Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

The Goodreads Choice Awards are here! The Awards where it doesn't matter how good the book, only how rabidly popular the author.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceaward...

Books dropped 11/15, voting for first round ends midnight PST Sunday 11/24. We'll probably have 10 days or so after that to read/vote the final round.

Read, rant, and discuss!

BOOKS BY CATEGORY
FICTION: The Wedding People
HISTORICAL FICTION: The Women
・The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno Garcia
---didn't make the cut----
・The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James [FBR]

MYSTERY & THRILLER: The God of the Woods
・How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll #1) by Kristen Perrin [FBR]
・We Solve Murders (#1) by Richard Osman (also in Audio)
---both made cut---

ROMANCE: Funny Story
・Leather & Lark (Runous Love #1) by Brynne Weaver [FBR]
・Bride by Ali Hazelwood
---both made cut---

ROMANTASY: House of Flame and Shadow Crescent City #3 by Sarah J. Maas (446k)
・When the Moon Hatched (Moonfall #1) by Sarah A. Parker (120k)
・Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy #1) by Callie Hart (108k)
・A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated #1) by Danielle L Jenson (104k)
・Apprentice to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain #2) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (58k)
・Phantasma (Wicked Games #1) by Kaylie Smith (53k)
・A Touch of Chaos (Hades x Persephone #4) by Scarlett St. Clair (38k)
・The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (37k)
・Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy #9) by Caroline Peckham (33k)
・Born of Blood and Ash (Flesh & Fire #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (27k)
---didn't make the cut----
・Gold (the Plated Prisoner #5) by Raven Kennedy (45k)
・The Veiled Kingdom (#1) by Holly Renee (36k)
・A Crown This Cold and Heavy by Stacia Stark (33k)
・The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen (23k)
・Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore #1) by Jasmine Mas (22k)
・Faebound (#1) by Saara el-Arifi (15k)
・A Promise of Peridot (The Sacred Stones #2) by Kate Golden (13k)
・Fate of the Sun King (Artefacts of Ouranos #3) by Nisha J. Tuli (13k)
・The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields (12k)
・A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft (5k)

FANTASY: Somewhere Beyond the Sea Cerulean Sea #2 by TJ Klune (45k) (also in Audio) [FBR]
・The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (77k)
・Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde #2) by Heather Fawcett (53k) [FBR]
・The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (36k) (also in Debut)
・Five Broken Blades (Broken Blades #1) by Mai Corland (21k)
・The Tainted Cup (Shadows of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett (23k) [FBR]
・The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (20k)
・The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls #5) (20k)
・Empire of the Damned (Empire of the Vampire #2) by Jay Kristoff (16k) [FBR]
・The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (13k)
---didn't make the cut----
・The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (18k) [FBR]
・A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (16k) [FBR Link]
・When Among Crows by Veronica Roth (12k)
・The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (7k)
・The Night Ends with Fire (#1) by K.X. Song (6k)
・Voyage of the Damned by Frances White (6k) (also in Debut) [FBR]
・A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang (6k)
・An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson (5k)
・The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli Clark (3k) [FBR]
・A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland (3k)

SF: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (70k) (also in Debut)
・Annie Bot by Sierra Greer (33k)
・The Family Experiment by John Marrs (17k)
・The Mercy of Gods (Captive's War #1) by James S.A. Corey (13k) [FBR]
・Extinction by Douglas Preston (12k)
・The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (12k)
・Orbital by Samantha Harvey (10k)
・I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (10k)
・Moon of the Turning Leaves (Moon #2) by Waubgeshig Rice (6k)
・The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei (3k)
---didn't make the cut----
・Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino (11k)
・In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (9k)
・Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (6k)
・Red Side Story (Shades of Grey #2) by Jasper Fforde (5k)
・Baby X by Kira Peikoff (4k)
・Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn (3k)
・I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin (2k)
・Absolution (Southern Reach #4) by Jeff VanderMeer (1k)
・Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell (1k) (also in Debut)
・The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad (1k)

