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now-that-i-saw-you · 4 months

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Short reviews of everything I read this year:

Trials of Apollo ☆☆☆☆

Fantastic!!! Revived my PJO obsession. I enjoyed Apollo's narration. The 3rd-4th book were a little tedious though.

The Picture of Dorian Gray ☆☆☆☆☆

Flawless. So, so gay, weird and dramatic. I wish I could read it for the first time again.

Seasparrow ☆☆☆

I was disappointed. I didn't like the first POV, it made the book feel juvenile. It was too long and nothing happened. An unnecessary addition to the Graceling Realm universe because all the themes in this book were already presented in Bitterblue and Winterkeep. I might have liked this a lot more if it was not part of the Graceling Realm series.

All For The Game ☆☆☆☆☆

I'M OBSESSED. Nothing else to say.

One Last Stop ☆☆☆☆

It was cute and fun. I like it when you can feel that a book/show was planned. Every detail is carefully crafted to fit the narrative. I like how the author uses historical events to enrich the plot. Middle part of the book was a little flat.

The Cruel Prince ☆☆☆

It's...cute. I liked Jude a lot, didn't care for Cardan. Good enough to make me read the entire thing, bad enough that I might never read another book by that author.

Conversations With Friends ☆☆☆☆☆

Do you ever come across a book that's exactly what you needed? This was it for me. One of the only books I got from BookTok and actually loved. It was like being hugged and punched in the gut at the same time.

This Is How You Lose The Time War ☆☆☆☆☆

This book is poetry. It's a fairytale. It's the saddest, most romantic story I've ever read. It's so weird and confusing, I understood everything. It's a tragedy. It's so full of hope. It's perfect.

The Hellheim Propechy ☆☆☆ 1/2☆

It's a lovely series and I can't wait for the 3rd book. It has one of the healthiest relationship I've ever seen in books (and it's wlw!!!!). The villians are a little flat imo.

She Who Became The Sun ☆☆☆☆☆

I don't understand how people find the courage to write anymore books after Shelley Parker-Chan dropped this marvel. I want to eat this book.

The Catcher In The Rye (reread) ☆☆☆☆☆

I love this book idc. I love the metaphors, I love Holden, I love the way the plot develops.

Jane, Unlimited ☆☆☆☆☆

SO GOOD!! Such a unique and engaging book it had me pulling out a notebook and a pen and try to decipher all the clues like a goddamn detective.

Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious ☆☆☆

It's was nice! Idk what else to say.

Pride & Prejudice ☆☆☆

Reading this felt like sitting at a 19th century tea party and gossiping.

More Than This ☆☆☆☆☆

I've wanted to reas this for a while and it exceeded my expectation. This book is so captivating, unique, heartbreaking and hopeful.

The Trial ☆☆☆

This book was a fever dream.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here ☆☆☆☆

I think Patrick Ness is my favorite author. He did a great job with the premise of the book cause it's a lovely coming of age story and the fantastic elements are woven so well into the story.

Evvie Drake Starts Over ☆☆☆

It's cute and I love the fact that the main conflict is between the FMC and her Male Best Friend and the way this book talks about DV but it also felt a little dull sometimes.

The Lottery ☆☆☆☆

This was a mindfuck.

The Rocking Horse Winner ☆☆☆

....what?

The Scorpio Races ☆☆☆☆

HOW DOES MAGGIE STIEFVATER KEEP COMING UP WITH THOSE WEIRD FUCKING PLOTS??

A Man Called Ove ☆☆☆☆

Really sweet. This book healed something in me.

The Broken Earth (1+2) ☆☆

Yeah....I was not in the right headspace when I read this. I just didn't understand anything. I wanna give this another chance next year if I can.

Lord of The Flies ☆☆☆☆

I want to reread it cause I definitely didn't fully appreciate it but I think it's a great allegory and it's so dark. I get the hype.

The Sun and The Star ☆☆☆☆

I don't think you understand how long I've waited for this book, how long I've waited for Solangelo content. This was so cute. So lovely. I love Nico, I love Will. I wish there was a 3rd character in this (like, idk, Reyna?)

