In the past year, I've become way more interested in standalone novels. Sword of Kaigen, Tchiakovsky novellas, and Piranesi showed me how much an author with a vision can accomplish in a single novel.
Sounds like she like most take that step evolving to just really like upmarket storytelling. Same happens for kids growing up on anime in the west. They start out liking action, then age, and scoff at it as they get int drama slice of life, then scoff at that, and want cerebral stuff, then scoff at that as it's talking to them and they want more of an open ended discussion on what literature and themes are, so they go upmarket and are okay with a good premise a vague world and culture and stuff they can fill in. Then we all fall back into just enjoying series within our mood in all the categories.
love your definition of "the mysterious" vs mystery novels. for me the ultimate one of these is prob Pedro Páramo - scorching hot Mexican desert ghost town, we slowly piece together who lived there and how it got that way. (also if you're looking for more "literary" stuff then this is def that!)
I realised in 2023 that I had found myself in a big reading slump because most of the books I picked up to read were duds. This year I’ve been challenging myself to read across as many genres as I can to rediscover my reading tastes. It’s been a lot of fun!
Oh, that would be fun! Any pleasant surprises? Unpleasant ones? I did something similar where I had family members assign me books. I have a big family, so I got everything from Star Wars to Toni Morrison!
Have you read "our wives under the sea" by julia armfield? It was a 5 star book for me & very atmospheric & I think you would like it. For reference my favorite books of the last year or two have been Annihilation, mexican gothic, piranisi, & Our wives under the sea. So if you liked those I would seriously give it a read!!it really involves like almost everything you listed at the beggining. Its about this women& her wife who works on a deep sea submarine, they lost contact with the sub for months & were sort of like presumed dead, but then she randomly comes back, changed...its creepy & atmospheric & I really think youll like it.
Aggressive bio-stuff: The Animated series Scavenger's Reign. Bio-driven, character driven, dangerous as hell. The animation is like artist Moebius. No really. It's awesome. Merphy! Scavenger's Reign.
She is a mystery of personality. She atleast is able to change opinions and admit her faults. unlike others who double down and think they write better than acclaimed authors.
@@Goldfish_1313 good point. She mentioned liking to figure stuff out. It’s different from mystery. I think she meant she wouldn’t like say scoobi do or Sherlock. That said I feel like she’d like say case closed. lol. Her saying she likes slow stuff surprised me cause she bounces off things fast sometimes. Like all of us we like to think we’re simple but or reasons for liking things aren’t formulaic. It’s why there’s no perfect temple for a good film or book that 99% of people will like in your demo. Sometimes you can do everything people like, show don’t tell, hook, no exposition, big world building, great characters, unique plot, and people can like some generic slop someone made in a weekend cause it’s funny and cozy. 😂spy x family for example. They creator doesn’t try as hard as others to make it the most fantastic thing ever but they sell better then stories with tons of depth and characters and worlds and yadda yadda.
You might like Semiosis, a story that follows a group of people trying to settle on a planet with sentient plant life and learning to communicate and coexist with it. As others have mentioned, Scavenger's Reign and Outer Wilds are also wonderful. They have a grounded kind of unreality about them that feels very in-line with Vandermeer, Valente, or Mieville.
Klara and the Sun is one of my fave books of all time! I also recommend the audiobook! When you said its a potential five star book I squealed with excitment haha
I can relate, I'm trying to figure out exactly what's happening to my shifting tastes at the moment too. Some of my usual comfort genres haven't been working for me so well lately, maybe I need to try a wider variety of things too.
Your channel and your deep enthusiasm for the things you love was one of the things i need to really start reading again. And I read some new books and enjoyed them a lot but I got curious about what I used to love. So I'm going back every second or third or so to something that was a fundamental pillar of what I understood as my taste. The kid who read some of those books no longer exists there are years between him and who I am and a lot of lessons along that way. It's been really really interesting to look at this stories with new eyes and see what I missed, what hits and what doesn't. Current restarting Hobb, and the tone of this book is so different to what I remember and that's really really refreshing. This process is so rewarding. Revist your darlings, make sure they keep up with you. Excellent video.
A nautical tale, weird, emotional, very unique, AND a mystery... try The Scar by China Mieville. His worldbuilding and characters are absolutely incredible, too. His Bas-Lag trilogy is so weird and awesome. Love the channel!
You may have read some or all of these, but for a killer environment, plants or otherwise: Hothouse, The Integral Trees, Darwinia, The Terror, even Gormenghast. More literary stuff could even have Lonesome Dove, as that was one deadly walk, and Swamplandia. There's plenty of weird stuff, but here's something no one would probably say: Richard Brautigan's The Hawkline Monster.
For like a Bio-environmental-horror I would suggest Blood Music. Its not as good as Annihilation (hard to be) but it gave me some of the same vibes for sure.
The subtle, emotional read is something that I really loved in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s also a slow burn mystery that you have to puzzle together and follow the clues, but it’s mostly an intimate study about these characters and it’s so deep in its emotion and humanity. I loved the characters and something about it just resonated with me so deeply. If you’ve haven’t read Never Let Me Go PLEASE DO NOT READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT! It’s so easy to spoil that book, you really need to go in so blind. I just saw the cover and knew I had to read it, and I’m so glad I went in blind. It hits me every time and makes me cry! It doesn’t work for everyone, but it is my favorite book of all time.
I've only read Klara and the Sun and Remains of the Day by Ishiguro, but Remains of the Day was an absolute masterclass in subtlety. I imagine Never Let Me Go is on the same level.
Never Let Me Go is the best example of show don't tell I have every read. Yes, please go in blind. I rate this book as one of the best I have every read. It gave me the chills when I realised what was happening.
Vandermeer, Ishiguro, Liu and Butler are also my faves! I think the element that draws me to their storytelling is how they create a space to explore personhood and humanity (the best and worst of it). 😊
I adore books that feel like a puzzle to be uncovered, where you get to piece together new information about the world, characters or even plot as you progress and it feels so rewarding when a new piece falls into place and you get a new perspective on the story or sth that bugged you for a while finally makes sense. It’s what I love most about Sanderson’s series, who are by no means mystery novels :))
Here’s one that feels like a progenitor of Malazan’s Chain of Dogs, though it’s historical fiction - The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa. Has a lot of these elements.
