Ball Lightning has been on my list for a while. After listening to your review I'm more likely to read it this year. Thanks for the review of the other books as well and doing it in a spoiler-free fashion. Good stuff.
L.O.V.E.D. This list! No matter how long we are friends i never know what you are gunna have on your lists and look forward to these videos every year!!!!
I really, truly enjoy your videos not only for interesting recommendations but also because you are not talking with your hands while holding a book. Most if not all of the book-tubers do that and this drives me bunkers…I love to watch and study a book cover while I listen about its premise…you are making this possible…thank you !!!! ❤❤❤❤
Cixin Liu became one of my favorite writers. I loved the way you described the tone of Ball Lightning and how you hinted at important details of the story without a single spoiler!! Great video. ❤ I recently started Stowaway to Mars by John Wyndham. 🚀
I loaded a bunch of Cixin Liu's work on my phone last night, and will make a start on it right after I finish my current audiobook. I have high hopes as so many people love his books. I heard of him when talking to someone in an airport about Iain M Banks, and saying how I wished there were more Culture books.
I read Kindred by Octavia Butler and Stranger in A Strange World by Robert Heinlein. I really enjoyed it them. Thanks for so many good recs! I want to read several mentioned
Parable of the Sower was soooo dark and so well written ! Thanks for topping off my TBR with some new titles . I'm particularly interested to check out The Greatwinter Trilogy
I also love Souls in the Great Machine but you didn't mention the most important part - Librarians Rule! 😄 Retired librarian here and I love the way librarians are portrayed. You're spot on about McMullen describes how this world works. My speciality was library automation and his description of a computer where humans perform the operations of a computer program is marvelous. There are two more books in the series.
Yay for Jack Vance. And all the nerdy dnd players go "booyah!" 😅 Just discovered your channel. I enjoy watching your lists. A lot of book listers seem to list all the same books but you have chosen more unique books. The past couple years my reading has almost ground to a halt, which saddens me to no end. During the covid years my job was classified as essential. I had 3 straight years where I was working 70 hour work weeks. Usually I would read during lunch, we would get a 30 minute lunch break and I would get about 20 good minutes in. But the past couple years I would get five minutes into a book and started falling asleep. But now I have retired (after 30 years) and bit by bit I feel myself starting to return to normal (I figure this will fully tale a year). But already I can read for 20-30 without feeling the need to rest, and I expect that to only increase over time. So while I am getting back into reading from, it is fun to see lists that whet my appetite.
Glad you got to read so many great backlist titles. Some of my favorite backlist sci fi books I read this year are Generation Ship, The Coldfire Trilogy, The Wandering Earth, Electric Forest, and Under the Skin. I am most interested in reading The Dying Earth series and Parable of the Sower.
I just added Ball Lightning to my TBR based on your recommendation. I've read quite a few backlist sci-fi novels this year; two of the ones I liked the most were Contact by Carl Sagan and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr,
I'm working my way through the three body problem right now and i love love love the heavier focus on scientific theory in it. On another note if you want another collection of short science fiction to try I would recommend either Octavia's Brood or Exhalations!
To Lke the Lightning is on my TBR because I personaly liked the cover of book 4 so much I was "yeah lets read"...but found out its a series and after on channel Literatur Sciency Alliance found a video that hypes the series sooo much that I am more interested than befor. Still haven't started it 🙈
I'm just over half way through Cixin Liu's "The Dark Forest", immediately following on from "The Three Body Problem" and am loving both books. Liu's works could be described as slow burners that take awhile to ignite, but once they do, I find them hard to put down. The first book in the trilogy is a fascinating blend of history and fiction, with very human, very conflicted characters. The second perhaps is not quite so riveting in that it doesn't have the same grounding in history, yet has some wonderful character moments. I'm looking forward to the the third book! One thing that impressed me, was how little time 400 years actually is when one is forced into making massive changes in society and technology. There's just never enough time, even when there is! Nothing like impending doom to focus the mind! I've seen both "Wandering Earth" films and they're brilliant. But have yet to read the short story on which they're based. The prequel features the space elevator mentioned in the "Dark Forest". A pity Arthur C. Clarke isn't still alive - I think he would have loved it! It's probably as close as we'll ever get to the real thing! I'm intrigued by "Ball Lightning". I've made a mental note to search it out by year's end, hopefully.
Jack Vance was a true word smith. His works are many in both sci-fi and fantasy and with crossover. His Lyonesse trilogy is one my favorite reads. He also wrote many short stories.
As always, this is a great video. 10) I read Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer...and felt the same thing. I have the entire series...and feel that I just need to binge it. I agree that the narrative style is jarring, but I love the idea of the book. I think that I am going to try to binge this series in 2025, also. Yes, please. 9) The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. Not usually like short story collections. Hmm, but if the stories connect, it may work for me. I've heard of this book, but haven't ever picked it up. 8) Sould in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen. Interesting. I've never even heard of this author, nor this book. Thank you. 7) Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman (Cold Fire trilogy). Never heard of this book, or series. Thank you, again. 6) Electric Forest by Tanith Lee. Heard of this author. You are truly helping me...with all these recommendations. 5) The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I've read the first two, but for some reason...not picked up the third book. Just got distracted by LOTS of other books. Need to reread the first two books, to be able to finish the trilogy. Maybe in 2025. 4) Denial by Jon Raymond. Never heard of it. Environmental dystopian book. Interesting. 3) The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu. I watched the movie...and thought it had interesting ideas, but the movie itself was a disaster (pun intended). I'm not a fan of short stories...either. Since I loved the ideas, but not the execution in the movie, this may be a book that would resonate with me. Thank you, again. 2) Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu. Okay, three on this list. Have you sold your soul to Cixin Liu (just kidding). Ha!😮 1) Parable fo the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. Yes, have read it, and loved it, but never picked up the second book. One reason...was that I heard that the Earthseed books were supposed to have been a trilogy, but it was never finished. This frustrated me, and cooled my passion to reading the sequel...worried that it would leave me unfulfilled. Thank you for this list, and such a wonderful video.
I really enjoyed The Electric Forest. I don’t know if the ending worked for me quite as well, but overall it was a great read. And I loved The Remembrance of Earth’s Past with The Dark Forest being my favorite as well!
This year I read and absolutely ADORED Project Hail Mary. I do have Ball Lightening and The Wandering Earth on my TBR. I read and enjoyed The Three Body Problem and then petered out halfway through The Dark Forest. I so, SO wanted to read that trilogy but felt it was a bit overwritten 🙈 for a reader like me. I can get an hour of reading in M-F and realized it was going to take way too long. 😬 And mind you… I committed to, and succeeded in reading The Count of Monte Cristo this year. 😂🤷♀️
Loved Three-Body Problem. I read the book, and watched both the Chinese mini series and the Netflix. And yet, I still have not read the two sequels; must do. Did you read Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson? Great story and great character development, about colonizing Mars and the battle between political/ecological factions. There are two sequels, Green and Blue Mars.
There is a 4th book called 2312. Though it is not a direct sequal, it makes several refernces to events in the trilogy. It's sort of a mystery as the main characters follow clues that take them all over the solar system.
Denial sounds very interesting, I'm surprised I haven't heard of it! It sounds a bit like my favorite read of 2023 - Adrift by Brideau which is also set in the near future against a climate change backdrop but is a character -driven story/mystery about an amnesic. I loved it and wish more people would read it!
I haven't had much luck with backlist sci-fi this year. Frontera by Lewis Shiner was a fairly entertaining, very 80s, thriller story set on Mars. Gateway by Frederik Pohl was fairly disappointing to me given it's reputation. Which leaves my favorite as Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clark. It's a pure hard sci-fi, great man invents great technology story, but I like Clark's writing, so I found it fun.
Well I will not encourage you to go on with Too Like The Lightning. There were these fictional history drops as if they were some kind of trivia I was supposed to know or be concerned about and it did not read well. DNF. Black Sun Rising I read long ago but only recall the start and the end. But I have the trilogy and want to give it a go. The first book cover is one of the best covers ever by Whelan.
Ada Palmer requires a real effort. Worldbuilding, workings of society are one of a kind. There are a few really rewarding plot lines that will get you at the edge of your seat. But you have to treat it as a riddle. Not books about a riddle. The books are a riddle itself. Your brain needs to work for it.
As soon as that garbage book Too Like the Lightning appeared I was out. This fascination with serial killers is a sickness, and that is one of the most badly-written novels I’ve encountered.