#booklr #2023 recap #book review #trials of apollo #the sun and the star #the picture of dorian gray #aftg #one last stop #the scorpio races #conversations with friends #the hellheim propechy #jane unlimited #she who became the sun #this is how you lose the time war #the catcher in the rye #lord of the flies #classic lit #more than this #the rest of us just live here

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nellasbookplanet · 6 months

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Book recs: many worlds, alternate timelines edition

I've previously written a rec post on the portal fantasy genre, so let's now take a look at a very similar trope: that of parallel universes and alternate timelines!

Unlike portal fantasies, these books are usually scifi, relying on the theory of the multiverse, however there are exceptions (a common one being that of a 'sliding scale', where worlds move from scifi to fantasy the further you go).

Also, surprisingly many of these books have queer themes and characters!

Previous book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding, really cool sci-fi worldbuilding, dark sapphic romances, mermaid books, vampire books, portal fantasies, robots and artificial intelligences, post- and transhumanism

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with an * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

Sci-fi in the multiverse

Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares

Hayes Figueiredo is a struggling film-maker who wants to finish his documentary, who's life gets turned upside down when he meets the handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan enters his life, claiming an alternate version of him is a great inventor who's sent a mysterious device to their universe. As Hayes gets drawn deeper into the conspiracy - and his feelings for Yusuf intensify - he has to decide just how far he's prepared to go to win the life and the love he wants. Featuring a very gay and very morally dubious lead, this is a creative and strange read.

The Space Between Worlds (The Space Between Worlds series) by Micaiah Johnson

Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying. As such she has a very special job in traveling to these worlds, hoping to keep her position long enough to gain citizenship in the walled off Wiley City, away from the wastes where she grew up. But her job is dangerous, especially when she gets on the tracks of a secret that threatens the entire multiverse. Really cool worldbuilding and characters, also featuring a sapphic lead!

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

More of a space opera than a typical multiverse story, Ascension follows Alana Quick, an expert Sky Surgeon who stows away on a spaceship in hopes of landing herself a job. But the ship and its crew are in deeper waters than she expected, facing threats emerging from a whole other universe, all of them searching for the same person: Alana's spiritually enlightened sister. Undeniably a bit of an odd read, Ascension is also very creative and features polyamorous lesbian relationship.

Finna (LitenVerse series) by Nino Cipri

Novella. Working as a minimum wage employee at a big box furniture store already sucks, but it gets exponentially worse for Ava when a customer gets sucked into a wormhole and she gets sent to retrieve her from the mazes of the multiverse. To make matters worse? She has to work with her ex. A fun, quick and creative read as well as a scathing critique of capitalism, also featuring a major nonbinary character in Ava's ex and colleague.

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

In an example of extremely differing timelines, The Kajiu Preservation Society features an alternate Earth that's home to giant kajius who feed on radiation. During the height of the pandemic, Jamie is suddenly in the need of a new job. Rescue comes in the form of an old acquaintance who works for a secretive animal rights organisation and invites Jamie along. This one is lighthearted and a bit gimmicky, but also a fun and quick read.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

In yet another example of very different timelines, The Doors of Eden is something of an experiment in speculative biology, featuring versions of Earth in which various different species were the one to rise to sentience, from dinosaurs to neanderthals. Now, something is threatening the existence of all timelines, dragging multiple different people into the struggle, among those a pair of cryptid hunting girlfriends and a transgender scientist.

The Long Earth (The Long Earth series) by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

When a device consisting simply of some wiring, a three-way switch and a potato makes it possible for anyone who wants to travel the multiverse, humanity is changed forever. But despite their great similarities, these worlds also have great differences from our Earth - such as a strange lack of humans. Joshua, one of few people able to cross the multiverse without the help of the potato-device, sets out to explore these seemingly endless worlds.

Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax trilogy) by Robert J. Sawyer

On a parallel Earth, neanderthals have developed a radically different society from ours. Ponter, one of these neanderthals and a physicist, gets accidentally transported to a research facility in our world, where he's faced with the great cultural differences between human and neanderthal society. Meanwhile, back in his home world, his housemate Adikor is charged with his murder.

Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey*

Thora and Santi are strangers, brought together by a coincidence and torn apart just as abruptly when tragedy strikes. But this is neither the first nor the last time they meet - again and again they encounter each other, as friends, lovers, enemies, family, every time recognizing in each other a familiarity no one else carries. But with every new life, a mysterious danger grows ever closer, forcing them to find out the truth of their connection. Calling this a multiverse story isn't entirely correct, but it also isn't entirely incorrect, and saying more would be an immediate spoiler. It's a puzzle-box of a story that goes some entirely unexpected places in a very wild ride, featuring a bisexual co-lead.

Magic in the multiverse

The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library series) by Genevieve Cogman

Irene works as a spy for the mysterious Library, which collects fiction from different realities. She's sent to an alternate London rife with magic and chaos to retrieve a dangerous book, but by the time she arrives it has already been stolen. Alongside her assistant Kai, she races to find the book before it's too late.

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore*

Young Adult. Jane is invited by an old acquaintance to an extravagant gala in an island mansion, stranding her among the rich and glamorous. But being surrounded by rich people is the least of Jane's problems: the mansion is housing secrets, some of them tied to Jane's own family. The mansion offers her five choices, all of them leading her down different paths and different answers. Jane, Unlimited is a choose-your-own adventure story of sorts, featuring five different endings in five different genres, each more off the wall bonkers than the next. It also features a bisexual main character!

A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic trilogy) by V.E. Schwab

Kell is an antari - one of the only people able to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell's London is a place of magic, where he works as an ambassador traveling between the worlds. He's also a smuggler, secretly and illegally bringing objects between the worlds. His hobby brings him into hot water when an exchange goes wrong, and lands him face to face with the cut-purse Delilah, who's prepared to do just about anything to step from her Grey London to one of magic and adventure.

Fucked up parent-child relationships in the multiverse

The Possibilities by Yael Goldstein-Love

Ever since her son Jack nearly died at birth eight months ago, Hannah has had the niggling feeling that something is wrong. When Jack is mysteriously snatched away, Hannah's fears are proven true; now she must employ a strange and newly awakened ability to cross between parallel worlds to save him. On the lighter end of the scifi spectrum, The Possibilities explores the fears and anxieties of motherhood through the spectrum of the multiverse.

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson*

Utterly unique in worldbuilding, story, and prose, Midnight Robber follows young Tan-Tan and her father, inhabitants of the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint. When her father commits a terrible crime, he's exiled to a parallel version of the same planet, home to strange aliens and other human exiles. Tan-Tan, not wanting to lose her father, follows with him. Trapped on this new planet, he becomes her worst nightmare. Enter this book with caution, as it contains graphic child sexual abuse.

Bridge by Lauren Beukes

When she was little, Bridge and her mother Jo used to play a game - one where they traveled to other worlds, inhabiting the bodies of their other selves. Now Jo is dead, and as Bridge is cleaning out her apartment she finds a strange device: a dreamworm, the very thing that supposedly makes inter-dimensional travel possible. Suddenly faced with the possibility that multiverse travel is real, Bridge is struck by a different question: could her mother still be alive? Scifi spiced with a healthy dose of body horror and some absolutely wild twists, Bridge also features a bisexual lead (however this is a blink and you'll miss it moment) and a nonbinary co-narrator.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey

An AI threatens millions of alternate versions of Earth, and a political and trading alliance binding them all together is prepared to stop it no matter the cost to human life.

Ida by Alison Evans

Young Adult. Ida struggles more than most young girls with finding her path, as she has the ability to shift between parallel worlds, allowing her to see many different possibilities

The Art of Saving the World by Corinne Duyvis

Young Adult. A dimensional rift has opened in Hazel's backyard, and is strangely tied to her presence, growing volatile if she travels too far away and forcing her to stay in her home town. That is, until not one but three other Hazels falls through the rift into her world.

Honorary mentions AKA these didn't really work for me but maybe you guys will like them: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray, Interworld by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig