9. Curse Workers Series by Holly Black – I love, love, love the world building in this series. The way curse working has affected the world (and our protagonists family, for that matter), the delving into how conmen work and how this permeates much of the main characters interactions. The plot does some very clever things. I adore urban fantasy (the next one on my list is also urban fantasy!), and this series has one of the best introductions to a protagonist that I’ve seen in a book (by page 8: wakes up near naked on a roof > relatedly gets in trouble/bad luck > “Don’t be too sympathetic. I killed a girl when I was fourteen.” Okay, book, you’ve got my attention.) You would really like this series, I hope you get a chance to pick it up – it’s a complete trilogy, the first book is White Cat, followed by Red Glove and Black Heart.
10. Lexicon by Max Barry. I’ve posted the beginning to this book here before – one of the most engrossing and confusing openings to a story that I’ve ever seen. I’m putting it here as it really did stick with me for quite a while after I read it a few years ago. It explores the power of language, the ability to persuade people to do as you ask, and prevent others from doing the same. The book follows 2 different protagonists in 2 different time frames, one set of chapters is in the present timeframe of the narrative while the other set is exploring a different character in the past. It’s just fascinating to see how things get to the point that we see in that opening chapter and because of the structure of the book it’s very rewarding to see changes in the characters and how and why these happen. Only by the end of the book will there be a clear idea of what is actually going on.
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10. Lexicon by Max Barry. I’ve posted the beginning to this book here before – one of the most engrossing and confusing openings to a story that I’ve ever seen. I’m putting it here as it really did stick with me for quite a while after I read it a few years ago. It explores the power of language, the ability to persuade people to do as you ask, and prevent others from doing the same. The book follows 2 different protagonists in 2 different time frames, one set of chapters is in the present timeframe of the narrative while the other set is exploring a different character in the past. It’s just fascinating to see how things get to the point that we see in that opening chapter and because of the structure of the book it’s very rewarding to see changes in the characters and how and why these happen. Only by the end of the book will there be a clear idea of what is actually going on.
-timydamonkey