Klara and the sun is a 5 star book. I have been singing its praises ever since I read it. I even loaned it to a work friend who then left work and never gave it back, so I had to buy it again 🤦♂️
Red from OSP just did a great video about this!! what you were describing was environmental storytelling (not as in the literal plant life, but the world environment being a major part of the storytelling! it’s common in video games and d&d) Environmental storytelling is one of my favorites and something I want to learn to do one day! (OSP = overly sarcastic productions if you want to see the vid)
totally get what you're saying here! i also LOVE annihilation & gravitate towards more atmospheric or weird-leaning SFF. would highly recommend: - The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez - The Masquerade Series by Seth Dickinson - The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
You should definitely check out Thomas Ligotti given that you’ve been enjoying VanderMeer. Ligotti was a big influence on him, and VanderMeer even wrote the foreword for the Penguin Classics release of Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe (which would be a good starting point).
The Wickwire watch is a book i own and may read next. I have just finished The Ferryman by Justin cronin, sci-fi, mystery with intrigue,ticks alot of your boxes. Definitely recommend it. Great vid btw
Merphy I am on my knees begging for you to check out Disco Elysium. It's so aggressively exactly what you just described in this video :'))) Disco Elysium is a game but I promise it feels like reading a book, including the gameplay!
I enjoyed your video immensely! This is going to help me a lot. I am now interested in reassessing my reading tastes and I think it will really help me when choosing books going forward. I love your videos!
You should try Ray Nayler for more eco sci fi, particularly The Mountain in the Sea. It’s a brilliant novel that has themes of memory, consciousness, language, inter species communication, technology, etc. This novel focuses more on the animal side of nature, particularly with sea life here, but it’s still very atmospheric and has wonderful concepts. Would recommend to anyone who loves bio/eco sci fi.
I can relate to this. Books by my favourite authors have really disappointed me lately, meanwhile the best book I've read this year was a YA wholesome romance novel (which I originally intended to read ironically).
I’m think the books that are more of a puzzle than a mystery fall under the New weird sub-genre, or atleast everything you listed does. I’m just getting into it myself and I’m really enjoying everything I’ve read so far.
i really love how you explain what you like. how its done you have explained it so well, I am doing something similar on my channel- by genre adressing all the books that are my faveorites and why they are. Themes or settings symbols whatever.
Have you read any C.J Cherryh? What I like the most is how she creates that feel defined and don't feel like a human in a costume. Interested in hard Sci-Fi, try the Alliance Union series or the Downbelow station. A human becoming part of an alien culture, The Faded Sun Aliens as the main characters, The Chanur Series A world where cognitive dissonance is ingrained in the culture and a look at the effects, Wave Without A Shore Irish Fantasy, the Ealdwood series
You ever read Rex Stout? It is a crime solving book, but the thing I like about it is the characters, and the way there is continuity and connectivity to the books as they progress. It's got humor, seriousness, and some sadness in it in a way that the Agatha Christie novels never really had. I always felt most of her novels were pretty shallow. Also, if you've never read RA Salvatore and his long running series set in the Forgotten Realms, you should check them out.
It sounds like you're moving more towards literary fiction. I'd recommend exploring authors outside the SFF genre such as Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Garcia Marquez... these are authors that are more in the "magical realism" genre, where mystery and subtlety are more the norm.
Not sure if you've ever mentioned China Mieville before but the further i got into the video the more i thought "she might love China Mieville" especially if you've gained an appreciation for "the weird". Perdido Street Station especially throws in a lot of ideas and concepts while still delivering an interesting overarching story.
I started reading and not just watching your channel two years ago but I'm a slow reader. I realized after a while that our tastes didn't align much but now they are starting to align, which sucks because you are probably going to talk about books I would love but I can't keep up haha I just read the Southern Reach and I started Borne. I love Vandermeer's writing
I adore Ishiguro, and Never Let Me Go is my favourite of his thus far. You might also enjoy Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy that begins with Oryx and Crake.
Ah, Malazan... I read the first six books of the series between October 2012 and October 2015, then read the seventh in September 2017 - and I've loved every one of them. I have the next one ready on my shelf - but after a seven-year break, I can't remember anything about these books whatsoever - and I'm certainly not going to read them all again to find out! But I am having a lot of trouble finding good books at the moment - so maybe it's finally time to try and find a way back into Malazan...?
I'm not sure if you've ever heard of it, but there's this kids series called fairy oak that is the most cottagecore book I ever read. I'm sure you would love it. Extremely lighthearted and easy to read for a break maybe.
The books you highlighted strike me as ones that were written by their authors based on a desire to explore a new concept that really forced them to process very different thoughts or emotions. It seems like the writers couldn't have started with a character or a plot point. They must have started with something that really shook up the mental furniture -- what if the universe is an inherently hostile place? what if nature one day turns on us? can obsessive love be so all-consuming you don't even need the other person?
The reading goal you made of reading more from the same author that had the best books of the quarter(?) led to these kinds of favorites, so I think I'm gonna copy your goal
I think you would really like Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro. It has a lot of the same something is going on here, but I don't understand what. Though in this case the main character does know what it is.
Adrian Tchaikovsky has become one of my favorite authors, simply because he can write about almost anything and make it be good. I enjoyed City of Last Chances, but oh my god House of Open Wounds was just amazing! His depiction of a spider culture and intelligence in Children of Time was just crazy weird and inventive. I am finding that I'm drawn to unique / weird / inventive stories that offer me something new. I've been reading SciFi and Fantasy for decades, so I'm looking for new ideas, settings, plots and character types to really get me excited. Tchaikovsky does that for me. As an aside, I'm pleased to see several of books / book sets on your list that are also on my TBR. I need to read faster! :)
I love murder mysteries but like other OG genres, they can get stale. So I've found myself enjoying non-western murder mysteries. I also love when they're uniquely written. For instance, Keigo Higashino's Newcomer follows the main detective interviewing the neighbours and peripheral businesses around the victim's murder scene. It was brilliant. I also love a very slow fat fantasy book. I love it starting slow, setting up everything then we are off to the races like The Dragonbone Chair. I also love a story that stops itself for the author to indulge the reader. Terry Pratchett does it so well in Discworld with fourth wall breaks and footnotes. I love sarcastic characters but I have found a deeper appreciation for very kind characters. It's very rare in the real world.
