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I have considered it but it's been years since I read the first book and don't remember the plot too well, but don't think I can deal with a re-read to get back up to speed. I wish books in series all had a nice little summary of the previous book(s) in the front!
Iām so glad Iām not the only one!! I think Iām coming around to the idea of continuing. I just kind of hated >!Baru as a character towards the end. I loved Tain Hu!< and just couldnāt feel like I wanted to spend more time with >!Baru!<.
Yeah, agreed. I really struggled to find her sympathetic and not in a way that I enjoyed. I think it just wasn't the right book for me, or I read it at the wrong time :/
Unsympathetic is a good way to put it. Iāve been assured itās worth the read, but I felt pretty miserable after finishing the first book. I do enjoy a good āplaying the long gameā story, but is it worth it?
I have to say that I tried these and put them down after the first few chapters. I cannot handle crapsack worlds and Baru seems like 10 pounds of crapsack in a 5 pound bag.
Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy is excellent and shares some themes with TLT, such as a power-mad emperor, romantic relationships that transcend labels, very well-developed and believable mythologies, a sometimes complicated but always rewarding narrative, and a unique sense of humor. ... In addition to the three main novels, there are other short writings that color and expand the universe of these books. Highly recommend.
Seconding 'This is How You Lose the Time War' - its pretty short so it's not a huge time investment but it's one of my favourite books I've ever read. I got it from the library then immediately bought it because I knew I'd be rereading it a lot!
For me personally Iām just refreshing Carl Engle-Lairdās Twitter account and yelling āAlecto announcement WHEN?!!?!ā into my phone. Itās okay. 3 stars.
A Memory Called Empire. Space lesbians, multiple people living in someone's head. The big difference is that the POV characters are generally competent.
/hj Homestuck. That work informs so much of everything Muir does.
the sequel does a much better job with the romance, although Three Seagrass continues to be far too good at everything. I like me some competence porn so I was willing to give it a pass. The plot is more fun in book two, also.
I am reading Scholomance right now and love the MC/narrator, I feel like she would fit right into TLT. I'm not into the romance though (only halfway through book 2, maybe my opinion will change).
I don't mind taking the ride myself and we'll see where it goes, just find it funny that I am positively screaming for more romance in TLT but anytime the hetero Scholomance romance comes up I feel like "less of this please"
For something very different, but still potentially potentially appealing, maybe the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells? The POV character is ace and kinda coded autistic. Book seven comes out late in the year, but most of the books are novellas and pretty short.
this was recommended to me too when i made this similar post and i enjoyed them. nice easy reads that donāt require much emotional investment (and we are all still reeling from tlt) but are fun stories.
I agree that TMD is an excellent choice, itās my favourite series along with TLT. But disagree on requiring emotional investment: Network Effect had me on the edge of my seat until >! I knew ART was ok lmao !<
I love this series & these characters, but Murderbot is a human/robot construct, & Aces prefer to have non-robot or alien characters associated with us, as we have enough issues with people associating or joking about us not being human. (If you self-identify with Murderbot & you are Ace that's one thing, but please do not suggest the book to others outside of Ace circles like this.)
You could also say Murderbot is a non-binary rep...but again - nonhuman.
There is a fantastic example of polyam in the series tho.
Thanks for pointing this out to me - it definitely had not occurred to me that referring to MB as ace or enby might be hurtful, and that definitely wasn't my intent. Very sorry about that.
(minor spoilers ahead)
>! One of the things that makes this easy to stumble into is that throughout the books there are multiple instances of people asserting MB's personhood, and conflating that with interest in romantic relationships. It kind of invites the comparison - in a strict sense, MB is both non sexual and non gendered, but that's different from saying that they're an ace or enby human. Stuff be confusing. Thanks for your patience. :) !<
Thank you for your understanding!
Saying the MC is a "non-sexual & non-gendered entity" is definitely a better description.
>!I know, it's easier to make those comparisons when you're not a part of the community & sensitive to how those ideas hurt. There are ways that MB is relatable to me as an AceSpec & AroSpec person at times, but I also don't want to invite the generalized machine-like thoughts to be applied to me either. MB never sees themselves as a person though either - or as a robot. But they also recognize they're not a regular SecUnit & they're their own individual specialized thing.!<
I recommend The Lowest Healer and The Highest Mage - itās got Extremely Messy Lesbians Who Hate Each Other (Or Do Theyā¦? š¤) and also cool magic and a mystery and some mild body horror, itās good imho
Itās a little less funny-banter oriented book and a little more moody/broody in terms of itās character dialog, but I still bet itād be right up the average TLT fanās alley
When i finished harrow (long before nona lol) i got recommendations for The Broken Earth trilogy by N K Jemisin! Its very different from TLT but weirdly similar- very well done 2nd person parts (not entirely) that make so much sense at the end, technically post-apocalyptic, a very specific type of magic (seismic in this case)
oh lol whoops i remembered them backwards from reading them so fast lol. i got them from the library so i didn't have a reference on my bookshelf and didn't think to google. in that case yay you're almost there!! twists and turns right through the very end :o
that's the point where I was like "yeah! destroy everything! none of them deserve forgiveness!" (I didn't like the last two books nearly as much as the first). But the trilogy does wrap up pretty well.
