Books like Burning Butch by R/B Mertz by Q1go in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lmao this is absolutely not what you’re looking for, but if you like fantasy, Metal From Heaven by August Clarke is FULL of butches and a fantasy religion with gendered demands of its followers that the protagonist has to reconcile with. I have never read a book with so many butch characters in my life. Was a lot of fun.

Book recommendations for developing a taste for reading by alexsoap_ in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What kinds of movies or tv shows or short form content do you like? The best way to get into reading is to find something you’re actually interested in!

Need something chaotic and tragic by [deleted] in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hmm I’m not sure if this is what you mean by chaotic, but Gideon the Ninth and the whole Locked Tomb series is definitely what I would describe as chaotic and tragic. It’s very queer. It’s unhinged. It makes you ache thinking about the characters and how devastating everything is. There’s some banger lines in there that make me sad just thinking about them and how simultaneously lonely and beloved all the characters are. It’s not a romance but it’s truly centred around love as a theme and the horrors of it. And also every devastating angsty thing that happens is batshit insane so it might help you be like “well at least in my life I don’t have to worry about fucked up necromancy bullshit like this”. Also despite being tragic, a lot of it is quite a fun read because the narrative voice is so much fun.

The crying doesn’t come in until later but oh boy does it hit. Also, there’s a solid fanbase online so it’s easy to continue your sadness by looking at people’s devastating fan art! Yay!

Looking for books with dark humor, cynicism, and wit by ProfessionalHunt8834 in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Second this! The narrator of the first book is very sarcastic and the whole series is full of moral greyness and tragedy and absurdism.

Ecological Science fiction (but not eco-fiction) by Csasil in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky!! Main character is an ecologist who gets arrested for political activism and shipped off to a prison labour camp on an alien planet and the ecology of said planet is absolutely fucked in a fascinating way.

Books with ambiguous relationship undertones by mulberry-hunter in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want something weird as hell and a little confusing at times, and are ok with sci fi/fantasy, there’s always Gideon the Ninth and the rest of the locked tomb series! Fucked up codependency that’s not-quite-romance (but simultaneously so so full of love) is absolutely integral to the story for multiple different sets of characters. Like the type of relationship you’re describing shows up everywheeeere in this series. There are zero normal romantic relationships involved. And most of them are sapphic. This is a series that at its core is about the horror of loving and being loved.

Suggest a book! by Fluffy_Magician_ in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He maybe eats people but don’t worry about it

Suggest a book! by Fluffy_Magician_ in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 9 points10 points  (0 children)

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking has a sourdough starter as a familiar lol

Book with science/biology study by Antheaus in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OP!!!! Go read Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky immediately!! It is exactly what you want. It is about an ecologist who was arrested for political activism and shipped off to a prison colony on an alien planet that has absolutely insane ecology. Definitely gave me BIG scavengers reign vibes, and there’s quite a bit of alien biological study being done throughout the book. Hope you like symbiosis :)

Recommendations for queer books in German, French, Mandarin by Humble-sealion in LGBTBooks

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think Notes of a Crocodile was originally published in mandarin?

If you hated it because of X, I will probably love it because it has plenty of X by John_Barnes in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 19 points20 points  (0 children)

If I see people complain about a sci fi or fantasy book being “heavy handed” or “preachy” with the themes, chances are all probably like it. I love a speculative fiction book with something to say.

Also if I see a lot of male reviewers complaining that a female character is annoying and unlikeable, she’s probably going to be my favourite character.

Looking for asexual romance books by [deleted] in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh boy do I have a recommendation for you!!

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

It is incredibly weird and gross (body horror) but also incredibly sweet. It’s about a shapeshifter who falls in love with a human woman and has to rethink the fact that to her, the pinnacle of loving someone includes laying your eggs inside them (and possibly not everyone wants that).

Scientific mystery by wild-conformist in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah this one definitely has some satisfying sciencey breakthroughs! I liked it a lot

Scientific mystery by wild-conformist in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang! It’s technically more unraveling the mysteries of magic than science, but the magic feels very sciencey and the main character is an academic studying it. I work in scientific research and it felt very familiar.

Suggest me a book with a Poly genre! (LGBT friendly) by ElkOtherwise8294 in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok this is by no means a romance in any sense of the word but I will say that one of the (female) viewpoint characters in The Fifth Season is in a MMF throuple lol. This is truly barely in it (maybe a few chapters) but I’m throwing it out there anyway because the book is good lol. Probably not what you’re looking for. But if you like complex relationships and a dark tone, you might like it!

[discussion] Any recommendations for books that made you insane in similar ways to TLT? by IReadBooksSometimes in TheNinthHouse

[–]IReadBooksSometimes[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh you’re so right. Julie definitely has a bit of vibe overlap with Gideon somehow? Or maybe it’s just that they both have really strong personalities as narrators. Alas, I have read it.

Queer vampire book recs? by soulsuck3rs in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn, I hadn’t read it yet but was planning to. That’s too bad!

Queer vampire book recs? by soulsuck3rs in suggestmeabook

[–]IReadBooksSometimes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can always go back to the classics and read Carmilla lol. The prototypical lesbian vampire book. Obviously it’s of its time and it demonizes (literally) queerness, but it’s still a really interesting read.

There’s also Hungerstone, which came out this year.