mwahaha

A friend on Facebook (and LJ *waves*) asked for sci-fi and fantasy book recommendations. I pulled up my Goodreads shelves and made these recommendations:

• The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne.
• Feed trilogy by Mira Grant.
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown.
• The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
• A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan.
• The October Daye and InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire - also Indexing, Velveteen Vs, and Sparrow Hill Road.
• Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal.
• William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher.
• Both the Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series by Gail Carriger.
• Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Everything by Cat Valente, especially the Fairyland series
• Everything by T. Kingfisher.
• White Trash Zombie series by Diana Rowland.
• Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper.
• The various series (Mythos Academy, Elemental Assassin, Bigtime) by Jennifer Estep. Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill.
• Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.
• The Shambling Guide series by Mur Lafferty.
• The Geekomancy series by Michael R Underwood

Of all those (yes, there's a lot), here are the ones that I feel are most worthy of consideration and a bit of my reasoning:

• The Goblin Emperor - This is a standalone book, but I wish it wasn't. The language is beautiful. The story is complicated. The characters feel real. I nominated it for the Hugo ballot, it's so good.
• Red Rising  -  Mostly because I can't be the only one anxiously awaiting the final volume in the trilogy. The society is complicated and detailed. The main character is flawed, but doing the best he can anyway. It's taking all the tropes from books like Divergent and Hunger Games, mixing in some poli sci, and turning it up to 11. I also nominated this one for the Hugo.
• Ancillary Justice - Won the Hugo last year. Also, the sequel came out and is EVEN BETTER than the first book. A unique society, fantastic use of language, and a story that I'm not sure where it's going next.
• Shades of Milk and Honey - Jane Austen plus magic equals catnip for Sabine
• Geekomancy - You will identify with the main character and wish the magic system was real. Or at least, "you" will if you're a gamer geek who loves coffee and TV and movies and in-depth silliness.