Wow, that sucks. I only spectate at Goodreads, and only to look up a book I'm interested in and check a few reviews. I probably use Amazon reviews just as much.
a mostly sewageless place to review and discuss books. er, here? I'd read the heck out of any book reviews you wanted to post.
I recently discovered Mal Peet - sadly, I learned yesterday that he died earlier this month. However he's British and uses rural/regional English dialects a lot in his works. I liked that but I suspect it's not for everyone, maybe especially not for US readers. Put it this way - if you got into Feersum Enjinn (Iain Banks) then you'll probably not be bothered by Mal Peet's renderings of dialects. So far I've read "Life: an exploded diagram" which was excellent, and "The Murdstone Trilogy" which I LOVED TO DISTRACTION for the first 2 parts and which then left me dismayed and distressed at the end as it went utterly dark and I'm a wuss like that. It's aimed at adults, the rest of his books are called YA but really seemed pretty like any adult fic I've read, just featuring youngish central protagonists.
I strongly second the rec for the two "Ancillary" books published so far - really excellent, loved them both. A society where all pronouns are female as gender's irrelevant societally, telepathy, amazing world-building, space empire, everyone drinks tea, etc. etc.
Also "The Goblin Emperor" - best fantasy I've read in years. By LJ user truepenny, under a pseud. An almost moment-by-moment account of a rejected young heir forced into the emperorhood of an elven empire which discriminates against goblins, and how he survives. Brilliant writing and characterisation and completely gripping.
ETA: oh, oh, and William Gibson's "The Peripheral" which was SO good, one of his best for years. Tech that links two realities in the multiverse through time travel --like a VR headset that allows communication, even insertion-- and the way the good guys in each verse manage to help each other out. It's funny and touching and triumphant.
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a mostly sewageless place to review and discuss books. er, here? I'd read the heck out of any book reviews you wanted to post.
I recently discovered Mal Peet - sadly, I learned yesterday that he died earlier this month. However he's British and uses rural/regional English dialects a lot in his works. I liked that but I suspect it's not for everyone, maybe especially not for US readers. Put it this way - if you got into Feersum Enjinn (Iain Banks) then you'll probably not be bothered by Mal Peet's renderings of dialects. So far I've read "Life: an exploded diagram" which was excellent, and "The Murdstone Trilogy" which I LOVED TO DISTRACTION for the first 2 parts and which then left me dismayed and distressed at the end as it went utterly dark and I'm a wuss like that. It's aimed at adults, the rest of his books are called YA but really seemed pretty like any adult fic I've read, just featuring youngish central protagonists.
I strongly second the rec for the two "Ancillary" books published so far - really excellent, loved them both. A society where all pronouns are female as gender's irrelevant societally, telepathy, amazing world-building, space empire, everyone drinks tea, etc. etc.
Also "The Goblin Emperor" - best fantasy I've read in years. By LJ user truepenny, under a pseud. An almost moment-by-moment account of a rejected young heir forced into the emperorhood of an elven empire which discriminates against goblins, and how he survives. Brilliant writing and characterisation and completely gripping.
ETA: oh, oh, and William Gibson's "The Peripheral" which was SO good, one of his best for years. Tech that links two realities in the multiverse through time travel --like a VR headset that allows communication, even insertion-- and the way the good guys in each verse manage to help each other out. It's funny and touching and triumphant.