I will say, this year in regards to your taste has been quite odd. You picked up jojo (I'm kidding 😂). On another note, watching your videos has evolved and changed my reading taste as well so thank you. I would've never picked up Adrian Tchaikovsky's book
Yeah im looking forward to her take on jojo given it's an author that fought against the all male shonen cast due to shonen being a boy's magazine mainly.
You mentioned roadside picnic; If you want to dip your toe into Japanese light novels Otherside Picnic is a great sci-fi, Lovecraftian horror, yuri novel inspired by Roadside Picnic that focuses on Japanese netlore.
I feel like you'd really like Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky! Its post-apocalyptic and the animals/creatures are winning while humanity is dying out. I found the main setting (a prison floating in the middle of a swamp) the most interesting parts of the book.
I won't shut up until you read "Tainaron. Mail from Another City" by Leena Krohn. Jeff and Ann VanderMeer made possible some of Leena Krohn's work in a Collected Fiction. Also glad to see Octavia E. Butler geting the recognition she deserves.
Have you read Semiosis? It definately hits on the creepy aggressive plant life *shudder* Check content warnings. It was an intense read for me. I had to set it down a few times.
The Walking Shadow by Brian Stableford has a major thread on aggressive plant life. Thomas Disch's Genocide makes aggressive plant life as its theme. Not so much plant life but David Gerold's War Against the Chtorr deals with a very aggressive invasion of a plant like species. Chaga by Ian MacDonald deals with an invasive species kind of intrusion.
What a unique video idea, you have a new subscriber! We have very similar tastes. This makes me want to thought experiment my own preferences. Based on your vid, what book recs that I’ve loved, starting with author Brom: Slewfoot(do audiobook), The Child Thief. (Side note I also loved Lost Gods but not in your categories). From here based on what you might like: Children of Time. Fuzzy Nation, Library at Mount Char, The Gracekeepers. Edit* Hollow Kingdom by Kira Buxton is one of my most fav books. I wonder if you’d like as much. It’s post apocalyptic from animals point of view. Hilarious and horrifying at the same time…
After watching your video, I still like my previous recommendations: Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, starting with The Jane Eyre Affair. It is very cheeky like Hitchhikers Guide, very character focused. It's less "sci fi" and more "weird and different" I love David Brin and I haven't seen you review any of his books. I think he'd be up your alley. He's a very thought provoking futurist. I usually recommend Kiln People as an intro. But The Postman might be better because there is more natural setting to it.
I like Thursday Next a lot, and I think Merphy would really like it. I'm sure hoping that the eighth book comes out next year and that it's the last one, though. I don't think I could stand waiting another 12 years for a ninth book! I tried Startide Rising but couldn't get into it. Is it worth another try?
I Who Have Never Known Men is the best mysterious novel I have ever read. 🙌 The mystery is in the center of the story... but you will somehow care more about the characters and their journey.
It can be, for a reading nerd, a bit difficult when you find out your tastes have changed. Growing up, I read tons of fantasy, and when I started reading again as an adult, I tried and quit so many adult fantasy series. It was a hard thing to let go, but I finally realised I'd rather read historical fiction like Les Mis than sit through long-winded exposition about some epic fantasy world. (See, Hugo put all that stuff into separate chapters so you can conveniently skip it, lol! And Tolkien wrote entire history books instead of trying to cram it all into the story he was telling at the time.) There are exceptions, of course--classics I still love (Narnia, Middle Earth, Gormenghast), and new ones I was fortunate to discover (First Law, Realm of the Elderlings, Discworld). Ultimately, I think writers who can create an entire world are amazing. Sadly, I'll probably never visit their worlds.
Grey Dog by Elliott Gish. I’m halfway through. Atmospheric, natural setting, weird, unpredictable, flawed protagonist, defies convention, mysterious. Gish does a great job writing in the timeperiod - turn of the 20th century. Picked it up after I got hooked by the first two pages. Written as journal entries, it’s been forever since I read that type of book.
I would recommend looking at the other work done by both Jim Butcher and Steven Erikson if you are looking to double down on authors. I have heard good things about Erikson's science fiction and I loved Butcher's Codex Alera series.
Wow!! Don't worry about making an interesting video; this one is riveting. I note you're already into Adrian Tchaikovsky's books, and he has a new one I highly recommend: Alien Clay. I'm assuming you've already read Children of Time (if not, I think it checks all your boxes.) Ishiguro excels at crafting a dystopian world in which nobody seems to be aware of how horrible it is. IMO his magnum opus is Never Let Me Go. If you haven't read it yet, go there ASAP but prepare to be profoundly disturbed. On the interesting biology front, I also recommend The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. You mentioned checking out books with a more literary approach; I dare you to try Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. When you get to the end of part 1, you'll think the book you're reading is defective; it isn't.
I think the difference in your tastes is between murder mysteries and ontological mysteries, with you preferring the second. In the second one, the setting itself is the mystery
I'm the exact same way when it comes to mysteries. I think of it like being an archaeologist vs a detective. Yeah both are trying to find the answers, but the vibes are totally different 🔎
So, my recommendation doesn't necessarily do anything too strange for the genre, but After Moses is a neat sci-fi story about humanity after their AI guide, Moses, vanishes. Humans quickly find that the things they built with Moses's guidance, they don't actually understand, and that sends society into quick decline. Earth tears itself apart in war and the colonies around the solar system are left to fend for themselves. Matthew, the main character, is a loner freelancer scraping by about a century after Moses has vanished. Over the course of book 1, his solitary lifestyle is changed as he picks up extra crew members, against his nature. The crew has to learn to live and work with each other if they are to make it. There are strong themes of found family, as the five crewmates learn to mesh together. The author's love for our solar system also bleeds through as he writes about the extraordinary locations the crew visits. Each is described in vivid detail, and made me want to be able to see them for myself. The story itself is a tale of doing good where you can, even in the face of the inevitable end.
