Want books with cool narration? | SFF Recommendations [CC]
Welcome back to dead good book reviews. I’m
Judith, and you are watching another video
here on the channel today, I thought it’d be
fun to do another listy kind of video. I’ve
not done one of those in a few weeks maybe, um,
today I want to talk about books that have an
interesting narrative structure. Because I have
a lot of books on this list. Some of them I own,
some of them I don’t, it’s just easier to
ask editing Judith, please could you edit the
covers in I have 11 books on this list. Some
of them I haven’t read for a very long time,
I thought this list would be much easier
to put together than it ended up being.
Because I read a lot of books that have arguably
fairly standard narrative structure. And finding
ones that had a little something unique to them
maybe was more difficult than I expected. But I
have compiled that list for you. And I’m going
to present it and Stop waffling. Now. first up,
I have what will not surprise anyone I talk
about this in almost every single listed video.
I don’t know why. But it’s chorus of dragons,
doo, dah, dah, dah, dah. I have a video for this
whole series
would like to find out more about it in detail,
you can go and check that out here. But just
to talk about the narrative structure. This is
a series which is compiled as a set of kind of
Chronicles that have been compiled by characters
in the books who are reading a book from within
that world. And they have footnoted and commented
on various elements of the story, which you
then get to read, but also within the story,
oftentimes, not in every single book. But in
most of them, you have different characters
telling different parts of the story. And then you
jump back to the place in which they are telling
that story. And you go through it all. And it just
makes for a really interesting read where you can
follow it easy enough, you can know where you
are in time, you can know what you’re doing. But
it just means that you get a really interesting
set of perspectives on the story. Because also,
quite often you’ll have two characters who were
both there. And you’ll get different perspectives
on how honest that story was, and what they
thought about various different things that went
on. And it’s hard to describe without spoiling it,
but for example, a character describing another
character’s parents doing it. And their reaction
to that it makes it so much fun, you get to know
the characters in such a different way, you
get to know the characters at different stages
of their life, which I found very enjoyable,
especially because it is kind of a book about
different generations and growing up. And so such
I just, it’s such a great series, the narrative
structure is one of the big selling points for
me, I know some people who didn’t get on with it,
I think actually the first book where obviously
most people would start, it is least strong,
or maybe arguably book one and two, because
they’re most looking back on the distant past. But
I think that once you get to book three and four,
it just, it really excels because at that point,
you’ll also understand more about who’s telling
the stories and why I absolutely recommend this
series. It’s one of my favorite epic fantasy
series. Go for it. Enjoy yourselves. You’re
welcome. Next on my list, I have the Memoirs of
Lady trent series, again, a series I’ve talked
about many a time, I’m very specifically going
to be talking about the spin off book, Turning
darkness into light. Because this book, more
than any of the others contains diary entries,
newspaper reports. And so such that really
just round out the corners of this world. I
love the original books for being memoirs it works
really, really well. But something about that that
other book where you just sometimes learn more
about different elements of the story through
the newspaper articles, and you can infer
quite a lot about the bias of that society
through the newspapers. And the other character’s,
diary entries give you a bit of insight into why
they’re acting the way they do. It rounds
it out wonderfully. And as a story that is,
in some ways, it sounds very boring in that
you are dealing with people who are translating
ancient tablets, there’s translations in there as
well. But they are translating ancient tablets,
not particularly exciting. But a lot goes on
in this world. And the tablets have a lot of
meaning for the world and for various different
aspects of society that I think just oh it just
makes it work extremely, extremely well. And
as a person with a background in archaeology,
it really spoke to me. And I wish that archaeology
got reported in the news in the way that it
perhaps used to or does in fantasy books. Alas,
most people aren’t interested in, we found a
slightly different shaped rock. Yeah, one that I
haven’t talked about in a very, very long time. If
I’ve ever talked about it on the channel, I don’t
know that I have is world war z I don’t even know
who this is by I read this on the recommendation
of a friend at an archeological dig actually,
how interesting who I said, I had no interest in
zombie books. I have no interest in watching the
film, because I think it had just come out at
the time I was reading it perhaps I certainly
had a digital cover. That was the film. So it must
have been around about that time. She said to me,
no, no, no, you need to read it because it’s
completely different than what you would think.
And it is what world war z is is a series of
interviews that take place after the zombie
apocalypse has sort of been managed. It’s not
over, but it’s been managed. And they look at
various different aspects of society. And it’s
kind of simultaneously How did they cope? Or
how were they affected by the zombie apocalypse.
And it’s what you would expect you’ll get a few
kinds of people who were stuck in big battles and
so such but more often than not the things that
really stick with you reading the book, certainly
for me, is the ecological impact or the impact on
very small families or individuals or things you
wouldn’t expect. So they’re my favorite essay
in the whole thing, essay interview. And the
whole thing is, they talk to you somebody who
is a whale conservationist, and this is maybe a
minor spoiler. I don’t think it’s spoiling the
book for you. Honestly, it’s fine, but they
talk about how How when humanity took to the
water to avoid zombies, they ended up killing
all of the whales because they needed food.
