tl;dr I need some way to find audiobooks that aren't leftist propaganda. Is there a site or something out there? Books recs don't need to be completely clean of SJW trash (it's great if they are), but it can't be some infinite genders shit where the MC is a gay 6-spirit 800 years in the future.
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So my job involves a lot of driving, and I like listening to fiction audiobooks (scifi and fantasy pretty much exclusively). For years I just googled for recommendations, and that led me to some good, popular books, but I've gone through a lot of the obvious stuff that fits what I want now.
Google of course leads me to articles, and Reddit. Reddit worked for me for a while, but I started checking books and authors for certain content in advance. i.e. I usually search an author's name with the word LGBT to see what comes up. Only now it's like...half or more of the authors I see recommended, from reddit or otherwise, end up being activists with clear agendas in their work.
While doing my filtering last night, I came across this article, which explains why there seems to be endless LGBT books everywhere, with everything else buried:
https://thefederalist.com/2017/10/25/never-satisfied-social-justice-mobs-ruining-ya-book-publishing/
Obviously, I can try to just read much older material, but I don't want to stick to that exclusively (and I still have to find those books anyway). Basically I'm wondering if any of you know places where I can get decent book recommendations, because subreddits aren't useful. The books don't even have to be completely SJW free - they just need to not be fucking obvious propaganda pieces.
Jim Butcher: Dresden Files, and Codex Alera to a lesser extent.
L.E. Modesitt Jr. - Recluse series, Octagonal Raven, and many more.
Larry Correia - Monster Hunter International, and various.
Brandon Sanderson - Elentris, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archives, probably all.
That's probably a good eighty books right there.
Also, I'm always happy to hear that the internet hates people I like. Apparently Sanderson is a dirty Mormon, and is thus the enemy of TPTB. Correia is a well known right winger/libertarian. Jim Butcher seems moderately based, if understated. Not sure about Modesitt. But, yeah, Sanderson came as a surprise.
It's hilarious, I'd say all those people are quite wholesome, and their works often showcase personal responsibly, merit, sacrifice, principles, commitment, and rising above. It doesn't surprise me that a certain subset of people hate them.
Also, just to be clear, since I went on a bit of a rant: I wouldn't say any of these people - outside of maybe Correia - are inherently political. All their work stands on their own. I was just pleasantly surprised to find that Reddit/Google hates more of these people than I expected.
I haven't listened to Corriea's MHI books, but I would definitely agree for the Grimnoire Trilogy of books. Nothing too heavy, but it's rather enjoyable.
Thanks. I've read all of the Dresden Files and Codex Alera (Dresden's easily one of my favorite series). Read...one or two books of Monster Hunter some years ago? I should get back to that, I think I was put off because the PoV character changes to some other guy. A werewolf I think, just wasn't interested in starting with a new character at the time.
Have read the Mistborn main trilogy and 2 of the Wax and Wayne books, 3 and a half of the Stormlight books, Warbreaker, his superhero series that I can't remember the name of, as well as the Skyward books aside from the most recent one. With Sanderson I have a bunch of threads to pick up again, which I think happened because reviews on some of his more recent books have given me the impression that he's fallen off a bit. Made me want to wait for followups.
Of course I have to wonder now if I should trust those reviews. Probably not.
Never heard of this Modesitt person so, there's something to look into.
Yup, it's pretty dang excellent.
If it makes you feel any better, that was for one book. Although there's another a few books on from another character's perspective, but mostly it's the original guy.
Also, speaking of different protagonists, check out Monster Hunter: Memoirs, too. It's a prequel series, and excellent.
Steelheart. That one annoyed me a bit; cool concept, subpar execution in my opinion. Writing felt super YA-y, characters were shallow, and the setting didn't really justify itself.
Modesitt is pretty good. A bit longwinded, and it feels like some of his books could be told in half the length, but it's not too bad, and it somehow remains interesting regardless.
For the open seas I suggest audiobookbay. You can find a lot of popular ones shared there, but they may not have many people seeding.
I would suggest listening to the LotR ones by Rob Inglis. And the Dune audiobooks with Simon Vance. I also want to get through listening to some of the Sherlock Holmes audiobooks.
I've bought a lot of books via audible from years of subscription and gift cards, but I am familiar with ABB ;). Not sure about listening to LoTR, but I listened to book 1 of Dune and should probably listen to some of the followups. I know the series is eventually trashed by the author's son though.
Mah man.
Solid recommendations, I'll add them to my list. I love Dune, but haven't gotten as deep into it as I should have. LotR were some of the first books I ever read, and will always have a special place in my heart; I should definitely listen to the audiobooks.
Have listened to a lot of Sanderson and I'd agree with that assessment, "just fine" is probably the perfect way to describe how I feel about his books. Reliably worth the read, with some really great moments.
As to Weeks, I listened to the entire Lightbringer series a while ago and it was pretty good. Think I was annoyed as hell with Kipp though? Been a while.