Going off your criteria, especially the mysterious world, I think you'd love Gormenghast. The final book falls off a bit due to the health of Mervyn Peake at the time, but I think it's still worth it.
How about the Bloom trilogy by Kenneth Oppel for an 'invasive plants' story? It's YA, though, so it might not be to your liking. Otherwise, lots of recommendations! Winter Tide [by Ruthanna Emrys], a perspective flip Lovecraft story where the Innsmouth residents are being oppressed. A Darkling Sea [by James Cambias], a first contact with sightless aliens underneath an ice-encrusted planet. Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, which deals with the consequences of children who go into other worlds and then come back changed by their experiences. The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, which I often have a hard time describing because it's so unusual, but it's one of my favourite books of all time. Elfelheim by Michael Flynn, which is sci-fi disguised as a historical fantasy. Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence series, which has a fantastic magic system and intriguing human-deity interactions. Deep Secret and The Merlin Conspiracy [by Dianna Wynne Jones] Since you like Discworld, you might like her type of humour as well. Lots of twisty-turny events and a dash of surrealism that still manages to make perfect sense. Oh, and since you liked The Tainted Cup, how about the Divine Cities trilogy by the same author? I have a bunch of spooky books to recommend as well, but I'll save those for when we're closer to spooky season. I totally get not liking mysteries but loving 'mysterious' types of books, since I'm the same. 😀
Thank you for recommending the Annihilation series, for a long time I was hesitant to read it because of the low rating on goodreads, and I’m absolutely blown away by how good it is. Don’t trust the goodreads ratings, people😂
I actually loved Tainted Cup despite it being a detective novel! It’s because of all the other elements that I loved it and I’m looking forward to the sequel!
@@merphynapierreviews maybe I should try Attack on Titan 🤔 it was in the comp and everyone I follow on booktube loves it. I’m not an anime viewer cuz I find them v cringe but I think maaaaybe it’s time I like you adjust my tastes or maybe it’ll happen organically (I loved YA once upon a time but hate almost everything that releases in it nowadays except 1-2 gems a year so maybe anime is my answer)
@@merphynapierreviews oh lol I see!! Also then can I recommend The Spellshop by Sarah J Durst idk if ur into cozy fantasy but it’s a nice chill cute vibey one that has a sentient plant! But it talks so maybe not ur cup of tea (in general this author is good at avoiding tropes or using them well, I love her stuff)
Wanna see something crazy? When you’re done with Dresden wait couple months and reread. It hits so much different when you see how crazy is writing really is
I think you would LOVE The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei. The climate crisis has passed the point of no return according to the people that caused it, so the governments of the world have banded together to build, launch, and put passengers on a space shuttle bound for an Earth-like planet. It follows the group of people on said shuttle as they are awoken from stasis. Then someone dies and people think it might be a murder, but it is so much than a whodunnit but in space this time. The characters in this book are incredible. We get flashbacks into the time the people on the ship spent at the special school that trained them for this mission and the political forces that stood for and against this plan. There are a lot of Big Ideas (TM) discussed in this book.
If i get annihilation from my library, is it one I'm gonna need to read the whole series through, or could it do decent as a standalone because Libby only has the first book for me but i want to read it
The paradox of book readers: they want you to write less, and leave things to their interpretation and show don't tell without using descriptions or explaining anything while also making the story deep and serious but make it funny and lively and make the story unique like i never saw before while knowing i know all the tropes and will grade you off if you remind me of a popular one while asking them to ask agents to publish their books with agents that only want what sold well for fear of money loss...so it's a spiral of nothing published is good...nothing published is unique, unique things don't get published, unique stuff published, people don't like it cause there not used to it and it's too unique and doesn't follow what they know...etc. Murphy has it right rethink your logic on what you like. You never know.
In the past year, I've become way more interested in standalone novels. Sword of Kaigen, Tchiakovsky novellas, and Piranesi showed me how much an author with a vision can accomplish in a single novel.
“Feels like a puzzle and less like a mystery”. I totally get what you’re saying and I love that description!
Sounds like she like most take that step evolving to just really like upmarket storytelling. Same happens for kids growing up on anime in the west. They start out liking action, then age, and scoff at it as they get int drama slice of life, then scoff at that, and want cerebral stuff, then scoff at that as it's talking to them and they want more of an open ended discussion on what literature and themes are, so they go upmarket and are okay with a good premise a vague world and culture and stuff they can fill in. Then we all fall back into just enjoying series within our mood in all the categories.
love your definition of "the mysterious" vs mystery novels. for me the ultimate one of these is prob Pedro Páramo - scorching hot Mexican desert ghost town, we slowly piece together who lived there and how it got that way. (also if you're looking for more "literary" stuff then this is def that!)
This sounds PERFECT for me!
I realised in 2023 that I had found myself in a big reading slump because most of the books I picked up to read were duds. This year I’ve been challenging myself to read across as many genres as I can to rediscover my reading tastes. It’s been a lot of fun!
Oh, that would be fun! Any pleasant surprises? Unpleasant ones?
I did something similar where I had family members assign me books. I have a big family, so I got everything from Star Wars to Toni Morrison!
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Ice - Anna Kavan
Have you read "our wives under the sea" by julia armfield? It was a 5 star book for me & very atmospheric & I think you would like it. For reference my favorite books of the last year or two have been Annihilation, mexican gothic, piranisi, & Our wives under the sea. So if you liked those I would seriously give it a read!!it really involves like almost everything you listed at the beggining. Its about this women& her wife who works on a deep sea submarine, they lost contact with the sub for months & were sort of like presumed dead, but then she randomly comes back, changed...its creepy & atmospheric & I really think youll like it.
Aggressive bio-stuff: The Animated series Scavenger's Reign. Bio-driven, character driven, dangerous as hell. The animation is like artist Moebius. No really. It's awesome. Merphy! Scavenger's Reign.
Merphy: "I don't like mysteries"
Merphy: endlessly speculates about the One Piece, the Will of D, Void Century, etc etc etc
She is a mystery of personality. She atleast is able to change opinions and admit her faults. unlike others who double down and think they write better than acclaimed authors.
