It’s vital for you to realize that I do not recommend books unless I really like them. I also don’t blurb books unless I really like them. Folks have occasionally described a blurb-sharing universe that is at best morally corrupt, where agents and editors and authors trade blurbs in back alleys for, I dunno, exotic pets or fancy Japanese sneakers or multidimensional designer drugs. I have never received these things. I talk about books I love — and I’ll blurb ’em, too — because I need you to trust me. I can’t just go blurbing any ol’ hunk of monkeyspunk — that’s regardless of whether you’re a friend or someone I’ve never met.
So, right now I’m going to recommend a pair of books, each by a close friend, but I want you to realize that my recommendation is in no way corrupted by this fact.
I loved both of these books, and you may, too.
First up: Lila Bowen’s Wake of Vultures. It’s a wonderfully weird-ass supernatural Western. It has shapeshifters and monsters and monster-hunting. It has knives. It has harpies. It tackles issues of identity and gender and objectification. It’s violent and funny. (I might recommend it, actually, to folks who like my Miriam Black books.) Nettie Lonesome is your new jam. Thing about this book though that really struck me is the way it was written — it’s sodden with voice. Just drips with it. The prose stomps right up to the edge of almost too damn much and then stops and stays there, and it’s just fucking perfect. (Reminds me a little of Pretty Deadly, in fact.) So, hell, mount up and take the ride, will you? (Indiebound | Amazon)
Next: Adam Christopher’s Made to Kill. This is another book where the genres kind of bleed into another a little bit — it’s a Raymond Chandlerian story set in the 60s with a robot “detective” (cough cough assassin) at its heart. He loses his memory every day due to his tapes erasing. He’s got a cantankerous AI named Ada in his head. He takes on a job from a young girl who might be the damsel in distress or might be the femme fatale or who might be something else entirely — and in classic noir fashion, the story everyone thinks they’re getting is really just the tip of the sinister iceberg. It straddles the line between silly and serious, and it’s a lean book with nary an ounce of fat on it — Adam’s writing is forthright and no-nonsense and quick as the stick of a switchblade. (Indiebound | Amazon)
So, I’ve named two books I liked recently.
I’m asking you to name just one.
Go into the comments, talk about a book you read within the last few months that you really liked. Tell us why you liked it. Tell us why we should read it.
Jana Denardo says:
I’m reading a Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman and I’m really enjoying. It’s a Weird West story that’s set in the early 1800s with a Hispanic female lead, a young woman raised in a town control by the devil (whether or not he’s Lucifer is open to debate) in an alternative plains/desert “West” that is filled with wild magic that separates it from the more civilized East. She is to become the devil’s left hand, but what exactly that means not even Isobel knows. This story starts with her sixteenth birthday and takes her from a sheltered naive woman and turns her into an experienced trail rider and the devil’s spokeswoman, whatever that means. It’s very enjoyable. It’s believable and the characters are likable.
November 9, 2015 — 9:51 PM
Wesley says:
“The Extra” by Michael Shea. Hollywood blockbuster action films have become feature length snuff films. People living below the poverty line are promised tons of money if they can survive the film shoot during which they are hunted by giant mechanical monsters. They are also offered tons of money for each monster they destroy as an incentive to keep them from simply hiding the whole time. And it gets really weird. There is a sequel called “Assault On Sunrise,” but the author sadly passed on before the final volume could be completed. Totally worth the suspense to read it though.
November 9, 2015 — 10:51 PM
Joy Cronjé says:
There’s this book called Mockingbird by this random guy Chuck that I read in recent months. Oh wait. You’ve read that. you wrote it.
Okay, what about Brandon Sandersen’s Mistborn Trilogy? Read that recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, I’m a fan of epic fantasy. Anyway, there ya go.
November 10, 2015 — 7:02 AM
dcxli says:
I must agree with you in Mistborn. It’s great!
November 10, 2015 — 9:45 AM
totiltwithwindmills says:
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is a book that I just recently finished. It was recommended by my boyfriend, but in no way did that guarantee I’d like it. It’s labeled as horror, buuut I think only cause it’s the dark sort of Werewolf book instead of the cuddly kind that has become more popular post-Twilight. There’s some parts that might be a little jumpy for people though otherwise not horror in the scary sense. Why do I love this book? It’s beautiful. I mean truly beautiful. The writing is. . . downright gorgeous, and I love the growth of the main character. I also love the development of the side characters and how none of them lack just cause they aren’t the main character. This book made me tear up and/or cry at multiple points, and so many quotes from it stuck with me. It’s also, as I said above, not the cuddly werewolf fair though neither is the usual werewolf stuff as it’s much darker, much niftier. I suck at blurbing things and don’t dare attempt for worry that it might turn you off, but I do highly suggest that people give it a read cause it’s a book that’ll stick with you.
November 10, 2015 — 7:54 AM
SamKD says:
His non-werewolf stuff is good too.
November 10, 2015 — 9:47 AM
Drew Shiel says:
Max Gladstone’s _Three Parts Dead_ is a magnificent piece of work. It’s set in a modern-ish world where magic occupies some of what we use technology for, and some of what we use law for. There are gods, and wizards, and even monsters, but it’s a long way from being typical Tolkienesque fantasy. Better still, there are a number of further books in the series – this one is just a good place to start.
November 10, 2015 — 10:48 AM
Elly Conley says:
I absolutely LOVED “Mind of Winter”, because it starts out promising one thing and then delivers another—masterfully. Written by an author who is primarily a poet, the prose knows EXACTLY what it wants to say and what it DOES say. It’s creepy and sinister without being hokey. I think anyone can relate to the themes and emotions. I’m not going to spoil it with more reasons I love it, just take my word for it—it’s so great.
November 10, 2015 — 1:57 PM
Elly Conley says:
erf. Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke. Sorry.
November 10, 2015 — 1:57 PM
Nox says:
I am currently in love with Justin Cronin’s The Passage series. The first book hits around the 900 page mark and I took it out in a few days. But seriously, the U.S. government uses death row inmates as lab rats to turn them into super vampires that do two things: destroy anything with a pulse and make more vampires. What could go wrong?
Also just started Zeroes by this dude with a blog and a dirty mouth about some hackers. I guess it’s okay so far…
November 11, 2015 — 1:35 PM
uriel says:
Best book I’ve read this year was “Lexicon” by Max Barry. Fast-paced plotting, well-developed characters, and an insanely awesome concept of words as weapons. Almost makes you want to try muttering random gibberish at other people just to see what combination of sounds will turn them into mindless slaves open to literally any suggestion.
November 12, 2015 — 2:11 AM
stranger says:
I’ll even name you a whole trilogy: The Shattered Sea (Half a King, Half the World, Half a War) by Joe Abercrombie. I loved all these books and for some f*ed up reason this books have flown entirely under the radar. It’s Abercrombie’s typically grim twist on fantasy, but stuffed into a kind of YA story (which still is pretty dark) with great characters and topics. Also the books are written in propably the most efficent, fast-paced, awesome-sounding prose I’ve ever read. It really is beyond me how these didn’t get at least as much attention as Abercrombie’s First Law books.
November 13, 2015 — 9:59 PM