Chiming in to recommend @nghivo.bsky.social's Singing Hills cycle. They share superficial similarities, are very different when you dig a little deeper, and at the deepest place of emotional truth are again very similar.
If you want a cute cozy fantasy, Travis Baldtree's "Legends and Lattes" is fun and quick.
An orc decides she's done enough years of raiding and fighting, takes her stake and opens a "coffee shop", selling this strange gnomic drink in a city which isn't familiar with it.
“Ancillary Justice” by Ann Leckie, “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers, “The Fifth Season” by N. K. Jemisin, “The Calculating Stars” by Mary Robinette Kowal, “A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine, “Winter’s Orbit” by Everina Maxwell
I second most of these (and haven't actually gotten around to reading the others, but they are on my list) and will also add the Bel Dame Apocrypha series by Kameron Hurley.
I thought The Collapsing Empire trilogy from @scalzi.com, while not in the same universe at all of course, was a great thing to read when I finished the Murderbot books. I kept expecting that plucky little SecUnit to show up.
And the whole Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. It’s more fantasy than sci-fi, but the vibes are very, very similar and the prose sparkles in the same warm way.
Two other series by Seanan
- Incryptid is still fantasy but more toward the sci-fi side, and she keeps finding new stories to tell
- October Daye starts with fae-noir-in-SanFrancisco and moves on to adapt all sorts of fae-and-related mythology to tell some really tough stories.
Ooh, I'll have to add some of those to my reading list. LOVE Murderbot. I've read all of Becky Chambers' books, and The Calculating Stars - I need to read more of Mary Robinette Kowal's stuff, too.
Read all of those because they were nominated for @thehugoawards.bsky.social in recent years; besides the winners, the website has lists of the works that were nominated each year, and there's been so much great stuff.
All of these are great. I also really liked The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older. Scifi murder mystery with a similar vibe to the Murderbot books.
That was nice (and Dra. Malka Older @older.bsky.social has a sequel coming out in February, as well, which is queued up on my Kindle pre-orders along with Murdeerbot#7 and the next Toby Daye from @seananmcguire.bsky.social )
I should add that this one was a @charliejane.bsky.social recommendation. Her newsletter and Washington Post column are full of awesome book recommendations.
The naming system in A Memory Called Empire is very much like the classical Mayan names. (My parents were into Mayan stuff, so they had occasional pictures of 18 Rabbit and similar folks around.)
As I've gotten older I think I've become steadily less tolerant for fiction that does a poor job on character/relationship. Can't wait to get that interlibrary loan email for Winter's Orbit ...
Comments
An orc decides she's done enough years of raiding and fighting, takes her stake and opens a "coffee shop", selling this strange gnomic drink in a city which isn't familiar with it.
- Incryptid is still fantasy but more toward the sci-fi side, and she keeps finding new stories to tell
- October Daye starts with fae-noir-in-SanFrancisco and moves on to adapt all sorts of fae-and-related mythology to tell some really tough stories.
Cc: @byzantienne.bsky.social Arkady Martine
Great books! And am reading and loving the first Murderbot book now :)