Yeah, but One Piece isn‘t a typical mystery story in it‘s core
@@Goldfish_1313 good point. She mentioned liking to figure stuff out. It’s different from mystery. I think she meant she wouldn’t like say scoobi do or Sherlock. That said I feel like she’d like say case closed. lol. Her saying she likes slow stuff surprised me cause she bounces off things fast sometimes. Like all of us we like to think we’re simple but or reasons for liking things aren’t formulaic. It’s why there’s no perfect temple for a good film or book that 99% of people will like in your demo. Sometimes you can do everything people like, show don’t tell, hook, no exposition, big world building, great characters, unique plot, and people can like some generic slop someone made in a weekend cause it’s funny and cozy. 😂spy x family for example. They creator doesn’t try as hard as others to make it the most fantastic thing ever but they sell better then stories with tons of depth and characters and worlds and yadda yadda.
I've been subscribed for 4 years now and it's so great to see your tastes evolve. Inspires me to explore things out of my comfort zone as well :)
You might like Semiosis, a story that follows a group of people trying to settle on a planet with sentient plant life and learning to communicate and coexist with it.
As others have mentioned, Scavenger's Reign and Outer Wilds are also wonderful. They have a grounded kind of unreality about them that feels very in-line with Vandermeer, Valente, or Mieville.
Klara and the Sun is one of my fave books of all time! I also recommend the audiobook! When you said its a potential five star book I squealed with excitment haha
I can relate, I'm trying to figure out exactly what's happening to my shifting tastes at the moment too. Some of my usual comfort genres haven't been working for me so well lately, maybe I need to try a wider variety of things too.
The mysterious! That’s why I loved Piranesi! The handmaids tale, Never let me go, Wayward Pines! Will definitely be reading Klara and the sun
I absolutely loved Klara and the Sun. Don't know why it doesn't get more love.
Your channel and your deep enthusiasm for the things you love was one of the things i need to really start reading again. And I read some new books and enjoyed them a lot but I got curious about what I used to love. So I'm going back every second or third or so to something that was a fundamental pillar of what I understood as my taste. The kid who read some of those books no longer exists there are years between him and who I am and a lot of lessons along that way. It's been really really interesting to look at this stories with new eyes and see what I missed, what hits and what doesn't. Current restarting Hobb, and the tone of this book is so different to what I remember and that's really really refreshing. This process is so rewarding. Revist your darlings, make sure they keep up with you. Excellent video.
A nautical tale, weird, emotional, very unique, AND a mystery... try The Scar by China Mieville. His worldbuilding and characters are absolutely incredible, too. His Bas-Lag trilogy is so weird and awesome. Love the channel!
China Mieville is right on the money for her new tastes
I really love this video and makes me think more about my reading taste
You may have read some or all of these, but for a killer environment, plants or otherwise: Hothouse, The Integral Trees, Darwinia, The Terror, even Gormenghast. More literary stuff could even have Lonesome Dove, as that was one deadly walk, and Swamplandia. There's plenty of weird stuff, but here's something no one would probably say: Richard Brautigan's The Hawkline Monster.
Yes! Hothouse, and also Non-Stop.
Gormenghast is my favorite series, another good book si downward to the earth by Silverberg.
For like a Bio-environmental-horror I would suggest Blood Music. Its not as good as Annihilation (hard to be) but it gave me some of the same vibes for sure.
The subtle, emotional read is something that I really loved in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s also a slow burn mystery that you have to puzzle together and follow the clues, but it’s mostly an intimate study about these characters and it’s so deep in its emotion and humanity. I loved the characters and something about it just resonated with me so deeply. If you’ve haven’t read Never Let Me Go PLEASE DO NOT READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT! It’s so easy to spoil that book, you really need to go in so blind. I just saw the cover and knew I had to read it, and I’m so glad I went in blind. It hits me every time and makes me cry! It doesn’t work for everyone, but it is my favorite book of all time.
I've only read Klara and the Sun and Remains of the Day by Ishiguro, but Remains of the Day was an absolute masterclass in subtlety. I imagine Never Let Me Go is on the same level.
I almost never comment, but I am leaving this here to support this request. Please read it. It's fantastic and don't spoil yourself!!!
@@KarlaLamboglia thanks! I appreciate your support on Merphy reading this book! 😆
@@davidaaronnajera8692 I need to read those other two books! I can’t believe I haven’t!
Never Let Me Go is the best example of show don't tell I have every read. Yes, please go in blind. I rate this book as one of the best I have every read. It gave me the chills when I realised what was happening.
Man, the video game Outer Wilds ticks so many of these boxes
Ahhh she would love that game.
Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one
Absolutely, an absolute masterclass in storytelling
based on her love for Southern Reach I would bet she would love Control and Alan Wake 2
I love the game, but never finished it because I'm so freaking terrible at flying the danged spaceship...
Vandermeer, Ishiguro, Liu and Butler are also my faves! I think the element that draws me to their storytelling is how they create a space to explore personhood and humanity (the best and worst of it). 😊
I adore books that feel like a puzzle to be uncovered, where you get to piece together new information about the world, characters or even plot as you progress and it feels so rewarding when a new piece falls into place and you get a new perspective on the story or sth that bugged you for a while finally makes sense. It’s what I love most about Sanderson’s series, who are by no means mystery novels :))
You should check out some of Clark Ashton Smith's work. He's big on plant horror. He's a bit like Lovecraft in what he produced.
Just found you thanks to youtube home, and instantly fell in love with your voice and how you describe things!
Thanks for the idea of putting together thoughts like this!
Here’s one that feels like a progenitor of Malazan’s Chain of Dogs, though it’s historical fiction - The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa. Has a lot of these elements.