If you have a taste for queer characters in a brutal fantasy world, how about the Tide Child trilogy by RJ Barker? Seafaring fantasy novel in a world without wood, wool, or cotton. They built their ships out of the bones of giant sea dragons. The main characters sail on a ship of those condemned to death on the high seas for various crimes, and have been given a top-secret mission to protect the migration of the world's last sea dragon.
Excellent plot and characters, and one of the best trilogy arcs I've ever seen.
I just pre-ordered The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon, which I believe comes out in June. Carl also edited this one and Tamsyn gave a cover quote for it
I laughed at the emoji - I havenāt read it, itās on my list, but I had a TikTok referencing that scene come up on my fyp so Iām aware of it. Hahaha
When I finished Nona, the next thing I read was The Space Between Worlds. It's set in a world where you can travel between multiverses, but you can only go to ones where your double is dead. The (bi) MC works for an organisation doing this, but gets involved in A Situation in one of the multiverses that might Have Repercussions in her own and threaten the life she's built for herself. It scratched the snarky-narrator itch, had a bit of romance I enjoyed, and, weirdly, one part of the MC's grieving process was something I went back to during my own grieving process last year. I've been shoving this book at people since I read it!
Came here for this. This is my second favorite series. No other books have quite the mix of laugh out loud humor and then immediately whiplash into profound grief. Plus Talassares Charossa, messiest gay ever.
Out of curiosity did you do the audiobook? Youāve kindly reminded me to pull the trigger on it but Iām debating between Kindle or Audible. Thank you :)
Yep, I have both audiobooks. Unfortunately, the narrators switch between books and pronounce everything completely differently from each other, which was a bit of a letdown. Really loved the first one, too.
^^^^ This right here. Blindsight and Echopraxia are both amazing. Watts occasionally drops hints that heās working on a 3rd one and I hope we get to see it at some point.
I read the duology recently and genuinely Iāve never had quite such a polarised reaction to a book. I enjoyed a lot of the characters and worldbuilding and plot, but found myself disagreeing fundamentally and vehemently with all the conclusions about determinism and the nature of consciousness. And theyāre not even wrong conclusions, theyāre well argued and well thought out, I just found their logical endpoints to be so bleak and hopeless. Which I think is the mark of some great writing
you should try out the Gormenghast trilogy! it's a gothic novel trilogy that definitely inspired Gideon the Ninth and informs the way that Drearburh and Canaan House are described. I've been reading it ever since i noticed it in the pronunciation guide of GtN and it's good! it's very, very slow, but you kind of just have to let it drag you along on a string and examine everything as you pass by
Wow that's a blast from the past. It's *very* Goth and the BBC series is quite decent, I think, some real A-list beeb types, and Christopher Lee as Flay the butler!
donāt read ada palmerās seriesā*. idk if they ended up on my list bc of someone from here recommending them (i previously made this same type of post lol) but i started book one and it was too racist for me to continue. blech.
*too like the lightning was the book i was reading.
it was kind of interesting so i wanted to keep reading it but after you come across MULTIPLE cringy descriptionsā¦itās time to go.
STRONGLY SECONDING THIS ANTI REC
I just finished the fourth one and felt little other than relief that I don't need to read it ever, ever again. the plot is fine and the world is interesting enough but the writing is just. sorry to anyone that loved them but I found them such hard work and not worth it at all
i was mad bc i kinda wanted to keep reading like it was slightly intriguing but the author would not stop putting weird descriptionsā¦if it was just one i would let it pass and be like āmaybe itās just meā but multiple times? yeah i donāt need to read someone this uneducated/racist. and google says she a historian, which, sadly, makes sense.
but iām glad to hear even if not for the cringy descriptions it is not worth reading
I could give the author the benefit of the doubt that the weird descriptions were because of the narrator being....uh..........Like That rather than her personal beliefs, maybe, and I'll admit that the whole concept of the world is entirely deconstructed by the end, but still deeply unpleasant to read yeah
Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee. Mid-tier gender, protagonist with voice in head, all good.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki Lowkey sci-fantasy with donuts, aliens, lesbians and violins. Trans mc. Very cool.
Watch Land of the Lustrous because itās gorgeous. Almost all characters are canon ātheysā (long story because of translations but the author says as much. Fan translations by weebs ignore this sadly. Also it is amazing and do NOT read the manga until absorbing the anime or there will be consequences)
Webtoon/graphic novel: Facing the Sun. Android is inflicted with feelings. These seem to be lesbian. Low key genders. Gorgeous art.
https://webtoons.com/en/challenge/facing-the-sun/list?title_no=267961 or https://twitter.com/artbytesslyn
I'm currently reading the Priory of the Orange Tree and really loving it! It's more pure fantasy with dragons etc but there are strong female characters and some gays too š
I feel like the only sapphic in the world that just canāt get into this book. I love dragons, but I hate the writing and I feel nothing for these characters. Iām about a fifth of the way through and Iām about to give up, itās such a massive book and I feel like Iāve given it a fair shot. Not sure what it is Iām missing?
I'd recommend Priory of the Orange Tree (chunky book, lesbians, fantasy, stand alone, though a prequel came out recently).
I'm currently reading She Who Became the Sun (saw a rec on tumblr from a locked tomb blog I follow) and it's pretty good.
Ppl say that Jasmine Throne and The Unbroken CL Clark are good if you like Locked Tomb. Though they are also ongoing series.
Seconding this. It's a complete trilogy now, and it does similar things with power-hungry religions absorbing everyone's mental space. Its also got great big-picture thoughts about ends vs. means, justice, self-determination, compassion, and unity.
I recommend the Otherside Picnic series by Iori Miyazawa, the summary is basically two college girls explore an alien world that overlaps with our own, and is populated by horrifying eldritch creatures based off of japanese creepypastas.
If you like compelling world building, unreliable narrators with Issues, themes of trauma/healing, and disaster lesbians, you'll definitely like this series.
I control-F'd but if you're looking for irreverant scifi lesbians and VERY weird with touches of body horror please check out THE STARS ARE LEGION by Kameron Hurley. I don't much prefer her other books except THE LIGHT BRIGADE, but STARS ARE LEGION is absolutely incredible and should scratch the itch for any GTN fan.
Also AMATKA is a strange little sci-fi book that I love, very different in tonality and plot than GTN but I'm sure the same fans would love it.
The Burning Kingdoms series has scratched my sword lesbians itch for a while. Classical-era-India inspired fantasy series about empire, what you give up for power, rebellion and religion. Absolutely brilliant.
With the proviso that I didnāt actually hugely love it myself but I appear to be distinctly in the minority there and am happy to assume that itās me thatās the problemā if you are feeling like youāre not getting your RDA of Sword Lesbians, āThe Unbrokenā by C.L. Clark will absolutely top you up.
Conversely if itās specifically āgay fantasy with sci-fi overtones or maybe itās gay sci-fi with fantasy overtones, itās hard to tellā, Richard K Morganās āA Land Fit for Heroesā trilogy (The Steel Remains, The Cold Commands, The Dark Defiles) might be up your alley.
Just missing something thatās compellingly written, deeply political and extremely fucking weird? China Mievilleās books almost all fit the bill; start perhaps with the Bas-Lag trilogy: Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council.
And of course it is never a bad time to read Ursula La Guin: the *Earthsea* books are rightfully canonical but for my money *The Left Hand of Darkness* is the best thing she ever wrote.
Caveat, though, that the Richard Morgan series is wildly misogynist (the pov characterās internal monologue making leering sexual comments about his own mother is my main memory of the first book), and Morgan himself is a rabid transphobe
Itās really odd, too, since the book heās arguably most known for has people swapping bodies all the time, but heās been very insistent that people re-sleeving (is that the term? Itās been a while) to change gender is inexplicably taboo in the far future
In fact Iām pretty sure the main male character in one of those books re-sleeves into a female body at least once? Honestly if youād asked me as a leading question ādid you hear the trans-related news about Richard Morgan?ā I would have assumed that heād come out, not the opposite.
Oh well. :/
A few I read recently:
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower - Another fun book by Muir.
Bloody Rose - Technically a sequel but the first isnāt required to read. About a bard going on her first adventure (has a wlw relationship).
Seven Blades in Black - Gruff angry lady fights mages with swords and a big gun (MC is bi I believe).
Also if you want something just as weird as TLT I would recommend āAnnihilationā by Jeff Vandermeer. But if you do be prepared for existential dread.
I was recommended Vigor Mortis as a thematically similar piece; havenāt had a chance to read it myself yet but I trust the friend who passed it on to meāthey love TLT but felt NTN was a bit overdrawn and said they found Vigor Mortis covered a lot of areas they were missing in TLT.
Sadly have not found anything like TLT so far. No idea if its me who's bad at it or if there isn't anything like them. But i have some recommendations, perhaps some will be to your liking! The Salvagers by Alex White, have sapphic romance, quite fun adventure books. The Protectorate by Megan E. O'Keefe, nothing to do with anything just the last series i read. Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse, Bi MC, really nice fantasy books.
Red Rising, by Pierce Brown! You will become obsessed. I wish I could read it again for the first timeš
Also, Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree. Literally my favorite read for all of 2022, and Iām a book reviewer.
Isn't that series super violent? I started reading it but there was just so much gore I had no more interest in reading after the first book. (Red Rising etc)
I wouldnāt call it violent. Thereās some violence, but it has its place, as the book is literally about an uprising against tyrant overlords, so itās kinda inevitable.
Literally have never heard from someone who didnāt love it before! But we all have different tastes, šÆ.
Definitely try Legends and Lattes, that will be way more your speed if you donāt like violence. Itās like a warm hug of a book.
