#THE 5TH WAVE TRILOGY SERIES

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Have you ever read/watched The 5th Wave and if so what do you think of the similarities between in and Animorphs?

I've only read the first book in the series, but I want to hear more about this comparison. [SPOILERS FOR 5TH WAVE] What springs to mind is #26 and the howlers being childlike mass murderers who have no idea that they're mass murderers. Part of what I like about Animorphs' and 5th Wave's execution of the trope is that it's not as simple as "the ends justify the means" OR "the killers are monsters" OR "the killers can be allowed to go on as they have" OR "healing is possible through justice."

Like, the victims are still dead, and remorse won't bring them back. The aliens like Evan might want to help, but they're also fully dependent on their own fascist-imperialist society and can only do so much. The idea of war is a game that boys play to become men is as old a piece of propaganda as society itself, and part of how sci fi can expose that lie is simply through changing its focus. In Black Mirror it's as literal as a set of lenses that soldiers take off to discover that their enemies are human; in Ender's Game it's as symbolic as dots on a map becoming individual faces.

There's also this dramatic irony in reading #26 as an adult, when Jake rages at Crayak for forcing naïve children to fight in his war -- and all the while Jake never connects that he himself is a naïve child recruited by a different diety to fight on the opposite side of that war. ("This isn't some video game," Marco feels the need to tell Jake in #1 -- and he's not wrong that Jake is thinking of death in battle that way.) Sammy's the clearest parallel there, in that war is just a concept he can't wrap his head around when it's impossible to do so without experience. But Evan's also stuck fighting the war his ancestors started after having not been to war themselves, just like Aftran, just like Tobias. I never got around to finishing the 5th Wave trilogy, but at some point I might have to.

[redezlyn]

Hai! Welcome to my blog, I’m honestly not sure what I’ll post here but as Oscar Wilde said ‘To define, is too limit.’

A warning to misogynists, sexists, racists, homophobes, transphobes etc (basically people who shame people for their appearance, beliefs, sexuality and gender) that they are not welcome here! Any comments that are hateful, disrespectful and/or rude will be reported and the commentator blocked. Thank you! :)

Books/Tv-Series/Films/Manga/Anime/Fandoms in general that I love (and will prob re-read/watch as much as humanly possible) :

AGGGTM; Grishaverse (Six of crows duology, Shadow and Bone trilogy, king of scars duology); One of us is lying trilogy + series, Two can keep a secret, Nothing more to tell (basically the whole Karen.M.McManus universe); MCU; DCU; Marvel comics; DC comics; Sandman universe (including dead boy detectives); Starwars; Avatar The last air bender (animated series) + The legend of Korra; The series of unfortunate events (both book and series); Trollhunters tales of Arcadia + 3below + Wizards tales of Arcadia; Gilmore girls; Lucifer; How to train your dragon; The hunger games; Divergent (book series); The maze runners; Legend trilogy; The folk of Air universe; ACOTAR; One piece, SpyxFamily; Jurassic universe (park, world etc); RiordanVerse (Percy Jackson,HoO,ToA, Magnus Chase, etc); Wizarding world (Harry potter, Fantastic beasts and where to find them etc); Renegades trilogy (Marissa Meyer); Lunar chronicles; Guilded Duology (Marissa Meyer); Twilight (book series); The Big Bang theory; Young Sheldon; The owl house; Shatter me series; Fallen series; Damsel; Stranger Things; Nimona; Dune; Brooklyn 99; Psych; Batfamily lore; The inheritance games; Five survive; Lockwood and co; The Witcher (book series); Shameless; Get even; Fourth wing; The 5th wave trilogy; Hercule Piorot; Enola Holmes; Sherlock Holmes; Lotr and the hobbit; Twisted series (Anna huang); Arcane; Knives out; Grownups; 10 things I hate about you; Uncharted; Indiana Jones; Full house; Pitch Perfect; Pirates of the Caribbean; Sherlock; Wednesday; Criminal minds; Spider-Man into the spider verse (ik I mentioned marvel but I HAVE TO MENTION!!); Deadpool (same previous excuse); Star Trek; Agatha Christie’s series; (I’m going to stop here until others come to mind)

Artists who have songs I adore:

Olivia Rodrigo; Conan Gray; Girl in Red; Cavetown; Alec Benjamin; Hozier; Boywithuke; YUNGBLUD; Skrillex; Billie Eilish; Melanie Martinez; DNCE; Shawn Mendes; Fugeee; Frank Ocean; Vance Joy; Alessia Cara; Declan McKenna (mainly bcs of his song Brazil); Current Joys; AURORA; Neoni; AVIVA; Grandson; Cults; Sub Urban; Birdy; Black Eyed Peas; Bob Marley; Gracie Abrams; Lorde; Mad Tsai; Måneskin; Red hot chilli peppers; Hasley; Ruelle; Run-DMC; Salt-N-Pepa; The Rolling Stones; Florence + the Machine; OutKast; Imagine dragons; Cigarettes after sex; The doors; The Clash; Fleetwood Mac; Cream; Arctic monkeys; The xx; The Lumineers; Em Beihold; Dominic Fike; Tom Odell; Onerepublic; Coldplay; Tracy Chapman; Mitski; Flight of the chonchords; Gorillaz; Cage the Elephant; Childish Gambino; Queen; Queens of the Stone Age; Plan B; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Nirvana; Black Sabbath; Guns’n’roses; AC/DC; Iron maiden; Jimi Hendrix; Michael Jackson; John Newman; Radiohead; Kasabian; Labrinth; The Police; The last dinner party; The Who; LINKIN PARK; Pink Floyd; The White Stripes; Muse; Beastie boys; Amy Winehouse; ABBA; Tenacious D; Ed Sheeran; Adele; Selena Gomez; Sia; Taylor swift; Eminem; Missy Elliot; Doja Cat; Elton John; Harry Styles; Metallica; Milli Vanilli; The Neighbourhood; Rage Against The Machine; Of monsters and men; Paramore; Marina and the Diamonds; Phantogram; Steve lacy; ThxsoMuch; Sofi Tucker; Indila; Sabrina Carpenter;

Things I enjoy doing in my spare time: Gaming; Reading; learning + playing guitar; listening to music; going out with friends; hiking; binge watching/reading fandoms; sports (football and volleyball are my favourite); writing fics or stories; photography; sketching, drawing and researching art (that intrigues me); chess; board and card games; archery; playing and hanging out with animals (my dogs specifically); learning about situations and subject + their topics; debating and discussing topics that interest me to learn and share knowledge of them;

[maedcny]

that was it. that had to be it. one or possibly both squads had found our hiding place. we waited here too long. that's right and why did you wait, Cassiopeia "Defiance" Sullivan? oh yeah, because some dead guy promised he'd find you. so you closed your eyes and jumped off the cliff into the emptiness, and now you're shocked there's no big fat mattress at the bottom? your fault. whatever happens now. you're responsible. the elevator was not large, but in the pitch dark it seemed the size of a football stadium. i was standing in a vast underground pit, no light, no sound, a lifeless, lightless void, frozen to the spot, paralyzed by fear and doubt. knowing-- without understanding how i knew-- that Ben's signal wasn't coming. understanding-- without knowing how i understood-- that Evan wasn't coming either. you never know when the truth will come home. you can't choose the time. the time chooses you. i'd had days to face the truth that now faced me in that cold, black space, and i'd refused. i wouldn't go there. so the truth decided to come to me. when he touched me on our last night together, there was no space between us, no spot where he ended and I begun, and now there was no space between me and the darkness of the pit. he promised he would find me. 'don't i always find you?' and i believed him. after distrusting everything he said from the moment i met him, for the first time, in the last words he spoke, i believed him.

an excerpt from THE INFINITE SEA (II. The Ripping.13 The 5th Wave Trilogy Series-Book2) by: Rick Yancey

[divinedemons]

my kink is ‘anti-hero in a black shirt and combat boots’

[beyondlife-beyonddeath]

[luvshuas]

,,,

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

I read the Divergent series when I was younger and enjoyed it well enough to read the whole thing, and then the ending pissed me off so much that between that and 5th Wave, I haven't been much into dystopias since

And see you aren’t alone in hating the ending. Spoilers for the divergent dissertation, but back in the day i did some research into the divergent fandom. Now, in most fandoms, an unpopular ending will spark a number of fix it fics rewriting that part. Not Divergent. I could could on my hands the number of ending rewrites i found. Instead, most of the fandom wrote fics retconning the entire trilogy so that everything that happens after the second act of book one, (aka after main girl beats the exam and the actual plot shows up), NEVER HAPPENS. They cut out every conflict and make it a slice of life where piss and four by four train the next generation of goth chads and the system remains in place forever because system good actually. Fascinating.