Klara and the sun is a 5 star book. I have been singing its praises ever since I read it. I even loaned it to a work friend who then left work and never gave it back, so I had to buy it again 🤦♂️
Red from OSP just did a great video about this!! what you were describing was environmental storytelling (not as in the literal plant life, but the world environment being a major part of the storytelling! it’s common in video games and d&d)
Environmental storytelling is one of my favorites and something I want to learn to do one day! (OSP = overly sarcastic productions if you want to see the vid)
I was just coming here to say this! The way Red talks about environmental storytelling and Merphy talks about "the mysterious" are so similar
Absolutely yes for the nature-focused books! I'd love a video of all your recommendations!
totally get what you're saying here! i also LOVE annihilation & gravitate towards more atmospheric or weird-leaning SFF. would highly recommend:
- The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
- The Masquerade Series by Seth Dickinson
- The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
You should definitely check out Thomas Ligotti given that you’ve been enjoying VanderMeer. Ligotti was a big influence on him, and VanderMeer even wrote the foreword for the Penguin Classics release of Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe (which would be a good starting point).
The Wickwire watch is a book i own and may read next. I have just finished The Ferryman by Justin cronin, sci-fi, mystery with intrigue,ticks alot of your boxes. Definitely recommend it. Great vid btw
Merphy I am on my knees begging for you to check out Disco Elysium. It's so aggressively exactly what you just described in this video :')))
Disco Elysium is a game but I promise it feels like reading a book, including the gameplay!
That would be crazy
oh man disco elysium
Disco is life changing
I enjoyed your video immensely! This is going to help me a lot. I am now interested in reassessing my reading tastes and I think it will really help me when choosing books going forward. I love your videos!
You should try Ray Nayler for more eco sci fi, particularly The Mountain in the Sea. It’s a brilliant novel that has themes of memory, consciousness, language, inter species communication, technology, etc. This novel focuses more on the animal side of nature, particularly with sea life here, but it’s still very atmospheric and has wonderful concepts. Would recommend to anyone who loves bio/eco sci fi.
Now we need a vlog of you trying all these book recommendations 🤓
I can relate to this. Books by my favourite authors have really disappointed me lately, meanwhile the best book I've read this year was a YA wholesome romance novel (which I originally intended to read ironically).
I’m think the books that are more of a puzzle than a mystery fall under the New weird sub-genre, or atleast everything you listed does. I’m just getting into it myself and I’m really enjoying everything I’ve read so far.
i really love how you explain what you like. how its done you have explained it so well, I am doing something similar on my channel- by genre adressing all the books that are my faveorites and why they are. Themes or settings symbols whatever.
Have you read any C.J Cherryh?
What I like the most is how she creates that feel defined and don't feel like a human in a costume.
Interested in hard Sci-Fi, try the Alliance Union series or the Downbelow station.
A human becoming part of an alien culture, The Faded Sun
Aliens as the main characters, The Chanur Series
A world where cognitive dissonance is ingrained in the culture and a look at the effects, Wave Without A Shore
Irish Fantasy, the Ealdwood series
You ever read Rex Stout? It is a crime solving book, but the thing I like about it is the characters, and the way there is continuity and connectivity to the books as they progress. It's got humor, seriousness, and some sadness in it in a way that the Agatha Christie novels never really had. I always felt most of her novels were pretty shallow.
Also, if you've never read RA Salvatore and his long running series set in the Forgotten Realms, you should check them out.
It sounds like you're moving more towards literary fiction. I'd recommend exploring authors outside the SFF genre such as Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Garcia Marquez... these are authors that are more in the "magical realism" genre, where mystery and subtlety are more the norm.
This was very interesting to me thanks for sharing
Not sure if you've ever mentioned China Mieville before but the further i got into the video the more i thought "she might love China Mieville" especially if you've gained an appreciation for "the weird". Perdido Street Station especially throws in a lot of ideas and concepts while still delivering an interesting overarching story.
I started reading and not just watching your channel two years ago but I'm a slow reader. I realized after a while that our tastes didn't align much but now they are starting to align, which sucks because you are probably going to talk about books I would love but I can't keep up haha I just read the Southern Reach and I started Borne. I love Vandermeer's writing
I adore Ishiguro, and Never Let Me Go is my favourite of his thus far. You might also enjoy Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy that begins with Oryx and Crake.
Ah, Malazan... I read the first six books of the series between October 2012 and October 2015, then read the seventh in September 2017 - and I've loved every one of them. I have the next one ready on my shelf - but after a seven-year break, I can't remember anything about these books whatsoever - and I'm certainly not going to read them all again to find out!
But I am having a lot of trouble finding good books at the moment - so maybe it's finally time to try and find a way back into Malazan...?
I'm not sure if you've ever heard of it, but there's this kids series called fairy oak that is the most cottagecore book I ever read. I'm sure you would love it. Extremely lighthearted and easy to read for a break maybe.
I feel like maybe some of the mystery books that are more related to a past mystery or is lit fix/mystery may work for you, then!
I really enjoy Ishiguro, and you are making me want to re read him. Never Let Me Go is so good, and Remains of the Day.
The books you highlighted strike me as ones that were written by their authors based on a desire to explore a new concept that really forced them to process very different thoughts or emotions. It seems like the writers couldn't have started with a character or a plot point. They must have started with something that really shook up the mental furniture -- what if the universe is an inherently hostile place? what if nature one day turns on us? can obsessive love be so all-consuming you don't even need the other person?
The reading goal you made of reading more from the same author that had the best books of the quarter(?) led to these kinds of favorites, so I think I'm gonna copy your goal
I think you would really like Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro. It has a lot of the same something is going on here, but I don't understand what. Though in this case the main character does know what it is.
Adrian Tchaikovsky has become one of my favorite authors, simply because he can write about almost anything and make it be good. I enjoyed City of Last Chances, but oh my god House of Open Wounds was just amazing! His depiction of a spider culture and intelligence in Children of Time was just crazy weird and inventive.
I am finding that I'm drawn to unique / weird / inventive stories that offer me something new. I've been reading SciFi and Fantasy for decades, so I'm looking for new ideas, settings, plots and character types to really get me excited. Tchaikovsky does that for me. As an aside, I'm pleased to see several of books / book sets on your list that are also on my TBR. I need to read faster! :)
Loved this. A lot of these are also my taste too!
