Looking for fictional books
Looking for fictional books
I've recently gotten into reading. I realised how much I love fiction, and a couple of tropes. So I'm here asking maybe some of you know any books that have them.
I love it when the story focuses more on world building rather than character. The theory crafting I can do in my head, or just before I sleep, is priceless.
Here I'll contradict myself by saying a character development related point, but the more important one. I'd like to read more works that show some mysterious big-bad first as a rivalry, later as a friend. They soften up with the MC and we they become friends or allies or whatever. We get to see a BBEG of sorts's friendly and weak side. I get that it's a bit childish, but I lost my mind of how cool of a character they made the first time I read it. Now, it was in a manga, so I'd love to read an example that made this best or first.
Thank you in advance, even if you just name some genres or authors.
Dungeon Crawler Carl and The Bobiverse are both amazing series that are worth a glance at.
These are probably not what I'm looking for. But now I know where that one wierd first person rogue like came from. Thanks!
The Discworld series has nice world building, however the individual books focus on different characters for telling a story and getting to know that world.
If anyone is interested in Discworld for world building, then I'd recommend skipping the first few books. They were written before Terry Pratchett had a good grasp on the world and the characters. They can be worth coming back to later, but I definitely recommend not starting with them. "Wyrd Sisters" and "Guards! Guards!" are pretty good entry points.
I would even go further back, and recommend Equal Rites.
If you like world building then check out Brandon Sanderson and his cosmere related books. They all play out within the same cosmere and all build upon that same world with different stories. I started with Mistborn and think that is still my favourite but it is a hard decision as there is a lot of good books / series.
You could also try Stephen Kings - The Dark Tower and then go down the rabbit hole of a plethora of other books that all happen within the same world and have various different connections to The Dark Tower books and midworld.
N.K Jemison - The Broken Earth trilogy was pretty decent in terms of building the world it was set in and I think is pretty highly regarded for that element.
If you want a bit of space operas then I think Simon R Greens - Deathstalker books are really great and build a whole quirky universe for itself.
Maybe check a few of those out :)
Cosmere feels like it focuses on politics. If I'm right I'd rather not read it. I'm not even interested in real life politics.
I heard a buch of praise for Stephen King and someone else also said the dark tower. I think I'll give it a shot.
Couldn't find a wrong word for The Fifth Season, it got on my list.
I don't think Deathstalker is for me.
Still, thanks! I'm probably set for a long while.
I thought dark tower was okay, but it was a bit too surreal for me towards the end.
Might I recommend the Mortal Engines quartet? They’re kinda YA, especially the first one, but the setting is as far as I know completely unique, and beyond amazing. I really don’t want to spoil the first few moments of realization, so I’m just going to put the first two passages below.
Also, many of the BBEGs are cool af and (spoiler for the later books) as least one matches your request exactly, while others match it pretty well.
Honestly I love the characters, they work so well. Especially Tom, he’s the most normal everyday lead I’ve ever read in a fantasy/sci-fi book, and yet all his actions are totally believable.
My only complaint is that book 2 is kind of frustrating in places.
First two passages:
It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.
In happier times, London would never have bothered with such feeble prey. The great Traction City had once spent its days hunting far bigger towns than this, ranging north as far as the edges of the Ice Waste and south to the shores of the Mediterranean. But lately prey of any kind had started to grow scarce, and some of the larger cities had begun to look hungrily at London. For ten years now it had been hiding from them, skulking in a damp mountainous, western district which the Guild of Historians said had once been the island of Britain. For ten years it had eaten nothing but tiny farming towns and static settlements in those wet hills. Now, at last, the Lord Mayor had decided that the time was right to take his city back over the land-bridge into the Great Hunting Ground.
No worries, I hope you find something you enjoy.
I would say that I personally can't stand politics in the real world or in stories so I am with you on that and I don't believe any of the cosmere stuff focuses on politics at all. Dune is something politic heavy and whilst I made it through it eventually it took me four or five tries and I probably wouldn't return.
I highly recommend trying out at least the first mistborn book to see if you like it if you get to a point where you are in need of something else to read after you've worked your way through some other suggestions.
Happy reading :)
The Expanse by James SA Corey does a fantastic job of world building as well as character building. I highly highly recommend them. That and/or Dune.
Dune is a big no-no for me. The movies were so incredibly shit. And I've got so many great options for what I'm looking for, that a sc-fi romance just doesn't fit on my to-read list. Thank you still.
I haven't read him, but Brandon Sanderson has been mentioned to me more than once for his world-building. I've heard good things about Tress of the Emerald Sea, though I don't know how world-buildy it is compared to his other books.
Someone else is also pitching me on Brandon Sanderson. He must have made something good.
I was also going to pitch his books, and I haven't even read all of them. They are very solid fantasy books, and he just keeps writing bangers at an unusual pace. My favorite part of books is magic systems, and all the flavors they come in, idk if that is something you've found you like yet.
What about Ursula K Guin?
Looked into it, and The Books of Earthsea is downloading (.epub). Thanks! I'm hyped.
Read the Wheel of Time, talk to you in 3 years
I think I heard the name once, but I don't know anything about it. Why? what
Not the same guy, but I started reading it a few weeks ago and just finished the fourth book last night. It does a pretty good job at both world building and character development in my opinion (though it really shines across books). In my opinion, the first book does a good job of introducing new elements of the setting at a good pace, and uses it's characters who know little of the world to impart how special/rare some of the things are.
Three Body Problem is great for if you want more world-oriented experiences than character-oriented ones. The character in focus changes often and sometimes harshly, but I feel it's in service of the plot and feels great.
The "Death Gate Cycle" by Weiss and Hickman has all that. Great worldbuilding, bad guys that become friends, etc.
I'm sold. I love myself some high fantasy, and you don't have to tell me twice about the last part. I won't miss a chance to experience that again. Thanks!
The dark tower series.
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
First in a series called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
A young boy named Daniel is taken by his bookstore-owning father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
By tradition, first time visitors are allowed to select one book for which they will become a lifetime guardian.
Daniel chooses "Shadow of the Wind" by Julian Carax and quickly becomes enthralled by it. As he tries to find out more about the book and the author, he finds that someone is systematically collecting all of Carax's works and burning them.
I'll leave the thrillers for my dad. Still, I feel the love in this reply, so I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be reading this.
Not really a thriller, more of a mystery + a love story. It's a fantastic read. Especially considering it was translated from Spanish.
I think you may like Expeditionary Force series, there is quite a bit of what you are looking for.
I guess Asimov Foundation series would also be a good candidate for world building.
Watership Down
Empire of man series. Main character starts as a twat almost nobody really likes, then he gets better.
It’s military science fiction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Man
At bottom of wiki article is link to read first book for free
You can try the "Malazan book of the fallen" series. It's very fast paced which I like but probably isn't everyone's cup of tea.
I'm reading that it sacrifices way to much consistency for it's speed. I'm a sucker for consistency. While it sounds fun, it doesn't sound like much of it if I'll just overanalyze the plot holes and ruin the whole thing for myself. Thanks, still.
The Silmarilion
Literally world building