General Discussion

inspired by this post but i want to see people gush about books they adored!

my current favorite is house of the scorpion/lord of opium duology :] it's kind of YA but i still like it after all these years and recently revisited it!

I've mainly got Junji Ito story collections and WonderStruck on my mind! Both have really good illustrations!
Junji Ito has lots of really interesting horror stories, and the illustrations really make the stories shine!
WonderStruck is a really nice mix of both words and illustrations!

HI i wrote an essay over there and I'll write an essay over here!!

- Warriors: Crookedstar's Promise. YES IT'S A CAT BOOK but it's solid in its own right. The basic gist of it: cat denied by his mother because of his crooked jaw makes a deal with a cat he sees as an ancestor/cat angel. Things go wrong. Spoiler: The fact that it's about a guy who made basically a deal with a Cat from Heck when he was a kid and now has to deal with them killing everybody he loves by twisting his own words... IT'S A SOLID BOOK. It's long and sometimes drags but for the most part it keeps up.

- Strange the Dreamer: I RECOMMENDED THIS THERE AND I CAN DO IT AGAIN It's a YA romancey book but it's good. About a guy and a girl that meet in dreams and fall in love. But it's a lot deeper than that and I won't even spoil it- the book's better when you don't know what happens. (Sequel's not worth it imo)

- Wings of Fire: Darkstalker. DRAGON BOOKS ARE GOOD TOO but this one is also solid on its own! Three main characters: a super magical enchanter who thinks he's the best of the best, a seer who knows a bit too much and another Magical Boy who saw his entire family slain and now can't even connect with his girlfriend. It's good and even if you don't know the ending, seeing this guy descend into madness (which isn't a spoiler- it's the point of the book) is good fun. 10/10 dragon book

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Underrated series:

-- Shark Wars is about sharks. It's a fantasy book about sharks. There's very few fantasy books about sharks. Even better is that it's good- six books, really nice cover art, I remember the story being a bit violent but definitely good.

-- I never hear anybody talk about the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness- a Stone Age setting about a guy with a wolf familiar beating up mages? Six books, underrated and VERY good. I got the first book as a gift from a teacher and it holds up.

not saying much about the series because read them

Probably any books out of the Shadowhunter series. Demons, angels, vamps, werewolves, etc. A lot of romance but also drama and some horror i suppose? death, wars, etc. power gay couple, well. Three power gay couples. Lesbian and two gays. Pretty gr8. Good made characters, some you'll hate, some you'll love. Pretty nice. Theirs a show on Hulu i believe, maybe Netflix.

"Miracle Mongers and their Methods" by Houdini- yes THAT Houdini- shows the behind the scenes of firebreathers and human ostriches. I'd skip the history part of it and go right into where it explains how the tricks are performed.

WARRIORS:
Alright- prepare for a lot.
Just anything from the first three or so series. It gets pretty chaotic from there but the first series is my absolute favorite. Basically, Rusty, a housecat or 'kittypet' joins a cat cult in the woods and basically saves everyone like any main character. The thing is is that all of the stuff he goes through gets him and his friends in so much trouble. It's hilarious, saddening, but amazing and parts of it makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. Like Snowkit, Cinderpelt, Whitestorm, Silverstream, GAH ITS TOO PAINFUL bUT. It's still great. I love it.
Another Warriors book is Bluestar's Prophecy AND ASDJLHSFJHHFSLJDFHD It's the meaning of awesome. And Goosefeather is.. interesting, Bluestar is
p e r f e c t i o n. Thrushpelt- nOOOOO And Oakheart. crying I really don't blame Bluestar for her actions after what Tigerbutt Tigerclaw did. I am SO glad the Dangerous Path exists. He deserved it. Overall, I love the characters and plot and just EVERYTHING (Except you Thistleclaw. You can go rot) about the book!
WINGS. OF. FIRE. I love the books and my favorite characters are Starflight, Qibli, Glory, Tsunami, everyone- TvT The first arc is AMAZING. Although at the end.. . I really REALLY wish Starflight didn't have to go through ALL of that. Cried like 5 times but is ok. The second arc is my favorite and I love all of the fun adventures they go on. And I saw some ships in the books but I'm not all set. Third arc is AMAZING. I just finished Poison Jungle and sajdhlsjdhlasdh I love it. SUNLOW FOREVER.

Watership Down.

Might be a book about rabbits, but it has some excellent mythological and societal workdbuilding and it's refreshing how it wasn't written as a kid's book in spite of the subject matter.

Like Warriors, Ga'Hoole and Wolves of the Beyond for adults.

I recently read This Savage Song and it became my favorite book. I have the sequel but I haven't been able to read it yet, which is unfortunate.

It's kind of dystopian, which I'm always a sucker for, but it's fantasy as well. Plus it involves physical incarnations of human evil so that gets real interesting real quick.

I think the main idea of the book is to point out that the word "Human" doesn't always really mean "Human" It kind of tries to re-define what we would consider being human in a really interesting way.

The author is very talented, and there are consistent themes throughout the book. A lot of YA fiction tries to have consistent plot devices and stuff but much of the time it falls flat. Not this time. There's a character who says "Where am I" as a kind of coping mechanism (not really a spoiler as its in the first chapter of the book) and things like that stay for the duration of the story.

There's points where characters have to re-evaluate things, and the audience is actually shown the thought process behind decisions. It's not just "This happened and she did this and this happened after that" Again, it's amazing story telling and Victoria Schwab deserves all the props.

If anyone wants a neat read or something that kinda gets you thinking, definitely check the book out. I got really really into it to the point that I was reading it in class haha

I finished reading Good Omens and by the Shade, it was the funniest book I’ve read. I’ve been simping over Crowley so hard and I can’t wait to watch the show.

I’m currently reading a book called Infernal Angel and please, let me tell you, do not read if you are but a smol child. It’s spooky, it’s nasty, it’s sad. It’s the kind of book I do enjoy.

For a super sweet, nice series for all ages, try Redwall! It’s got talking animals and love and war. I fell in love with one book several years ago, forgot about it, then stumbled across it again in a library in high school. 10/10

Ooh, you all have very cool books here... I think my favourite I've read has been The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.
The plot is a bit slow at first but picks up (aside from chapter eleven, which is just the main character listing off everything he owns in excruciating detail*), and the language used is very eloquent and pretty, as it's an old book. Oscar Wilde himself was pretty fascinating. The characters, despite occasionally being... less than good people, are very endearing (Basil is only endearing throughout the whole book, I don't think he has an ounce of malice in his body).
It actually really inspired me in my writing and got me to experiment with "fancier" language. If you don't mind long books with slow points, I'd really suggest it. It can be boring at times but you'll get into it and the atmosphere that Wilde presents throughout is phenomenal.

@SpoiledLemon The Savage Song sounds really interesting! I like the deep/thoughtful tones you brought up. Consistency is always something I admire in novels and what a strive to achieve in my own.

@Greyjoy That sounds really cool, I personally love mythology and also as a (young) kid really liked the Warriors series. It's been quite a while since I read anything about animals but I'm open to trying anything.

@SadisticPride I respect that choice of book, I watched most of the Shadowhunters show on Netflix and really liked it. I believe I own some of the books myself. I'm actually super into like vampires and demons and stuff, so certainly a book I'd consider reading (especially since I liked the show!). All things considered, maybe that show is why I like those things so much...

*this isn't a major spoiler, just a small tidbit about one of the chapters.