I've been struggling these last few weeks with feeling motivated to write my own stories, and i think part of that is I haven't been in the literature headspace for quite some time. The last book I read was The Mask of Fear: Reign of the Empire by Alexander Freed, phenomenal Star Wars book, everything a fan of Andor (me) wants.
I believe the last book I read before that was Primitive War by Ethan Pettus. Okay enough book. The dinosaur stuff, action, horror and some characterization and themes weren't bad but I didn't love it, also hard to follow because of lack of clear POV shifts.
I've been trying to look back at the books I've read in the past to see what I might want to read next, but I'm struggling to think about which ones I truly loved. Coraline by… that creep was awesome, though i hesitate to read anything else by him knowing what I know now. Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater was quite good, though I wouldn't say I have a special attachment to it. The Expanse for some reason I couldn't stick with even though i love the show, the writing was good but i just wasn't feeling invested. Jurassic Park and its sequel I surprisingly don't like despite loving the movies, not a fan of the clinical way Crichton writes. The Baccano! light novels inspired me to start writing and while I love the story and characters, they can be hard to follow sometimes because of the loose narration style.
I can mostly only stick with books specifically written in third person limited. Anything else is hard for me to stay focused on. I like being immersed into the heads of the characters with clear breaks between scenes to show pov shifts (if there are any) so I know who I'm following, and with little to no omniscient narrator because I want to live in a story with someone, not be told about it by someone outside of it. Unfortanutely this is why I struggle reading Tolkien, as much as I love that world and characters.
I love reading and writing stories that have a mix of whimsy and darkness. I can enjoy books for small children or gritty adult stories, but not a fan of overly grotesque and edgy stuff unless it's balanced out by lighter themes like Berserk is. (I'm not taking manga suggestions rn btw)
Some of my non-literary favorites are: Star Wars, Disney Princesses, MCU Daredevil, Frieren, Attack on Titan, Vagabond (manga), early Pixar, Dreamworks, Avatar the Last Airbender, Breaking Bad, Gintama, Hunter x Hunter, Sonic games (and third movie), Halo, Xenoblade Chronicles.
I'm currently writing a fantasy adventure that will probably be for middle grade and/or young adult by the time it's finished, but your suggestions don't have to be fantasy or limited to any specific reading level. I just want to read something that'll get my imagination flowing, and I know I can take inspirations from outside the genre I'm writing in at a time.
I'm a huge fan of psychology, philosophy, and deep characters that have a lot to learn or have a lot to teach. Flat characters (like Sonic) are great too if they embody powerful themes or are just entertaining.
TLDR: I'm not bound by genre but Sci-fi/Fantasy is a safe bet, third person limited, character focused, good balance of dark and whimsical tone/theme.
by Zealot7829