Night Angel I started, but it's a bit too dark for my tastes, at least for the time being. As a general rule, I don't tend to love books where the main character's morality means I want him dead as much as his enemies. Main reason I can't listen to Prince of Thorns*, which opens up with the main character having his crew rape a man's two daughters before burning down the house with them in it.
Popular series though so I'm sure I'm missing out on some level.
(edit: Prince of Thorns, not King's Dark Tidings).
Second Baen Books, look at the other David (Drake) and some of their younger writers, like John Ringo.
You can find audio books on the high seas. I found The Expanse, Dune, and Hyperion that way.
I've listened to all of The Expanse, book 1 of Dune, and all of Hyperion. Hyperion was trippy, and I hated the ending, but it was...an extremely unique experience. Dune was pretty good. The Expanse was almost great, except for some of the later books where 80% of the book is the author describing this woman and her like 8 bisexual spouses. Literally listened to most of the book on 2x speed, not even caring about what I missed. Character was detestable too.
To this day I can't tell if the authors are crazy, or if they deliberately wrote a lot of belters to be the most hateable people possible. I can't tell largely because they made the central protagonists sympathize with them at every turn no matter what they did.
RE: The Expanse, I think the authors caught a mild case of TDS, which influenced a lot of their later writing and the TV show. They obviously weren't right leaning before, but the last 4 books have a noticeable increase in leftist setpieces.
That's a plausible explanation. Part of why I wonder though is how often LGBT characters were presented in a negative light. They keep showing up in later books, but you're not generally given good reason to like them, even when they're pov characters. Just the opposite in several cases, including at least like 2 actual supervillains?
Also seem to remember them toning the leftist stuff way back down in the very last book at least (released November 2021, possibly relevant), but the ones leading up to it were such an obvious shift. I may be misremembering the supposed improvement in the last book though.
I remember preferring the last book to the preceding two as well (though that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I despise Naomi, and she's a major focus in those two books.)
And yeah, they do seem to be avoid the modern progressive pattern of only allowing white male villains (or making them "sympathetic".) I don't think that a single main villain/antagonist is a straight white male until book 5.
Solo Leveling by Chugong
Cradle Series by Will Wight
All the Skills by Honour Rae
The Hedge Wizard by Alex Maher
Ten Realms by Michael Chatfield
Guardian of Aster Fall by David North
Birth of Heavy Metal Series by Michael Todd
Mark of the Crijik by ThinkTwice
Mark of the Fool by J.M. Clarke
The Bad Guys Series by Eric Ugland Mother of Learning Series by Domagoj Kurmaić
Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer
Paranoid Mage Series by Inadvisably Compelled
The Primal Hunter Series by Zogarth
Fred, the Vampire Accountant Series by Drew Hayes
5-Minute Sherlock by Drew Hayes
My Chemical Hero Series by Andrew Karevik
The 13th Paladin by Torsten Weitze
Defiance of the Fall Series by JF Brink
An Outcast In Another World Series by KamikazePotato
Art of the Adept by Michael G. Manning
Arcane Casebook Series by Dan Willis
He Who Fights with Monsters Series by Travis Deverell (some sjw crap not intolerable though)
The Spellmonger Series by Terry Mancour
Junkyard Pirate Series by Jamie McFarlane
Witchy World Series by Jamie McFarlane
The Last Reaper Series by J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon
Dragon Heart Series by Kirill Klevanski
Year of the Sword Series by Dakota Krout
Buryoku Series by Aaron Oster
The Aegis of Merlin Series by James E. Wisher
Red Mage Series by Xander Boyce Animus Series by Joshua Anderle
The Dark Ability Series by D.K. Holmberg
Elemental Academy Series by D.K. Holmberg
Dexter Series by Jeff Lindsay
Crucible Series by Ryan W. Aslesen
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
The Magitech Chronicles by Chris Fox
Void Wraith Series by Chris Fox
Sentinels of Creation Series by Robert W. Ross (religious fiction)
Wizard in Rhyme Series by Christopher Stasheff (religious fiction)
Myth Adventures Series by Robert Lynn Asprin
Monster Hunter International Series by Larry Correia
I could go on but that should be good for now.
Well damn, thanks a lot for this list. I think I'll be able to just reference this thread for a long time if these are decent. I've only read Art of the Adept (1-4 and stopped, since it seems the main characters go completely off the rails after that), Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and 2 books of MHI from this list. Don't think I've even heard of the rest.
Maybe you can find something from the Gutenburg Project - https://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/2
If you like sci-fi, try the audiobook series of the Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson.
Thanks, I'll give it look.
Lately, I've heard about certain popular Japanese light novels being released as audio books, some of them even narrated by the English dub actors from their anime adaptations.
Thanks for pointing Baen books. I have to say though, I did start Sun Eater (I see Baen is publishing it on their site?) and thought it seemed sketchy with some of the things going on in there. But you said they don't publish trash, and Sun Eater is definitely well reviewed if nothing else. And those sketchy elements are all presented in a negative light, even if it doesn't feel that way at times. Might give it another shot.
Also nice to see an urban fantasy recommendation. I'm guessing it isn't Dresden Files level, but I'll definitely give Demon Accords a shot.