I had planned a review series like this last year but just never got around to it. And I know what you're thinking: "Why don't you just write all this on a Goodreads post or something and stop bothering people." Well, the truth is I've fallen behind in my original writing so, just like any other talentless, piece of shit Youtuber that makes their living off of reaction videos, here is basically my own reaction post to the books I've finished in the past three months (I'm still a piece of shit but at least you don't have to see my face). I promise more, original work soon.
Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
The story follows main character Eric Sanderson's journey as he tries to get his memories back. Pretty simple and straightforward, right? Wrong. This was probably the most complex book I've read for a long time. My reading list last year did not prepare me at all for something like this. Even now, I'm still confused by some of what I read. For one, the memories he is searching for have already been eaten by what's called, I think, a "conceptual shark" which eats Sanderson's sense of self and identity. The story begins as the shark has already taken a large part of Sanderson's memories and he awakens with almost no knowledge except that some things "seem" familiar. He'll embark on a journey through "Un-space", unused places that don't necessarily exist until people have use of them (do abandoned places cease to exist if no one uses them?); hide himself amongst learned habits and mannerisms, essentially creating a new identity to disguise himself; battle a villain who (I'm not going to lie) had the coolest idea for immortality I've ever heard of. If you like puzzles and your brain works on a higher level than mine, I would definitely recommend this book.
Shadowed Souls edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes
A collection of short stories from some of today's best Urban Fantasy writers. Urban Fantasy is basically any story which places magic and the supernatural into the real world, usually an urban or city setting. Examples that I can think of: Supernatural, Hellboy, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. The great thing about collections like this is that you get a good variety of stories within the genre. Some authors submitted stand-alone stories within their already established universes such as Jim Butcher's "Cold Case" from his Dresden Files universe but involving Molly Carpenter on her first solo mission. Kat Richardson strayed away from her Greywalker universe to present "Peacock in Hell" about rescuing a man from hell on behalf of the mafia. My favorite however was probably "Sales. Force." by Kristine Kathryn Rusch about an investigator looking into a new love potion on the market, and the team that is pushing the product. If you like Urban Fantasy, you'll definitely like at least one story in this collection. Hopefully you can also use this book as a starting point into that writer's work.
Did you like Sky High? Harry Potter? Any of those coming-of-age movies involving a teenager finding out s/he has powers and is then sent to a school to learn to control them? Then you'll like The Ables. I'm not going to lie, I first found out about this book while watching a Cinema Sins video on Youtube and finding out one of the creators wrote this book called The Ables. Obviously I needed to read it. The story follows Philip as he finds out that not only are his parents superheroes but he is starting to develop his own telekinetic abilities as well. The catch - well, Philip is also blind, and finds that he will have a much more difficult time utilizing his abilities than others like him. He is placed into the special-education equivalent class at the high school for super-powered kids. Philip and his classmates will struggle to overcome their disabilities and prove to the rest of the community they are superheroes, too. Ahh, the classic underdog story.
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
I'm trying to figure out how to describe this without giving too much away. This is actually the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic. Some basics before I go any further: There are actually 4 realms, each layered one on top of the other. The main character, Kell, uses colors to differentiate between them: Gray (where magic has died out), Red (where magic thrives), White (where magic is scarce), and Black (where magic has consumed everything). This played a large role in the first book as Kell was trying to transport an object from one world to another at the opposite end, and you can only travel from Gray to Red to White to Black (no skipping). Most of this book takes place in Kell's home, Red London. In Red London, magic is abundant and the people live in harmony with it. This book actually falls into the trap that many sequels tend to fall into in that it feels like an extended filler episode and ends on the dreaded cliffhanger. Just like The Magician King and Halo 2. I'm not complaining though, the story is entertaining and Schwab builds upon the magical world she created in the first book: the rules of magic, new characters within the kingdom, and fleshing out her two characters from the first book, Kell and Delilah Bard (a traveler from Gray London discovering magic). Plus, after you make it through the first book, this story centers around a magic tournament! If you like a more modern take on magic I think you'll enjoy this series (I'm currently debating splurging on the hardcover book 3 of the series or waiting for the paperback).
The Art of Living Other People's Lives by Greg Dybec
There's no way I would have picked up this book if I hadn't been listening to Joe Santagato's podcast, The Basement Yard. Dybec is a friend of Santagato and was on to talk about their time at Elite Daily and promote stories in the book. After hearing about some of the stories, I knew that I had to read it. Some of my favorites include his memorable Uber rides as he goes to great lengths to preserve his 5-star customer rating; hunting a mouse with his roommates; and faking his way as an underwear expert. Working with Elite Daily, he also provides insight into the workings of the internet, a thing I now expect to ALWAYS have something of interest to me at my fingertips: that these "internet companies" are not that different from regular companies; where the ideas and inspirations into those articles and lists come from; that people are always looking for something and, surprisingly, a lot of them are looking for the same thing. Most of all, his stories are the same stories I think everyone my age has: stories about just trying to "make it" (for lack of a better term) wherever that may be or whatever that may be in. I know this is very different than all the other books on this list, but honestly, I probably read stories like this more often than the fantasy books I read. Just think, if you have or had a blog, I'm 99% sure that I read it. And honestly, this is the way I'd like to write my non-story posts, to tell stories with some sort of lesson learned. I'd recommend this to anyone just looking for someone to relate to.
side note: I spent way too much time trying to figure out whether to position the pictures centered as I always do, or on the left or right and have the text wrap around. On one hand, I know how it looks centered but it makes the post look longer than it is. However, my phone screen is a lot smaller than my laptop and I wasn't sure how wrapping the text around would look on that size screen. And then I started to hate myself for wasting so much time on something so dumb. I didn't used to care about the appearance of these things, and now here I am worrying about how long it will take you to scroll down the screen. You came to me to waste your time reading something, I didn't force you to read anything - you'll deal with it. Then I remembered that I should be grateful for just having a readership and I should accommodate them to make their access to my words as easy as possible. Although, annoying the handful of you doesn't seem like such a big deal. Then I thought it would be fun to just put the pictures and texts however I felt like... I really need to get back to work with the actual stories.
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