HORROR: You Like It Darker by Stephen King (36k)
・We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (66k) (also in Debut)
・Murder Road by Simone St. James (39k)
・Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman (38k)
・What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier #2) by T. Kingfisher (21k) [FBR]
・Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne (15k)
・The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim (13k) (also in Debut)
・Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert (13k)
・I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones (10k)
・Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle (8k) [FBR]
---didn't make the cut----
・So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison (10k)
・My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen (6k)
・A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez (6k)
・The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke (6k)
・The Angel of Indian Lake (Indian Lake #3) by Stephen Graham Jones (6k)
・The Bog Wife by Kay Christoner (2k)
・Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina (2k)
・This Cursed House by Del Sandeen (1k)
・Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (1k)
・House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias (1k)

DEBUT: How to End a Love Story
・The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (70k) (also in SF)
・We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (66k) (also in Horror)
・The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (36k) (also in Fantasy)
・The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim (13k) (also in Horror)
・Voyage of the Damned by Frances White (6k) (also in Fantasy)
---didn't make the cut----
・Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell (1k) (also in SF)
・Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi (based on Persephone & Hades)

AUDIO: Funny Story
・George Orwell’s 1984: An Audible Original (4mil)
・Somewhere Beyond the Sea Cerulean Sea #2 by TJ Klune (45k) (also in Fantasy)
・We Solve Murders (#1) by Richard Osman (42k) (also in Mystery)
---all made cut----

YOUNG ADULT FANTASY: Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2) by Rebecca Ross (281k)
・Reckless (Powerless #2) by Lauren Roberts (238k)
・Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli (137k)
・The Prisoner’s Throne (Stolen Heir #2) by Holly Black (56k) [FBR]
・Defiant Skyward #4 by Sanderson (27k) [FBR]
・All This Twisted Glory (Woven Kingdom #3) by Tahereh Mafi (18k)
・Wisteria (Belladonna #3) by Adalyn Grace (15k)
・Heir (#1) by Sabaa Tahir (3k)
・Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile #2) by Isabel Ibanez (2k)
・Don't Let the Forest Inby C.G. Drews (2k)
---didn't make cut---
・Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek (14k)
・The Darkness Within Us (Shadows Between Us #2) by Tricia Levenseller (9k)
・The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (8k)
・Immortal Dark (#1) by Tigest Girma (7k)
・Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier (6k)
・Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew (5k)
・So Let Them Burn (Divine Traitors #1) by Kamilah Cole (4k) [FBR]
・The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste (2k)
・Of Jade and Dragons (#1) by Amber Chen (2k)
・For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga (1k)

YOUNG ADULT: Heartstopper: Volume Five
NONFICTION: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
MEMOIR: The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir
HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY: The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

The A Sweet Sting of Salt was my first GR Choice read. I thought it was quite lovely. Almost magical realism... kind of reminded me of Lone Women and The Warm Hands of Ghosts which is also on the list, in that it's part historical fiction and part fairy tale. Taking place in Nova Scotia during the late 1800s, it highlights the circumstances of women and LGBT during the time, but only lightly. The story is very focused--it covers a short period of time (minus epilogue and some flashbacks) and centers around two people: Jean and Muirin. The writing is thoughtful and story is tense in a worried way, which feels very realistic.

I'd recommend not reading the GR blurb--the first sentence gives away one of the big reveals--it's much more fun to guess and RAFO. I haven't read an adaptation of this particular fairy tale, and really enjoyed the lens with which it was written. I agree with the author too--this interpretation is a lot more relatable. (view spoiler)[I would never feel any sympathy for a man who tricks and captures a woman, forcing her to become his wife--which is essentially what the Selkie Wife story is about. I much prefer this story, which shows the cruelty of such an act. I also liked how the story was shown through the lens of an outsider, which made the guessing more fun. I could pat myself on the back for guessing "selkie" as soon as I put together "over possessive husband" with Muiruin's request for the word "thief."

The LGBT twist added a secret for Jean too--so that Muiruin and Jean both had a secret to be discovered. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not sure I'd catapult this to spot #1 though... of the books I've read that are up for contention, I enjoyed all of them but none of them really impressed me.