And people stopped caring because they thought
the end of the world had come. And it’s just a
really interesting look at the apocalypse because
it is from this kind of interviewing, looking back
on it perspective, and it works incredibly well.
And I recommend it quite often, if you don’t like
zombies, I wouldn’t read it, they does contain
some spooky zombie stuff. But it’s just a really
fascinating book. And it feels really well thought
out dark and deepest red by AM McLemore which I
will be talking about in an overbooked video very
soon. So keep your eyes peeled for that. In fact,
if all goes to plan, it will be coming out
in two weeks. So if you haven’t subscribed,
subscribe for that. This is on here. It’s not a
particularly unique narrative structure to do a
dual timeline kind of book. In fact, I think
there’s probably some others on this list.
But I was having trouble making this list. So I
thought I would include it. And this we have one
narrative that is in the 1500s in Strasbourg, and
one that is in the US that is modern day. And what
I like about this is it doesn’t just have history
is repeating itself in these two narratives.
And aren’t I clever as an author, but you have
one narrative kind of interacting with the other
and learning about your history and choosing
not to repeat it or seeing what’s different,
more than what’s the same. And I very much enjoyed
experiencing that. And I think it’s a really good
example of a dual narrative book that works or
dual timeline, book that works. And I think,
especially when you’re dealing with kind of queer
narratives, and when you’re dealing with that,
at the other intersection of things like
race and identity and various other things,
I think it just does a really good job of
showing, this is how things were in the past.
And here’s the hopeful parts of that. And here’s
the nasty parts of that. And here we are in the
future. And here’s how far we’ve come. And here’s
how far we’ve got to go still. And I just really
liked the way that those were paired together.
That is a kind of fairy tale retelling of The
Red Shoes, combined with a sort of historically,
fiction kind of look at a town that got cursed
to dance. And it’s very interesting, the Broken
Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, which starts with
the fifth season. I absolutely recommend these
all the time, love NK Jemisin love the way she
does narration, it comes into play in a lot of her
works. And there’s a lot of different narrators,
there’s a lot of interesting playing with second
person. And so such but I think the fifth season
really exemplifies that and using that to create
mystery and intrigue and to set up parts of the
book that you don’t expect to come in later.
I’m not going to spoil any of it for you. But
I just would say if you’re looking for interesting
narrators NK Jemisin is an author that you really,
really want to explore, and I would personally
start with the Broken Earth trilogy. I think
it’s fantastic. It’s sort of semi, not even
post apocalyptic, like fantasy apocalyptic.
It’s just wonderful. You’re just gonna have to
trust me on this because I need to do a reread
before I talk about in any detail. But it is so so
good. Another book that I haven’t read in a very
long time. And when I did read it, I only read
it once. And I think it was from the library,
the Raven Tower by Ann Leckie this is on
the list because every time I’m recommending
this book to someone or someone says, oh, I
should read this, should I read this? Maybe
I always go, yes, it’s got a really interesting
narrator And it’s because it’s narrated by
some thing you wouldn’t expect someone you
wouldn’t expect hard to say. And again,
I don’t want to spoil it for you. But it’s just
a really, really interesting fantasy book. And I
very much enjoyed it, I think it is well worth
looking at if only because it’s so different
from everything else that you will at least feel
that your palate has been cleansed in some way
Raven tower ann leckie which is interesting,
because Ancillary Justice, I did not really
like that much. And that does have some similar
narration elements to it, but it just wasn’t
for me. Whereas this this I very much enjoyed one
of my early overbooked videos is for the tangled
lands. This is a collection of short stories. It’s
one of two short story collections on this list.
Yes. And I like this for being a collection
of short stories all set in the same world
that sort of follow on from one another but are
not about each one is not about the other. It’s
more that the events of one story affect the
events of another. So you see the consequences
of the actions of the former story in this story.
And it’s a really interesting sort of fairy tale
inspired world where people have used too much
magic, and it has caused brambles to show up
everywhere and kind of a Sleeping Beauty sort
of way. And they can’t be dealt with. And they
massively affect society. And they banned the use
of magic, except the elite are still definitely
using it because the brambles are still turning
up. And what does that world look like? How do
you deal with equality in that kind of world and
it’s just so well written and it’s so underrated
and I have heard no one talking about it ever, and
I always want people to so read the tangled lands,
it’s a really good collection, and it’s not super
long, so you’ll get through it really quickly.