[stillasinningpotato]

The 5th Wave Series (10 word reviews)

The 5th Wave Series (10 word reviews)

It is time, my dear friends. Once again for ten word reviews. This is me admitting to the fact that I am running low on both time and energy to write full blog posts but don’t worry. My next post will hopefully finally be a full review of a book. I can’t say which one but a book is a book.

Let’s get this started.

The 5th Wave

Good first book, it goes down hill from here.

[4 stars]

The Infinite Sea

[ronsonlywhore]

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞! ࿐ྂ

basic info !

❀ please call me dee! you can type it out as 'd' as well, i don't mind.

❀ she/her, minor !!!!!

❀ aries sun, scorpio moon, gemini rising 

❀ slytherin

❀ intp-t

❀ ennegram type 8

❀ and my favorite color is green!

my interests !

❀ writing (obviously)

❀ reading, literally give me any book and i'll read it. my favorite genres are: realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy and romance.

❀ i play the violin & the clarinet, and i'm in an orchestra and marching band.

❀ i like running? although i'm not very fast, don't have the best stamina and would never join the track team, there's something about running around the neighborhood with music blasting in my headphones that completes me.

❀ i really like anything to do with music, and i hope to one day proudly say i know how to play the bass.

my favorite...

❀ books: harry potter series, hunger games trilogy, little women, chains, the 5th wave yes i need book recs

❀ movies: suddenly i have forgotten every movie i have ever watched but...the harry potter movies, little women (2019), fantastic beasts and where to find them, it 1 & 2. i also find it important to state that i absolutely hate horror movies (except it of course), yes i am a coward, what about it?

❀ songs: hermit the frog by marina and the diamonds, space song by beach house, everyday i love you less and less by kaiser chiefs, smells like teen spirit by nirvana, and favorite crime by olivia rodrigo

❀ artists/bands: fall out boy, tyler the creator, kendrick lamar, frank ocean, mother mother, mac demarco

❀ characters: harry potter, ron weasley, neville longbottom, remus lupin, james potter, lavender brown, peter parker, wanda maximoff, natasha romanoff, peeta mellark, jasper hale, alice cullen

*ೃ༄ never be scared to message me or come into my inbox! i like making new friends, i promise i’m not scary!

[mengevik-reads]

Add me on goodreads!

I have so few friends on goodreads and I’d love to befriend more. I’d love to see what other people enjoy, what they’re reading. Preferably people who enjoy ya lit (dystopian), but I’m not really picky! 

[battlestar-royco]

What are your fav sci-fi books?

Ah I’m so behind on sci fi books rn! I was really into it back when they were packaging baldly sci fi books as “dystopian,” so I look very fondly on the following gateways: The 5th Wave, the Angelfall trilogy, Unwind, the Gone series, The Hunger Games, The Lunar Chronicles. I loved Dune when I read it last summer, and I’m a fan of the Saga graphic novels.

I’m trying to find some more sci fi novels to get into now, but I find it really hard to get into them. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but for the most part I much prefer to watch sci fi and read fantasy. I’ve tried and failed multiple times to read really popular adult sci fi, like Station Eleven, Annihilation, Ancillary Justice etc. Three Body Problem and I’m Thinking of Ending Things are on my list though. :)

[lucian-evander]

4, 6, 14, 15, 20 & 21 for the book asks! 🌻

4: Top five favorite books?

And they both die at the end 🙃 (Adam Silvera)

Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand)

The mortal instruments serie (Cassandra Clare) (it counts as one book 😂)

Les captifs de roc alven ''the captives of rock alven'' (Jeanne Foulquier)

The 5th wave v1 (rick yancey)

6: A book that makes you cry every time?

I answered somewhere in the ask just before ⬇���

14: A book for a rainy day?

The hunger games trilogy

15: Favorite quote from your favorite book?

Honestly i start claiming a whole cyrano act and then remembered it was in french 🙁 same with all my favorite poetry , so here a random quote from tsc instead : They are dark angels . . . Intelligent and cunning and manipulative. They bear the knowledge of thousands of years of life. Like angels, they have the face of the divine, but they turned away from it. Thy have chosen darkness, and that choice reverberated through eternity .