Anyone else prefer a a top 10 or top 25 list of the best books of the year from a certain genre, by someone that's regularly reads A LOT of new titles every year?

If that's you and you've read say 30 or more new fantasy or sci-fi titles from this year, I'd love to see even a top 5 if you can't do a top 10 or 25.

Hm... it'd be easy to just sort the Challenge spreadsheet by star reads... though those aren't necessarily going to be 2024 publications.

Nirkatze wrote: "Hm... it'd be easy to just sort the Challenge spreadsheet by star reads... though those aren't necessarily going to be 2024 publications."

Aww, it'd be nice if it included at least a sentence or 2 for each, saying what they're about, and why they're special.

Okay! Finally finished listing all the books. they are sorted by number of reviews... I'm collecting data on the theory that the winners are essentially predetermined by that number.

There're several books I'm interested in in multiple categories, we'll see how many I get to. I might prioritize the higher numbered ones--but it'll depend on what I can get my hands on.

I've read all the FBR books except for Mercy of Gods--missed that BR, so I'll try to get to it this week. ^_^ Current votes go to:

Historical Fiction: The Bullet Swallower--only book I've read in the category. Would like to try out more since this was only so-so.
Mystery & Thriller: How to Solve Your Own Murder--happy with my choice as I really enjoyed this, but there are others in the category that look fun too.
Romance: Leather & Lark only one I've read and it was ok, so I'd like to read more.
Romantasy: n/a--haven't read any yet, and usually I'd avoid this like the plague, but there's a few I'm interested in.
Fantasy: A Sorceress Comes to Call beats out Empire of the Damned narrowly, since I feel better voting for a standalone than a #2. We'll see though--I plan on reading them all!
Science Fiction: n/a yet--how did this happen? Must read.
Horror: Bury Your Gays one of my favorites this year, so I feel no need to read more.
Debut: Voyage of the Damned super cute, great debut.
YA SFF: Defiant for now, hope to replace.

TBR LIST, by order of WTR :
Fantasy:
・Five Broken Blades (Broken Blades #1) by Mai Corland (21k)
・A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang (6k)
・The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (36k) (also in Debut)
・The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (7k)
・The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (77k)
・The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (20k)
・The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (13k)
・The Night Ends with Fire (#1) by K.X. Song (6k)
・An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson (5k)

Science Fiction
Pretty much everything.... I have a feeling the ones I'm most interested in will get cut though.
・The Mercy of Gods (Captive's War #1) by James S.A. Corey (13k) [FBR]
・The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (70k) (also in Debut)
・Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (6k)
・The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei (3k)
・Annie Bot by Sierra Greer (33k)
・The Family Experiment by John Marrs (17k)
・Extinction by Douglas Preston (12k)
・The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (12k)
・Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino (11k)
・Orbital by Samantha Harvey (10k)
・I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (10k)
・In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (9k)
・Moon of the Turning Leaves (Moon #2) by Waubgeshig Rice (6k)
・Red Side Story (Shades of Grey #2) by Jasper Fforde (5k)
・Baby X by Kira Peikoff (4k)
・Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn (3k)
・I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin (2k)
・Absolution (Southern Reach #4) by Jeff VanderMeer (1k)
・Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell (1k) (also in Debut)
・The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad (1k)

YA SFF
Top Ticket Author Series'll probably win, but I don't want to read any series... Sadly, like SF I imagine the ones I'm most interested in reading won't even make the cut...
・The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste (2k)
・Of Jade and Dragons (#1) by Amber Chen (2k)
・Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier (6k)
・Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli (137k)
・Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek (14k)
・The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (8k)
・Immortal Dark (#1) by Tigest Girma (7k)
・Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew (5k)
・Heir (#1) by Sabaa Tahir (3k)
・Where the Library Hides (Secrets of the Nile #2) by Isabel Ibanez (2k)
・Don't Let the Forest Inby C.G. Drews (2k)
・For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga (1k)

Romance: Just for the Summer, Bride, How to End a Love Story, The Love of My Afterlife

