When it comes to gothic fiction, there is perhaps no more instantly recognized name than Edgar Allan Poe. He endured a lot during his short and tumultuous 40-year life and used his experiences to create dark tales and lyrica?l poetry that secured his place in literary h?istory. 

Boston-born Poe has a host of “firsts�to his name, among which is the? remarkable claim that he was the first well-known American author to have made his entire living solely from writing. He ma?de early contributions to both the science fiction and detective fiction genres but is most well known for his macabre short stories and poems. 

Poe has quite an extensive bibliography. Most of his short stories and poems were published in periodicals and journals during his li?fetime. If you’re new to the world of Poe, or just want to revisit the classics here are five of each to dive into. 

Best short stories by Edgar Allan Poe

5. Loss of Breath

Originally published in the Edinburgh-based Blackwood Magazine, which was well known for its sensational tales, Loss of Breath was orig??inally published u?nder the pseudonym Littleton Barry in 1846.

There’s something truly epic about this satirical short story of a man called Mr. Lackobreath who has, quite literally, lost his breath. During a quest to find his misplaced breath, he is repeatedly dismembered, assumed to be dead, buried alive, hanged, imprisoned, and otherw??ise abused in a variety of bizarre and exaggerated ways.  

4. The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Considered to be the first modern fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin was the brainchild of Poe in a trilogy of stories. He first appears in The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), and then later in The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (1842), and The Purloined Letter (1844). Many elements of Poe's tale became convention?s for later detectives, such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a classic murder mystery tale, wherein Dupin investigates the bloody murders of two women that ma??ny overheard, though none can agree on what language was used. Dupin discovers a hair at one of the crime scenes that he knows is not huma?n, and things just get weirder and darker from there. 

3. The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum was first published in 1842 as part of The Gift: A Christmas and New Year’s Present for 1843, and it’s genuinely unsettling in a way that will remain with you long after you’ve finished reading it. Unlike most of Poe’s work, which uses supernatural elements to add horror, The Pit and the Pendulum focuses on huma?n sens??es and very real fears to instill terror in you. 

After being condemned to die by judges during the (not historically accurate) Spanish Inquisition, the unnamed narrator of The Pit and the Pendulum discove??rs that he is perilously close to falling down a pit in the middle of his cell while a razo??r-sharp pendulum slowly swings lower and lower above his head. As the pendulum endlessly swings and descends, the story, too, seems to swing between hope and despair. 

2. The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher was first published in the September 1839 edition of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and revised for the 1840 collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. The Netflix series of the same name is heavily inspired by this, one of Poe's most well-known short stories, although it does not fo??llow the plot as closely as you may imagine, adding details that were not in the original tale. 

The house in The Fall of the House of Usher is used as a metaphor for the slow decay of the human body over the years, gradually falling apart as the tale progresses, and is described as a character in its own right. There’s a lot of madness in The Fall of the House of Usher, and it is often hailed as a masterpiece of gothic literature, so if you’re looking for an entry point into?? Poe tales, then I’d recommend this one.

1. The Tell-Tale Heart

The first publication of The Tell-Tale Heart was as part of a periodical called The Pioneer in 1843, and the tale has since gone on to become one of Poe’s best-known and beloved short stories. Even if you’ve never read it, you know the premise: a murder, gu?ilt, and the sound of a beating heart under the floorboard that threatens to drive the guilty party insane with its insistence. 

The Tell-Tale Heart is an excellent example of an ‘unreliable narrator� which i?s to say that it is impossible to trust what they are depicting within the story thanks to their obvious madness and paranoia. There is a focus on rationalizing the irrational, and as you read, you’ll be pulled into the guilt that the narrator almost places upon you for being a witness to their failed perfect ??crime.

Best poems by Edgar Allan Poe

5. A Dream Within a Dream

A Dream Within a Dream is a 24-line poem about the inevitable loss of everything, including time. It was published in The Flag of Our Union in 1849, and while it might not be among Poe’s most well??-known poems, itâ€??™s one of my favorites because it plays on a much more realistic type of fear than his more fantastical horror tales and prose. 

The narrator talks of golden sands that slip between his fingers, and many who have analyzed the poem consider this golden sand to be a refere??nce to time itself, slipping through the fingers of the narrator regardless of how desperately he tries to cling to it. I think this is a fear everyone can relate to as they age. 

4. Lenore

Many have speculated that Lenore was written as a way to cope with his wife Virginia's il??lness and his brother William Henry Leonard Poe's r??ecent death. It began as an entirely different poem called A Paean, which was published in 1831. A much different iteration of the poem was published in The Pioneer in 1843 under the title of Lenore. 

Lenore, like many of Poe’s other poems, focuses on the untimely death of a beautiful woman and the proper decorum that should be maintained following it. There’s something much lighter about Lenore than the macabre content of his other works, with Lenore’s fiancé Guy de Vere deciding not to mourn her death but instead celebrate her ascension to paradise until?? he can ?meet her there. 

3. The City in the Sea

Another of Poe’s works that underwent many changes over the years was The City in the Sea, which was previously known as both The Doomed City and The City of the Sun before eventually being published under its now well-known title in 1845. It has been featured in many publications, including the Southern Literary Messenger, The American Review, and the Broadway Journal.

The City in the Sea is the tale of a city ruled over by Death and deals with the concept as a whole unconventionally, as Poe w??as wont to do. The city is to the west, appropriately where the sun sets, and the poem eludes that it is worse than Hell, while Death is worse than the Devil himself. The City in the Sea is filled with a huge amount of darkness but is considered one of Poe’s best early works. 

2. Annabel Lee

If there is any Poe poem that I can recite by heart, it is Annabel Lee. First published as part of Sartain’s Union Magazine in 1849, Annabel Lee is thought to be inspired by the repeated loss of the influential women in Poe’s life, and it desc????ribes the refusal to let go of a beloved companion. 

There is no supernatural horror in Annabel Lee,? but the horror of heartbreak is perhaps a much more relatable one that most people experience at least once in their lives. The poem is short and filled with such deep reverence and love from t??he narrator to his deceased love that it is almost bittersweet to read but endlessly worth it.

1. The Raven

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…â€?This universally famous opener is the beginning of Poe’s most well-known and potentially most beloved poem, The Raven. First published in 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror, it’s filled with lyrical language and features a common name in Poe’s works?? â€?Lenore. 

In The Raven, the narrator is trying to get over the death of his love, Lenore, when a raven enters his home and perches on a bust. The raven can only say one word â€?“Nevermoreâ€?â€?and the narrator swings between anger?????????????????????????? and contemplation as he regards the bird inside his house. 

There is a theme of conflict over whethe??r to remem?ber or whether to forget, and there’s a sense that the narrator carefully chooses his questions so that the bird’s single spoken word will relate, compounding his misery.

The Balloon-Hoax

This astounding historical moment is neither a short story nor a poem, but it was written by Edgar Allan Poe all the same, and it is perhaps one of my favorite bizarre moments in history. If anything stands as a testament to Poe’s skill as an author, it’s this article that was published in The Sun newspaper in New York in 1844. 

In short, this article told the story of a man called Monck Mason who had crossed the Atlantic in a gas-powered balloon in just three days. It was presented as a true news story, and it was fully? believed by readers until it was officially retracted two days later. 

The fictional tale was based on the real-life exploits of balloonist Thomas Monck Mason, who did indeed manage to travel throug??h the air in a balloon. Sadly, his crowning journey was only 500 miles in 1836, but it did in?spire Poe to write the false article eight years later.

The story itself is considered to be an early form of science fiction, with Poe adding various believable scientific elements and diagrams that grabbed readers' attention. The success of the story is likely down to the obsession with progress that was taking over the world at the time, and even in the official retraction, The Sun stated that they “by no m?ea??ns think such a project impossible.�nbsp;

The post Best? Edgar Allen Poe Poems and Short Stories, Ranked appeared first on Destructoid.

There is nothing better than relaxing with a n??ice book in your ears, even better if there are some thrills to be had. If you are looking for some of the best psychologic??al thriller audiobooks on the market, we have some recommendations for you.

What are the best psychological thriller audiobooks?

On this list, we have curated a selection of all kinds of psychological thrillers. From those focused on detective work and investigation to those that offer a bit more gore and sh??ock-value, plus everything in between. There is something for all tastes.

The Good Daughter

Part of the series of thrillers by Karin Slaughter, this book weaves a compelling narrative th??at span??s a thirty-year arc from a tragic family event and the return of that very same nightmare that haunted Charlie Quinn's life.

This is a thrilling and shocking ride that gets ever darker as Charlie battles with the memories of a tragic event ?she has long been trying to escape. She will have to face the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago and is now threatening to come ??back into her life.

An intense ride, filled with m?any traumatic events (trigger warning), brought perfectly to life by narrator Kathleen Early.

Intensity

The young Chyna Shepard has been having a restless night at her friends' house, for no apparent reason at all. In r?eality, the reason is just outside her window, as a killer has just entered the house. This ??is a man who cares only about his own lust for killing and the family is his new objective.

Chyna manages to survive the attack while finding out the identity of the next victim. What happens next will send listeners into an orbit of strange and incredible events. Read with the intense voice of Frankie Corzo, it is an intense thriller that never goes too extreme with its depiction of viole??nce, with a strong pace that will make it a great listen while you are working.

Gone Girl

What happens if you go missing on the morning of your fifth wedding anniversary? The police have no doubts about what happened to Ann. ?The husband is the culprit. Nick Dunne seems almost willing to go to jail fo?r this, but what secret is he covering up, and what really happened to Ann?

If you have any kind of preconceived notions about thrillers and the role of the characters in the genre, Gone Girl will surely make you think twice. In just under 450 pages, the narrative woven by Gillian Flynn made this book ??one of the best sellers in the genre, and for good reason.

With two narrators in this audiobook, the twists and turns of the narrative will come to life and surprise you whi?le keeping you on the edge of your seat. Also, I can't forget to recommend the b??eautiful movie by David Fincher.

Worst Case Scenario

It all started in Waketa, Minnesota. One huge national catastrophe that is bound to have global ??implications: a plane just plummeted through a nuclear power planet. In this global-scale thriller, we see the events from the eyes of ordinary people called in to try and contain the consequences of the accident, from firefighters to teachers.

It will take all of the courage, ingenuity, an??d determination that these brave people can muster up to save not only their community and loved ones, but also the fate of humanity at large. Narrated with the right kind of intensity by Joe Morton, this book takes us on a heart-wrenching and terrifying adventure.

With all the i??ntensity o??f a classic such as Steven King's The Stand, Worst Case Scenario will haunt your thoughts long after it is finished. The book also takes a look at the vulnerability of the planet in the case of a large-scale nuclear accident.

His & Hers

The sleepy small town of Blackdown is shaken to the core when a young woman is murdered for no apparent reason. No one seems interested in covering the ca??se for the media, especially not local reporter Anna Andrews.

But her reluctance does not go unnoticed, as Detective Harper becomes suspicious of her and starts investigating the connection between the two peopl??e. But all is not what it seems, as the detective himself ?seems to have a few secrets of his own.

As more bodies pile up and mysteries abound, narrators Richard Armitage and Stephanie Racine manage to keep up the pace while building tension in this smart psychological thriller. This one might be a little more gruesome than others on this list. It's for you if you like that mo?re horrific vibe to you??r psychological thrillers

Then she was gone

No one seemed to represent the perfect child more than Ellie Mack. Beloved by?? her parents, friends, and teachers, she also made the perfect couple with her teenage boyfriend. Suddenly, just a few days away from her summer vacation, she disappears without a trace.

Her mother, Laurel, spends th??e next ten years trying to build her life back up. All seemed well, especially with the arrival of a new boyfriend, but a strange encounter suddenly brings the memories of her daughter back in full fo?rce. Did her daughter really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is this supposedly perfect boyfriend who appeared out of the blue?

Read by veteran thriller narrator Helen Duff, this is a thrilling story, light on the gory details but high on the mysterious twists and shocking turns, t?hat you won't be able to put down until you arrive at the last page.

The Golden Couple

If you have a psychological problem, then Avery Chambers is the doctor fo??r you??. At least, she definitely seemed like the perfect solution for former golden couple Marissa and Mathew Bishop, who were all flowers and rainbows, until Marissa cheated on her husband.

But, as it turns out, infidelity is just one of the many things that the Bishops are hiding and that Dr. Chambers is going to uncover in thi?s mysterious journey into the life of a married couple that seemed perfectly normal. It won't just?? be their marriage that is in danger, either, as Chambers finds out even more shocking truths.

Written by acclaimed authors Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and brought to life by the great combo of narrators Marin Ireland and Karissa Vacker, this is a dazzling ??descent into an everyday domestic thriller that will captivate readers from the first few words.

The Secrets She Keeps

A riveting suspense novel about the unlikely friendship between two pregnant wo??men that asks: How far would you go to create the perfect family? Agatha is pregnant and works part-time stocking shelves while she vicariously spies on the life of Meghan, the? effortlessly chic customer due on the same date as Agatha.

The two, thus, get to know each other a little better, but this apparently innocent exchange leads them down a path of thrills and? mystery. Agatha is revealed to have different objectives in mind. Can this pregnancy-friendship actually be a cover-up for something else?

Read by the soothing, but still intense?, tones of Lucy Price-Lewis, this thriller glues you to your earbuds until the last word, as it strikes a perfect balance betwee?n psychological and harrowing.

The Good Lie

If you are l?ooking for an expert on serial killers, Dr. Gwen Moore is the woman for you. She has followed the lives of many ser?ial killers, such as the Bloody Heart killer, who has just been identified as high school teacher Randall Thompson.

As the medi??a and Dr. Moore mount the case against Thompson, his lawyer, Robert Kavin, is convinced of his innocence. He wants Moore to interview him, prod his psyche, and discover ththe truth beneath what the media and the police think.

This is a disturbing thriller recommended to listeners ?who won't mind a bit of gore and ??shocking scenes here and there. This intense thriller is read by expert Susan Dalian.

We Solve Murders

Retired life is the best t??ime for former detective Steve Wheeler. But a new and mysterious case brings back his old life, while his former partner Amy Wheeler gets tangled into something much bigger than her.

She’s currently on a remote island protecting mega-bestselling author Rosie D'Antonio until a dead body and a bag of money mean trouble in paradise. Can Steve still go back to? his own life to protect his friend? And will he be able to survive ??this ordeal while catching a killer?

Read in the beautiful voice of Richard Armitage, t??his i?s perfect for readers seeking a thriller light on gore and scares, and more about the investigation. Listeners can even look forward to some humor here and there.

The post Best Psychological Thriller Audiobooks appeared first on Destructoid.

With Sunrise on the Reaping set to be published on March 18, there are a lot?? of people waiting for their next dose of Susan Collinsâ€?post-apocalyptic and dystopian world. If you’re one of those pe??????????????????????????ople, there are plenty of options to get you through the next month. 

Post-apocalyptic, dystopian fiction is a hugely popular genre. There’s something almost reassuring about reading tales of altern??ate realities where the world is beyond broken. It’s almost a reminder that, as messed-up as our own world can seem at times, things could definitely be worse. 

Whatever kind of dystopia you want to find, there’s a book out there that can provide it. Here are 10 of the best dystopian tales to tide you over until Sunrise on the Reaping comes out.

If you’re looking for dark and dystopian, you probably can’t do better than Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Set in a world where fertility rates have dropped to almost nothing, and successful pregnancies only occur 20% of the time, The Handmaid’s Tale is almost impossibly dark and truly riveting. Absolutely worth a read if you can stomac??h the dark themes involved. 

The Divergent series is set in a startlingly similar world to The Hunger Games, with a post-apocalyptic Chicago playing host to five factions defined by societal status and personality traits. Much like The Hunger Games, there is also a sub?plot of young-adult love that runs through the series, between Tris and Four. There are four books in the series, plus a short story epilogue to? tie everything together at the end.

The first in a series of five books, The Maze Runner centers around t??he battle to overcome the Flare, an apocalyptic illness. The youngest generation on the planet is immune to this illness and is, therefore, used by WICKED as test subjects to find a cure. Those placed into the maze are stripped of their memories, but they all want to find a way to escape. 

It’s almost a travesty that the Red Rising series hasn’t received a silver-screen adaptation yet because the universe and story created by Pierce Brown are utterly fan??tastic. The story follows Darrow, a “Red�on Mars who begins life as a lowborn miner. As the story progresses, Darrow transforms his entire life (and body) to infiltrate the Golds, the most highborn members of ci??vilization. 

There are some (myself very much included) that class Battle Royale as the story that would eventually be adapted to become the inspiration for Collins to write The Hunger Games. Collins has said that she didn’t know Battle Royale existed when ??she wrote her books, but it’s got everything that Collins included: a group of children thrown into a battle to the death by a totalitarian government for entertainment, a love story between two of the combatants, and the determination to fight th?e fascist system. Sound familiar? 

Uglies

Scott Westerfeld

Imagine living in a world where you’re considered “Ugly�until you reach the ripe old age of 16, get massively invasive and body-wide cosmetic surgery, and then enter the world of the “Pretty.�That’s the world laid out in Uglies, and Tally doesn’t like this system. Instead, she joins the resistance and throws up her middle finger to the society that deems her unworthy unless she submits herself to their standards. Things get violent, and resistan??ce does not come easy. 

Often considered an inversion counterpart to Orwell’s 1984, Brave New World is set in a dystopian future where humans are artificially created and?? then sorted into a pre-determined, intelligence-based social hierarchy. The people are controlled by psychoactive drugs, everything is learned during sleep, and people are conditioned to behave according to expectations, but Bernard Marx is a break from the norm. 

I’ve written about Tender is the Flesh a few times, and I’ll always include it wherever I’m able to because it is something that I’d recommend to everyone, as long as you’ve got a fairly strong stomach and don’t mind detailed descriptions of human slaughter and cannibalism. Rather than focusing on the fight to change the norm, Tender is the Flesh centers around the willingness to conform in a society where humans are treated as no ?more ??than cattle after a disease renders all animal products deadly to eat. 

Matched is set in a world where people are paired into lifelong romantic relationships at the age of 17 by an expertly designed algorithm. I’m not sure about you, but that’s a pretty terrifying idea for me. Cassia agrees, and after she is matched with her best friend, she begins to question? the society in which they live and whether their match is truly best for th?em. 

Shen Fever is a fungal infection that causes people who contract it to begin repeating the same routines, without end or consciousness, until they die. This infection, something akin to a slow and almost unnoticeable zombie apocalypse, eventually leads to the complete societal collapse of the United States, but some people are immune. Severance ?i??s the story of those who survive, watching people routinely and slowly wander towards impending death. 

The post 10 dystopian novels to read while?? you wait for Sunris??e on the Reaping appeared first on Destructoid.

Colleen Hoover is enjoying something of an explosion in terms of fame a??nd popularity at the moment, with her books selling by the millions and movie adaptations proving immensely popular with readers and non??-readers alike. 

Even if you’ve never opened one of her no??vels, you’re likely to have heard of Colleen Hoover at least in passing. She’s blown up on BookTok and Bookstagram, constantly mentioned on Twitter, and even managed to outsell the Bible in 2022 â€?now that’s an?? impressive accomplishment for any author. 

In total, Colleen Hoover has published 26 books in the last 13 years, with some of the most popular being It Ends With Us and Verity. There are a few series that should be read in order, but most of her published works are standal??one. 

Colleen Hoover book series�/h2>

Most of the four different series of novels were written towards the beginning of Hoover’s writing career, and the books contained within these series should be read in order. There is, howev?er, no real order in which y?ou should read each series. 

Slammed series

The Slammed series was the first published work by Hoover, and it was self-published by the author herself. There are heavy themes involved, including death and huge life changes, and the series focuses on 18-year-old Layken, who moves to a new town?? after her fa?mily dies. 

There are three books in the series, and they should be read in the followi?ng o?rder:

• Slammed (2012)
• Point of Retreat (2012)
• This Girl (2013)

Hopeless series

The Hopeless series centers around discovering who you are while also having to confront the issues of your past. It’s a love ??story between Sky and Dean, who each have their fair share of issues to bring to the table, and their efforts to overcome them. 

This ??series is written from the point of view of different characters, and features a companion novella that over??laps the entire series:

• Hopeless (2012)
• Losing Hope (2013)
• Finding Cinderella (a novella) (2013)
• All Your Perfects (2018)
• Finding Perfect (2019)

Maybe Someday series

Sydney, recently cheated on by her boyfriend and nurturing a desire to write music to try and deal with the sting of betrayal, finds more than she’s looking for in her musically talented neighbor. That’s the story featured in the Maybe Someday series, and there are many c??omplications along the road to happiness.?? 

Here’s the reading order for the Ma?y?be Someday series:

• Maybe Someday (2014)
• Maybe Not (2014)
• Maybe Now (2018)

It Ends With Us series

Less of a series and more of a duo, the It Ends With Us series is the one that has garnered Hoover the most attention, with the first of the two books al??ready having been turned into a silver-screen blockbuster of the same name.

The series is a?? story of love and concerning behaviors, ch??ildhood trauma, and generational abuse. It all gets a bit dark at times, but there is definitely something captivating about the honest, raw stories that unfold.  

• It Ends With Us (2016)
• It Starts With Us (2022)

Colleen Hoover standalone books

Outside of her serie??s, Hoover has also published 11 standalone books that can be read in any order. If you’re not quite willing to dive into an entire series but still want to see if Hoover can capture your attention with her imagination and writing style, here are all of her standalone titles in order of release:

• Ugly Love (2014)
• November 9 (2015)
• Confess (2015)
• Never Never: The Complete Series (2015)
• Too Late (2016)
• Without Merit (2017)
• Verity (2017)
• Regretting You (2019)
• Heart Bones (2020)
• Layla (2020)
• Reminders of Him (2022)

The post Colleen Hoover Books in Order appeared first on Destructoid.

We live in an age dominated by social media ‘influencers�who make careers out of appearing to be better than those who watch them. Every day, the papers bring bad news, and levels of anxiety keep increasing daily. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by life sometimes, but do we??? need to suffer?

Sure, the ??world is a scary place, and facing it can seem like an overwhelming prospect, but?? there are books out there specifically designed to help you through even the darkest moments. Self-help books are always popular, but some are more impactful than others. 

I’ve don??e my fair share of self-growth over the years, and much of it has come in the form of books designed to inspire and uplift. Here are 10 of the most life-changing books I’ve ever read, the ones ?that have permanently changed my mindset. Hopefully, they can have a positive impact on your life, too. 

Although it’s been almost 90 years since Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People was first published, it still manages to be completely relevant in these new modern times. It’s a collection of solid advice for life, and ma?king your way up any ladder that interests you.

Carnegie goes over the six ways to make people like you and many different ways to change peopl??e’s minds. While this is, and has always been aimed at those who want to climb career ladders or succeed in their respective fields, it still has lessons that are applicable during all life stages, regardless of your goals.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, The Courage to Be Disliked is an absolute masterpiece that offers advice for living life to the standards you set for yourself rather than trying to li?ve up to the expectations of anybody else.

Koga takes the theories of Alfred Adler and modernizes them, allowing you to live for yourself a??nd become the truest version of who you always wanted to be. It makes sense; the only person you should worry about letting down is yourself, and setting expectations for anyone other than yourself is only setting yourself up for disappointment.

At the risk of sounding incredibly depressing, I like Pale Blue Dot because it puts my problems into startling perspective. Sagan works hard to explain that the Earth is not the center of the universe and that we are not as important as we seem to think we are. Life comes and goes, and the earth and univ?erse will remain long after our petty squabbles and self-doubt are gone. 

If you’re wondering whether you can stomach this book, I suggest you watch this video ?of Carl Sagan reading an excerpt of the book, which is one of the best things ever uploaded to th??e internet if you ask me. 

Victor Frankl was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and rather than let his experiences destroy him, he turned them into a quest for understanding and, ultimately, a way to help others overcome hardship. His experiences led to the foundation of Logotherapy??, which is a therapeutic approach to fi?nding meaning in life. 

It’s broken down into three areas as part of Man’s Search for Meaning: finding purpose through creative wo?rk, gaining it through relationships, and learning to change your attitude when it comes to facing tough situations. Those are things that everyone should consider while going through life. 

The War of Art is aimed towards creative types who struggle to break through their mental barriers to create. It centers around the concept of “Resistance,�which Pressfield describes as a process in our subconscious that is constantly striving to prevent success. Essentially, The War of Art works as a guide to avoid self-sabotage rather than as a guide to find motivation ??and discipline, and that’s?? why it works so well. 

I bet you weren’t expecting to see a Roman emperor feature on this list, but Marcus Aurelius might just be the first self-help author who ever lived, and he is still helping people to live their best lives centuries after he left the mortal plane. One of the central themes of his Meditations is that of control and the detrimental effect of choosing to focus on things that we cannot ?control rather than the things that are within our power to change. 

One of the most withstanding less?ons I learned from Meditations was that the only way anybody has the power to hurt me is if I allow them to. I do not have the power to dictate how others treat me, but I do have ??the power to control my reaction to their treatment. That is a serious life lesson and one I’ve never forgotten. 

While The Paradox of Choice is a startling look at consumer culture and how it affects our live??s, tackling the difficult lesson that offering fewer choices to consumers might make for happy shoppers. Despite that, there are a lot of personal lessons that you can?? learn from reading this book. We have so many options in this modern world, and just one just one can be utterly overwhelming. 

The basic lesson of The Paradox of Choice is that any choice can be likened to a risk assessment. Breaking a choice down into steps, especially when y??ou have to choose from a lot of different options, can help you discover what’s truly important to you. 

Changing your life is not an easy thing to do. The concept of change is utterly daunting, and changing everything in one move is terrifying. Atomic Habits offers a different technique and describes how an entire life can be changed by implementing minuscule changes that add up ov??er time. 

Giving 100% of yourself to something new overnight is hard, but giving 1% of yourself every day for 100 days is a lot easier. That’s the basic concept of Atomic Habits, and ?it will seriously change your life if you struggle with sweeping changes. 

Did you know that it’s scientifically proven that those who believe they’ll heal after tragic accidents heal faster? It’s also proven that those who take a placebo drug, even when they’re fully aware that it’s a placebo, will still feel the benefits of ta??king the drug. That’s the expectation effect, and it’s something that can be applied to eve?ryday life. 

If you believe you can do something, you’re far more likely to actually do it. If you believe that you’re capable of making a change, then you’re more likely to be able to make that change. The Expectation Effect looks into why this happens and passes on skills that can be used to improve your minds?et even on tough days. 

I previously mentioned that Pale Blue Dot changed my life most effectively of the books on this list, but if you want a purely self-help title to absolutely turn your life on its head, then I highly recommend The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. It’s not a book that will take it easy on you if you’re having a bad moment or a?sk you to think positively. 

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is more about accepting that everything is a mess and learning how to deal with it more producti?vely. Human beings are, by default, not perfect. We are flawed and broken in a myriad of ?ways. Limitations shouldn’t always be broken through, but fear shouldn’t hold us back either. 

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is?? all about being honest with yourself and accepting that though you may not have the power to change the things around you, you can learn to accept them and be badass anyway.

The post 10 books that will change your life appeared first on Destructoid.

Whether you're into dense tomes or short novels, I truly? believe there's a book out there for everyone. Even if you don't consider yourself much of a reader, there'll be something that'll appeal to your interests.

But if you're on this article, there's a good chance yo??u have at least a passing interest in literature. Of course, ??all this peaceful reading can get in the way of some meaty gaming. Which is why I've compiled a list of short novels you can pick up and put down in between levels. Hell, you might even finish some of these before you get to the closing credits.

Some housekeeping before we move on:

• This list aims to feature books that most of you will know, though there may be one or two more obscure ones in there. In any case, I've managed to compile a healthy selection that are all under 150 pages in length (not an easy feat).
• I'm aware that novels under 150 pages long can typically be classed as "novellas." However, for the sake of this article, I'm classing them as one and the same.
• Where possible, I've included the version that has the least amount of pages. This means there may be some books on this list that are more than 150 pages, depending on the edition you go for.

With that out the way, let's take a look at 10 short novels you can power through while waiting at those pesky loadings screens. Let's start with the "longest" on this list.

Animal Farm - George Orwell (144 pages)

Before 1984, George Orwell (real name: Eric Blair) was already well-versed in holding a mirror up to the darkness of a politically charged society. Published in 1945, Animal Farm is an allegorical takedown of totali?tarianism, with the story being a biting satire aimed at life under Josef Stalin.

I'd wager a lot of you are already familiar with this one. It's considered a classic of 20th-century literature, but it feels a bit overshadowed by Orwell's magnum opus, which came a few years later. Still, if you haven't read Animal Farm, many would agree that it holds relevance, even ??to this day.

It's thanks to the author that we have the term "Orwellian" when describing something systematically bureaucratic and fraught with cruel surveillance. You'll definitely see notes of 1984 within Animal Farm.

The Porcupine - Julian Barnes (138 pages)

Those of you who follow the Booker Prize may have heard Julian Barnes' name before. He won in 2011 with his almost equally short novel The Sense of an Ending, which was adapted into a film i?n 2017 that ?stars Jim Broadbent.

I've added The Porcupine because it not only falls under the category of being less than 150 pages long, but is also what I'm currently reading at the moment. One might even say it's what prompted ?me to come up with the idea f??or this article. I certainly would.

The novel is quite fascinating in that it oddly reminds me of Animal Farm, which is a somewh?at dark satire of the Russian Revolution.

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (128 pages)

This one may come as a surprise to some. It is a story with a lot of weight to it, so you may have imagined (as I did initially) that Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was much longer.

Published in 1937, Steinbeck's novel tells the story of the Great Depression, which is said to take inspiration from the author's own experiences working with migrant farmers. Given its status as an important novel that resonates with many readers, I am surprised to see it doesn't appear on more lists of the 20th century's greatest novels.

It is, however, considered somewhat controversial these days. Welsh schools will no longer be teaching it due to the racial language used??, according to a report from the BBC. This classic text is just one of? many that tends to crop up in discussions on book censorship.

The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan (128 pages)

Even if you haven't read the book, you may at least know of its 1935 film adaptation, which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Buchan's short novel was published some 20 years before the Hitchcock film and should appeal to anyone who?? likes a sense of adventure.

It tells the story of a man who fakes his own death after discovering a pl??ot against Constantine Karolides, the Premier of Greece. However, despite holding up in his neighbor's place (said neighbor being the narrator of the story), he is found dead sometime later with a knife in his chest. Ooh, it sounds ever so exciting!

Also, for this entry, I used the Penguin edition that was published in 2018, t??hough it appears a?s though the first edition was over 250 pages. We'll ignore that one.

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway (112 pages)

Ernest Hemingway is one of those writers whose reputation seems to exceed the man himself, especially when it comes to his alcohol consumption. A giant in the American literary scene of his day, his tale The Old Man and the Sea is not only something of a modern classic, it also won h??im the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.

The Old Man and the Sea endures not just because it's about the titular ma??n who goes fishing on the even more titular sea but because of its themes and symbolism. Aside from its allege??d Christian connotations, the story resonates with those who know the struggle of trying to persist or of the losing fight against the power of nature.

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (111 pages)

Now, I've been reassured by my editor that this list did not necessarily have to make any connections to gaming, ??but whenever I come across Conrad's book, it always reminds me of the 1998 PlayStation game of the same name. However, the two are completely unrelated.

Heart of Darkness was originally published in 1899 and takes us through Africa during the ivory trade. With notions of post-colonial finger-wagging, this classic short novel is said to have influenced Francis Ford Coppola's epic war film Apocalypse Now.

However, much like Of Mice and Men, Conrad's story can be the sub?ject of controversy due to its racial depictions. You'll do be??st going into this one with an understanding of its historical context.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (110 pages)

Much like some of the others on this list, I honestly thought The Great Gatsby would be a much longer novel. While that is actually the case for many versions of the book,?? the 1925 edition is a mere 110 pages long.

A contemporary of Hemingway, Fit??zgerald is another name that tends to get featured on lists of some of the greatest novelists America has ever produced. And for good reason, some might say. The Great Gatsby is a fierce look at the notions of class, as well as the American Dream. It's been a good few years since I read this, so it's possibly hig??h time I dove back into the Jazz Age scene of 1920s New York.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson (104 pages)

You know a novel has become a bigger part of popular culture than its original text intended when you don't even need to say the full title. Typically, most would just refer to it as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or even just Jekyll and Hyde.

Given that Stevenson is responsible for Treasure Island, the literal blueprint for every pirate-themed piece of media since, his is a name that's synonymous with? classic literature, typically held aloft as one of the Victorian period's most famous writers.

Add onto this his 1886 short novel (which clocks in at 104 pages if you go by this edition on Amazon), which has heavy themes of duality and is an early pioneer in Gothic literature, and you can understand why this novella is still around to this?? day.

Flatland - Edwin A. Abbott (97 pages)

This might be another that some of you may not be familiar with. However, those who are interested in vintage sci-fi combined with late 19th-century soci?al commentary may know of it. It's a hidden gem, in that case.

Published in 1884, Flatland is set in a universe that only has two dimensions. In this society, everyone is a shape whose worthiness is judged by the number of sides everyone has. Those with more sides, such as hexagons, will be highly regarded, while?? the humble circle �with its one side �is much lower. Sadly, women are pretty much exclusively in the latter group.

It is, as you imagine, a scathing account of class during Abbott's time. The way he's able to describe how citizens interact and see their world despite it being in 2D is a masterclass in imaginative writing. No, seriously, I urge everyone to read this very short novel. You'll get through it in no time.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (84 pages)

I honestly had two minds about whether to include this one in the list. It definite??ly cuts a fine line between novella and short story. It's also �at the time of writing �not Christmas, so thematically, it might not make sense to mention it here. However, that is the power of Charles Dickens' iconic cautionary tale of greed.

Honestly, what is there to say about A Christmas Carol that you won't already know? It's permeated through culture, having survived for over 180 years and maintained itself as the quintessential Christmas narrative. It brought to the cultural fore the name "Scrooge" to mean tight-fisted or when referring to any kind of miserly character. It also gave us the greatest movie adaptation of all time: The Muppet Christmas Carol.

The post 10 short novels you can breeze through ??while waiting ??for loading screens appeared first on Destructoid.

Whenever people tell me, "I wish I had time to read more books!" I always ask, "Have you thought about getting into audiobooks?" I'm always looking for an excuse to throw on my headphones and listen to a good audiobook; more often than not, it?'s a fantasy audiobook.

Fantasy is about losing yourself ??in a world that doesn't play by the same dull rules as ours. By adding a layer of sound to the reading experience, a fantasy audiobook can turn the people and places we're reading about into breathing, ?moving pictures that play out in the mind like a film beamed onto a diamond screen.

If you're looking for something to keep your brain moving while cooking, going out on a walk, or killing time at the airport (that isn't another playlist of t??rivial videos on YouTube), here are the top ten best fantasy audiobooks.

10. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Every fantasy setting, even the one clinging to the back of a Kaiju-sized turtle swimming through space, has a criminal underbelly. Most fantasy novels frame their world’s criminal element as a collective of clear-cut villains destined to be bested by heroic knights, wise wizards, and the odd kid from the “normal world.�Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows takes this tradition and? gives i?t a good flogging in the public square.

Set in the same universe as Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy, Six of Crows�/em> is a caper book where magic fits into the same tool kit as lock picks, crowbars, and firearms. Narrated by seven talented readers, the Six of Crows audiobook fools you into thinking you’re listening to an old-school radio serial, ampli??fying the suspense slithering through every scene.

9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Who doesn't love the circus? Even if the real three-ring extravaganza stopping in town falls short of expectations, the idealized image of the world under tarpaulin lives rent-free in most people’s brains. That a book like The Night Circus exists is proof of thi?s, as is the quality of its audiobook.

The Night Circus audiobook is a show that will keep your headphones glued to your head for hours. The velvety voice of Jim Dale, the sam??e reader who lent his voice to the Harry Potter audiobooks, tells the rivalry-turned-romance of apprentice magicians Celia and Marco like a fairy tale, injecting the perfect dose of whimsy and melancholy into every step of the two’s preordained contest. Step through the curtains and let yourself go on a journey you won’t hear elsewhere.

8. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to lose yourself in a good romantic fantasy audiobook. There are hundreds of "romantasy" novels, most of which have fantastic audiobooks. If I had to pick one, though, I’d give the crown to Fourth Wing, the first installment of the ever-expanding Emperyan series.

BookTok’s latest obsession has a lot of good things going for it: solid chemistry between its leads, a sweeping kingdom full of wonder and intrigue, and more dragons than you can shake a sword at. The audiobook, narrated by Rebecca Soler and Teddy Hamilton, pulls you out of rea??lity and plops you in the saddle, making you live and breathe the danger and wonder of Navarre without risking getting incinerated by an angry dragon.

7. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger

Throughout his career, Steven King has woven a web of interconnected stories so vast that it's barely imaginable. Pinning down a good place to start within King’s mammoth body of work is tricky, but most fans (myself included) agree that the first entry in his Dark Tower saga, The Gunslinger, is the safest bet.

The Gunslinger audiobook reads like an old man’s relocation of “the old days,�one that drowns you in King’s desolate, post-apocalyptic world. George Guidall’s chiseled, fry voice perfectly fits the Gunslinger, a classic anti-hero willi?ng to do anything to catch his elusive quarry, the Man in Black. Can’t decide if you want to read a Western or a fantasy book? Read this and experience the best of both worlds.

6. A Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I think it’s safe to say that my experience with A Court of Thorns and Rose played out the same way it did for most people. Friends pressed the book into my face, telling me, “Drew, you’ve got to read this; it’ll blow your mind!�Eventually, I caved in, and my life turned into a race to turn the pages as fast as possible. When I was done with it, the first thought to emerge from the soup that was once my brain was, “Glad that’s over; now I need to listen to the audiobook!�/p>

The audiobook of A Court of Thorns and Roses is one of the smoothest listens I've heard. Jennifer Akeda’s tempered, confidant narration breathes life into the words, adding a few drops of color and depth to the fae-touched world of Prythian, shining a light on emotional beats and subtle drops of foreshadowing I didn’t notice my first time reading. If you can't seem to get enough ACOTAR in your life, give this a listen.

5. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula K. Le Guin is my favorite author, and I return to the realm of Earthsea every year. There’s something magnetic about Le Guin’s world-building, a warmth that melts all awareness of the world outside her pages. A Wizard of Earthsea does a fantastic job of establishing Le Guin’s world of islands, linguistic magic??, and dragons, and it’s got an excellent audiobook.

Rob Inglis, the narrator of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit audiobooks, tells the bittersweet tale of Sparrowhawk with an aura of tender wisdom that will linger in your ears long after you’ve stopped listening. Like every other work of fiction penned by Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea is as much a journey into the human condition as it is an exploration of a fictional world, and it’s one of those rare books that almost works bett??er as an audiobook. Almost.

4. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

A Song of Ice and Fire is all about voice. The chaos burning within the borders of the Seven Kingdoms isn't the work of a looming Dark Lord; it’s the product of power-hungry lords, ladies, and factions fighting for a two-tone throne worth its weight in blood and tears. In Westeros, everyone thinks they’re the hero of their story, and the audiobook A Game of Thrones makes that clear from the first sentence.

Roy Dotrice narrates the opening act of George R. R. Marti??n’s epic saga, and the range of his voice allows him to step into the shoes of many characters. There’s ever a moment where it feels like he isn’t giving a line of dialogue or length of description the attention it deserves, propelling every emotional gut punch and knife twist the story throws at you into “well, that’s staying with me for a while.

3. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Some call Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga a shameless rip-off of Tolkien, another in a long list of copy-cats trying to leech off his legacy. These people are silly. Tolkien may have influenced Jordan, but his? saga does more than enough?? to build a unique identity for itself. You don’t become one of Brandon Sanderson’s primary inspirations by living off another author’s fumes. 

The audiobook for The Eye of the World, the first Wheel of Time book, is a fantastic way to introduce yourself to the series. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are a tremendo?us team of narrators. Each brings something unique, from Reading’s subtle confidence to Kramer’s bombastic delivery. Their teamwork is, ‌in a sense, a reflection of the series�overarching theme of duality and balance.

2. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson’s work is a must-read for any fantasy fan. His novels have fantastic character-driven prose, and creating specific voices for every character is scarily easy as you read. The audiobook of The Way of Kings, the first installment of Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive, does that for you. Yet another audiobook narrated by the Reading-Kramer duo, The Way of Kings is every bit the epic adventure you’d expect. The two narrators give every character a distinct voice, to where it feels less like an audiobook? and more like a radio drama.

1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss is a fantastic writer. His empathetic, poetic prose allows readers to step into the hearts and minds of his characters, almost all of whom have unique perspectives on the world and life. The Name of the Wind, the first book in The Kingkiller Chronicle, is a fantastic example.

The audiobook for The Name of the Wind, narrated by Nick Podehl, is everything a Rothfuss audiobook should be. Podehl’s soft voice fits the story of the titular, worn-out? adve?nturer like a glove. If you’re looking for an audiobook that will inspire, terrify, delight, and infuriate you, look no further.

The post 10 Best Fantasy audiobooks appeared first on Destructoid.

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The UK-based Booker Prize has been going for decades. It was started in 1969 by the wholesale distributor Booker Group Limited. If you're not familiar, it's an annual literature event that declares one judge-picked novel as the "best work of sustained fiction of the year, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland," as the Wikipedia page puts it.

Currently, winners are awarded a cash prize of £50,000 (just over $60,000), plus a trophy and no doubt a pretty steep uptick in sales. Now, if you've heard of this prestigious honor, but have never checked it out, it can seem a bit daunting knowing which books to read to get an ??idea of what makes a prize-winning novel in th?e charity's eyes.

This is where I come in. I've been following the Booker Prize for a few years now, and I felt it high time to give a list of novels to start off with. Many of these? are simply personal recommendations, but there are also those that are generally regarded as fantastic stories in their own right. There will be some crossover in that, as well as some which I haven't read myself, but whose reputation is widespread. This list will also contain a mixtur?e of winners and those that were shortlisted but are still worthy of note in the literary community.

With that, here are 10 Booker Prize novels I feel represent a good range to start with if you're thinking of checking the award?? out. These are not necessa?rily in any specific order. Of course, given that there have been hundreds of winners and those shortlisted over the years, 10 is only a tiny slice of what's out there.

Orbital - Samantha Harvey (2024 winner)

While it's tempting to suggest starting with the very first winner, I'm going to go the opposite route and recommend the most recent one. In 2024, Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize with her short yet emotionally deep novel, Orbital.

It tells the story of six astronauts on board the International Space Station. The entire plot takes place over the course of 16 Earth orbits, which is the equivalent of one day to us here on terra firma. However, don't be fooled into thinking it's an action-packed sci-fi novel about peril or a deadly alien that hunts the crew in a game of ca?t-and-mouse.

One thing you'll quickly learn about the Booker Prize is nominees are not known for being high-octane page-turners. They are often more introspective, emotional, or help encapsulate a milieu of the time. In this instance, Orbital is a beautifully written account of six people floating in space who are equal parts bo?nded, while also experiencing feelings of loneliness.

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (shortlisted in 1986)

Here is one that many of you will already be familiar with. The TV adaptation alone will ring bells with a few of you, but I'd wager plenty out there have read the book, either originally or because of its resurgence over? the last few years.

Margaret Atwood's chilling novel �which didn't win the Booker Prize, but was at least shortlisted �imagines a dystopian society in which women are considered nothing more than breeders. I??ts feminist resistance symbolism is something that continues to resonate with many readers. Its recent popularity during President Trump's first term is probably not a coincidence, and I dare say the book will continue to sell over the next four years.

Atwood herself is something of a literary superstar. She has been nominated for the Booker Prize an impressive six times, up there with such giants as Iris Murdoch and Ian McEwan. She won in 2019 with the sequel The Testaments, sharing the win with Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other (more on that later).

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (2009 winner)

Here's one I haven't read myself yet, but, much like The Handmaid's Tale, has been given new life in the limelight thanks to a successful adaptat?ion. This is one for history enthusiasts, no doubt, with smatterings of British politics thrown in, all set in Tudor England in the 1500s.

The story takes place during Henry VIII's reign, with particular focus on the infamous politician Thomas Cromwell, whose influence on the monarchy is of great historical significance. Wolf Hall is also part of a trilogy, with Bring up the Bodies being published in 2012 and The Mirror and the Light releasing in 2020.

Sadly, Hilary Mantel passed away in 2022 f?rom complications brought on by a stroke. However, she leaves behind a healthy body of work, along with numerous accolades and prizes, including a Walter Scott Prize (2010), a UK Author of the Year Award (2012), and the Companion of Literature (2020), among others.

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989 winner)

I read this one very recently, which I think is what prompted me to start this list. It's been on my TBR for some time, and I, rather sha?mefully, only acquired a copy of it about ?a year ago, despite knowing how highly regarded this modern classic is.

It's often considered one of the greates??t English novels in recent history. And I intend the word "English" in all its stiff upper lip glory. Ishiguro's 1989 winner asks the reader to step into the shoes of an aging butler, Stevens, who serves his Lordship at Darlington Hall. Stevens is permitted to take time away, to drive across the English countryside. During the course of this journey, he reflects on his time as a butler over the decades. His prim and proper manner and loyalty to Lord Darlington seem at odds with an ever-changing world in post-WW2 Britain.

The Remains of the Day is definitely one of those Booker Prize-winning novels that, on the surface, is lacking in what you might call a plot. But its genius comes from its main character, its impeccable writing, and an unraveling of the past that allows the reader to see?? into the life of Stevens' employer. Also, there's a Merchant Ivory film based on it that stars Sir Anthony Hopkins. Must check that out, as well.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel (2002 winner)

I can hear what you're thinking: "pretty much all of these books have been adapted to film?? or TV. Why not just watch them instead???" Well, in a lot of instances, there's a reason why books make it to the big screen. Their stories resonate with people, which is what prize-winning novels are supposed to do, I'd argue. Plus, if you're scrolling through this article, chances are you're looking for something new to read anyway.

Life of Pi barely needs any introduction. Winning the Booker Prize in 2002, Martel's literary masterpiece effectively c??enters around unreliable narration. When a cargo ship sinks, 16-year-old Pi barely escapes alive and now must share a lifeboat with a tiger named ??Richard Parker, a female orangutan, a hyena, and a zebra.

To me, Ang Lee's film doesn't do the novel a great amount of justice. It's fine, but it's a classic case of the book being better. But you are right, hypothetical critical reader. I shouldn't count on this list being made up entirely of ?stories that have been adapted.

The Sellout - Paul Beatty (2016 winner)

Given that the Booker Prize is based in the UK, a?nd champions books published in Britain, it may be a little off-putting to readers who aren't from ol' Blighty. However, it should be noted that non-UK authors can be nominated, which includes? the aforementioned Yann Martel and Margaret Atwood (both of whom are Canadian).

However, over the years, the prize has opened its doors to even more writers, and Paul Beatty's The Sellout is worthy of note for this reason. For starters, it's the first novel by a US author to win the award. For another,?? in my eyes at least, it's proof that you don't have to write something highbrow, dense?, or otherwise dry.

That's not to say The Sellout isn't sophisticated, but it's one of the few Booker Prize novels (at least from what I've read) that's actually funny. No??t "droll" funny. Funny-funny. Comical, even. Its biting satire on race relations in the US is what creat?es its humor, as the novel's protagonist seeks to reintroduce slavery. Don't worry. It's not as contentious as it sounds. It wouldn't have been a winner if it was even the slightest bit problematic.

A Horse Walks Into a Bar - David Grossman (2017 winner)

Speaking of humor, David Grossman's 2017 winning novel strongly suggests from the ??title alone that the reader is in for some yucks. However, despite the story taking place almost entirely in a comedy club �with the occasional flashback ??�the jokes from the onstage comedian are basically a side product. In all honesty, the book isn't really about being funny.

Set in an Israeli town, A Horse Walks Into a Bar has us witness stand-up comic Dovaleh unveil a dark side of his past over the course of his set. Although he begin??s with some Middle Eastern jokes, it quickly makes way for the meat of his being there.

Many of us will have been in the room when a comedian is bombing on stage, or at least it's not going quite to plan, so it's interesting to see this in book form. Grossman almost forces us to b??ear witness to the emotional turmoil of Dovaleh, which is equal parts encapsulating, evocative of empathy, and a little bit hard to watch (or read, rather) as well.?? It should also be noted that this actually won the International Booker Prize, but I'm still counting it.

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo (2019 winner)

I mentioned earlier how Evaristo's novel shared the 2019 Booker Prize with Atwood's The Testament. It must have been a difficult choice to make for them to settle on two novels (I must admit, I thought Salman Rushdie's Quichotte was a shoo-in, but I digress). Sadly, this is another one I have yet to read. But it's on ?my shelf at least, I swear.

Girl, Woman, Other is an important novel in terms of its portrayal of race and class in Britain. The story follows 12 characters over the course of many decades, who are embroiled in a search for meaning, a search for somewhere to call home, trying to?? fit in, and their personal relationships.

It being a winner in 2019 is not a coincidence. At a time when Britain (and, indeed, the rest of the world) is talking about identities, Evaristo's critically acclaimed novel touches on some key subjects, particularly when it comes to ethnicity. This, too, has been adapted into a TV series. I know, I know. I said I was going to try to avoid that sort of thing going forward, but there's no denying that Girl, Woman, Other is a Booke??r Prize winner that has a lot of significance in our modern age.

The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978 winner)

We've looked at quite a few novels that I would consider to be pretty recent. From 2024's Orbital to 2002's Life of Pi, many of the ones I've talke??d about so far only really cover a small timeline of the prize's history. So I thou?ght I'd introduce something a little more vintage.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not just pulling something out of a hat to tick a "more than two decades old" box. Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea (so good they named it twice?) is typically held aloft as a literary tour de force. And much like many of the other novels listed here, it's described as a wholly relatable story. It should also not be confused with John Banville's The Sea, which won the Booker in 2005.

Murdoch's 1978 book centers around Charles Arrowby, who's retired from ??the theatrical world. His attempts to chronicle his life in a memoir are thwarted when he encounters his childhood sweetheart. It's a tale about obsessions and relationships, all against the backdrop of an idyllic seaside locale.

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (1981 winner + 1993 Booker of Bookers + 2008 Best of the Booker)

Before his infamous run-in with the then-Ayatollah, who issued a fatwa (literally a "death warrant") on the author after the publication of Satanic Verses in 1988, Sa??lman Rushdie was already one to watch out for on the?? literary scene.

From the title above, you can already see that Midnight's Children wasn't just a Booker Prize-winning novel. It's essentially consid??ered the best-ever book to win the prestigious award. Considering some of the alumni that have been shortlisted and/or have won over the decades, that's a claim that only Rushdie has in terms of the Booker Prize. And for good reason.

Its epic tale of India's independence in 1947 is intertwined with the birth of the Prime Minister's child, Saleem Sinai. Its magical realism is what Rushdie would become well known for, even during his time in exile, and its lofty themes and phenomenal writing are what make the novel such a standout amongst all the ones that have come about since 1969. It's a bit more dense than some of the others listed here, but there's a reason it's considered the best the Booker Prize has to offer.

The post 10 novels to get you into the Booker Prize appeared first on Destructoid.

Indiana Jones is an enduring action hero whose undisputedly awesome adventures will continue to entertain and inspire. The recent release of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has definitely proved that there’s nothing quite as fun as a dangerous treasure hunt with mystical artifacts and punchable baddies. If you’re a fan of the series and you love these kinds of stories, then you’ll enjoy all the books like Indiana Jones that we’re highlighting with this list.

1. Seven Deadly Wonders (Matthew Reilly)

Matthew Reilly’s Seven Deadly Wonders reads like a fast-paced action movie, and will keep fans of Indiana Jones (and The Mummy) hooked from cover to cover. Jack West Jr. and his team of heroic archeologists and soldiers need to find the seven parts of an ancient treasure to stop a solar flare from wiping out humanity. Each of these pieces is residing within one ??of the world’s most iconic ancient wonders. The trouble is, there are more than a few nefarious organizations trying to get to them first, and their people are just as deadly as the traps and puzzles that are guarding the artifacts.

2. Timeline (Michael Crichton)

In Timeline, a team of archeologists working at a dig site in France find a note from their leading professor, Edward Johnston, that’s over 600 years old. The note desperately requests their aid, and as a result, they begin to investigate Johnston’s disappearance from the present. They soon discover that the ITC, which is the company that funded their dig, used quantum technology to send the professor back to 1357, during the Hundred Years�War. Michael Crichton’s book is significantly more satisfying than its film adaption, so even if you’ve already seen the Timeline movie, you’ll likely have?? a great time reading the novel.

3. The Imperial Alchemist (A. H. Wang)

The Imperial Alchemist is a globetrotting adventure that takes its protagonist, Georgia Lee, on a journey through ancient China to find the secret history behind the myths surrounding the Elixir of Life. It’s a fascinating mystery with plenty of action and more than a few enjoyable characters. At each step along the way, you’ll continuously wonder which parts of the elixir’s story are true, and which parts are simply a legend. Just like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the book calls into question what humans would actually do if there really was an artifact out there capable of granting us eternal life. The Imperial Alchemist is the first pa??rt of trilogy of novels about Lee’s archaeological adventures.

4. Amazonia (James Rollins)

A scientific expedition into the Amazon rainforest disappears, and all of its team members are thought to be dead until a lone solider who accompanied the team comes back years after the group first set out. The man entered the jungle with one arm, but somehow, he’s leaving it with two. He’s marked with strange tribal symbols, and with his death, leaves behind a handful of other strange mysteries as well. It’s up to Nathan Rand and his team to journey into the depths of the jungle to discover what really happened to him, and the rest of the original expedition. Amazonia has a premise that will instantly draw you in, and a storyline that continues to da??rken with ?unique twists.

5. Labyrinth (Kate Mosse)

If you’re interested in setting out on a different quest for the Holy Grail than the one in The Last Crusade, then you’ll love reading Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth. The novel follows two storylines simultaneously, with one set in the present day and the other taking place 800 years earlier. Alice discovers the maze-like symbol of the Cathars while she’s working on an archeological dig site, and soon finds that there are dangerous people hunting for what s?he’s found. Meanwhile, Alais, the historical protagonist, inherits the relics needed for finding the Grail, and must evade those who seek its power. The overlapping narratives give the book a consistent level of tension that’s sure to keep you turning the pages as fast as possible.

6. The Hunt for Atlantis (Andy McDermott)

When Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase discover a sign that points the way towards the mystical city of Atlantis, they kickstart a globe-spanning adventure that turns out to be full of peril. A secret organization known as the Brotherhood of Selasphoros tails their every move, and will stop at nothing to halt their progress. The Hunt for Atlantis is not just about archaeological discoveries and the race against evil. The lead characters and their chemistry make for a gripping read, and there’s plenty of fun dialogue between the two. Nina’s and Eddie’s adventures continue in The Tomb of Hercules and The Secret of Excalibur, which are also fantastic books to read if you like Indiana Jones.

7. The Lost City of Z (David Grann)

In 1925, the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett entered the Amazon in hopes of finding an ancient, fabled civilization and its chief city, Z. He encountered hostile natives, but the real danger was the forest itself. Explorers such as Fawcett thought that the Amazon was the home of El Dorado, and journeyed into the deepest parts of the South American continent in search of it. So what ever happened to Fawcett and his team, and what did he find? The Lost City of Z follows all the historical clues that we have available in an attempt to answer these questions. The book got a film adaption back in 2017, and offers a more grounded look at jungles of South America than the likes of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

8. What the River Knows (Isabel Ibañez)

What the River Knows is a neatly designed mystery that lets the reader in on each of its secrets at a perfect pace. The story begins i??n nineteenth century Argentina, where the protagonist, Inez, learns of her parent’s demise, w?hich occurred during a trip in Egypt. Left with a fortune and a strange golden ring, she sails to Cairo in search of answers, but begins to uncover more questions instead. There are slightly more supernatural elements than your average Indy adventure, but you’re a fan of the original film trilogy, then you’ll love this journey out into the sands.

9. The Red Pyramid (Rick Riordan)

Younger fans of Indiana Jones will love The Red Pyramid, which centers around the adventures of siblings Sadie and Carter Kane. Carter travels the world with his father, who tells everyone that he’s an Egyptologist. When the pair of them return home to see Sadie, they visit the British Museum, where a strange ritual?? occurs that awakens the ancient Egyptian gods. The deity Set has a dangerous plan that the siblings will need to stop. The book is the first of three in the Kane Chronicles series. If you’re a fan of the author’s other YA series, Percy Jackson, then you’ll love these novels as well.

10. Indiana Jones and The Peril in Delphi (Rob MacGregor)

The Indiana Jones novels are, of course, also great reads for fans of the original films. The first of these books is Peril at Delphi, which takes place in the 1920s, several years before Temple of Doom. When a strange earthquake uncovers a set of ancient ruins below Delphi, Indy explores them and soon finds?? a strange artifact that might be important for stopping what his fellow archeologist, Dorian Belecamus, has in store for him. Pa?perback editions of this book are essentially collector’s items, and can be tricky to find. However, if you’re a fan of the series, then you’ve got to pick one up.

The post 10 Great Books That Are Perfect for Fans of Indiana? Jones appeared first on Destructoid.

As something of a bookworm, I’ve made it my mission to work through li??sts of “must read books before you die.�My shelves are filled with recommendations and epic tales, some of which truly do live up to hefty expectations.?? 

Admittedly, not all of them do, but that's entirely down to personal tastes. While I'm not entirely a fan of Emily Brontë or Jane Austen, I'm able to see why some more romantically attuned people may love her rege?ncy tales. I tend to lean towards books that will provide ?a lesson, something to think about long after you've finished reading the last page.

??Whether you’ve got an established bucket list of books to read before you take your last breath and want to add to it, or you want to set one up as part of a New Year's resolution for 2025, here are 10 books that I truly believe everybody should read at least once. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell 

Animal Farm is a weird book at first glance, formed into a ‘beast fableâ€?and told from the viewpoint of a group of animals who rebel against their farmer. Orwell is known for tackling heavy subjects, and the moral of Animal Farm is one of rebellion, revolution, and t??he power for things to change if only people were brave enough to take a??ction. 