I don't know , i just love this quote 😅

20: Recommend a book to your followers.

You sure about that ? Last time i did you cried 😌

21: You get to meet a character from a book. Who is it and why?

Reepicheep , yeah the mouse from narnia

Wow it was so hard to not put too many french books !!! What i totally failed at

[maedcny]

"Grace had several options. He had two. No. If there was any hope of keeping his promise, he had just one: Cassie's choice. She had made a promise, too. A hopeless, suicidal promise to the one person on Earth who still mattered to her--mattered to her more than her own life. She stood up that day to face the faceless hunter because her death was nothing compared to the death of that promise. If there was any hope left, it lay in love's hopeless promises. He crawled forward, past the front bumper, into the open air, and then, like Cassie Sullivan, Evan Walker stood up. He tensed, waiting for the finishing round. When Cassie stood up that cloudless autumn afternoon, her Silencer had run. He did not think Grace would run. Grace would finish what she began. But no finish came. No silencing bullet, connecting Grace to him as if by a silver cord. He knew she was there. Knew she could see him standing crookedly in front of the car. And he realized there was no escaping the past, no dodging inevitable consequences: Cassie's terror, her uncertainty and pain, they belonged to him now." The Infinite Sea Rick Yancey III. The Ripping-24

[blurrypetals]

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 11, 2018 - ★★★★★

This is another one of those books that I've been intending to read for several years now. I've had a paperback of it on my shelf for god only knows how long. I don't even know where I got it, it just happened to find its way into my collection. Needless to say, it's been interesting, wading backwards through popular YA series, especially considering this, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas all came out within the span of one year and it's so uncanny to me, how closely each of these books resemble one another in certain ways while still feeling completely unique. One of my dearest friends asked me my opinion on this because she, too, has been recommended this book over and over again. What I've told her is that this feels like it has echoes of Alina's relationships with both Mal and The Darkling from The Grisha Trilogy, the general mind fuckery and protagonist afraid of touching people and controlling her powers from The Darkest Minds Trilogy, and a dash of general dystopia, specifically reminiscent, in my opinion, of the state of the world in The 5th Wave Trilogy...except it CAN'T be reminiscent of any of these things because it preceded them all. I was a little conflicted as to whether to give this a 4 or a 5 because, despite the really cool setup, the elements that show up in so many of my favorite books, and the absolutely stellar style of the writing (as well as how it was presented in the audiobook), not a whole lot actually happens in this book and, when something did happen, I wasn't all too enthusiastic about it. I didn't like Adam at all. I didn't trust him...still don't. I thought he was bland and uninteresting and he and Juliet's chemistry was nonexistent so, when he and Juliet escape from Warner all I kept thinking was, "Wait no you're leaving the most interesting character behind!" Because Warner is the most interesting character. I am having serious flashbacks to The Darkling, who I wanted to have a redemption arc so badly I was willing to forgive his 400-plus years of genocide to see him get that redemption, so I'm most definitely absolutely projecting my wishes here, but I feel like Warner's gonna get a redemption arc. He was so goddamn interesting, complex, and entertaining, everything he does is worth the price of admission, which was free for me on this first book and will be for books three and four. If he gets any good scenes in book two, I'll certainly consider it a credit well spent, whether it's evil villain monologuing or explanation and redemption...though it'd be hella cool if it were the redemption one. Jussayin'. I'm intrigued to to see what happens next, excited about the future of each of the characters, and eager to see where the chips fall in the end. Onward.

[stillwinterair]

2020 in books so far! All 21 of them!

Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski -- Finished January 1st. My least favorite Witcher novel. In a series that managed to surprise and endear me at every turn, this one final romp did almost nothing for me. 2/5 stars.

Star Wars: Hard Merchandise by K.W. Jeter -- Finished January 17th. The final chapter in the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, and by far the worst of the three. 2/5 stars.

Migration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished February 18th. The middle chapter in Czerneda’s excellent Species Imperative trilogy, fun and charismatic, sciencey and cute. Didn’t hit me quite the same way as the first in the trilogy did, but still had fun. 4/5 stars.

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn -- Finished February 2nd. It was okay. 3/5 stars.