Historical Fiction: James, The Women, The Briar Club The Seventh Veil of Salome

Mystery & Thriller: The Last One at the Wedding, We Solve Murders, First Lie Wins, Home Is Where the Bodies Are, The Teacher, Listen for the Lie

Romantasy:
I know Maas will win. She always wins. Even when her books are crappy. So this goes at the bottom of the TBR... though there's a few I'm interested in.
・A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated #1) by Danielle L Jenson (104k)
・The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (37k)
・The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields (12k)
・House of Flame and Shadow Crescent City #1 by Sarah J. Maas (446k)
・When the Moon Hatched (Moonfall #1) by Sarah A. Parker (120k)
・Quicksilver (Fae & Alchemy #1) by Callie Hart (108k)
・Phantasma (Wicked Games #1) by Kaylie Smith (53k)
・The Veiled Kingdom (#1) by Holly Renee (36k)
・A Crown This Cold and Heavy by Stacia Stark (33k)
・The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen (23k)
・Blood of Hercules (Villains of Lore #1) by Jasmine Mas (22k)
・Faebound (#1) by Saara el-Arifi (15k)

Horror
・We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (66k) (also in Debut)
・The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim (13k) (also in Debut)

Debut
・Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi (based on Persephone & Hades)

Read When Among Crows and thought it was just so-so. Part was that it was hard to concentrate... part that it felt like a lot crammed into a little.

I think if I have time, I'll probably try to read from the Scifi category.. I haven't read any of those either! Going for standalones most likely. I also try to vote for standalones rather than series, especially if its the middle of a series!

Okay just kind of dumping my thoughts on the whole thing

Fiction - haven't read any, none on my TBR. I recognize quite a few covers/titles though as popular new releases

Historical fiction- Read 1 (Bullet Swallower) which I thought was just fine and not good enough to vote for haha. And then have 5 more on my TBR. Pleasantly surprised to see that a range of historical eras and not just the WW2 set ones that seem to dominate the genre

Mystery/thriller - The first category I voted in! I voted for How To Solve Your Own Murder which I really enjoyed. Also have read The Heiress. 4 additional on my TBR

Romance - This is my 5th straight year attempting to read all the romance category nominees! It's my favorite yearly reading challenge. Prior to the nominations being announced I'd already read 14 of these. Since nominations have dropped ice DNFed 1, in the middle of 2, and have 3 left. We'll see if my library cooperates to get those done. I'll probably post a full list of my rankings once I get through them all. Or once I determine the library won't cooperate and consider the experiment done for the year. Currently my vote is going towards Bride.

Also re: Bride being in this category not romantasy because I've been discussing this a bunch with other friends. Within the context of the choice awards I was viewing the Romantasy category as a general "speculative romance" which should obviously include Bride. But outside of the GCA the phrase romantasy is really specifically describing high fantasy romance and not other subgenres and I wouldn't actually call Bride romantasy normally I'd call it paranormal romance.

Romantasy - I have read or DNFed 6 of these. A Fake Inked in Blood is my vote, it was one of my favorites of the year. 8 more are either on my TBR or sequels to books on my TBR. I think this is actually a pretty good list if we're looking at the lists just as an indicator of what was popular this year (which is all I view these as). Though admittedly I would have classified Faebound as fantasy over romantasy. Same with The Spellshop..

Fantasy - This list just furthers a trend I think we had started to see in recent years with this list that epic fantasy is falling out of favor at least as far as mass popularity. I feel like I had been seeing that trend just when looking at new fantasy releases for the year. Like yes it does still get published but not as much as it had. It's just on a downswing as far as what's trendy. It's like a lot of the epic fantasy I see these days is romantasy.

Anyways I've read 6 of the nominations, but only liked 2 of them - Voyage of the Damned and Emily Wilde. Emily Wilde is getting my vote in this one. Only 5 others are on my TBR. Which just goes to show how well my tastes align with the current trends, which is to say only sort of.

Science Fiction - I've only read 1 book on this list, The Family Experiment, which I really liked so that one got my vote. Only one additional is on my TBR. This category is about what I expected based on the recent years trending towards this category being pretty literary based. I'm not plugged into sci fi releases enough to know if this is a publishing trend as well.

Horror - Haven't read any and none on my TBR. Not surprising as I'm not a huge horror reader. I've heard from others that are that this is a pretty decent list though.

Debut Novel - I've read 2 of these, one I disliked and one I loved. My vote is going for Voyage of the Damned here. Only 1 additional one is on my TBR from this list. Well technically it's on my currently reading shelf!

Young Adult Fantasy: - I've read 2 on this list. My vote easily going to Heartless Hunter which is a fave from the year. 10 more are either on my TBR or sequels to books on my TBR. I'm actually surprised that number is so high since I haven't been reading as much YA these days

Young Adult Fiction: Heartstopper is the only one I've read on this list which while I loved I won't vote for out of principle because if Goodreads wanted to put a graphic novel on the nominations list then they should have kept the graphic novel category around

And then I don't really have any thoughts on any of the nonfiction categories or the audiobook category

Love your list and explanations Erin! TY for the analysis on Bride especially, and your tops for Romantasy and YA--I'll probably try for those.

Do you have a recommendation for Romance to try, for someone who hasn't read anything on the list yet but wants to?

If you wanted to try one Horror, I'd totally recommend Bury Your Gays...

Just read The Familiar and it was decent. Nothing I'd vote for, but I wasn't bored and I could pay attention to most of it. It was interesting to see a Spanish Inquisition with magical bent, though The Lions of Al-Rassan does it much better, where you actually feel the time period and ideas... this setting, while being interesting, didn't really do anything to inspire or make me think. It focused more on the magic aspects, the romance, and the titular familiar--by the time the climax came around (and came very quickly), I wasn't particularly moved. Though I found the epilogue satisfying.

Erin wrote: "Fantasy - This list just furthers a trend I think we had started to see in recent years with this list that epic fantasy is falling out of favor at least as far as mass popularity. I feel like I had been seeing that trend just when looking at new fantasy releases for the year. Like yes it does still get published but not as much as it had. It's just on a downswing as far as what's trendy. It's like a lot of the epic fantasy I see these days is romantasy.
..."

Yes, I have been looking for new non romance (epic) fantasy in the last few years but don't get many options so I resorted to rereads instead. Romantasy is just not my thing. Give me back the good ol' grimdark days...

The Will of the Many is looking to be decent--I'd consider it high fantasy with potential to be epic... Of Blood and Fire isn't bad if a bit of a long road... Tad Williams is still working on the Osten Ard saga, which inspired a lot of modern writers... There's a bunch out there that we haven't read yet that is on my TBR--just look at the Broken Binding's publications lately, like The Combat Codes or Five Broken Blades... then again, maybe I should stop and seek a definition of what folks are looking for in an "Epic" fantasy...

I would not recommend Five Broken Blades for someone looking for epic fantasy just in general. But especially not if you're into romantasy

Five broken blades is grimdark/low fantasy?

No it's definitely high fantasy. And I guess it is epic? It kind of depends on how you exactly define epic. For me it conceptually was epic but the execution of it didn't *feel* epic. So I wouldn't recommend it on the strength of it's epic fantasy ness. but also it's definitely romantasy first so if you're looking for non romance epic fantasy, this one isn't it

Got cha, thanks. I am interested with the will of the many.

Erin wrote: "I would not recommend Five Broken Blades for someone looking for epic fantasy just in general. But especially not if you're into romantasy"

Not enough negatives here... you said not if you're into romantasy, instead of not if you're NOT into romantasy...

Interesting that's it's listed in the straight Fangasy category instead of the Romantasy one... but hey, we're not really expecting that much from the GRC are we?

Trying to read what's available at libraries from the Scifi category. Finished Beautyland and read The Family Experiment yesterday. I wouldn't really have put Beautyland in scifi.. More speculative fiction I think than anything(view spoiler)[ the scifi parts were communicating with an alien species with a Fax machine whom the MC thinks she's one of, but we're left to wonder if she's actually communicating with them or if she's talking with herself. (hide spoiler)] I still liked the book for the most part, it follows the MC's life from childhood into her 40's or so...

