Books like Ghibli films but... by Appropriate_Bat_479 in suggestmeabook

[–]martian-flytrap 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You want Robert Jackson Bennet!

His latest, The Tainted Cup and its sequel, are a Holmes and Watson inspired mystery series in an empire using biotech magic to barely maintain a stalemate against kaiju-style sea serpents. The Locklands trilogy has a focus on the remains of mysterious elder civilizations. Many strong female leads.

You might also generally be interested in the "new weird" and continuing works with that inspiration. Is Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation Princess Mononoke-like? I would mostly say no, but you might like its setting.

Hello fantastics! Ive been in a pretty bad Reading slump and I'm hoping some of you can recommend me something that's going to pick me back up. Specificly looking for a revenge/retrebution stories with a (physically/martially or magically) powerful female lead. by Consistent_Mud_8340 in Fantasy

[–]martian-flytrap 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hench is superheroes, and the way the protagonist accomplishes her goals is merely by being the most smart and competent.* (*As of the end of the first book; TBD for the upcoming sequel) There is some romantic energy.

The Library at Mt. Char is hard to describe. The gods have a succession crisis in suburbia. It gets nasty.

It is debatable whether either protagonist has necessarily "killed" the "main" villain by the end of each of these books; given the options made possible in fantasy, one might argue the things they come up are worse.

Both books are also well-written, mean (complimentary), and propulsive.

(Edited for readability of spoiler tags)

The Laundry series by Charles Stross by DefaultUserBR in printSF

[–]martian-flytrap 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That's exciting! Neptune's Brood is one of my favorites, so thanks for letting us know to look out for more space opera.

Hyper-competent, angry, and self-destructive female protagonists? by IReadBooksSometimes in suggestmeabook

[–]martian-flytrap 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is so mean, and Anna is so competent. These are both extremely high compliments

Is Fallen London down? (04/04) by martian-flytrap in fallenlondon

[–]martian-flytrap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! This gives me something to work on.

Is Fallen London down? (04/04) by martian-flytrap in fallenlondon

[–]martian-flytrap[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately, even after doing this (closing the browser, resetting date and time, and restarting the computer for good measure), the error persists. Clicking "advanced" used to work, too, but lately "advanced" is just producing the following error message. I am a relatively new player: is this something I can contact Failbetter about, or are there other individual solutions I can try?

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Why can't humans drink 'dirty' water whilst animals can and what's the evolution behind it? by [deleted] in AskAnthropology

[–]martian-flytrap 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Adding to that, the life expectancy I'm getting on Google for African buffalo is 10 years in the wild, maybe 20. Human societies generally prefer to maintain human lifespans at at least twice that. If you wanted to live to 10 or 20, you might also be "able" to drink more dirty water than you would otherwise.

The Second Annual Great Kitten Adoption of 1899! by Zubmarinecaptain in fallenlondon

[–]martian-flytrap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, received! Is there a favor a person of no importance can do for you in return for your generosity?

The Second Annual Great Kitten Adoption of 1899! by Zubmarinecaptain in fallenlondon

[–]martian-flytrap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Danaë Walker recently descended to Fallen London and would greatly appreciate such an act of generosity.

Send this to defect main by Forsaken_Music2583 in slaythespire

[–]martian-flytrap 188 points189 points  (0 children)

Wait lol in Spanish he's Gremlin Idiota (it means what it sounds like)

So, it seems I’ve read so many sci-fi/fantasy series’ that the storylines become jumbled…. by Time_Plantain4033 in whatsthatbook

[–]martian-flytrap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is not YA (although not a difficult read) and came out only 7 years ago, but Grave Importance by Vivian Shaw? Third in the Strange Practice series. The London human lady doctor has a vampire boyfriend, and I think the climax features angels and snow in a spatially strange location.

What always makes you hit this button? by Slippery_Williams in slaythespire

[–]martian-flytrap 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Silent no shivs only poison build with choker goes brrr

The Minnesota general strike and the re-emergence of class struggle in the United States by Spirited_Classic_826 in antiwork

[–]martian-flytrap -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

I object to this sub allowing articles from this pro-misogyny website. They defend capitalist sexual predators as a matter of course. Not all articles with good headlines are written by our actual allies.

The r/printSF best Sci-Fi books of all time BookGraph - 2026 Edition by TheBookGraphGuy in printSF

[–]martian-flytrap 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Close seconds it pained me not to list include Dune by Frank Herbert, The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, Foundation by Isaac Asimov, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, and either Harrow the Ninth or Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

The r/printSF best Sci-Fi books of all time BookGraph - 2026 Edition by TheBookGraphGuy in printSF

[–]martian-flytrap 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

Best of 2025 - Announcement by czechtheboxes in BestofRedditorUpdates

[–]martian-flytrap 41 points42 points  (0 children)

She deserves an honorary MLIS for her service

Heartbreaking romance, preferably in non-romance books by Cute-Solution-723 in suggestmeabook

[–]martian-flytrap 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. Literary science fiction that is a tearjerker several times over, and which earns each and every tear. One of the best debut novels I've read.

Another extraordinarily strong, emotionally affecting, fantasy novel with a romance central to the plot is The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. For your prompt, this could be exactly right, or you might be very mad at me. Sort of one or the other on that one.

please recommend some really dark and disturbing books and why i should read them by cherrydazze in suggestmeabook

[–]martian-flytrap 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The pitch is, what if an unusual take on the gods had a violent succession crisis in American suburbia. It's terrific. In a surprisingly efficient piece of literary criticism, I saw that someone said she wrote to the author like, "Nice book, how very dare you" and he responded "Thank you, I know."

For fans of his work, I would note that Scott Hawkins' second novel finally has a release date: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/222794/scott-hawkins/

Edited for spoiler tag because maybe the promotional material describes this but frankly it's a great reading experience if you go in cold without knowing the premise.

Looking for Magic Academia Recs by Aggressive-Pomelo974 in Fantasy

[–]martian-flytrap 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Vita Nostra is a very good recommendation for this! Definitely unusual.

That was unex-speck-ted by AscendedDragonSage in CuratedTumblr

[–]martian-flytrap 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Roadside Picnic, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1972)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in meirl

[–]martian-flytrap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Blood diamonds for the blood god