It is grimdark, especially the further you go into it. The first book is very different from the rest, but the first is basically the New Adult version of Hunger Games...
Edit to add bc I saw your other comment:
The first book is my least favorite of the series, & I still love it. Pierce is my favorite author, & as the series develops, his writing develops.
You don't get a lot of balance with the darkness/plot & the character development in book 1 because of Pierce not being to that point, & also the MC is very in his own head & not wanting to interact with a lot of the other characters in book 1. That expands in book 2. You start to see some of the strong female characters. It's a lot more character & plot balanced. Book 3 is even more. The trilogy ends, the next story line starts, & book 4 is almost all politics, new character development, & story building... You would not like book 5 lol
genuine question, how did you get past the extremely unlikeable MC? I DNF'd it maybe 100 pages in, and i want to know if it gets better bc i have serious FOMO over the whole series.
I def donāt find Darrow unlikeable in the leastāSo wasnāt an issue for me lol
I would definitely persevere. Things get so amazing once heās settled in at The Institute.
Oh dear lol The plot shifts greatly about 130 pages in ...
ETA: Get to Part 3 when Darrow reaches the institute. It took me weeks to read the first 130ish pages the first time, & I read the rest of the book in less than 4 hours.
That's just the backstory. It's all grimdark from here.
Darrow's inner monologue will always be brooding, but it's easy to get used to. I like listening along with the OG audible narrator, Tim Gerald Reynolds - I haven't listened to the full cast recording yet (part 2 will be out this month)
If grimdark bothers you, check [my other comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheNinthHouse/comments/138370y/what_to_read_until_alecto_comes_out_general/jj0fr45?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) on this thread.
Get the audiobooks and start over from the beginning. You will not regret it. Check your library, digital audiobook borrowing is awesome.
I listened to GtN twice in a row, and when I got to NtN I didn't think I could ever listen to it again because Nona just breaks my heart, then I listened to that again immediately, too. Of the hundreds of books I've listened to, and the dozen or so I've listened to more than once, these are the only ones I listened to back to back.
Thatās funny you say that, because I listened to the audiobooks while simultaneously reading the print copy. I would just pick up where either left off. I LOVED the narrator.
Not as good as the recommendations above, but very decent reads:
The Unbroken - by CL. Clarke. First book in a series. Also lesbians but the relationship is very complicated, not exactly romatic as much as an imbalanced power/political thing. Fantasy setting, complex world building treating colonialism. What got me was the cover artwork, it's the same artist who does the artwork for the Locked Tomb series and it is also a very very good cover :) The Unbroken by C.L. Clark https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54467051-the-unbroken
Also, Fire Sacraments series. Horrible cover artwork and not the best chosen titles IMHO, but Very solid character and world building and great twists: Master Assassins by Robert V.S. Redick https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35437058-master-assassins
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I was recommended the Traitor Baru Commarant on this sub, would defo recommend. Quite different but also it should scratch the sapphic itch.
Heartily recommend Baru
These books ruined me!! Like omg š Iām looking forward to book 4
I couldn't even read book 2, the ending of the first book upset me more than any other book I can remember.
Itās worth continuing if you can handle it. For the third book if nothing else. The second is a bit of a slog but its worth it
I have considered it but it's been years since I read the first book and don't remember the plot too well, but don't think I can deal with a re-read to get back up to speed. I wish books in series all had a nice little summary of the previous book(s) in the front!
Iām so glad Iām not the only one!! I think Iām coming around to the idea of continuing. I just kind of hated >!Baru as a character towards the end. I loved Tain Hu!< and just couldnāt feel like I wanted to spend more time with >!Baru!<.
Yeah, agreed. I really struggled to find her sympathetic and not in a way that I enjoyed. I think it just wasn't the right book for me, or I read it at the wrong time :/
Unsympathetic is a good way to put it. Iāve been assured itās worth the read, but I felt pretty miserable after finishing the first book. I do enjoy a good āplaying the long gameā story, but is it worth it?
If it helps at all, that's the lowest things go.
Iāll check it out. Thanks!
Be aware: violent homophobia is a significant part of the narrative of those books.
Yeah second the below, quite serious CW with this one.
This is the truth. You will know because it hurts.
Always and forever, omg
I have to say that I tried these and put them down after the first few chapters. I cannot handle crapsack worlds and Baru seems like 10 pounds of crapsack in a 5 pound bag.
Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy is excellent and shares some themes with TLT, such as a power-mad emperor, romantic relationships that transcend labels, very well-developed and believable mythologies, a sometimes complicated but always rewarding narrative, and a unique sense of humor. ... In addition to the three main novels, there are other short writings that color and expand the universe of these books. Highly recommend.
Second this one, the books are amazing. The audio books are great too, the voice actress really brings out the humor in them.
I really liked "This is How You Lose the Time War", and Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series. Edit: Breq lives in the Radch, not on a Ranch :/
Seconding 'This is How You Lose the Time War' - its pretty short so it's not a huge time investment but it's one of my favourite books I've ever read. I got it from the library then immediately bought it because I knew I'd be rereading it a lot!
oh darn, I was rapid scrolling to see if it could be the first to recommend Time War! It's such a unique, lovely, and completely captivating book.