The Family Experiment I enjoyed a lot more. Definitely a dystopian-style Scifi with SO many twisty bits. It explores AI, corporate greed, social media, lots of topics that are very much relevant to what's going on today.

I started Orbital but I found my mind wandering too much so I wasn't paying attention very well. Not sure if I'll come back to it or not.

I have The Blueprint available next. I have a few others on hold so hopefully they'll become available before the first round of voting ends. I definitely want to get to Service Model!

Nirkatze wrote: "Interesting that's it's listed in the straight Fangasy category instead of the Romantasy one... but hey, we're not really expecting that much from the GRC are we?"

I know for Five Broken Blades it was pushed by the publisher as fantasy not romanasy. I just think that's incorrect. And I've read other reviews who agree so it's not just me.

But yeah I always wonder how exactly they determine genre for category because every year there are a few that raise my eyebrows. Like this year Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan is in the romance category but I've read that one and it's definitely not a romance. It's definitely just straight family drama fiction. And I wouldn't have put The Spellshop or Faebound in the romantasy category, though those are definitely close to the line.

I'm pretty sure they just use the top tags/shelves listed on the book page, which is dictated by how users shelve their books... so only people using simple tags/shelves have any effect...

I try to have few enough shelves they fit on one page, and sorted by type of info, so my shelves are never gonna affect the book page, because nobody else is appending numbers or descriptors to their shelves to clump together ebook/audiobook/anthology tracking, and KU/Audible+/etc tracking, and then genre-type and subgenre-type groupings... or at least not enough to affect anything...

https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

FYI Lots of these books (especially audio) are available on Everand!

Tonari no Emily wrote: "FYI Lots of these books (especially audio) are available on Everand!"

Can we use everand in kindle - my eyes can't read with tablets anymore...and I can't afford an e-ink tablet...

Silvana wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "FYI Lots of these books (especially audio) are available on Everand!"

Can we use everand in kindle - my eyes can't read with tablets anymore...and I can't afford an e-ink t..."

I'm really not sure I don't have a kindle! I'm thinking no from a quick google search, but I could be wrong. :/

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "FYI Lots of these books (especially audio) are available on Everand!"

Can we use everand in kindle - my eyes can't read with tablets anymore...and I can't a..."

Yeah, likely coz they use different platform. but maybe the newer kindle that could open urls could use everand webversion, not sure.

You can't use Everand on a Kindle, if I get an ebook I need to use my iPad to read it.

Have been off goodreads for a while, but I did vote in the awards when they came out.

Fiction and historical fiction: I haven't been reading a lot of straight fiction or historical fiction and haven't read any of the books nominated so I didn't vote in this round. I might see what makes it to the next round and try to read a couple of those before the finals.

Mystery and Thriller: Not my preferred genre so I'll pass on these

Romance: I read 5 books from the list. I voted for Funny Story cuz I did love it, but I just finished Funny StoryThe Rom-Commers last night and I could have voted for that one instead. Both were great.

Romantasy: A lot of the books on the list are sequels to books I didn't like the first of so I never continued the series. I voted for A Crown This Cold and Heavy cuz it's the only one where I actually made it far enough in the series to vote, but honestly it wasn't that great.

Fantasy: I read 4 books on the list and they were great books. It was a hard one for me but I voted for The Tainted Cup. It's less well known and I don't expect it'll make it to finals but the book was great and I wanted to give it some love.

Sci Fi and Horror aren't my usual genres and I voted for The Mercy of Gods and What Feasts at Night more for the authors than the books.

Debut novel: I skipped but a lot of them sound promising and I'll be adding them to my list.

Audiobook went back to Funny Story

I voted in a couple of the other categories but nothing that really wowed me.

Fantasy and Romance were my 2 biggest ones and I'll be adding a lot of the books to my tbr.

Several of these are in the Chirp Sale and Audible 2-for-1 sale (that I think ends today?)--I picked up The Family Experiment and a few others.

