Mine is the wings of fire series, it is a “kids” novel (think like warrior cats age range)
But Tui T sutherland is so good at writing characters and introducing and describing worlds and characters that i reread it every so often. Like, she managed to write a book from the pov of a mind reader and it works.
Every book is from a different character’s pov and each character feels wholly unique.
The main issue with the series is that the plot is kinda average at best, the characters really carry the story.
“Night Soldiers” by Allan Furst. After his younger brother is killed by a fascist mob, a Bulgarian fisherman is recruited to join Russian intelligence. Trained as a spy in Moscow, he begins to question his trainers and their motives. After being sent to fight in the Spanish Civil War, he makes his way to Paris.
Great book. Reads like Franz Kafka and Ian Fleming decided to collaborate.
I’ve been reading some litrpg-genre books, and a lot of the better books in that genre are extremely enjoyable despite obvious literary flaws.
Some top recommendations are He Who Fights with Monsters and Defiance of the Fall.
I can’t scroll by this post and not mention Dungeon Crawler Carl. Though, it may not fit this thread, seeing as it is a goddamn masterpiece. Particularly the audiobook.
Oh man, that’s a lot of what I read.
Maybe the ‘My Teacher Is An Alien’ series by Bruce Coville, the ‘Blood Oath’ series by Christopher Farnsworth, and the Serpentwar Series by Raymond Feist.
Bruce Coville is such an incredibly fun read for young Sci-Fi fans. I flipped through some of the Aliens Ate My Homework series recently now that I’m older and it’s still a great time. Coville really did well at writing in a way that makes it understandable and enjoyable for kids without dumbing down ideas that would help spark the imagination and garner understanding for more advanced works.
I should flip back through the My Teacher is an Alien series too at some point. I’m pretty sure I at least still have a copy of My Teacher Flunked the Planet here somewhere.
My favorite book is The Golden Ass by Apuleius, it’s not qualified as a masterpiece but it is one I guess.
My kid is devouring the wings of fire series.
For me I’d say the Children of Man series by Elizabeth C. Mock. I hadn’t read Wheel of Time before starting Children of Man. Now that I have I see a lot of Wheel of Time influence, so in that genre Children of Man isn’t really groundbreaking.
That said though, I still really enjoy the characters and the story, and am anxiously waiting for the release of the 4th (and final) book.
The sword of Shannara
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. I read it years ago and still remember how gripping it was, not sure how well the movie has aged, but it was a fantastic book.
I do hope you didn’t properly read the question? It’s what book you love despite its somewhat low quality/ not being a “masterpiece”.
Perfume is on all major literature and best books of all time lists.
The title remained in bestseller lists for about nine years and received almost unanimously positive national and international critical acclaim. Wikipedia
This is one of the great books of the 20th century. Who are you to imply its not of quality?!
The Phantom Tollbooth
It’s an amazing book, but no one would consider it a masterpiece.
I absolutely consider Phantom Tollbooth a masterpiece. There’s nothing else like it, and it has extraordinary persistence.
The Percy Jackson series. You can tell Riordan likes taking his liberties, and there’s a lot of Americanism mixed in with the Greek way of thinking that is supposed to come from tales of Greek gods, but it says something that I like it better than the actual legends from Greek culture.
We are Legion (We are Bob). It’s probably the most fun I’ve had reading science fiction. It’s not a masterpiece, but damn is it entertaining! The whole series is pretty great, and there’s another book coming any month now.
In a similar vein I’m really enjoying the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. It has a similar feel and it has an addictive action pace with snippets of deadpan humor and wit. If it was a movie it would be a popcorn muncher.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check that out after I finish A Little Bit of Hatred.
I just found this can be downloaded from archive.org. Does anyone know whether this is legal / OK? https://archive.org/details/taylor-dennis-e-bobiverse-1-we-are-legion/Taylor_Dennis_E_-_Bobiverse_1_-_We_Are_Legion
I have no idea. Sorry. But if you can’t afford to buy the book in a better format, then just read it from there! I don’t think Dennis will miss nine dollars or whatever the book costs.
I love this series as well. Definitely not a masterpiece, but it is great sci fi.
Yes! These are great. I just re-read them again recently and I still love them.
I loved the Black Jewels books even though I don’t think they are good. The worldbuilding was vivid.
Kind of feel that way about all the Brandon Sanderson books. I can’t say they are good but good to read just because you do drop right into those worlds.
The Long Earth series
I keep waiting for someone like HBO or Apple to pick this up as a series, because I think it’s got great potential to make a stellar show. Especially with how I picture the visuals.
Though part of me also hopes they don’t, so I can continue to enjoy it without them inevitably doing a bad job…
Lucky Wander Boy.
Great book, but the “ritual” scene bars it from ever being a masterpiece.
Oh sweet I get to vent about The August Few: Amygdala by Sam Fennah.
So Sam is primarily a youtuber, he makes animations with these very unique and somewhat disturbing characters and over time he made a bit of a narrative using them, eventually he made it into a 1000 page book. As one might expect looking at his animations this book is very weird, it’s got some extremely interesting and alien worldbuilding which challenges the reader a lot. As a piece of art this book is incredibly effective in that it makes the reader reflect on it’s far reaching themes, but as a book I really kinda hate it.
At the core of the book is the question of what the ideal society is, but only one option is ever really presented, what I can only describe as anarcho-dawinism. When one character opposes this state and proposes the possibility of a kinder and more inclusive society she is betrayed, hung from a balcony over a crowd, she orgasms while choking to death, and “When the body was lowered, it was groped, defiled, spat upon, split.” This is not presented as a bad thing, simply as the people rejecting her idea, the language used is very “marketplace of ideas.”
At the start of the book Sam tries to disavow himself of what he wrote in an author’s note, part of which reads: “The views of the characters are not the views of the author. This book is not a promotion of ideas, but an exploration of ideas.” Sam did not need to make the characters orgasm when they died, he did not need to make them reproduce via necrophilic rape, he did not need to make every characters a literal baby eating cannibal, and he did not need to present social-darwinism as an ideal society, but he did, he choose to write these things.
I hate this book, I read it over a year ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, it is a great piece of art.