It’s just an enjoyable set of stories. I would
say it’s also very, very sad. If you’re like
me and things being unfair upsets you, it will
upset you but in a good way. The other short
story collection I have on this list is recently
out it’s boys beasts and men by Sam Miller and
short story collections often include multiple
different kinds of narration. What I think is
interesting about the structure of this book is
that it is a collection of short stories that
have been published at various different points
in Sam Miller’s Career, but throughout them all in
between each story is a little chunk of another
story that just ties them all together. And I
find that really interesting as obviously all of
these were written at different times they weren’t
written to connect And they found a way to connect
them that doesn’t feel super clunky. It feels very
genuine. And it actually makes for a wonderful
story arc in the book itself. And as somebody
who often find myself getting a bit stuck in short
story collections where I’m kind of like I don’t,
I’m jumping from one thing to another, it doesn’t
really fit. I’m going from space to cowboys,
I don’t, I don’t know what I’m doing. I really
appreciated that link between them just making
it all flow and giving the whole book this sense
of movement that a lot of short story collections
for me, don’t have Can you tell I like things to
be connected up, because it’s the same for the
tangled lands. Another book that is presented as
a series of interviews, this isn’t sci fi, this is
historical fiction, I guess Daisy Jones and the
six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, I think everyone
and their mom has already talked about this, I
just wanted to bring it up as I really enjoyed
it as a set of interviews, similar to World War Z,
except that that’s looking at the world. And this
is more looking at the history of a band. It’s
a beautiful book, it gets lots and lots of hype,
it deserves it, it’s a really enjoyable read. It’s
emotional, it’s difficult at times, but it just
hits the spot. And if you want something that is
very easy to read, very quick to read and feels
very different. Because of that interview style, I
would say go for it. If you read it, and you find
that you’re not enjoying it, I wouldn’t keep going
because it does stay the same interview style
throughout. But I think it’s just a really good
way of telling a story. The Masquerade series is
another one that I’ve talked about fairly often,
it’s one that I always find myself not quite
understanding. So I’m not super confident about
talking about it, but I have read them all. So
here you go. I enjoy a lot of elements of this
book. I think particularly in the later books,
maybe book two and Book Three, there’s some really
interesting use of the narration and use of the
prose to convey a lot of different aspects of
character, especially in kind of an almost,
it’s not quite a descent into madness, but it’s
that kind of thing going on. And it makes it quite
difficult to read to be fair, because it’s already
quite a chunky book with a lot to understand in
terms of the economics and you throw in a whole
different element of narration in there. And it
gets even trickier. But I do think that it works
really well as a depiction of what’s going on in
the book. In the book itself. I really like that
I like a book that can show me what a character is
going through through the page. That’s another
epic fantasy. It deals a lot with economics,
he deals a lot with the power behind empire and
how to pull down an empire from within. It’s a
great series, it is a little bit complicated, in
my opinion, possibly a little bit overcomplicated,
but I really liked the story. And I’m very excited
to one day, potentially read the end of it,
one day it will come out. And last on this list
is a series that I added to it very recently,
which is why this is 11 and not 10, which is a
nice round number. This is the Tensorate series
by neon Yang, the first book perfectly fine,
the second book from a different narrator.
Even better. The third one is also similarly
to a number of the other things on this list
is told in various different things. There are
transcripts of interviews in there, there are
reports, there are letters, there are other bits
and bobs within it as a way of telling the story.
And it works really, really well because the third
book is a lot about a cover up, or corporate cover
up as it were. And I think that telling that
through reports and having to read between the
lines is one of my favorite things. I love a
book where you have to read between the lines,
I would say that if you are going to read this
series, I would actually start with book two and
go back to book one, and then read book three,
which sounds ludicrous, but I think but one is
perfectly fine. It does its job it does what it
needs do. But Book Two is really really really
good. And Book Three is even better. And then
Book One feels more like a prequel to those
I have not yet read the fourth one I am going to
it is on my list, but I thought I would bring up
because Book Three fits so nicely with this prompt
and I wanted a chance to plug the series again,
that sort of fantasy with a big exploration of
gender particularly in the first book and then
it goes more into other ideas as they go on. It is
well worth reading I would recommend it. Bonus one
is that Lemony Snicket biography Did anyone else
read that as a kid and be very confused? Because
I sure did. What other books do you know that have
an interesting narrative structure narratorr do
something interesting on page I would love to
know please do plonk them down in the comments
below while you’re down there commenting if you
haven’t already, please do subscribe because it
makes me feel loved and appreciated. Nothing makes
me feel more loved and appreciated than my patrons
over on Patreon who support the channel and make
videos like this possible even when I’m losing my
voice. If you’d like to join their number and get
early access to videos and exclusive content that
is all linked below. You can also find my social
media if you’d like to follow that on my Discord
if you’d like to join that and have wonderful
chill chats about books. That’s all from me.
Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you
in the next one. It’s gonna be some bloopers now
welcome back to dead good book reviews, good book
reviews and welcome back. Well no that’s what no
