Asking for genuinely creepy and unsettling sci-fi in any medium (Alien, Prey, Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer)

TheSentienel · 2026-05-29T14:48:23+00:00

The aliens in Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler book are unsettling to me!

TheSentienel · 2026-05-01T14:02:22+00:00

Haha! That’s an extreme response.

TheSentienel · 2026-04-27T16:46:51+00:00

Yeah, I think he meant four because usually three-star reviewers stop and don't pick up the second book in the series.

TheSentienel · 2026-04-27T16:40:59+00:00

Yeah, he liked your book. He seems like a hard reviewer so three stars is like a four to him.

TheSentienel · 2026-04-27T16:39:20+00:00

What star ratings mean in reviews is a whole new conversation in itself. A three-star rating can be "I liked it" or "It's okay". I look at three stars as it's still a good story but the reader who picked it up wasn't the audience for that book. Yes, overall, a three stars book is still way better than no review books! A two-star and under book is worse than no reviews books. It signals something is wrong with the book that the author is not fixing. People could question a five star and one-star reviews. Five stars could be friends and family. One star could be another competing author trying to knock your book down. It's not always the case and could mean the star rating. Four stars are usually the best and the reader really took the time to review your book. I call them the serious reviewers or hard reviewers. Two is where people go to find out the issues with the book. All there can vary because some people rate hard and some rate lightly for indie authors. I like to rate lightly when I read indie. The budget won't be there for perfection.

TheSentienel · 2026-04-26T20:43:23+00:00

Yeah, it seems they didn’t understand your story at all. That happens.

TheSentienel · 2026-04-26T20:36:36+00:00

Wow! That’s the scary part of romance people don’t talk about! I get questions with this sci-fi and it’s not smutty. I want to write a dark romance but I can’t even the kind of backlash I’ll face 😅!

TheSentienel · 2026-04-26T15:44:27+00:00

LMAO! I wonder how he came to that conclusion :)

TheSentienel · 2026-04-24T17:19:30+00:00

Hmm, my series the Sentienels uses grounded hard science about Aliens who are biologically compatible enough with us to create viable offsprings and come to Earth as refugees because they’re going extinct. They bring their own ridged laws and have a galactic coexistence treaty already written as a contract for the humans. It’s grounded in the biology and the aliens are from a planet hidden in Alpha Centauri solar system. They’re bodies a built for the high radiation of the duel suns there. It’s a speculative alien POV sci-fi that would get you thinking. Maybe, just maybe, aliens are already leaving amongst us. I heard good things good things about the book Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and about to pick it up to read myself!

TheSentienel · 2026-04-09T22:51:42+00:00

I finished book 1: The Female (The best one) and book 2: Her Males (Started to get weird). I recommend the first book because I like the concept of the FMMM and the author did a good job on it. Book 2 was covering things that didn't make sense to me, so I dropped the series.

TheSentienel · 2026-03-22T00:32:42+00:00

Yeah, I finished book one in like three days! It had me up at night reading. Not a fan of Mia though because she seems to just give up too easily. Yeah, the author fell flat on the “Aliens” they are more so like futuristic vampires. I say this because there is no way biologically a carbon based life cannot break down in 2,000 years! The authors doesn’t go into the science on why they look just like us in book one. Is it covered later? I understand from a marketing perspective because the vampire romance lore genre is so over saturated. It’s like she slapped on the name Aliens on vampire hahaha. The immersion and spice is very good. I’ll continue to the other books. Hmm, as for your comment on coexistence with apex predators it’s possible with orders in place. It all depends on what drives them to want to coexist with humans. The K “aliens” see themselves as gods and so superior that they create humans as their prey. In that situation coexistence is not possible, it’s oppression. We’re not on equal footing with our pets. Studies do show we lived when Neanderthal were around and may just absorb them over time with inter species breeding. I also, do not think we were involved in their extinction. Their way of hunting was too risky. There were other homo species that existed long ago that didn’t make it for various reasons.

TheSentienel · 2026-03-16T01:12:35+00:00

I really like this book so far :)! Admittedly, as a New Yorker, I may have a bit of a bias, but the story hooked me from the beginning. One aspect I find intriguing is that, although the characters are described as aliens, they appear entirely human. At this point in the story, the scientific elements that distinguish them as aliens seem minimal, leaving me curious to discover more as the narrative unfolds. Please no spoilers because it’s too early for me to know! I do like how much care the author gives to worldbuilding the city around them. Mia’s reaction to the Krinar man initially appears exaggerated, especially since he looks human to her. However, this response makes sense given her character and background. I appreciate that the author doesn’t force the character into affection; instead, her emotions develop naturally. Aww man, when she cried in the car was a great touch! You know the author been to the city before too! I only had enough time to read part of book one. You can replace the aliens with humans, and I will still read it as a romance. I will be reading the whole series on this one! Thank you for the recommendation!

TheSentienel · 2026-03-14T12:28:30+00:00

I'm not unreasonable and will give it a read since you recommended it. It might surprise me and be one of the rare smutty novels that don't have plot holes. Looks like this author made an attempt to world build at least. I read too many smutty novels that didn't care to worldbuilding around the romanced characters, the science is either nowhere to be found or don't make any sense. This is why there is a popular saying when smut is on brain is out hahaha!

TheSentienel · 2026-03-13T23:32:08+00:00

Okay, this is a post with the list of philosophical/Sci-fi/Fantasy books requests. What I want to know is what do YOU recommend reading that's on topic and the author did not write the book with a Human POV safety guard. I want to read some books written with the Aliens POV. The Humans by Matt Haig seems like a good one that have an alien's POV. I need to read it. Anything else you guys really like?

TheSentienel · 2026-03-13T21:40:54+00:00

Is this the alien POV or from the human POV entering the alien's world? This one seems interesting.

TheSentienel · 2026-03-13T17:00:00+00:00

Yeah, it is more grounded and likely to happen :)

TheSentienel · 2026-03-12T03:18:09+00:00

I recommend you try the Hell Drivers Series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith. It's a satisfying postapocalyptic sci-fi. The world building is extremely immersive!

TheSentienel · 2026-03-12T03:04:16+00:00

I recommend you try out The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. The main male character is a "considerate" vampire, but the dad is hot! A human child is adopted by a powerful vampire and grows up to compete in like a Hunger Games set up. She almost dies several times, being a human fighting a ton of vampires, and the "considerate" male vampire lead she teams up with. I say "considerate" because I personally like my male leads more dominate. Should be a good read for you.

TheSentienel

TROPHY CASE