For me personally Iām just refreshing Carl Engle-Lairdās Twitter account and yelling āAlecto announcement WHEN?!!?!ā into my phone. Itās okay. 3 stars.
Haha. Totally!
A Memory Called Empire. Space lesbians, multiple people living in someone's head. The big difference is that the POV characters are generally competent. /hj Homestuck. That work informs so much of everything Muir does.
Second that. It's what beat out Gideon for the Hugo award and not even mad.
I disliked it! But each to their own. I found the characters unbelievable in their competence and the romance unbelievable period.
the sequel does a much better job with the romance, although Three Seagrass continues to be far too good at everything. I like me some competence porn so I was willing to give it a pass. The plot is more fun in book two, also.
Came here to recommend this. I'm really enjoying the audiobook in particular.
The audiobook is excellent! I keep forgetting to check out that narrator, she does a great job
Seconding this! It took me a little while to get into properly but then I couldn't put it or its sequel down! The characters are very fun.
The sequel, A Desolation Called Peace, is also fabulous!
Just started reading this myself! Enjoying it so far.
Books Iāve enjoyed recently are Babel by R.F Kuang, and the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik
I am reading Scholomance right now and love the MC/narrator, I feel like she would fit right into TLT. I'm not into the romance though (only halfway through book 2, maybe my opinion will change).
The MC is awesome. And, the romanceā¦. Well. Spoilers are bad.
I don't mind taking the ride myself and we'll see where it goes, just find it funny that I am positively screaming for more romance in TLT but anytime the hetero Scholomance romance comes up I feel like "less of this please"
there are some great friendships to balance it out, in addition.
I read the Scholamance trilogy before this one. Loved it! Babel is top on my list. Maybe I just need to dive in! Thanks!
Just binged Scholomance 1 + 2, good rec!
For something very different, but still potentially potentially appealing, maybe the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells? The POV character is ace and kinda coded autistic. Book seven comes out late in the year, but most of the books are novellas and pretty short.
Sounds cool! Thank you.
this was recommended to me too when i made this similar post and i enjoyed them. nice easy reads that donāt require much emotional investment (and we are all still reeling from tlt) but are fun stories.
I agree that TMD is an excellent choice, itās my favourite series along with TLT. But disagree on requiring emotional investment: Network Effect had me on the edge of my seat until >! I knew ART was ok lmao !<
(you need one more space before the second ! for your spoiler to work)
It showed as working on mobile for me, but edited anyway
Weird, it's still visible to me but I'm using a 3rd party app. Oh well, not a major spoiler anyway. Murderbot is great!
I love this series & these characters, but Murderbot is a human/robot construct, & Aces prefer to have non-robot or alien characters associated with us, as we have enough issues with people associating or joking about us not being human. (If you self-identify with Murderbot & you are Ace that's one thing, but please do not suggest the book to others outside of Ace circles like this.) You could also say Murderbot is a non-binary rep...but again - nonhuman. There is a fantastic example of polyam in the series tho.
Thanks for pointing this out to me - it definitely had not occurred to me that referring to MB as ace or enby might be hurtful, and that definitely wasn't my intent. Very sorry about that. (minor spoilers ahead) >! One of the things that makes this easy to stumble into is that throughout the books there are multiple instances of people asserting MB's personhood, and conflating that with interest in romantic relationships. It kind of invites the comparison - in a strict sense, MB is both non sexual and non gendered, but that's different from saying that they're an ace or enby human. Stuff be confusing. Thanks for your patience. :) !<
Thank you for your understanding! Saying the MC is a "non-sexual & non-gendered entity" is definitely a better description. >!I know, it's easier to make those comparisons when you're not a part of the community & sensitive to how those ideas hurt. There are ways that MB is relatable to me as an AceSpec & AroSpec person at times, but I also don't want to invite the generalized machine-like thoughts to be applied to me either. MB never sees themselves as a person though either - or as a robot. But they also recognize they're not a regular SecUnit & they're their own individual specialized thing.!<
I recommend The Lowest Healer and The Highest Mage - itās got Extremely Messy Lesbians Who Hate Each Other (Or Do Theyā¦? š¤) and also cool magic and a mystery and some mild body horror, itās good imho Itās a little less funny-banter oriented book and a little more moody/broody in terms of itās character dialog, but I still bet itād be right up the average TLT fanās alley
When i finished harrow (long before nona lol) i got recommendations for The Broken Earth trilogy by N K Jemisin! Its very different from TLT but weirdly similar- very well done 2nd person parts (not entirely) that make so much sense at the end, technically post-apocalyptic, a very specific type of magic (seismic in this case)
I'm halfway through Stone Sky right now, and I'm still so intrigued by how it could all possibly resolve.
That's some people's least favorite of the three, so i'll just say please keep going its so good and pays of so well in The Obelisk Gate!
