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.
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.