To be continued under the cut, including thoughts on The Expanse, which has taken over my life this year:

Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn -- Finished February 25th. Borrowed from a coworker, was immensely disappointed, decided once and for all I wasn’t going to touch tie-in novels for the rest of the year. That wound up being a great decision. 2/5 stars.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty -- Finished March 12th. The first of Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy, this was a great little historical fantasy fiction about a half-djinn caught up in about a thousand tropes I usually hate, but were written with care and nuance and charm. 4/5 stars.

Midway through The City of Brass, news of a virus overseas begin making waves.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -- Finished March 29th. The first of Leckie’s Imperial Radch saga. So, so, so many incredible concepts that I loved dearly... but all just slightly off to the side of where they would normally hit me. I wanted to love this book so badly, and it kept almost hitting me, but never quite did, at least not as hard as I wanted it to. Still, I enjoyed the world and the characters enough that I bought the sequel and will read it soon. 3/5 stars.

AAAAAND PANDEMIC! I began this book when I was still working, and finished it while in quarantine. So that’s fun. From here on out, all of these books were read from my couch or my bed.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison -- Finished April 16th. Another book I wanted desperately to love and... succeeded a bit more than with Ancillary Justice, thanks to how ceaselessly charming it was. But the names. Oh, god this book is full of fake fantasy names and titles and you have to remember all of them and the glossary isn’t always helpful. But, still. I found myself so endeared, I couldn’t put it down. 4/5 stars.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 3rd. The first book of The Expanse, and I fell in love instantly. This one hit all the right buttons and didn’t stop: good science fiction, fun space adventure, charming characters, perfect level of tension, the list goes on. And reading this one was... the beginning of a certain obsession I’ve had this year. 5/5 stars.

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks -- Finished May 21st. The latter half of this book? Great. Stellar. The first half...? Uhhhhh. Eh? By far one of the most insufferable protagonists I’ve ever had to slog through, but some really cool scifi concepts here (and also some really bad ones -- the whole desert island cannibal thing was stupid as hell, but the Damage Game got me). 3/5 stars.

Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 30th. The second book in The Expanse series. I could not put this one down. Everything I loved about Leviathan Wakes, amplified a thousand times. The additions of Bobbie, Prax, and Avasarala made me ascend. This book fired on all cylinders and I loved every moment of it; it stands as one of my three favorite Expanse books so far -- but we’ll get to those. Anyway, I can’t give it 6/5, so we’ll have to settle with: 5/5 stars.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut -- Finished June 1st. A book I’d been meaning to read for a while and finally got around to. Literally finished it in two sittings. Mostly it made me sad. 4/5 stars.

The Strong Shall Live by Louis L’Amour -- Finished June 2nd. A collection of wild west short stories. A couple were great, a few were awful -- most were just okay. I’d been reading it slowly since December, and finishing felt more like a weight off my mind than anything else. Still, some of these stories were incredibly memorable. 3/5 stars.

Larissa by Emily Devenport -- Finished June 4th. I read this in about three sittings overall, which is a lot faster than I usually read. It wasn’t particularly good, but it was the exact sort of scifi junk I eat up for some reason. This is... a very, very weird one. It was very progressive for the time (the book is as old as I am), so much so that I wasn’t surprised to find her on Twitter very publicly supporting BLM and decrying the current administration. It’s about a black woman in space, wealth disparity, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t, but Devenport was trying, all the way back in 93. It’s also the sequel to a book I didn’t know existed until I’d already finished, but I guess that one didn’t matter so much to the plot of Larissa? Anyway, had a blast, even though I can’t quite put a finger on why. 4/5 stars. (I actually had this one marked as 3/5 stars, but my memories of it are all very positive, so... it was worth the bump.)

Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey -- Finished June 13th. Third in The Expanse, and not my favorite. The pacing in the first half was a little wonky, but once it gets going, boy does it go. 4/5 stars.

Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished June 25th. The final entry in the Species Imperative trilogy. This might have been my least favorite of the three, unfortunately, as much like Ancillary Justice it always seemed to hit just to the side of where I wanted it to. The first one was by far my favorite, and the third installment just couldn’t recapture that magic, but I love the protagonist and was happy to walk with her to the end. Plus, as always, there’s some damn good science fiction here. 4/5 stars.

