#if you like space/sci-fi and don't mind YA then I highly recommend the series | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

evelhak · 8 months

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What are some series (any media) that aren't well known, but you enjoy, and would encourage other people to seek out?

I love this topic! Thank you for stopping me from aimless scrolling for another hour. It's always a little hard to determine what is well known but I'm just gonna have to go with my surroundings, so I'm gonna talk about some that I've never seen anyone mention on any social media.

Jean le Flambeur series by Hannu Rajaniemi

I feel like it should be quite well known, but maybe it's just not in the spaces I'm in or with people my age. But this is a very intricate and suspenseful sci-fi book trilogy by a Finnish author who writes in English. It begins with a thief trapped in a virtual prison. It's highly conceptual in the design of its world and the author is definitely not holding your hand explaining how everything works, but for me it was part of the charm and a wild and satisfying experience, it really sparked my imagination when I was attempting to visualize it all, and I didn't mind if I didn't understand everything because interpretation is the whole point of reading for me. The characters are also complex enough for a character driven taste. If you are looking for something that is highly stimulating for an abstract thinker, try it.

Syysmaa-sarja by Anu Holopainen

Sorry, this is just in Finnish... and the reason I never see anyone talking about it may just be that every Finnish fantasy nerd read it ten or more years ago like me. Although it would be nice seeing younger people find it now! It's a very overtly feminist fantasy series of 6 books, where people are divided into religions that worship a different tree. The mainstream worships oak which is very patriarchal, and the books focus on people (often women, queer or neurodivergent coded people) in very different and difficult life situations, who come in contact with a small group of rowan worshippers who are trying to create possibilities for a different kind of life and society. These were my favourite fantasy books as a teenager.

Lumikki Andersson series by Salla Simukka

These books have English translations, I don't know what quality, because I only read them in Finnish. But it's a YA "thriller" trilogy you should not read as thriller. It's a character driven modern Snow White with elements of thriller and mystery. Lumikki Andersson is not clear on everything that happened in her past, but she doesn't want to be a target so she has mastered the art of appearing insignificant and uninteresting in any given situation by impressive micro level acting and analysing people's every gesture. The main character is the point of this series and her internal world and observations are wonderfully written. If you like old mystery and gothic novels, if you read Sherlock Holmes for the character, if you love fairytales and satisfying analogies, you should read these poetic and insightful explorations on personality, trauma and survival.

Charity Bishop's books

These are speculative fiction books with a Christian twist, so proceed with caution if you need to. I got into them when I was studying theology and wrote my master's degree analysing different concepts of God in self-published Christian fiction. I am not religious and my interest in religion is psychological and anthropological and as such I often find fiction books written by religious people about religion interesting. In terms of literary merit, I've found these books to be the most enjoyable ones I've read in this genre, with well developed characters and plots where faith works as an organic part of the whole speculative element instead of the story just being a tool for preaching which is quite common in this genre.

I was going to do more than just books but I got tired now, so good night Tumblr. 💙 I'm always ready to give recommendations.

#book recs

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