Ball Lightning has been on my list for a while. After listening to your review I'm more likely to read it this year. Thanks for the review of the other books as well and doing it in a spoiler-free fashion. Good stuff.
I hope you try it out
L.O.V.E.D. This list! No matter how long we are friends i never know what you are gunna have on your lists and look forward to these videos every year!!!!
Aw thanks
I really, truly enjoy your videos not only for interesting recommendations but also because you are not talking with your hands while holding a book. Most if not all of the book-tubers do that and this drives me bunkers…I love to watch and study a book cover while I listen about its premise…you are making this possible…thank you !!!! ❤❤❤❤
Aw thanks I usually get a lot of comments that I move too much on camera
@ no honey you are great ! 👍🏻
Cixin Liu became one of my favorite writers. I loved the way you described the tone of Ball Lightning and how you hinted at important details of the story without a single spoiler!! Great video. ❤
I recently started Stowaway to Mars by John Wyndham. 🚀
Thanks I try
I loaded a bunch of Cixin Liu's work on my phone last night, and will make a start on it right after I finish my current audiobook. I have high hopes as so many people love his books. I heard of him when talking to someone in an airport about Iain M Banks, and saying how I wished there were more Culture books.
I read Kindred by Octavia Butler and Stranger in A Strange World by Robert Heinlein. I really enjoyed it them. Thanks for so many good recs! I want to read several mentioned
Parable of the Sower was soooo dark and so well written ! Thanks for topping off my TBR with some new titles . I'm particularly interested to check out The Greatwinter Trilogy
I filmed this before Election Day. Talents would be a tough to read now ooof
@@TheShadesofOrange Agreed
I also love Souls in the Great Machine but you didn't mention the most important part - Librarians Rule! 😄 Retired librarian here and I love the way librarians are portrayed. You're spot on about McMullen describes how this world works. My speciality was library automation and his description of a computer where humans perform the operations of a computer program is marvelous. There are two more books in the series.
Oh yes! Love the awesome librarians
Yay for Jack Vance. And all the nerdy dnd players go "booyah!" 😅
Just discovered your channel. I enjoy watching your lists. A lot of book listers seem to list all the same books but you have chosen more unique books.
The past couple years my reading has almost ground to a halt, which saddens me to no end. During the covid years my job was classified as essential. I had 3 straight years where I was working 70 hour work weeks. Usually I would read during lunch, we would get a 30 minute lunch break and I would get about 20 good minutes in. But the past couple years I would get five minutes into a book and started falling asleep.
But now I have retired (after 30 years) and bit by bit I feel myself starting to return to normal (I figure this will fully tale a year). But already I can read for 20-30 without feeling the need to rest, and I expect that to only increase over time. So while I am getting back into reading from, it is fun to see lists that whet my appetite.
Hope 2025 is a good year for you're reading
I didn't read much this year and I don't feel like I missed much. I was more than pleased to hear what I missed, I just didn't think much of it.
Thanks for the great video. I am definitely going to check out Electric Forest!
I hope you enjoy it
Glad you got to read so many great backlist titles. Some of my favorite backlist sci fi books I read this year are Generation Ship, The Coldfire Trilogy, The Wandering Earth, Electric Forest, and Under the Skin. I am most interested in reading The Dying Earth series and Parable of the Sower.
Maybe wait 4 years to read Parable
Ball Lightening sounds amazing! Just picked it up on Kindle Thanks Rachel!⚡️✨
Hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for giving me some amazing and wonderful books 📚 to read my friend John xx
I’ll definitely pick up Ball Lightning, I loved the Remembrance trilogy, and you sold me on this one. Thx
I hope you love it
Added Ball Lightening to my TBR. Thank you for another great list to try 🧡
Hope you enjoy it
I just added Ball Lightning to my TBR based on your recommendation. I've read quite a few backlist sci-fi novels this year; two of the ones I liked the most were Contact by Carl Sagan and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr,
Oo Contact was so good. I'll have to look up the other one
I'm working my way through the three body problem right now and i love love love the heavier focus on scientific theory in it. On another note if you want another collection of short science fiction to try I would recommend either Octavia's Brood or Exhalations!
Appreciate the short story recs
Octavia Butler is one of the great sci authors of all time.
Agreed!