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 4th. HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, this one has everything! I don’t even want to spoil what, just know that this is exactly what you want after Abaddon’s Gate, and had everything it was missing and more. This one rocked my fucking world, and is one of my three favorite Expanse books so far. Another one I’d rate higher if I could, but for now... 5/5 stars.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold -- DNF, July 8th. This book had me until the 35-year-old protagonist started trying to hide his arousal while he was watching the two teenage girls he was tutoring swim, and it was played off as like... cute? I don’t know man, fuck this book, it made me miserable.

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 16th. Once again, HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, HELL YEAH! This book begins with some of the slowest pacing in the series so far, but god, have they earned it. It feels so good to just take a break and walk a mile in the shoes of all your favorite characters. And then when things hit? Boy do they fucking hit. The third in my trifecta of favorite Expanse books so far, and another I’d rate higher if I could. 5/5 stars.

The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke -- Finished July 21st. I really thought this was going to be a fun pirate book. Instead, it’s a book about a fun pirate slogging along with the most obnoxious man in the history of fiction, who she is also falling in love with, apparently, for some reason. I don’t know. This is a duology but idk if I’m even interested in the sequel. Which is a shame, because I really liked the protagonist. 2/5 stars.

Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished August 5th. Definitely my least favorite Expanse novel so far, mostly because the narrative was stretched very thin. This one hit really fucking hard toward the beginning, and again at the end, but in the middle? The middle was very... nebulous. A lot happens and I’m not interested in all of it, which is something this series has thus far managed to avoid doing. Still, very good, just not quite up to the standards I’m used to from this series. 4/5 stars.

And... it’s August! And I haven’t picked up another book since the 5th, which feels weird, but is due to a lot of factors. I’m in the middle of moving, so I don’t have as much time to read during the day. But also I’m waiting on a shipment of books to come in, and it hasn’t yet, and that’s stressing me out. Of those, there are a couple I’m leaning toward reading, but if the ol’ Read The First Page trick doesn’t work on any of them, I’ll probably hop back to Imperial Radch.

[emjenenla]

A list of near fandom-less/small fandom books you should all read

The Wrath and the Dawn Duology by Renée Ahdieh Retelling of One Thousand and One Nights. Quite literally romance with sides of death and extreme sleep deprivation. My favorite thing by Renée Ahdieh.

Flame in the Mist Duology by Renée Ahdieh Loose Mulan retelling. My irl friend’s favorite thing by Renée Ahdieh.

The Naturals Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Marketed as “teenage Criminal Minds” but is actually more like “specifically talented and wildly traumatized teenagers solve crimes.” I’d read ten more books than there actually are.

The Curse Workers Trilogy by Holly Black Sort of like an urban fantasy Six of Crows only with less outright theft and a healthy scoop of social commentary.

The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty Djinn, politics, prejudice and war. This is not a happy series but you’ll love it anyway.

Cold Summer by Gwen Cole A romance involving a character who’s trying to hide the fact that he keeps spontaneously going back in time to WWII, a lot of family issues and a boatload of PTSD.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge Probably my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling. Featuring a bunch of characters who have literally been locked away from the rest of the world by a demon which makes magical trades.

The Diabolic Trilogy by S. J. Kincaid Artificial girl has to pretend to be the girl she was meant to protect and ends up discovering her own humanity along the way.

Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu Extremely loose Les Miz retelling. Girl goes hunting a boy she thinks killed her brother.

The Young Elites Trilogy by Marie Lu Traditional high fantasy hero narrative told from the villain’s POV. Very unique magic system.

Warcross Duology by Marie Lu Virtual reality, video games, hackers and moral questions.

Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher Self-published novella series involving two characters to spontaneously forget everything about their lives.

Midnighters Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld Old (early 2000s) urban fantasy set in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma where there is mysteriously an extra hour every night that only some people can see.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire Urban fantasy. Twins separated at birth are meant to embody fundamental forces of the universe.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia Girl who draws an extremely popular web comic struggles with anxiety.

The 5th Wave Trilogy by Rick Yancey Aliens come: it ends badly. One of the most existential things I’ve ever read.

An Ember in the Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir Roman Empire inspired high fantasy where way too many bad people have way too much power.

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson A girl gets herself in trouble with the Faeries who rule her world when she accidently paints a Faerie experiencing human sadness.