas) so Scribd price is okay for me. Audible is obviously too expensive as well. 30 titles a month? Wowzer.

It's not 30 hard scifi books, that includes a lot of MG fantasy :D

Anna wrote: "It's not 30 hard scifi books, that includes a lot of MG fantasy :D"

but still, one book a day! :D

I’m paying £14.99 for Storytel and £9.49 for scribd. I’ve subscribed to Audible since 2007 so my subscription is only £7.99. But it’s only 1 credit, which I often hoard until they have a 2 for 1 or 3 for 2 credit sale.

I’m really enjoying Storytel, except for the fact that it doesn’t tell me how far along in the book I am percentage wise. So now I have to do math. Ugh. It is pretty expensive though especially since I only listen to about 1-2 books a month (more if they’re short). That said, Since about mid-July I listened to Shadowshaoer and will finish Dreamsnake before the end of the month, but they’re short.

I will definitely keep an eye out for any offers like you have, Anna. Then it would be really worth it. If any other users in Germany notice one, please post it here!! Thanks!

Silvana wrote: "but still, one book a day! :D"

When you pay for an all you can eat buffet! :P

Diane, I'm envious of your Audible price!

To Hold Up the Sky by Liu Cixin is available on audio on October 1st. I didn't even know Liu had another short fic collection coming.

New next week!

Both are things I probably wouldn't try otherwise, but I might since they're on Storytel.

The Original by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal (Sept 14)

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini (Sept 15)

Thanks a lot for this credit-saving information, Anna! I had looked for The Original but couldn't find it, so I was about to use my audible credit for it.

Yeah, I've stopped pre-ordering audiobooks, with some exceptions, because I feel like they sneak add things at the last minute!

Oh, so excited about both of those! Thank you, Anna.

Another one I didn't mention earlier, which I haven't seen a lot of people talk about: The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis. Worth checking out for those who feel in the mood for a "Queer Handmaid's Tale in Space". It didn't blow me away, but it might be more in someone else's wheelhouse!

I just noticed Storytel has a bunch of GraphicAudio books! :o I haven't looked through all of them yet, but for example they have Elantris (3 parts), which I've listened to and liked. I personally get the most out of these when I've already eye-read the book, but I have listened to some without reading first, and it works fine that way, too.

FI: https://www.storytel.com/fi/fi/publis...
DE: https://www.storytel.com/de/de/publis...
DK: https://www.storytel.com/dk/dk/publis...

edit: Looks like Demon Cycle, starting with The Warded Man (on the group shelf), is also there. I might actually listen to that now. I wasn't planning on based on some of the things I'd heard, but a free GA is always something I'm willing to try.

Yay, The Hollow Places is now on Storytel! I made the right decision not preordering. I almost despaired because it wasn't there two days after pub date, but now it is and yay!

I listened to Murderbot! I feel like I enjoyed this way more than if I had read it instead. This first person (bot) narration is suitable to listening and I love hearing humor and sarcasm.

If there are titles like this that you enjoyed more than reading, please share! Thanks!

The series starting with Penric's Demon! It’s excellent on audio, and the first six (?) are on Storytel. 7&8 are Audible only. We have buddy read threads for both series, and I’ve posted the recommended Penric reading order in the first post! It’s fantasy though, but fun, light, humorous, definitely worth trying! First one can be read as standalone.

Penric:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Murderbot:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Anna wrote: "Yay, The Hollow Places is now on Storytel! I made the right decision not preordering. I almost despaired because it wasn't there two days after pub date, but now it is and yay!"

Woohoo! Thanks for the heads up, Anna. On my storytel bookshelf it goes.

I added so many titles to my Bookshelf today. The illustrated books are fun too.

Black Sun audio coming tomorrow. Yay, I might finally read a novel by Roanhorse!

Ooh! :o Good to know. Thank you, Anna ^^

(Multinarrated :3)