Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Here is a thread to discuss books you’re considering or suggesting for Task 5: Read a sci-fi novella.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Binti is a great choice for this task but i read it so i'm probably going with either The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century or Finna

I second Binti, it's such a great book. I may reread it and finally read its sequels for this, but I'm not sure.

I honestly don't read nearly enough sci-fi even though it's a genre I enjoy, and that includes novellas even though they're short. So my TBR in this area has built up a bit. I'm also very strongly considering A Psalm for the Wild-Built, This is How You Lose the Time War, and The Seep.

Always recommend Murderbot! All Systems Red is the first in the series, but I might re-read some.

Some I haven't read, but look interesting are Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden, The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler, and Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo.

Binti, Murderbot, and of course Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot Series, of course!

Lina Rather's Sisters of the Vast Black would also work well here. I am going to read its sequel for this one!

I'm planning to read Prime Meridian.

Another excellent Becky Chambers option is To Be Taught, If Fortunate! I'll put in additional recommendations for Binti, All Systems Red, and The Seep as well.
I think I might do Acadie by Dave Hutchinson, which got on my list from another Read Harder challenge in a prior year but I haven't read yet.

Sci fi novellas I read in 2023:
I Abducted My Second Chance Alien Rock Star: A Sci Fi Alien Enemies to Lovers Romance


I Love to Hate My Alien Rock Star: A Sci Fi Alien Fated Mate Romance

I'll be reading A Murder of Knights

I'll probably go for Artificial Condition the next book in the Murderbot series for me after All Systems Red :)

I'm going to recommend:
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
also any of the following three books as well (The Singing Hills Cycle Series, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, Into the Riverlands, Mammoths at the Gates. Set of 4 Books
A Necessary Chaos

Also echoing those above recommending Psalm for the Wild-Built, Prayer for the Crown Shy, All Systems Red and the rest of the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

OH and also recommending The Scourge Between Stars! GOOD queer sci-fi horror.

I'm considering a few that have already been mentioned (or their sequels), but other potentials on my list:
Tentacle
The Time Machine (yes, the classic)

This is How You Lose the Time War was my favorite read from 2023 and would be a great fit.

This might be a bit of a stretch because I think it is more of an anthology of SF but I think my heart is in the right place for this prompt - and I just bought the book from https://verbatimbooks.com/ in North Park, San Diego - Arkdust so that's what I'm going to read for this prompt.

Casey wrote: "Binti is a great choice for this task but i read it so i'm probably going with either The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century or Finna"

I affirm that Binti is a must-read, if you haven’t yet.

The Employees also works for me as #8, a book in translation from a country you haven’t been to: Denmark.

Report as of 6/4/24 I've read:
The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown and The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Novella is my favorite length for SFF! So many great stories published in recent years. A few from my tbr list:

The Tea Master and the Detective
Riot Baby
The Past Is Red
The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles
Alice Payne Arrives

I just read And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin for this prompt and really enjoyed it. Some previous favorites:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
Murderbot (of course! If you've been thinking of trying it - I encourage you to take the plunge)
I didn't love Finna by Nino Cipri, but I would really recommend the second book in the series, Defekt (which I personally think could be read as a standalone).

I'm reading Touched by Walter Mosley.

I'm going classic with The Invisible Man by HG Wells.

I listened to All Systems Red by Martha Wells for this prompt and really liked it.

I plan to read also Binti by Nnedi Okorafor.

Other suggestions (I didn't read them yet):
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

I read Tucker Vs The Apocalypse.

I second Murderbot and Becky Chambers. I just finished Exit Strategy. I wish the ebook had a better reader, but it's still delightful.

Also recommend the Binti and Empress of Salt and Fortune series and This is How You Lose the Time War.

Want to Read
What Moves the Dead] T. Kingfisher
Spear Nicola Griffith
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday Saad Hossein
The Sins of Our Fathers James SA Corey
Ormeshadow Priya Sharma
Let the Mountains Be My Grave Francesca Tacchi
All the Horses of Iceland Sarah Tolmie
The Archive of Alternate Endings Lindsey Drager
The Black God's Drums P Djeli Clark

Just read the first Murderbot for this challenged and loved it! Previously I’ve never read a lot of sci-fi or novellas, but I did read To Be Taught If Fortunate and that was also really good. I’ll probably continue with Murderbot now and I’m interested to check out some of the other recs from here too!

In my need to catch up on Murderbot, I read Fugitive Telemetry.

Elizabeth wrote: "Always recommend Murderbot! All Systems Red is the first in the series, but I might re-read some. "

This is the one I read, and I really enjoyed it.

Going to try out Binti based on recommendations here. I started with something else, but I'm struggling to get through it - and it's a novella!! Thanks for the recommendations!

I read Fugitive Telemetry

This really is NOT my genre, but I read a classic, The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K LeGuin. I can't say I truly enjoyed it. For me, it was OK.

I'm probably the only person who never even read "A Wizard of Earthsea" as a child - the only book I've read by her before was Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, because it wasn't sci-fi!

I would recommend either of Rivers Solomon's novellas; An Unkindness of Ghosts or Sorrowland

I'm more of a fantasy reader than Sci Fi, but I still have a couple I haven't seen yet that I would highly recommend.
Hard Reboot by Django Wexler is about giant robot fights, but also has world-building on the margins that's interesting enough that I'm mad it's only 150 pages. Also it's giant robot fights, so it's sure to be fun
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite novellas. It's Sci Fi and fantasy all rolled together into something masterful and hard to explain
Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson: I haven't actually read this one yet, but I'm definitely very intrigued by the premise and am rarely disappointed by this author
I also need to second The Past Is Red, it's a wildly compelling weird little novella

I read Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, which is a good option if you're not a sci-fi fan.