Off Topic: Non-Romance Reads
Two sci-fi stunners and my favorite ongoing YA mystery series
Despite my mad dash to consume as many romance novels as possible in as short a time as I can manage, I do occasionally dip into non-romance. Or, at least, I have in the past. Pay no attention to my last 200+ reads.
I would say my non-romance preferences still involve, in some way, romance elements, but err on the side of smart internet-age sci-fi and female non-cop detectives. I want books that speak truth to our current digital hellscape and sassy heroines with a knack for catching killers. Have recommendations for me? Send ‘em my way! Want recommendations FROM me? Read on, if you’re a paid subscriber and part of the Forced Proximity Found Family!
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green. As a long-time casual fan of John Green and a long-time non-casual fan of the Vlogbrothers, I was delighted to discover Hank Green was planning to publish a sci-fi novel. His insights into the digital age are always nuanced and thoughtful, and it absolutely comes through in his debut novel.
We follow April May, a twenty-something bisexual disaster, as she is the first to notice and make viral internet content around a mysterious statue that appears in New York City. Unbeknownst to her and her friend who make a silly YouTube video upon noticing it late one night, it’s one of many identical statues all over the planet that appeared out of thin air, so when she jokingly refers to it as Carl and happens to be the first one to post through it, she becomes an overnight celebrity. At first, it’s overwhelming but exciting- the money you can make as a viral star is ridiculous! But as the puzzles of the Carls multiply and a faction of fear-mongers begin to call April and the “invasion” into question, being the human face of first contact stops being fun and starts being legitimately dangerous.
This is a book about the complexities of online fame, the way people weaponize virality and fear, the beauty of humanity’s need to solve puzzles and the ugliness of capitalism. Its sequel is equally excellent if far more terrifying, and skewered Elon Musk and the metaverse years before people were openly hating both concepts. Hank Green has his finger on the pulse, and I hope these aren’t his only two books ever!
Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis. I swear it’s a coincidence the first two books on this list are by YouTubers. I’ve been a fan of Lindsay’s for a while, for her dry but comprehensive takes on pop culture, so her dip into sci-fi was always going to interest me. And I’ll be honest- it took me three tries to get into this book, because the third person POV/writing style wasn’t what I was expecting from such a voice-y artist, but once I pushed through the first two chapters in the correct mood, I was addicted.
This psuedo-historical fiction story set in 2007 (fun fact: I was 15 and in my first deeply doomed relationship) follows Cora Sabino, who’s barely employed, struggling to find her way, and estranged from her famous whistle-blower father who can’t seem to stop ruining her life, even from afar. So when he leaks some top secret alien stuff and there’s a mysterious alien event that puts Cora squarely at the center of the controversy, she is understandably a little fed up. But now she’s the first contact for an alien creature called Ampersand, she’s on the run from the government, and her life is changed forever.
Similarly to Hank Green’s book, this story is explicitly (if in a slightly earlier era) skewering the internet, right wing provocateurs, and how people in power weaponize fear to remain people in power. There are also monster-fucking undertones that become overtones in book 2 (kind of) and I imagine they’ll only get more overt in book 3 and beyond (coming soon, hopefully!)
Fair warning- book 2 is BRUTAL, emotionally. But fascinating and exactly what it needed to be. This is not a series for fluffy feelings, though.
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson. I’ve been a Maureen Johnson fan since I was an age-appropriate YA reader, and she’s the only author I’ve stuck with for new releases into adulthood. Truly Devious is the beginning of officially a trilogy, but there have since been two stand-alone canonical continuations from the original story, all excellent. Even though the final lines of the latest edition, Nine Liars, will be the death of me. You know what you did, Maureen.
But to hop back to the beginning, Truly Devious is the story of teen true crime expert Stevie Bell who’s just been accepted into the whimsical private high school Ellingham Academy in remote Vermont, much to the confusion and concern of her deeply conservative and traditional parents. Stevie’s application to the school centered around a single thing: she wants a shot at solving the nearly century-old murder at the Academy. The very first year of its existence, the eccentric founder’s young daughter and wife were kidnapped and a student was murdered. The wife’s remains were eventually discovered, but the daughter was never found, and some still hold out hope she may be alive and unaware of her identity and massive inheritance.
The trilogy that Truly Devious kicks off centers exclusively around Stevie’s solving of these past murders and the present day ones that may or may not be related. It’s exciting, funny, heartbreaking, heart-stopping, and a genuinely great mystery. Worth the read, and worth the rec if you know any young readers who love mystery and murder!