Awesome! Oh I thought of some trad fantasy that do good rep; Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Sanderson's Stormlight, Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Xhao, Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree (sapphic Orc cosy fantasy)

Indie recs - I have read all of these and loved them;

The Skin, J.E. Hannaford - fantasy about a Selkie, excellent queer rep, great storyline.

Fire at her fingertips, Rebecca Crunden, queer short story, gorgeous. She also does some great demon/angel UF

Sisters at the edge of the World, Ailish Sinclair. Not so much queer rep but ND rep. 1st age Scottish historical fantasy.

Beautiful Undone, Melissa Polk: queer retelling of Edgar Alan Poe story

Borrowed Time, Russell Dean; time travel fantasy

The Thirteenth Hour, Trudie Skies - exceptional gaslamp fantasy. This is you all over I suspect.

Wrath of Olympus, EM Kkoulla. Alt history Roman fantasy.

The Magic Circle, Barry Ryerson: epic fantasy set in modern day times

Ascendant, Michael Miller - seriously tropey dragon story. Wonderful.

Bones to the Wind, Tatiana Obey - this has the dystopian you're looking for, with North African mythology inspired, queer rep and a thrilling storyline. An excellent debut.

That's fair I suppose. I guess In the YA novels I current still like and also liked as a kid are because I like the power of a teenager. I think the youths (lol) are super passionate people and great protagonist for stories about change and uprisings. Often times they are written less stiffly there's a fun edge to them. Especially because they are teenagers or kids the stakes are about their future and how they want the world to change not remain the same.. And I know I'm 25 but just reading those books brings up a old feeling of passion i really like and relate to.

You had me until the woke culture part, but then again, I've never read much YA. If We Were Villains and Ninth House were pretty good though. You should maybe try Anne Rice, and I've heard good things about the Priory of the Orange Tree.

I love them, but I have to listen to a sample first. If the voice/reading style (I'm not 5, don't make funny voices FFS) puts me off, I'll not be able to enjoy it. I also avoid listening to anything too challenging. I love Pratchett, the Rivers of London novels, or non fiction like The drunken botanist

Maybe you should read some books for adults.

How we disappeared by Jing Jing Lee, Martin Eden by Jack London and Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams!

I'd love some recommendations!

This is why I more often than not read indie fantasy. It has exactly what you're talking about here. I'm currently doing final edits on one which I think has the same elements. It's out there! If you want indie fantasy recs I'll be happy to oblige.

My 2c. I loved the book - maybe it was an of them era thing

I tried it once but it felt super cringe.

haha yeah

Fething right, also fething Lijah Cuu

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I really don't think there's anything to it other than poor writing on Alderman's part. It's easier- and lazier- to leave something 'mysterious' than it is to make something genuinely ambiguous and open to a number reasonable explanations. Like the rest of the book, she seemed to make it up as she went so I never found anything intriguing or worth exploring about the voice in Amy(?)'s head.

The secret history by Donna Tartt?

The smell, the hidden history of the books owned by other people previously

lmao what

What the hell?

A child called it was a really really tough book that mirrored a lot of the abuse I had in my own household. I read it when I was in middle school and in a better home but shaped me in a way that helped me embrace and get over the past. Horrible things happened to him that i really sadly related to but i felt understood and seen cause i mean abuse is hard to talk about and it can have a long lasting effect on how you connect with people . Connecting with the main character helped me realized what happened was messed up for sure but. some people are just evil and it was never my fault.

Tried to read at least 3 times. Failed every single time

Pay wall on the article damn would love to have read it

Perfectly well said and so true

I have to agree there. Red Dragon was good, but Manhunter was in different class. Especially the scene with the tiger.

You’re correct that Crouch is no Tchaikovsky. Have you read the other two books in the Children of Time series?

this is it right here, most think you can absorb an audio book while driving, driving in itself is a major task and needs focus, audio books are for walking or just sitting having a coffee where the main task is listening to the book, if you listen to an audio book while doing other tasks you will not absorb it all, kinda like you don't read and drive, its the same thing, you cannot visualize the book and focus on driving at the same time and do both well.

sitting and listening to an audio book is the same as reading it if done under the same conditions, most people like to combine it with other activities then say it didn't work.