In my spare moments, I tend to churn through fantasy and sci-fi books. If you look at my Goodreads account, I've downed about 25 books this year. A few years ago, I was lucky if I read one or two books a year. But now, books are like water, flowing through me constantly.
When I finish a book, I am left in despair. What do I read next? If a book is part of a series, which in the sci-fi and fantasy world, it usually is, when I finish it, I just start reading the next one. This is a quick relief, an easy solution to my problems. If I heard rave reviews of a book (such as I read for The Steerswoman, which I just finished) I probably just bought the whole series and it's sitting there downloaded on my Kindle. If not, Amazon puts the ever enticing "buy next book in this series" right after the last page. I buy all of the books on Kindle, because I've had a Kindle in my backpack since 2011, and I read more every year because of it. But this is not the case tonight.
Tonight I have caught up with the end of the currently published works of a series (the aforementioned amazing Steerswoman series). When I finish a series, I often feel lost. What do I read next?!? I can't ask for recommendations on social media, because they basically always give their top recommendations, which I've usually read. So I dive into @goodreads. I follow a bunch of people, and sort through their reviews. I tend to sort by average score, and open ones that sound interesting in new tabs. If a book has a five star rating from someone and is late in a series, such as a book 4, I tend to go find the first book in the series.
(Photo is of Rob's read shelf, which has all sorts of gems with descriptive reviews.)
Sometimes this process leads me to gems, other times to total garbage. The amount of mediocre young-adult fantasy that I have read disturbs me sometimes. That being said, every once in a while, I find something truly wonderful. This process always takes a while, no matter the outcome.
Tonight's searching has led me to King of Ashes. It sounds interesting, and is by a famous author. Finding a new book is relieving. Exciting. I have no idea what I'm about to read, as no one I follow on Goodreads has read it, but hey, a new book series, should be fun.
/Nat
p.s. I love my Kindle Oasis. My only problem with Kindles are they seem to get stolen, I've had two taken from hotel rooms. Only tech I've ever had someone grab, so thankfully they are usually the cheapest tech I travel with (i.e. not a laptop or a phone).