When You Finally Read the Book Everyone's Been Talking About - Reactor

I’ve not read much LitRPG. I don’t read a lot of post-apocalyptic or dystopian fiction. …When I read sentences like that in reviews followed by a review of a book in that genre, I usually groan because what follows is generally an exercise in polite, sometimes bewildered condescension. Like the reviewer is surprised that a book in that genre could be good. Rest assured, I won’t do that. Writing a book is hard and that doesn’t change, no matter what label you put on that book.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about a book that a ton of people told me to read. What’s so exciting about that “ton of people” is that a lot of them aren’t people who usually talk to me excitedly about books. I love it when a book breaks the container like that. I love it when people are excited about reading. Anyway, I did as I was told and listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl on audio, narrated by Jeff Hays. I’ve been trying to decide how to describe it and I’ve come up with this: This book is like if Korben Dallas and Ruby Rhod from The Fifth Element were transported to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy universe and the entire story was narrated by Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China) doing a Patrick Warburton impression. Except Ruby Rhod is a cat named Princess Donut, and Korben Dallas never gets any pants.

It’s a Nyquil-swilling, pixie-stick-snorting, fever dream of a book, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s the apocalypse, but make it funny, and like all good humor, there’s a genuine beating heart underneath all of the jokes. Carl and Princess Donut are stuck in a terrible situation and are forced to do terrible things, and the book never lets you fully forget that. Everyone I know is burning through these books and for good reason. I highly recommend the audiobook because Jeff Hays does a bang-up job on the voices. I’ve already started randomly muttering “Goddamn it, Donut” to myself and I’ve only listened to the first book.

Like Dungeon Crawler Carl, Legends & Lattes started off life as a self-published novel that was later picked up by a major publisher. In my opinion, one of the brilliant things Baldree did was keep the original cover art when this happened, because that’s absolutely what caught my attention. A bookseller friend posted the cover on social media before its rerelease and I commented saying, “That looks like a Lish book.” Which, she assured me, it absolutely was, and she was correct. An orc trying to open a coffee shop? A Ratkin baker? A direcat?!? Sign me up.

 I think writing cozy books is deceptively difficult. You have to maintain the reader’s interest and the story’s tension while keeping the cozy vibe. Legends & Lattes managed this by giving us intriguing, emotionally vulnerable, and charming characters, an interesting story, and a lot of baked goods. Basically, Baldree created a coffee shop we all wanted to sit in while we nibbled treats and sipped good coffee as we watched the world go by. A coffee shop full of the best sort of friends. It’s a kind, sweetheart of a book that I think earned every accolade.

I managed to work at four bookstores, one of which was a large indie with a great SFF section, and not read a single Scalzi book in all that time. I’m not sure how. Several titles had been recommended, many times over, and I’d begrudgingly (see earlier human cat explanation) added them to my ever-growing TBR. It took a writers’ book club to get me to finally pick one up, and it was Kaiju Preservation Society. It will surprise no one that the book was really funny. I saw several reviews write it off as “fluff” which—for the love of all that is good, what is wrong with fluff?—I don’t agree with. I think it’s easy to read quickly through the story, because the writing is on the spare side and dialogue heavy (not a complaint), and miss the story’s indictment of billionaire bro tech culture, capitalism, and science for profit over progress. Plus, it’s fun. What’s wrong with fun? When did we stop liking fun? I was in fact having so much fun reading it that I somehow completely missed that we never know the narrator’s gender in the book. Well played, Scalzi.

I think it can safely be said that Burgis always wear the cape of whimsy (totally a thing and not something I made up just now) whenever she’s writing. I could literally pick any of her books to include her. I’m very fond of her Regency Dragons series, for example. Jane Austen, but with dragons? Yes, please.

I was delighted when the Queens of Villainy series was announced, and even if I hadn’t already been a reader of her books, the gorgeous covers would have won me over. What I love, though, is the play on villainy in this series. Are they villains, or are they revolutionaries standing up for their people? Are they villains, or just not biddable women? What makes Enchanting the Fae Queen such a good fit for this column is that Queen Lorelei uses whimsy as both a weapon and a shield. She’s pure rainbow glitter. She’s laughter, fun, and a little bit of naughtiness. All of which is true, and all of which she’s employing tactically to keep her people safe from the empire. Throw in one of my favorite character tropes—a stiffly formal, way-too-tightly-wound male lead who needs a good unraveling—and I’m basically just throwing my cash at the bookseller at this point.

Speaking of character archetypes that I can’t get enough of, I love nothing more than a grumpy, frustrated lady academic/scientist. Oh, are you tired of the patriarchal system of your university/society keeping you from your academic pursuit? Is misogyny blocking you from the flow of knowledge, leaving you forever thirsty? Has it made you grouchy and blunt? Are you bad with people? Do you have a giant dog? Yessssss, tell me more…

I agree, Emily—small talk is terrible and parties are boring. Let’s sit in a corner and geek out about faeries for eight hours. There’s so much to enjoy, but one of my favorite things is the classic approach to faerie folk—mysterious, but dangerous—while also getting imaginative takes on the Hidden Ones in this novel. Oh, and is there also a charmingly handsome, insufferably dashing fellow academic in the mix? Sold. A thousand times, sold. If you haven’t picked up these books yet, you’re in luck—there are three books in the series for you to inhale.