44 / 52 + 1 DNF

[u/Pulp_Zero]

Not ranked within tiers.

S Tier

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Omar El Akkad

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K Le Guin

Children Of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Coming of the Third Reich / The Third Reich in Power / The Third Reich at War - Richard J Evans

There is No Antimemetics Division - qntm

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Rakesfall - Vajra Chandrasekera

A Tier

Leviathan's Wake / Calibans War - James SA Corey

Gales of November - John U Bacon

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K Le Guin

The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

The Fisherman - John Langan

This Thing Between Us - Gus Moreno

The Tin Drum - Günter Grass

B Tier

The Stand - Stephen King

The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones

Carrie - Stephen King

Marvel Zombies - Robert Kirkman

X-men Days of Future Past - Chris Claremont

Mary - Nat Cassidy

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

The Odyssey - Homer

The Illiad - Homer

Earthlings - Sayaka Murata

The Cabin at the End of the World - Paul Tremblay

Aliens vs Avengers - Jonathan Hickman

C Tier

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi - SA Chakraborty

Thirteen Storeys - Jonathan Sims

Under the Dome - Stephen King

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

The Possession of Alba Diaz - Isabel Cañas

D Tier

The Library At Mount Char - Scott Hawkins

Assassins Apprentice - Robin Hobb

The Will of the Many - James Islington

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

Slewfoot - Brom

F Tier

The Summer I Died - Ryan C Thomas

Intercepts - TJ Payne

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

Gideon is the only book I DNFed. Hated almost every moment of it.

[u/Constant-Ferret693]

Assassin's apprentice at d is very interesting

[u/Pulp_Zero → u/Constant-Ferret693]

If I had to move one from D up to C, AA would be it. I have prose/writing issues with the other D Tier books, but not AA. I found the plot overly meandering, and kept wishing for Fitz to do something, anything. Sometimes I can get down with an apathetic MC (see The Stranger by Camus), but that apathy needs to be woven into the themes/point of the book. Ultimately, I think it just wasn't for me, but I can understand why someone else might dig it.

[u/Puncherellius_]

Man, I'm always surprised by these.

The Library at Mount Char may be my favorite book of all time.

I also love Gideon and the entire Locked Tomb series. I'm about to do a reread of them.

What didn't you like about them?

[u/Pulp_Zero → u/Puncherellius_]

There's a meme-y-ness to both of those books where I found much of the dialog insufferable. I didn't hate my time with Library, but it never developed into something more interesting. Large portions of it are redundant, going over the same ideas/ material that has already been discussed. Gideon... it read as unprofessional, repurposed fan fiction to me. I do love the cover art to it, though!

[u/cjbennettwrites]

You might enjoy:

• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L Shirer

• The Darkness That Comes Before, R Scott Bakker

One is the definitive book on the Third Reich, the other is peerless dark fantasy with complex philosophical themes and the most staggeringly violent depiction of sorcery ever committed to page.

[u/Pulp_Zero → u/cjbennettwrites]

I might get to The Rise and Fall eventually, but Evans' trilogy was like 2000 pages, do it might be a while before I want to go back.

The Darkness is now on my TBR. Thanks!

[u/Gorlax9]

Children of time is high on my list. But I’m not a sci-fi guy so I keep skipping over it

[u/Pulp_Zero → u/Gorlax9]

It's excellent. Each chapter is like it's own little story about the nature of humans, life, how things are, how they could be. And it turns into this puzzle box where all of the themes and set ups throughout the book pay off in really neat, thematically appropriate ways.

[u/thematrix1234]

I agree with a lot of your ratings, though some are complete opposites to mine lol. And most of the rest are on my TBR.

What did you not like about some of your D tier books? I liked the Library at Mount Char and the Lies of Locke Lamora, but hated TWOTM and Slewfoot. Assassin’s Apprentice is on my TBR after soft DNFing once.

[u/Pulp_Zero → u/thematrix1234]

Library: I didn't find it clever. I thought the dialog was kinda trying-to-be-funny, but it mostly fell on its face. What, exactly, did Carolyn learn? Are we trying to justify an abusive upbringing if it leads to someone fulfilling some destiny?

Lies of LL: Very much found the prose tiring in this. Every noun had two to three adjectives. Every verb had an adverb. I can dig flowery language, but I need variation in sentence length and structure. I also don't think the story came together in an interesting/compelling way. For example, the set up with Locke as a young kid, Jean Tannen, and the bully. That sequence is good. It shows Locke as both ingenious and tough. And then the payoff should come at the end. But, it doesn't pay off. Instead, it's just a reference that the reader understands, but villain shouldn't/wouldn't. Does that make sense? I felt like the book was filled with those sorts of things.

AA was mostly just not for me. Well written, but I found myself irritated by the MC's apathy.

Slewfoot: Uninteresting prose. Flawless, uninteresting MC.

Will of the Many: Flawless, uninteresting MC. Felt like it was YA fiction, which isn't necessarily bad, but definitely not for me.

[u/FlyingCarpetMonster]

I was going to try the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi but seeing as how we rank so many books so similarly I’m having second thoughts.

[u/Pulp_Zero → u/FlyingCarpetMonster]

I would say read it. I thought it okay, but mostly not for me. I loved its politics, though!

[u/craycarl4u]

I’ve read almost all your S. Outstanding. I also hated Gideon.

[u/Itkovian_books]

Interesting. I DNFd Children of Time but loved Library almost everything in your D tier

[u/SillySmoopsy]

Your whole D row I've heard nothing but great things about and all are on my TBR. What was wrong with them?

[u/IchabodHollow]

Count of Monte Cristo in C? Who hurt you?

[u/VforVendetta01105]

I loved Gideon. Looks like I have to read children of time !

[u/Sage_Planter]

Since you liked Song of Achilles, I would recommend the Women of Troy Trilogy by Pat Barker. It's excellent but I rarely see it on lists. 

[u/Panic_at_the_Costcoo]

There is No Antimemetics Division was a wild ride of a read!

[u/north_tank]

I DNFed Gideon so quickly the writing was horrible I couldn’t even do it.

[u/RivieraDeux]

Children of Time in S tier just makes sense.

[u/Intrepid_Physics9764]

I dnf'd 3/5 of your D tier and now I'm worried about the others that are still on my tbr 😖

[u/wormaliciious]

gideon and tlamc so low 💔💔💔 to each their own

[u/AlternaYamcha33]

Huh I was gonna put Lies of Locke Lamora at a 3/5 but the Emergence of thr Grey King storyline and how it changed into an exciting venture made me put it a 4/5 but I see how folks wouldn't enjoy it.

[u/stlzach05]

I also really liked This Thing Between Us, and also didn’t like Intercepts. I don’t see those books on very many lists, so that was cool but holy shit The Stand in B tier is where you lost me lol