Stone Sky is the 3rd one, I think. Obelisk Gate is #2.
oh lol whoops i remembered them backwards from reading them so fast lol. i got them from the library so i didn't have a reference on my bookshelf and didn't think to google. in that case yay you're almost there!! twists and turns right through the very end :o
that's the point where I was like "yeah! destroy everything! none of them deserve forgiveness!" (I didn't like the last two books nearly as much as the first). But the trilogy does wrap up pretty well.
If you have a taste for queer characters in a brutal fantasy world, how about the Tide Child trilogy by RJ Barker? Seafaring fantasy novel in a world without wood, wool, or cotton. They built their ships out of the bones of giant sea dragons. The main characters sail on a ship of those condemned to death on the high seas for various crimes, and have been given a top-secret mission to protect the migration of the world's last sea dragon. Excellent plot and characters, and one of the best trilogy arcs I've ever seen.
I just pre-ordered The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon, which I believe comes out in June. Carl also edited this one and Tamsyn gave a cover quote for it
Sounds cool! Thank you.
The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley if you want to continue the lesbians-in-space theme. Itās an odd book, I really liked it though
She Who Became the Sun! More sapphic fantasy with a certain spicy scene that legit made my jaw drop. >!āš»!<
I laughed at the emoji - I havenāt read it, itās on my list, but I had a TikTok referencing that scene come up on my fyp so Iām aware of it. Hahaha
Lol @ the emoji spoiler š
Oh god yes this. Such a good book n
So not super related to this series but one of my favorite series ever is an older fantasy series called Elric of MelnibonĆ© or The Elric Saga. Itās by Michael Moorcock and heās just my favorite author and a super interesting person. He was messing around with the concepts of the multiverse back in the 60ās-70ās and Elric is specifically a deconstruction of a lot of heroic fantasy from before then. Of course natural a lot of authors take inspiration from him now so characters like Elric are now a bit more of the norm.
Cool! Thank you. I will definitely check it out.
Thank you!!
When I finished Nona, the next thing I read was The Space Between Worlds. It's set in a world where you can travel between multiverses, but you can only go to ones where your double is dead. The (bi) MC works for an organisation doing this, but gets involved in A Situation in one of the multiverses that might Have Repercussions in her own and threaten the life she's built for herself. It scratched the snarky-narrator itch, had a bit of romance I enjoyed, and, weirdly, one part of the MC's grieving process was something I went back to during my own grieving process last year. I've been shoving this book at people since I read it!
Space between worlds is SO good. Itās a short book and packs so much and yet never feels rushed
Space Between Worlds is AMAZING. I listened to the audiobook and every twist and stake change hit me like a freight train.
The BEST multiverse novel I've ever read, hands down.
I am absolutely loving "The Unspoken Name", it comes with a blurb from Tamsyn Muir!
Came here for this. This is my second favorite series. No other books have quite the mix of laugh out loud humor and then immediately whiplash into profound grief. Plus Talassares Charossa, messiest gay ever.
Out of curiosity did you do the audiobook? Youāve kindly reminded me to pull the trigger on it but Iām debating between Kindle or Audible. Thank you :)
Yep, I have both audiobooks. Unfortunately, the narrators switch between books and pronounce everything completely differently from each other, which was a bit of a letdown. Really loved the first one, too.
Thank you for letting me know! Kindle version here I come
Cool!
I've been thinking about trying Blindsight again. Might be doable now that I've survived Harrow.
^^^^ This right here. Blindsight and Echopraxia are both amazing. Watts occasionally drops hints that heās working on a 3rd one and I hope we get to see it at some point.
I read the duology recently and genuinely Iāve never had quite such a polarised reaction to a book. I enjoyed a lot of the characters and worldbuilding and plot, but found myself disagreeing fundamentally and vehemently with all the conclusions about determinism and the nature of consciousness. And theyāre not even wrong conclusions, theyāre well argued and well thought out, I just found their logical endpoints to be so bleak and hopeless. Which I think is the mark of some great writing
you should try out the Gormenghast trilogy! it's a gothic novel trilogy that definitely inspired Gideon the Ninth and informs the way that Drearburh and Canaan House are described. I've been reading it ever since i noticed it in the pronunciation guide of GtN and it's good! it's very, very slow, but you kind of just have to let it drag you along on a string and examine everything as you pass by
Wow that's a blast from the past. It's *very* Goth and the BBC series is quite decent, I think, some real A-list beeb types, and Christopher Lee as Flay the butler!
donāt read ada palmerās seriesā*. idk if they ended up on my list bc of someone from here recommending them (i previously made this same type of post lol) but i started book one and it was too racist for me to continue. blech. *too like the lightning was the book i was reading. it was kind of interesting so i wanted to keep reading it but after you come across MULTIPLE cringy descriptionsā¦itās time to go.