But it also bears a warning that there is also the possibility fo?r things to end up worse than they were initially. To quote Lord Acton, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts abs?olutely.�When the animal rebellion is betrayed, they end up in a dictatorship ruled over by a pig named Napoleon. 

Orwell confirmed before his death that the events in Animal Farm were heavily inspired by those that led to the Russian Revolution in 1917 and ended up with Stalin at the helm as the Soviet Un?ion was established. Definitely worth re?ading, and it is a tale that will stay with you for as long as your brain is capable of remembering. 

The Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit, while you’re at it) by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is endless comfort to be found in the epic high fantasy world created and intricately woven by J.R.R. Tolkien, filled with Hobbits, Elves, Dragons, Dwarves, and far more besides. The setting itself is breathtaking, and the characters now live on in infamy, but there is more to learn from The Lord of the Rings than a love for all things fantasy. 

There are tales of betrayal, the corruption of man, and the weight of responsibility and friendship. Thanks to the sheer number of interwoven lives that weave their way through the overarching story, there’s something for absolutely everyone to relate to, and that’s wh??y everyone should read Tolkien’s magnum opus before they die. 

While The Hobbit was originally ai??med at children when it was released back in 1937 and is understandably less demanding of the mind, it is also worth reading for additional insight into the Hobbits and the world in which they thrive. Thanks to the less heavy content matter, it’s the perfect way to pass the world of Tolkie?n down to a new generation as well. 

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

There’s something special about a book that can seamlessly combine both fact and fiction, and there is perhaps no better example of that talent than Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Originally published as a complete book in 1869, it was originally serialize?d in The Russian Messenger under the title “The ?Year 1805� 

The book seeks to retell the stories of five arist?ocratic families during the French invasion of Russia during the Napoleo??nic era and the aftermath. Tolstoy combines intricately complex fictional chapters and philosophical discussions about historically accurate information that serve only to deepen the meaning behind the story. 

Limiting this list to just 10 books is really difficult, and authors like Tolstoy make it almost impossible. The man himself never regarded War and Peace as a true novel, stating that his first was Anna Karenina, which al?so wholly deserves a place on your lifetime reading bucket ??list. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offering an illuminating glimpse into the world of Prohibition-era America, The Great Gatsby is a must-read for anyone. It acts to dissect the differences between different groups of people, particularly those who have inherited wealth and those who? have worked to achieve it??, as well as the class disparity between races and genders. 

The American Dream seems to be a concept that has no fixed starting point, but The Great Gatsby challenges the very idea of its existence. ?It was inspired by events in his own life, namely his relationship with a Long Island socialite during 1922, and you can just tell?? that he has lived through some of the events that he translates into fiction. 

During an interview in 1962, Fitzgerald explained that “The whole idea of Gatsby is the unfairness of a poor you?ng man being unable to marry a girl with money. This theme comes up again and again because I lived itâ€? 

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Often described as both one of the strangest and yet most wonderful books of all time, Moby Dick is an absolute li?terary masterpiece regardless of which view you take. It opens with some of the most famous words of all time - “Call me Ishmael,�and is filled with interconnecting lessons for all to learn. 

There are themes of good and evil, exploration of class structure and societal status, and even a deep dive into the existence o??f God, all?? woven into the story of Ahab and his relentless pursuit of revenge against a white whale who had taken his leg on a previous whaling expedition. 

Melville took inspiration from his own experience aboard sailing ships in the 1840s, along with his own research using whaling literature. The dramatic ending is inspired by the sinking of the Whaleship Essex in 1820, and even if you find Moby Dick a bizarre experience, it is definitely worth the ti??me it takes to read.&n?bsp;

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Stephen King may be known worldwide for his horror tales, but The Green Mile proves his ability to step outside of that genre and carve a truly harr??owing tale based on the terror that can be put upon one human by another. It’s a harrow??ing read, and you’ll likely find yourself in tears during certain parts, but I will always recommend The Green Mile to anybody. 

Published in 1996, The Green Mile is a story told from the perspective of Paul Edgecombe, block supervisor on death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. John Coffey, a black man who is convicted of the murder and rape of two young white girls, enters the story, and th?e story comes to center around him, and the question of his guilt and the strength needed by everyone involved to face his imminent death. 

There are incredibly dark moments in The Green Mile, including the grossly mishandled execution of Delacroix and the sadistic nature of the man ??who carried it out. There’s also an element of the fantastical, with Coffey possessing healing abilities and even a dive into the power of forgiveness and? the selfish choice to overlook somebody’s transgressions if what they can offer you will be beneficial. 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Like War and Peace, Crime and Punishment was serialized in The Russian Messenger before it was published as a complete work in 1866. It focuses on the choice of one impoverished man named Rodion Raskolnikov, who makes the choice to?? murder a pawnbroker in an attempt to improve the lives of himself a?nd everyone around him using the money he stands to gain. 

However, after?? com?mitting the act, he descends into a whirlwind of guilt and self-doubt, facing the consequences of his decisions and actions. He begins to question his own morality and becomes incredibly paranoid that he will be caught and punished for his crimes. In the end, it becomes too much, and he eventually confesses, but only after someone else has already done the same despite their innocence. 

Crime and Punishment was penned by Dostoyevsky when he returned to Russia after a decade of exile in Siberia due to his reading of banned books and documents that denounced and criticized Russian politics at the time. As such, it’s easy to imagine that he drew heavy inspiration from his own exile when writing Crime and Punishment.

The Odyssey by Homer

Easily the oldest work of literature featured on this list, but no less deserving of its place on it, The Odyssey is attributed to Ancient Greek author Home??r. It’s cited as one of the original sources of all ancient Greek literature and has shaped history for centuries. 

Separated into 24 separate books (more akin to chapters than anything else), The Odyssey is a poem made up of 140,000 words spread over 12,109 lines. I?t follows the hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his ten-year journey home after th??e events of the Trojan War. The journey was filled with trials that tested Odysseus to his limits long after he had been assumed dead.

The texts that make up The Odyssey are over 1,500 years old, and as such, they are sometimes a challenge to read, but the lessons and themes come through clearly even to this day. It will only take you a couple of hours to complete your reading? of t?his epic tale, and you definitely should. 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Picking just one Charles Dickens tale to place on this list was a hard task, but ultimately, Great Expectations gets the honor thanks to its extreme imagery of the brutality of life in London during the mid-1800s. With harrowing fictionalization of everything from poverty and prison to fights to the death, Great Expectations is a stark reminder of how far we’ve co??me from those dark times. 

Characters from Great Expectations are now widely known, even if those who refer to them don’t know quite where they originated, and the ever-present battle between the ric??h and the poor rages within the story penned by the literary genius Dickens. Pip’s first experience of ?London is an excellent example of the recently named “Paris Syndrome,�with the city realistically being litter-filled and dirty, far from what he imagined it to be. 

Maybe there’s some bias here because, being a Brit, Great Expectations was on my required reading list during my school years, and I’ve been brought up surrounded by renditions of Dickens�work, but Great Expectations (and any of Dickens�oth?er tales) are well worth reading while you have the ch??ance. 

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Originally written in Italian in around 1321, The Divine Comedy stands the test of time thanks to its themes that are ever present even in today’s society, long after the original author left his earthly body behind. The most famous of the poems included within The Divine Comedy is Dante’s Inferno, but the rest of the p??oems?? equally deserve to be included on your reading bucket list. 

The poems take the reader through the nine circles of hell, each representing one or more sins such as gluttony, lust, or pride, then further to purgatory, and then on to the paradise of Heaven. Despite the heavily Christian themes found within, The Divine Comedy can be equally enjoyed by anyone regardless of their religious views or ideologi?es.?? 

Structurally, the poems that make up The Divine Comedy are complex and can be difficult to read, especially if you’re trying to do it without full attention. But it’s worth setting aside that time to read through this epic tale made up of 14,233 lines of vivid, hellish ?imagery followed by a true depiction of imagined paradise.

The post 10 books you should read before you die appeared first on Destructoid.

The story of Harry Potter is now well-se??ttled in its place of fictional infamy. Despite drawing huge inspiration from those that came before, J.K. Rowling somehow managed to carve a world that resonated with an entire generation and continues to pull them back in time and again years later. 

I’m not ashamed to admit that I love the world of Harry Potter. I was pulled in with the first book at the age of seven, and despite a now much deeper understanding of where Rowling may have gotten her ideas from, the Wizarding World has always had its hooks in me to some degree. As I grew up, I found myself yearning for a more realistic ending, where perhaps everything didn’t get tied up in a neat bow with the na?me “Weasleyâ€?on the gift tag. 

That’s where fan fiction comes in. 

Talented fans of the wizarding world have been uploading their own alternative stories and en??dings for years now, posted to the internet for others to read and fall in love with. While there are many types of fan fiction, many choose to focus on alternative romantic pairings. Of course, there are many would-be (or should-be) couples to choose from, but one that is ever-popular is Hermione, not with Ron, but with Draco. 

Both are clever, passionate, and driven. It makes sense. Realistically, couples who form during their school years are unlikely to end up going? the distance, and even the worst people are entirely capable of change. People love a redemption a?rc, and many believe that Rowling missed an opportunity when it came to Draco Malfoy. 

I’ve read (and w??ritten) a lot of Dramione Fics over the years, and a few have stayed in my memory rent-free since I finished them. Here are 10 of the best, most beloved Dramione FanFics available t?o read today. 

There’s something special about a Dramione FanFic that manages to remain realistic despite the magical setting and has the two former childhood enemies coming together in a way that both creates and overcomes conflict, and Measure of a Man certainly manages to do that in spectacular fashion. It’s a very long Fic, but it is definitely worth taking the time to read if you want to feel a rollercoaster of emotions. This is definitely a slow-burn, but once it kicks off, it really kicks off.