I read A Song to Drown Rivers yesterday, and continuing on the theme of mis-categorized books--this was straight-up historical fiction with NO fantasy in it AT ALL. Well, okay, like the last 1% of the book had a ghost in it. That is NOT enough for fantasy. I was a bit bummed, because I've really enjoyed Ann Liang in the past, and I felt like this story was kind of drawn out and boring until it got to the last 5%--which I really liked. Though it could also have been my mood--I wasn't really in the mood for a pining/plotting story. The last 5% though was a great twist. (view spoiler)[I love that Liang did the opposite of what most historical fiction do--turn a tragedy into a secret victory--and took a legend that ends Happily Ever After and made it a proper Chinese Tragedy. I normally don't like tragic stories--but something about the way Chinese storytellers do tragedy just make it so good. (hide spoiler)] The story reminded me a bit of the movie Lust//Caution--and after reading this book, and then researching the history behind it (a retelling of Xishi, one of the 5 Great Beauties of China during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms era), I think Lust//Caution must have been inspired by that same legend.

I also read The Ministry of Time and enjoyed it--fun premise, and I liked the tight focus of the story on the two main characters and their group of associates. I like how it looked at the fish-out-of-water consequences of time travel. The ending got a little rushed and crazy though, and hit the message a bit too hard on the head. I will keep sorting through the SF heap for a winner for me.

Read I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom today. Another one that just isn't sci fi.. Like at all! I enjoyed it a lot though!

Also read Service Model and so far this is my scifi pick! Actually a sci fi book and it was very funny and reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It was also a pretty cozy read. And i always appreciate an author who can narrate their own books well!

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Also read Service Model and so far this is my scifi pick! Actually a sci fi book and it was very funny and reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It was also a pretty cozy read. And i..."

Adding it to my tbr thanks

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Also read Service Model and so far this is my scifi pick! Actually a sci fi book and it was very funny and reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It was also a pretty cozy read. And i..."

If someone absolutely despised the one and only Adams book she read would she likely hate this one as well?

Asking for a friend.....

I have only read a few of the books nominated and not a whole lot appeal to me honestly so I'll keep lurking here and see what you guys say to pick out any that I may give a try. I appreciate you all :)

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Also read Service Model and so far this is my scifi pick! Actually a sci fi book and it was very funny and reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It was also a pretty cozy read. And i..."

Damn, Tchaikovsky did his own narration? And I was planning on doing an eye-read... now I've got to try the audio!

@Ann-Marie--I didn't really enjoy Hitchhiker's Guide--I didn't despise it, but I didn't get it or really find it funny either... so I'll let you know when I read Service Model...

So I just read The Book of Doors and really enjoyed it! Anyone looking for a good time travel read--@Iain, I'm looking at you--should check it out. It has great twists and "oh!" moments and is easily consumable. I liked the characters and the plot, and how the story also explored the theme of time in the context of ageing and living one's life. Even though it has time travel though, it doesn't have historical time travel, so that could be a bummer--just enough time travel to make the plot more interesting, and just enough scientific discussion of time travel to allow its existence in the world.

Three and a half hours left... I think I'm going to have to go with Yume Kitasei's The Stardust Grail... been wanting to read this for a while... and hope I like it enough to vote for it. Not sure it'll make the cut--I'm more sanguine about the Tchaikovsky--so I'll miss the motivation otherwise... next year's schedule's getting a bit too crowded to think I'll be able to toss any random books into it...

Oh, and I read The Lost Story yesterday and also enjoyed it--reminded me a lot of The Book of Lost Things. Good family story--both lost and found--with fairy tale elements (some a bit on the nose but still fun)--and a lot of homage to West Virginia. Made me want to talk to someone from West Virginia who read the book, and see what extra dimensions they got out of it.

I haven't had time for any award books this year, with all my cozy and all my other BR commitments, but definitely aiming to read some time travel/sci-fi at some point...

Ann-Marie wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Also read Service Model and so far this is my scifi pick! Actually a sci fi book and it was very funny and reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It was also a..."

It wasnt in his style and nearly as absurd as Adams so i think you might like it. There were just certain characters I was reminded of.

@Iain--yeah, I've been slacking on my cozies... and a week behind on regulars... further on commenting... hoping I can catch up before the end of the month...