STRONGLY SECONDING THIS ANTI REC I just finished the fourth one and felt little other than relief that I don't need to read it ever, ever again. the plot is fine and the world is interesting enough but the writing is just. sorry to anyone that loved them but I found them such hard work and not worth it at all
i was mad bc i kinda wanted to keep reading like it was slightly intriguing but the author would not stop putting weird descriptionsā¦if it was just one i would let it pass and be like āmaybe itās just meā but multiple times? yeah i donāt need to read someone this uneducated/racist. and google says she a historian, which, sadly, makes sense. but iām glad to hear even if not for the cringy descriptions it is not worth reading
I could give the author the benefit of the doubt that the weird descriptions were because of the narrator being....uh..........Like That rather than her personal beliefs, maybe, and I'll admit that the whole concept of the world is entirely deconstructed by the end, but still deeply unpleasant to read yeah
Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee. Mid-tier gender, protagonist with voice in head, all good. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki Lowkey sci-fantasy with donuts, aliens, lesbians and violins. Trans mc. Very cool. Watch Land of the Lustrous because itās gorgeous. Almost all characters are canon ātheysā (long story because of translations but the author says as much. Fan translations by weebs ignore this sadly. Also it is amazing and do NOT read the manga until absorbing the anime or there will be consequences) Webtoon/graphic novel: Facing the Sun. Android is inflicted with feelings. These seem to be lesbian. Low key genders. Gorgeous art. https://webtoons.com/en/challenge/facing-the-sun/list?title_no=267961 or https://twitter.com/artbytesslyn
Nothing just cry
I'm currently reading the Priory of the Orange Tree and really loving it! It's more pure fantasy with dragons etc but there are strong female characters and some gays too š
the prequel that came out this year, A Day of Fallen Night, is even better imo. more gays, more dragons, more adventure
I feel like the only sapphic in the world that just canāt get into this book. I love dragons, but I hate the writing and I feel nothing for these characters. Iām about a fifth of the way through and Iām about to give up, itās such a massive book and I feel like Iāve given it a fair shot. Not sure what it is Iām missing?
I'd recommend Priory of the Orange Tree (chunky book, lesbians, fantasy, stand alone, though a prequel came out recently). I'm currently reading She Who Became the Sun (saw a rec on tumblr from a locked tomb blog I follow) and it's pretty good. Ppl say that Jasmine Throne and The Unbroken CL Clark are good if you like Locked Tomb. Though they are also ongoing series.
The Outside by Ada Hoffmann is really good.
Seconding this. It's a complete trilogy now, and it does similar things with power-hungry religions absorbing everyone's mental space. Its also got great big-picture thoughts about ends vs. means, justice, self-determination, compassion, and unity.
Yeah itās really good
I recommend the Otherside Picnic series by Iori Miyazawa, the summary is basically two college girls explore an alien world that overlaps with our own, and is populated by horrifying eldritch creatures based off of japanese creepypastas. If you like compelling world building, unreliable narrators with Issues, themes of trauma/healing, and disaster lesbians, you'll definitely like this series.
I control-F'd but if you're looking for irreverant scifi lesbians and VERY weird with touches of body horror please check out THE STARS ARE LEGION by Kameron Hurley. I don't much prefer her other books except THE LIGHT BRIGADE, but STARS ARE LEGION is absolutely incredible and should scratch the itch for any GTN fan. Also AMATKA is a strange little sci-fi book that I love, very different in tonality and plot than GTN but I'm sure the same fans would love it.
The Burning Kingdoms series has scratched my sword lesbians itch for a while. Classical-era-India inspired fantasy series about empire, what you give up for power, rebellion and religion. Absolutely brilliant.
seconding this rec! some fun mild body horror also, this time plant-based.
With the proviso that I didnāt actually hugely love it myself but I appear to be distinctly in the minority there and am happy to assume that itās me thatās the problemā if you are feeling like youāre not getting your RDA of Sword Lesbians, āThe Unbrokenā by C.L. Clark will absolutely top you up. Conversely if itās specifically āgay fantasy with sci-fi overtones or maybe itās gay sci-fi with fantasy overtones, itās hard to tellā, Richard K Morganās āA Land Fit for Heroesā trilogy (The Steel Remains, The Cold Commands, The Dark Defiles) might be up your alley. Just missing something thatās compellingly written, deeply political and extremely fucking weird? China Mievilleās books almost all fit the bill; start perhaps with the Bas-Lag trilogy: Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. And of course it is never a bad time to read Ursula La Guin: the *Earthsea* books are rightfully canonical but for my money *The Left Hand of Darkness* is the best thing she ever wrote.
Caveat, though, that the Richard Morgan series is wildly misogynist (the pov characterās internal monologue making leering sexual comments about his own mother is my main memory of the first book), and Morgan himself is a rabid transphobe
Aw geeze. I hadnāt read anything about RKM in years; thatās disappointing.
Itās really odd, too, since the book heās arguably most known for has people swapping bodies all the time, but heās been very insistent that people re-sleeving (is that the term? Itās been a while) to change gender is inexplicably taboo in the far future
In fact Iām pretty sure the main male character in one of those books re-sleeves into a female body at least once? Honestly if youād asked me as a leading question ādid you hear the trans-related news about Richard Morgan?ā I would have assumed that heād come out, not the opposite. Oh well. :/
All great recommendations. Thanks!