@@TheShadesofOrange thank you ma'am for review my book
The Coldfire Trilogy is so good. Didn't expect it to pop up on this list. Her other books are really good.
So good!
I have all but 2 of these in my list to read in the future!! 😅 Pretty sure I’ve added them all from recs in your previous videos.
That’s awesome! You’re going to have a lot of great sci-fi to look forward to.
@ I definitely do!!
To Lke the Lightning is on my TBR because I personaly liked the cover of book 4 so much I was "yeah lets read"...but found out its a series and after on channel Literatur Sciency Alliance found a video that hypes the series sooo much that I am more interested than befor. Still haven't started it 🙈
Got the wondering earth and like it also reading American rapture on your recommend and breezing thru it so glad u told us about it⚛❤
Glad you're enjoying it
After 3-BP and these recs I'm definitely sold on Wandering Earth and Ball Lightning, thanks 👍
Hope you enjoy them!
I'm currently reading Dark Forest by Liu Cixin.
I've just started reading Adrian Tchaikovsky novels. I find myself enjoying his works; usually, at least, 4 out of 5 stars.
I'm just over half way through Cixin Liu's "The Dark Forest", immediately following on from "The Three Body Problem" and am loving both books. Liu's works could be described as slow burners that take awhile to ignite, but once they do, I find them hard to put down. The first book in the trilogy is a fascinating blend of history and fiction, with very human, very conflicted characters. The second perhaps is not quite so riveting in that it doesn't have the same grounding in history, yet has some wonderful character moments. I'm looking forward to the the third book!
One thing that impressed me, was how little time 400 years actually is when one is forced into making massive changes in society and technology. There's just never enough time, even when there is! Nothing like impending doom to focus the mind!
I've seen both "Wandering Earth" films and they're brilliant. But have yet to read the short story on which they're based. The prequel features the space elevator mentioned in the "Dark Forest". A pity Arthur C. Clarke isn't still alive - I think he would have loved it! It's probably as close as we'll ever get to the real thing!
I'm intrigued by "Ball Lightning". I've made a mental note to search it out by year's end, hopefully.
I hope you enjoy Ball Lightning, it's so good!
Jack Vance was a true word smith. His works are many in both sci-fi and fantasy and with crossover. His Lyonesse trilogy is one my favorite reads. He also wrote many short stories.
I really nee do read more by him
As always, this is a great video.
10) I read Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer...and felt the same thing. I have the entire series...and feel that I just need to binge it. I agree that the narrative style is jarring, but I love the idea of the book. I think that I am going to try to binge this series in 2025, also. Yes, please.
9) The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. Not usually like short story collections. Hmm, but if the stories connect, it may work for me. I've heard of this book, but haven't ever picked it up.
8) Sould in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen. Interesting. I've never even heard of this author, nor this book. Thank you.
7) Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman (Cold Fire trilogy). Never heard of this book, or series. Thank you, again.
6) Electric Forest by Tanith Lee. Heard of this author. You are truly helping me...with all these recommendations.
5) The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I've read the first two, but for some reason...not picked up the third book. Just got distracted by LOTS of other books. Need to reread the first two books, to be able to finish the trilogy. Maybe in 2025.
4) Denial by Jon Raymond. Never heard of it. Environmental dystopian book. Interesting.
3) The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu. I watched the movie...and thought it had interesting ideas, but the movie itself was a disaster (pun intended). I'm not a fan of short stories...either. Since I loved the ideas, but not the execution in the movie, this may be a book that would resonate with me. Thank you, again.
2) Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu. Okay, three on this list. Have you sold your soul to Cixin Liu (just kidding). Ha!😮
1) Parable fo the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. Yes, have read it, and loved it, but never picked up the second book. One reason...was that I heard that the Earthseed books were supposed to have been a trilogy, but it was never finished. This frustrated me, and cooled my passion to reading the sequel...worried that it would leave me unfulfilled.
Thank you for this list, and such a wonderful video.
Appreiciate you weighing in. I know your a prolife reader so I'm thrilled if I can put something new on your radar
Good list!👍👍👍📚🤖🚀🐲
I clearly have to read more of these. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and The Humans by Matt Haig are two of my all-time favorites.
I really enjoyed The Electric Forest. I don’t know if the ending worked for me quite as well, but overall it was a great read.
And I loved The Remembrance of Earth’s Past with The Dark Forest being my favorite as well!
Ah Dark Forest was so good
This year I read and absolutely ADORED Project Hail Mary. I do have Ball Lightening and The Wandering Earth on my TBR. I read and enjoyed The Three Body Problem and then petered out halfway through The Dark Forest. I so, SO wanted to read that trilogy but felt it was a bit overwritten 🙈 for a reader like me. I can get an hour of reading in M-F and realized it was going to take way too long. 😬 And mind you… I committed to, and succeeded in reading The Count of Monte Cristo this year. 😂🤷♀️
Monto Cristo is SO good!
Just added Ball Lightning to my tbr. Thank you
You’re welcome! I hope you love it
Very interesting list. I recently read The Lathe of Heaven by Le Guin. It was so intriguing!
Still need to read that one
The president in Parable of the Sower is oddly prescient to a certain president elect in the USA. It’s like Butler knew about him.
I should mention I filmed this before the election
Loved Three-Body Problem. I read the book, and watched both the Chinese mini series and the Netflix. And yet, I still have not read the two sequels; must do.
Did you read Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson? Great story and great character development, about colonizing Mars and the battle between political/ecological factions. There are two sequels, Green and Blue Mars.
There is a 4th book called 2312. Though it is not a direct sequal, it makes several refernces to events in the trilogy. It's sort of a mystery as the main characters follow clues that take them all over the solar system.
I read Red Mars but was disappointed how bogged down it was with character decisions I didn't care about (like who was sleeping with who)
Have you read The Rivener? I thought for sure I'd seen it in one of your videos....
No I haven't
@@TheShadesofOrange Thank you for replying I was losing my mind!
Souls in the Great Machine is the first of a trilogy. They are all worth your attention.
Thanks for the heads-up!
Denial sounds very interesting, I'm surprised I haven't heard of it! It sounds a bit like my favorite read of 2023 - Adrift by Brideau which is also set in the near future against a climate change backdrop but is a character -driven story/mystery about an amnesic. I loved it and wish more people would read it!
I'll have to look up Adrift
I haven't had much luck with backlist sci-fi this year. Frontera by Lewis Shiner was a fairly entertaining, very 80s, thriller story set on Mars. Gateway by Frederik Pohl was fairly disappointing to me given it's reputation. Which leaves my favorite as Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clark. It's a pure hard sci-fi, great man invents great technology story, but I like Clark's writing, so I found it fun.
Sorry it's been a dry year. I'll have to look up those
I liked Too Like The Lightning, it was very good, but a friend told me next tomes are not as good, so I am fine with just reading the first one :)
Some people are saying to keep reading and some people saying to stop
Well I will not encourage you to go on with Too Like The Lightning. There were these fictional history drops as if they were some kind of trivia I was supposed to know or be concerned about and it did not read well. DNF.
Black Sun Rising I read long ago but only recall the start and the end. But I have the trilogy and want to give it a go. The first book cover is one of the best covers ever by Whelan.
Appreciate the nudge to keep going
If Souls in the Great Machine could be similar to the Bobiverse, then I’m in!
Definitely much darker in tone without any humor
Coldfire trilogy not talked about enough. Friedman has got some bangers.
Check out The Madness Season by her if you haven't.
Agreed! Hoping to read Maddess next year
my book name: STELLAR CROSSROADS A Galactic journey by Aryan mahetha
Ada Palmer requires a real effort. Worldbuilding, workings of society are one of a kind. There are a few really rewarding plot lines that will get you at the edge of your seat. But you have to treat it as a riddle. Not books about a riddle. The books are a riddle itself. Your brain needs to work for it.
Love your descriptor. I feel like I need to re approach the series with the right mental space to properly appreciate it
The Dying Earth is not a novel. Glad you liked it, though.
Doh!
The Car Tribe Universe.
Unique novel.
Free on Smashwords soon
YES! To Ball Lightning. Except, they say Ball Lightning way too much lol
Lol !... true
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I like her recommendations for the most part but she tends to sway way to far into climate change books
I happened to do a deep dive this year 🤷♀️
Hi there Hi there Hi hey hello there
As soon as that garbage book Too Like the Lightning appeared I was out. This fascination with serial killers is a sickness, and that is one of the most badly-written novels I’ve encountered.