I love murder mysteries but like other OG genres, they can get stale. So I've found myself enjoying non-western murder mysteries. I also love when they're uniquely written. For instance, Keigo Higashino's Newcomer follows the main detective interviewing the neighbours and peripheral businesses around the victim's murder scene. It was brilliant. I also love a very slow fat fantasy book. I love it starting slow, setting up everything then we are off to the races like The Dragonbone Chair. I also love a story that stops itself for the author to indulge the reader. Terry Pratchett does it so well in Discworld with fourth wall breaks and footnotes. I love sarcastic characters but I have found a deeper appreciation for very kind characters. It's very rare in the real world.
I will say, this year in regards to your taste has been quite odd. You picked up jojo (I'm kidding 😂).
On another note, watching your videos has evolved and changed my reading taste as well so thank you. I would've never picked up Adrian Tchaikovsky's book
Yeah im looking forward to her take on jojo given it's an author that fought against the all male shonen cast due to shonen being a boy's magazine mainly.
I Who Have Never Known Men seems like it’d be a winner for you. Incredible book
You mentioned roadside picnic; If you want to dip your toe into Japanese light novels Otherside Picnic is a great sci-fi, Lovecraftian horror, yuri novel inspired by Roadside Picnic that focuses on Japanese netlore.
I feel like you'd really like Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky! Its post-apocalyptic and the animals/creatures are winning while humanity is dying out. I found the main setting (a prison floating in the middle of a swamp) the most interesting parts of the book.
I won't shut up until you read "Tainaron. Mail from Another City" by Leena Krohn. Jeff and Ann VanderMeer made possible some of Leena Krohn's work in a Collected Fiction.
Also glad to see Octavia E. Butler geting the recognition she deserves.
Have you read Semiosis? It definately hits on the creepy aggressive plant life *shudder*
Check content warnings. It was an intense read for me. I had to set it down a few times.
The Walking Shadow by Brian Stableford has a major thread on aggressive plant life.
Thomas Disch's Genocide makes aggressive plant life as its theme.
Not so much plant life but David Gerold's War Against the Chtorr deals with a very aggressive invasion of a plant like species.
Chaga by Ian MacDonald deals with an invasive species kind of intrusion.
What a unique video idea, you have a new subscriber! We have very similar tastes. This makes me want to thought experiment my own preferences.
Based on your vid, what book recs that I’ve loved, starting with author Brom: Slewfoot(do audiobook), The Child Thief. (Side note I also loved Lost Gods but not in your categories). From here based on what you might like: Children of Time. Fuzzy Nation, Library at Mount Char, The Gracekeepers.
Edit* Hollow Kingdom by Kira Buxton is one of my most fav books. I wonder if you’d like as much. It’s post apocalyptic from animals point of view. Hilarious and horrifying at the same time…
It's really strange to me that Jimmy Nutts hasn't gotten you to read China Mieville's Bas-Lag trilogy yet.
Have you read The Day of Triffids? It is about conscious plants
I saw a movie (or tv series) on that theme long ago. Is it based on that novel?
@@AhyZdalph yeah there was some show or something. I've not seen it. But I've read the book twice
@@AhyZdalphyes there is one. But I haven't watched it
After watching your video, I still like my previous recommendations:
Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, starting with The Jane Eyre Affair. It is very cheeky like Hitchhikers Guide, very character focused. It's less "sci fi" and more "weird and different"
I love David Brin and I haven't seen you review any of his books. I think he'd be up your alley. He's a very thought provoking futurist. I usually recommend Kiln People as an intro. But The Postman might be better because there is more natural setting to it.
I like Thursday Next a lot, and I think Merphy would really like it. I'm sure hoping that the eighth book comes out next year and that it's the last one, though. I don't think I could stand waiting another 12 years for a ninth book!
I tried Startide Rising but couldn't get into it. Is it worth another try?
I Who Have Never Known Men is the best mysterious novel I have ever read. 🙌 The mystery is in the center of the story... but you will somehow care more about the characters and their journey.
It can be, for a reading nerd, a bit difficult when you find out your tastes have changed. Growing up, I read tons of fantasy, and when I started reading again as an adult, I tried and quit so many adult fantasy series. It was a hard thing to let go, but I finally realised I'd rather read historical fiction like Les Mis than sit through long-winded exposition about some epic fantasy world. (See, Hugo put all that stuff into separate chapters so you can conveniently skip it, lol! And Tolkien wrote entire history books instead of trying to cram it all into the story he was telling at the time.) There are exceptions, of course--classics I still love (Narnia, Middle Earth, Gormenghast), and new ones I was fortunate to discover (First Law, Realm of the Elderlings, Discworld). Ultimately, I think writers who can create an entire world are amazing. Sadly, I'll probably never visit their worlds.
Glad to see other Gormenghast fans!
You would love Wyvern by A.A. Attanasio. I’ve never read anyone else who can make nature and characters come alive with their prose in the same way.
Grey Dog by Elliott Gish. I’m halfway through. Atmospheric, natural setting, weird, unpredictable, flawed protagonist, defies convention, mysterious. Gish does a great job writing in the timeperiod - turn of the 20th century. Picked it up after I got hooked by the first two pages. Written as journal entries, it’s been forever since I read that type of book.
I would recommend looking at the other work done by both Jim Butcher and Steven Erikson if you are looking to double down on authors. I have heard good things about Erikson's science fiction and I loved Butcher's Codex Alera series.
Wow!! Don't worry about making an interesting video; this one is riveting. I note you're already into Adrian Tchaikovsky's books, and he has a new one I highly recommend: Alien Clay. I'm assuming you've already read Children of Time (if not, I think it checks all your boxes.) Ishiguro excels at crafting a dystopian world in which nobody seems to be aware of how horrible it is. IMO his magnum opus is Never Let Me Go. If you haven't read it yet, go there ASAP but prepare to be profoundly disturbed. On the interesting biology front, I also recommend The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. You mentioned checking out books with a more literary approach; I dare you to try Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. When you get to the end of part 1, you'll think the book you're reading is defective; it isn't.
I think the difference in your tastes is between murder mysteries and ontological mysteries, with you preferring the second. In the second one, the setting itself is the mystery
Well put!
So something like Fredric Brown's short story "Hall of Mirrors"? 🤔
I'm the exact same way when it comes to mysteries. I think of it like being an archaeologist vs a detective. Yeah both are trying to find the answers, but the vibes are totally different 🔎
You knew changes was definitely gonna be a huge shift for Dresden when Mac sat down to actually to talk to him
Haruki Murakami has this mysterious style. Wind-up Bird Chronicle is a good example.