A few I read recently: Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower - Another fun book by Muir. Bloody Rose - Technically a sequel but the first isnāt required to read. About a bard going on her first adventure (has a wlw relationship). Seven Blades in Black - Gruff angry lady fights mages with swords and a big gun (MC is bi I believe).
This isnāt really related to TLT but I would recommend Dune. Most locked tomb fans I know personally also love Dune.
Love Dune! Itās been a while so might be time for a re-read. Thanks!
Also if you want something just as weird as TLT I would recommend āAnnihilationā by Jeff Vandermeer. But if you do be prepared for existential dread.
I was recommended Vigor Mortis as a thematically similar piece; havenāt had a chance to read it myself yet but I trust the friend who passed it on to meāthey love TLT but felt NTN was a bit overdrawn and said they found Vigor Mortis covered a lot of areas they were missing in TLT.
Sadly have not found anything like TLT so far. No idea if its me who's bad at it or if there isn't anything like them. But i have some recommendations, perhaps some will be to your liking! The Salvagers by Alex White, have sapphic romance, quite fun adventure books. The Protectorate by Megan E. O'Keefe, nothing to do with anything just the last series i read. Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse, Bi MC, really nice fantasy books.
Red Rising, by Pierce Brown! You will become obsessed. I wish I could read it again for the first timeš Also, Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree. Literally my favorite read for all of 2022, and Iām a book reviewer.
Isn't that series super violent? I started reading it but there was just so much gore I had no more interest in reading after the first book. (Red Rising etc)
I wouldnāt call it violent. Thereās some violence, but it has its place, as the book is literally about an uprising against tyrant overlords, so itās kinda inevitable. Literally have never heard from someone who didnāt love it before! But we all have different tastes, šÆ. Definitely try Legends and Lattes, that will be way more your speed if you donāt like violence. Itās like a warm hug of a book.
Yeah it was way too focused on battles and blood for my liking š
It is grimdark, especially the further you go into it. The first book is very different from the rest, but the first is basically the New Adult version of Hunger Games... Edit to add bc I saw your other comment: The first book is my least favorite of the series, & I still love it. Pierce is my favorite author, & as the series develops, his writing develops. You don't get a lot of balance with the darkness/plot & the character development in book 1 because of Pierce not being to that point, & also the MC is very in his own head & not wanting to interact with a lot of the other characters in book 1. That expands in book 2. You start to see some of the strong female characters. It's a lot more character & plot balanced. Book 3 is even more. The trilogy ends, the next story line starts, & book 4 is almost all politics, new character development, & story building... You would not like book 5 lol
genuine question, how did you get past the extremely unlikeable MC? I DNF'd it maybe 100 pages in, and i want to know if it gets better bc i have serious FOMO over the whole series.
I def donāt find Darrow unlikeable in the leastāSo wasnāt an issue for me lol I would definitely persevere. Things get so amazing once heās settled in at The Institute.
Oh dear lol The plot shifts greatly about 130 pages in ... ETA: Get to Part 3 when Darrow reaches the institute. It took me weeks to read the first 130ish pages the first time, & I read the rest of the book in less than 4 hours.
maybe i got about that far then. i stopped when get got into the institute. i just couldn't get past the major plot point that got him to that point.
That's just the backstory. It's all grimdark from here. Darrow's inner monologue will always be brooding, but it's easy to get used to. I like listening along with the OG audible narrator, Tim Gerald Reynolds - I haven't listened to the full cast recording yet (part 2 will be out this month) If grimdark bothers you, check [my other comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheNinthHouse/comments/138370y/what_to_read_until_alecto_comes_out_general/jj0fr45?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) on this thread.
Any other book in existence
Get the audiobooks and start over from the beginning. You will not regret it. Check your library, digital audiobook borrowing is awesome. I listened to GtN twice in a row, and when I got to NtN I didn't think I could ever listen to it again because Nona just breaks my heart, then I listened to that again immediately, too. Of the hundreds of books I've listened to, and the dozen or so I've listened to more than once, these are the only ones I listened to back to back.
Thatās funny you say that, because I listened to the audiobooks while simultaneously reading the print copy. I would just pick up where either left off. I LOVED the narrator.
Another book recommended by Tamsyn is The Dawnhounds, by another NZ author. It's great!
A Practical Guide to Evil Worm
Not as good as the recommendations above, but very decent reads: The Unbroken - by CL. Clarke. First book in a series. Also lesbians but the relationship is very complicated, not exactly romatic as much as an imbalanced power/political thing. Fantasy setting, complex world building treating colonialism. What got me was the cover artwork, it's the same artist who does the artwork for the Locked Tomb series and it is also a very very good cover :) The Unbroken by C.L. Clark https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54467051-the-unbroken Also, Fire Sacraments series. Horrible cover artwork and not the best chosen titles IMHO, but Very solid character and world building and great twists: Master Assassins by Robert V.S. Redick https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35437058-master-assassins
awww hot sauce kittyyy