@Emily--I keep staring at my Libby queue, willing the "available soon" on Service Model to proc faster... maybe now... I should check it again...

I read The Stardust Grail and The Fox Wife yesterday and enjoyed them both.

Stardust Grail reminded me a bit of Alien Secrets and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet--good solid standalone SF in an early colonization/first contact universe, with a bit of AI/robot empathy, a bit of found family, even a little heist thrown in--it was a cozy and interesting story. I'm pretty sure this is only Kitasei's second book, and both have been unique spins on full space opera style stories, and I've both really enjoyed each book and can see how much she is growing from first to second.

Fox Wife was also a good story--set in China and Japan mid-late 1800-early 1900s, a really interesting time period that I've read fantasy set then before, closest probably being The Poppy War which is loosely inspired by events just a little later in China. Three POVs, and with story told in present and flashbacks, so and it was interesting to see how everything intersected. The story was also a thoughtful examination of grief, and of chances lost and stolen.

First round has passed and the survivors have been announced--I updated the first post to separate out the finalists.

It's really interesting looking at the rating numbers--for the most part, the top 10 have been from the most rated--but there've been a few surprises. Though I think those (like Sabaa Tahir's Heir, which has only 3k ratings) may be mostly for more well-known authors. I was really surprised Stardust Grail made the cut but Service Model didn't.

Nirkatze wrote: "@Iain--yeah, I've been slacking on my cozies... and a week behind on regulars... further on commenting... hoping I can catch up before the end of the month...

@Emily--I keep staring at my Libby qu..."

I've been heavy on cozies & LitRPGs, and me & Ann-Marie have been making plans to rush and complete some cozy trilogies before New Years'... with you AWOL, you're missing out... we're reading all 3 Miss Percy books and all 3 Kingston Cycle books, and I'm planning to read Dangerous Damsels 2-3 even if nobody else does...

I've been trying and failing to get you to revisit threads and chime in... I said something in here yesterday, and in the Dune thread or another thread earlier this week, but I went back and edited it, because I was starting to feel like I just stat nagging you every time I see you comment somewhere :(

Me and Ann-Marie have definitely been in Plan Mode... if I made you a fast listener, you've definitely made me more of a planner than I was before... the convenience of not having to think too much about what to read next, beyond a few choices, is really nice when my life is otherwise busy...

Nirkatze wrote: "First round has passed and the survivors have been announced--I updated the first post to separate out the finalists.

It's really interesting looking at the rating numbers--for the most part, the ..."

I almost feel like Adrian Tchaikovsky writes too much... alot of his fans probably end up picking and choosing what to read/like as a result...

Checking his author page for confirmation, he publishes around 1500-2000 pages per year, it seems, spread across 4-6 books... at least the last couple years... some series, some standalone, some established IP like Warhammer, and some multi-author anthologies/magazines...

Similar to Seanan McGuire really, but I don't follow Tchaikovsky as closely, so every time I look at his page he has a ton of new stuff I haven't read or looked at before, and it just keeps piling up, as much as I like the few things I have read by him...

Yeah I was bummed Service Model didn't make the cut cuz that was my pick for SciFi... Guess I'm going back to The Family Experiment unless I read more from the genre. (Unlikely given how much I've read the past week, but we'll see)

I just voted for the stuff I read earlier in the year:

Romantasy: The Spellshop (November 2024)
Fantasy: The Tainted Cup (February)
Horror: Bury Your Gays (October)
Debut: Voyage of the Damned (April/May)
Audiobook: Somewhere Beyond the Sea (September)
YA SF/F: Defiant (November 2023)

I’m reading Spellshop now and wondering how it’s romantasy. More like cozy fantasy I thought. Also makes me realize some cozy books are just not for me.

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "I’m reading Spellshop now and wondering how it’s romantasy. More like cozy fantasy I thought. Also makes me realize some cozy books are just not for me."

Yeah I've read this one and definitely would have put it in the fantasy category over romantasy. It's not even borderline in my opinion

Blurb calls it cottagecore

That's pretty spot on