You like Klara And the Sun? You really should read Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro! Similar vibe.
In the Literary Fiction space, would add: George Saunders, Karen Russell, Hermann Hesse, Etgar Keret, Roberto Bolaño, Italo Calvino, and some others.
What you were describing as atmospheric books Wendell Berry called “sense of place”. Might be a helpful turn of ohrase
So, my recommendation doesn't necessarily do anything too strange for the genre, but After Moses is a neat sci-fi story about humanity after their AI guide, Moses, vanishes. Humans quickly find that the things they built with Moses's guidance, they don't actually understand, and that sends society into quick decline. Earth tears itself apart in war and the colonies around the solar system are left to fend for themselves.
Matthew, the main character, is a loner freelancer scraping by about a century after Moses has vanished. Over the course of book 1, his solitary lifestyle is changed as he picks up extra crew members, against his nature. The crew has to learn to live and work with each other if they are to make it.
There are strong themes of found family, as the five crewmates learn to mesh together. The author's love for our solar system also bleeds through as he writes about the extraordinary locations the crew visits. Each is described in vivid detail, and made me want to be able to see them for myself. The story itself is a tale of doing good where you can, even in the face of the inevitable end.
Thank you so much!
Going off your criteria, especially the mysterious world, I think you'd love Gormenghast.
The final book falls off a bit due to the health of Mervyn Peake at the time, but I think it's still worth it.
How about the Bloom trilogy by Kenneth Oppel for an 'invasive plants' story? It's YA, though, so it might not be to your liking. Otherwise, lots of recommendations!
Winter Tide [by Ruthanna Emrys], a perspective flip Lovecraft story where the Innsmouth residents are being oppressed.
A Darkling Sea [by James Cambias], a first contact with sightless aliens underneath an ice-encrusted planet.
Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, which deals with the consequences of children who go into other worlds and then come back changed by their experiences.
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, which I often have a hard time describing because it's so unusual, but it's one of my favourite books of all time.
Elfelheim by Michael Flynn, which is sci-fi disguised as a historical fantasy.
Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence series, which has a fantastic magic system and intriguing human-deity interactions.
Deep Secret and The Merlin Conspiracy [by Dianna Wynne Jones] Since you like Discworld, you might like her type of humour as well. Lots of twisty-turny events and a dash of surrealism that still manages to make perfect sense.
Oh, and since you liked The Tainted Cup, how about the Divine Cities trilogy by the same author?
I have a bunch of spooky books to recommend as well, but I'll save those for when we're closer to spooky season. I totally get not liking mysteries but loving 'mysterious' types of books, since I'm the same. 😀
The divine cities trilogy is great and I think Merphy would love it!
I LOVE Klara and the Sun
I recently did this because I wasn't enjoying a lot of the books I read. I'm still not exactly sure what my taste is, but I'm figuring it out.
Thank you for recommending the Annihilation series, for a long time I was hesitant to read it because of the low rating on goodreads, and I’m absolutely blown away by how good it is. Don’t trust the goodreads ratings, people😂
I know you like absurdist fiction. You need to read Welcome to Night Vale! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it.
Have you ever read any Tad Williams? If not I imagine there are a few of his series you would enjoy.
Merph, your love for aggressive plant life makes me wonder if you ever watched the cartoon Joyce and the Wheeled Warriors as a child?
Have you read any of Kevin Hearns books Iron Druid Chronicles and 7 Kennnings?
The moment you said invasive plant life I thought… Tainted Cup!!! And then she said she doesn’t enjoy murder mysteries a minute later
I actually loved Tainted Cup despite it being a detective novel! It’s because of all the other elements that I loved it and I’m looking forward to the sequel!
@@merphynapierreviews maybe I should try Attack on Titan 🤔 it was in the comp and everyone I follow on booktube loves it. I’m not an anime viewer cuz I find them v cringe but I think maaaaybe it’s time I like you adjust my tastes or maybe it’ll happen organically (I loved YA once upon a time but hate almost everything that releases in it nowadays except 1-2 gems a year so maybe anime is my answer)
@@merphynapierreviews oh lol I see!! Also then can I recommend The Spellshop by Sarah J Durst idk if ur into cozy fantasy but it’s a nice chill cute vibey one that has a sentient plant! But it talks so maybe not ur cup of tea (in general this author is good at avoiding tropes or using them well, I love her stuff)
If you like Klara, I really think you’ll love Never Let Me Go. The creepy atmosphere in that book is so captivating!
Would you consider doing the second half of the Red Rising series?
Wanna see something crazy? When you’re done with Dresden wait couple months and reread. It hits so much different when you see how crazy is writing really is
Wait the One Piece obsessed book otaku loves books set at/by the sea 😱😱😱
😂
I think you would LOVE The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei. The climate crisis has passed the point of no return according to the people that caused it, so the governments of the world have banded together to build, launch, and put passengers on a space shuttle bound for an Earth-like planet. It follows the group of people on said shuttle as they are awoken from stasis. Then someone dies and people think it might be a murder, but it is so much than a whodunnit but in space this time. The characters in this book are incredible. We get flashbacks into the time the people on the ship spent at the special school that trained them for this mission and the political forces that stood for and against this plan. There are a lot of Big Ideas (TM) discussed in this book.
If i get annihilation from my library, is it one I'm gonna need to read the whole series through, or could it do decent as a standalone because Libby only has the first book for me but i want to read it
The paradox of book readers: they want you to write less, and leave things to their interpretation and show don't tell without using descriptions or explaining anything while also making the story deep and serious but make it funny and lively and make the story unique like i never saw before while knowing i know all the tropes and will grade you off if you remind me of a popular one while asking them to ask agents to publish their books with agents that only want what sold well for fear of money loss...so it's a spiral of nothing published is good...nothing published is unique, unique things don't get published, unique stuff published, people don't like it cause there not used to it and it's too unique and doesn't follow what they know...etc. Murphy has it right rethink your logic on what you like. You never know.
You and I have the EXACT same evolving tastes