fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2674 ]

[ SECRET POST #2674 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2674 ⌋

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 044 secrets from Secret Submission Post #382.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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What's one of your favorite, lesser-known books? I noticed that when people ask me for recs, I usually end up naming stuff they've already heard of. So, variety! Go!

also I just watched GOT and I basically want a book solely about Brienne so if anyone has any recs for books about lady knights, that would be awesome.

also I just watched GOT and I basically want a book solely about Brienne so if anyone has any recs for books about lady knights, that would be awesome.

Have you read any of Tamora Pierce's books?

'Changeling', by Zilpha Keatly Snyder. It's a kid's book, but it is amazing and awesome. Same author, 'Black and Blue Magic'.

Also, 'The Flame Trees of Thika' by Elspeth Huxley.

I LOVE A. Lee Martinez's books. If you like sharp humor and trippy fantasy mixed in with urban life, then they are for you. And they're short. You can bang 'em out pretty quickly.

'The Book of the Dun Cow' by Walter Wangerin Jr.

I can't do better than this Amazon review:

Wangerin has written a book that begs to be read aloud, but is a joy to read to yourself as well. His use of language is breathtaking -- evoking both a classic fairy tale and stylized character study. Do NOT let the fact that the main characters are talking animals throw you.
TBODC is fable about Chauntacleer the Rooster, his Coop (and the surrounding lands), and their battle against a monstrous, mythic evil. Both intimate and epic, the story of the animals' battle are filled with heartrending sadness and soulcleansing joy.
I would hard-pressed to label or categorize this book. Many have called it an allegory, and there ARE allegorical elements to it, but it is much more (or much different) from straight allegory. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, and a skilled reader, but Wangerin layers his story with meanings and submeanings, many of which I am sure escaped me. I didn't care, though. The wonderful language and emotion of the story immersed me into Chauntacleer's world, and I could marvel at the depth without knowing exactly HOW deep it went.
If you're searching for a new fable that feels familiar but not predictable, one you can treaure and read aloud to friends and family, The Book of the Dun Cow is for you.

Oh! I read this many-years-ago, and it's stuck with me all this time. Now I know author and title I can go search for it again. Thanks, anon!

If you like short story collections, I am head over heels for Machine of Death. Basically the concept is that there's a machine that 100% accurately predicts how you'll die, and the stories all revolve around characters interacting with it and dealing with the knowledge (whether accepting fate or trying to escape it, often to ironic ends). As in any collection, some stories are better than others, but I'd say that they're all fairly solid, and there's quite a few absolute gems in there.

DA

Just FYI, there's a tabletop game based off of it, where the players are cooperating as assassins to kill targets without violating the death prediction. I've played it once, and we ended up having to kill a guy who was going to die via Yeti, so we arranged a surprise birthday party involving Yeti costumes, and I think killer bees.
Basically, it works out to a hectic, hilarious exercise in collaborative storytelling.

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

(Anonymous) - 2014-04-30 00:36 (UTC) - Expand

Since you're looking for lady knights I should mention my friend's book: The Second Mango by Shira Glassman. The lady warrior isn't the main character but she's the second most important character and it goes into her back story. The whole book is adorable and made me smile until my face hurt.

One of my favorite fantasy writers is Guy Gavriel Kay and I don't know why he's not more well-known. I started with Tigana and I love The Lions of Al-Rassan.

Octavia Butler's Fledgling has one of my favorite takes on vampires but I never hear anything about it.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie is a lot of fun. There's also a sequel.

I love Guy Gavriel Kay's work. I think there are only two that I can't be bothered to re-read, although I didn't dislike them.

Ooh yes, Fledgling! I kept trying to sneak it onto the vampire rec list for the library where I work, alongside Robin McKinley's Sunshine, but it was a teen rec list, which apparently made both books not appropriate. Except some of Charlaine Harris's stuff made the list and I think maybe some Laurel K. Hamilton, so idek.

This is a horrible description, but the God's War trilogy by Kameron Hurley. Science-fantasy with lots of complex, interesting characters (at least half are women), grey and gray morality, and an interesting kind of magic and tech system: bugs. Bug-powered cars, bugs used in medicine, bug lamps, bugs for everything! Also, there are lesbians.

Omg that sounds great.

Shit, most of my books from childhood get a resounding "What?" from people...

Do you like talking animals embroiled in warfare, mysteries, and violence? (And no, I'm not talking about Watership Down or Redwall).

Well... not knights, but swordswoman/mage combo? Mercedes Lackey's "Vows of Honor" series features two women as a bonded (though not romantically/sexually) pair. By the Sword also features a swordfighting heroine who's a mercenary.

Ugh, sorry, forgot to add that for lesser known fantasy books:

Phyllis Eisenstein, The Sorcerer's Son and The Crystal Palace - Slightly old-school but not in an awful way, very earth-magic focused and fairytale like.

(reply from suspended user)

seconding the chekhov rec, most insightful writer i've ever read.

i'd advise ppl to brace themselves for anxiety before reading notes from the underground/dostoyevsky in general. it's gr8, but 1/3 into it you'll be wishing for a mercy death for the narrator. and you know beforehand it won't come.

(reply from suspended user)

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

brooms - 2014-04-30 03:41 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

(Anonymous) - 2014-04-30 03:52 (UTC) - Expand

The Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula LeGuin (fantasy)
Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood (dystopian sci-fi)
Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell (fantasy, can be a bit difficult to get into)
Gormenghast series - Mervyn Peake (fantasy, good if you like GoT)
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (fantasy, another rec for people who like GoT)

Monster Blood Tattoo series - D.M. Cornish (YA fantasy, INCREDIBLE worldbuilding, but like JS&MN can be a bit difficult to get into)
Obernewtyn - Isobelle Carmody(YA, dystopian sci-fi, cool X-men mind powers)
The Mortal Engines series - Phillip Reeve. (YA, dystopian steampunk-ish?)
The Edge Chronicles - Paul Stewart (YA, fantasy, more awesome worldbuilding, with illustrations by Chris Riddell)

oh shit sorry - the author of JS&MN is Susanna Clarke

LeGuin, Atwood, and Mieville count as "lesser-known" these days?! I remember when they were the go-to's who you'd recommend in "fantasy for people who usually don't read fantasy." I feel old.

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

(Anonymous) - 2014-04-30 03:20 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

cushlamochree - 2014-04-30 21:03 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

(Anonymous) - 2014-04-30 05:06 (UTC) - Expand

I've rec'd it here before, but I adore Jo Walton's "Small Change" trilogy (Farthing, Ha'Penny, Half a Crown). It's a series of alternate history mysteries, in a world where Great Britain forms a peace with Nazi Germany and their whole government gradually goes fascist. I recommend it if you like Christie or Sayers type mysteries, detective fiction with multiple interesting queer characters (both good and bad), and especially if you want a well-researched and chillingly plausible alternate history. They were reissued under the Tor Forge line a year or two ago, so they're now easier to find than they once were!

Re: Lesser-known book recs!

(Anonymous) - 2014-04-30 03:21 (UTC) - Expand

No lady knights, but for fantasy, Lud-in-the-Mist. You can see how it had a strong influence on Neil Gaiman and Susanna Clarke.

Dogsbody.

This was childhood favorite. I read it as an adult a year ago, and boy does it hold up. Fantasy at its best and most creative. I loved every single page.

Also the only Diana Wynne Jones book that I love. Her other books ranged from decent but forgettable to downright horrible.

The Flight of the Heron, by D K Broster. 1745 Rebellion in Scotland. Jacobite chieftain meets English officer. H/C gold and very thoroughly researched. Three-tissue warning for the ending.

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