Narcissa is diagnosed with a wizarding form of Dementia, and faced with the impending deterioration of her own mental and physical state, Hermione is brought in as her healer. Draco is a widowed father with no idea how to communicate or relate to his son?, Scorpius, who has reverted to silence since the death of his mother, although he seems to bond with a cactus... And Hermione. While death looms, corruption threatens the Ministry, an?d remaining Death Eaters threaten to release a deadly toxin, Hermione faces the biggest choices of her life. 

There aren’t enough positive words that I can think of to describe Draco Malfoy and the ??Mortifying Ordeal of Be??ing in Love. Of course, there’s conflict; how could there not be one with this pair? But i??t’s also filled with hilarious interactions and vividly creative moments that will live on in your memory long after you’ve finished reading. Not to mention that the love story woven through the chapters is enough to keep you wanting more, even ?when you’ve completed the final chapter.

Hermione is leading a project that will change the wizarding world irrevocably, but it’s put a target on her back. Kingsley has demanded security for her, much to her dismay, and even worse, Draco is put on the case. What ensues is a romp around a variety of different locations in search of ingredients, with Draco shadowing a very annoyed Hermio?ne a little too closely and a heartwarming tale of overcoming the past and looking to the future. 

Green Light is a strange yet thoroughly enjoyable combination of what feels like two entirely separate FanFics,?? but it somehow manages to flow from one distinct setting to another with ease. There are a host of new faces and names to get to know, as well as the obvious familiar ones that you’d expect, and the two halves can be split into two distinct categories. 

There?’s ??the expected Dramione will-they-won’t-they, angst-filled love story that takes place during an expedition to find a cave in the middle of the African desert, and then there’s the trials and hurt faces when both Hermione and Draco come back to their normal lives. 

What I love about Green Light is that it offers a painfully realistic reaction from the wizarding world if Hermione and Draco were ever to become involved.?? Betrayal, heartbreak, and the dissolving of established friendships all feature, and while it’s a difficult journey at times, true love never did come easy. 

Isolation is for me, as it is for many of those now deeply entrenched in the world of Dramione, is the FanFic that first grabbed my attention and started my descent toward admitti??ng that these two might actually be my OTP. Of course, I can confidently and openly admit to this now, but back in 2003, Isolation was published, and the revelation rocked me to my core. 

Isolation is canon-divergent. Snape is alive, and Draco has been on the run with him since things didn’t go according to plan in the Astronomy Tow??er. For his protection, Snape brings Draco to Hogwarts during Hermione’s final year while Harry and Ron are off looking for Horcruxe??s without her. 

Of course, McGonagall would trust no one to oversee Draco? more than Hermione??, but that means he is placed in her care and unable to leave. Their proximity causes sparks to fly as connections are made and understanding grows. If you’ve never dipped your toe into the world of Dramione before, this is a good place to start. 

A word of wa?rning: don’t go into this Fic hoping for an immediate or even moderately paced redemption arc for Draco. This is a very slow burn, and I’d also advise that you don’t go into it with an expectation of a happy ending, either. There is one, but it’s a melancholy experience and you’ll find yourself in need of some tissues to dry your eyes, that much I can promise. 

I think I can say this without it being too much of a spoiler, but Secrets and Masks puts Draco at the right hand of Voldemort as one of his most trusted and high-ranking “Demon Masks.�As such, there is a huge element of forced imprisonment in this Fic, but don’t let that put you off. There’s something bubbling under the surface, and?? Hermione comes to learn that the line between love and hate is incredibly thin, while Draco learns that he has the choice to change both himsel?f and the things around him. 

Listen, anyone who has even briefly dipped into the world of Dramione FanFic will have heard of Manacled. It’s possibly the most well-known of all the Dramione Fics that have ever been written or published online and is practically infamous. Sadly, SenLinYu took the Fic down from AO3 in December 2024, but there are those who have preserved the story by reuploading it elsewhere, obviously crediting the original author. 

Manacled is absolutely not a story to be entered into lightly. There’s forced imprisonment, non-consensual intimacy, forced surrogacy, and heavy inspiration from stories like A Handmaid’s Tale. Hermione is held against her will, used as a babymaker for Voldemort and his highest-ranking followers. It’s difficult to read and hard to stomach, but the love story is still there, and any Dramion?e shipper should read this at ?least once.

The Right Thing to Do is a relatively short Fic when compared to the majority of those I’ve included o?n this list, but it’s no less filled with touching moments and still absolutely deserves to be included here. After the events of the War, Hermione testifies on Draco’s behalf ??during his trial, and he is let off on the condition that he works with the Aurors during his probationary period.

Hermione and Draco are forced to work together at the Ministry while she grows closer to his mother and deals with Lucius Malfoy blackmailing her in the weirdest way. The initial frustration is soon replaced with growing understanding, and friendship quickly turns into something much more. This is one of the le??ss heavy entries on my list, and there is no shortage of moments to remember long after you’ve finished reading. 

While I normally gravitate towards FanFics that feature a slightly aged-up cast, I find myself unable to deny that Breathmints / Battlescars is one of my favorites despite the fact that it’s set in Hogwarts just after the war and the characters are still very much students. Herm??ione is angry, and Draco is lost, each with scars of their own t??o bear.

In the aftermath of the war, Draco was allowed to return to Hogwarts for his final year. Of course, Hermione has returned as well, so they’re forced into the same space and in the world of this ship, that can only mean one thing. What I love about Breathmints / Battlescars is that w??hile it’s told from Hermione’s POV, we also get an insight into Draco’s mind thanks to the diary entries that he is required to make as part of post-War therapy. 

I’ve tried to limit the entries on this list to those that are complete and available to read in their entirety. Originally, this spot would have been taken by one of the many other well-written Fics that I’ve read over the years. But then I started reading Let the Dark In, another Fic by the writer of Manacled. I didn’t reali??ze it wasn’t finished, ??and my frustration was immeasurable when I discovered that it currently ends on a huge cliffhanger, at least until more chapters are added. 

However, I can’t write this list without considering this. It’s an AU Fic in which Draco is a Durmstrang student, and Hermione’s name is the o?ne that flies out o??f the Goblet of Fire along with his. In an attempt to get on an even footing, Hermione pulls Draco into an Unbreakable Vow to teach her how to wield Dark Magic. After many false starts and a lot of frustration, both begin to learn far more about themselves and each other than they ever imagined, and I can’t wait to see how this stunning story will end. 

If you’re looking for a relatively quick read, at least in comparison to the other Fics on this list, then Apple Pies and Other Amends is a story that I can never recommend enough. What begins as the disintegration of her relationship with Ron turns into a mission for Hermione to provide baked goods to everyone who suffered in the War, regardless of what side they were on. She dubs it her “PTSD Pastry Tour� and it’s singlehandedly the most heartwarming approach to War?? recovery and reconciliation that I could ever imagine.

Draco is the last of her visits, and rather than simply accepting her Apple Pies with grace, he corners her into teaching him how to bake. Growing friendships between former enemies, many funny yet?? touching moments between new acquaintances, and m?ore than a few awkward discussions later, Draco and Hermione grow closer than they could ever have imagined.

The post The best Dramione fan fiction for fans of??? a good redemption arc appeared first on Destructoid.

The rich historical worlds and rewarding stealth gameplay sequences from the Assassin’s Creed games are immensely satisfying, and have given the franchise continuing appeal for more than 17 years. If you like the shadowy lore and iconic parkour from this series, then you’ll also enjoy the ten books for fans of Assassin’s Creed that we’ve gathered together in this list. Each title either tells the story of a fascinating fantasy? assassin or explores the history behind the franchise’s most iconic settings and characters.

1. The Way of Shadows (Brent Weeks)

The Way of Shadows tracks an orphan boy named Azoth as he goes from living on the streets to becoming the most dangerous killer in Cenaria City. Developing his magical powers and combat abilities starts with proving his intentions to an assassin named Durzo Blint. To do this, he must dispatch one of the leaders of Azoth’s guild who has badly mistreated his friends. This dark and often twisted tale has solid pacing, a well drawn world, and a handful of excellent surprises in store. It’s the first novel in the Night Angel series, which is collectively a great read for Assassin’s Creed enthusiasts who do?n’t mind ??exploring a darker fantasy setting.

2. Alamut (Vladimir Bartol)

Fans of the original Assassin’s Creed game will find much to enjoy in Vladimir Bartol’s Alamut, a novel that directly inspired the story of Altaïr and his fateful showdown against his master, Al Mualim. In the book, one of the main characters, ibn Tahir, joins a group of highly skilled soldiers during the 11th century Crusades that are willing to sacrifice themselves for their leader’s cause. The soldiers defend the Alamut fortress, which also appears in 2023’s Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, against an invading Seljuk army. The book was originally published in 1938 in Slovenian, and notably did not get an English tr??anslation until 2004.

3. Assassin’s Apprentice (Robin Hobbs)

Assassin’s Apprentice is the first book in Robin Hobbs�Farseer Trilogy, and does a fantastic job of introducing us to an immersive fantasy landscape that’s full of deadly secrets. The story follows the early life of Fitz, a bastard son of the royal household who trains in the art of assassination and can secretly talk to animals. The virtue-based naming of high born characters? is an interesting concept, and the limits and uses of magic in this world are equally fascinating. While the book’s length might seem daunting at first, you’ll likely find yourse??lf wanting to immediately dive into the rest of the author’s works the moment you reach the back cover.

4. The Republic of Pirates (Colin Woodard)

If you’d like to dive deeper into the golden age of piracy from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, then The Republic of Pirates might be the perfect book for you to pick up next. The Caribbean seas were full of fascinating people during the 18th century, but few of them were more interesting than the individuals who governed Nassau from 1706-1718. These anti-colonialist pirates, who included the likes of Benjamin Hornigold and Charles Vane??, actively fought against slavery and worked to establish a democratic government with fair elections and free trade. The fascinating tale that this book delivers has tons of drama and action, and every single word of it is a true story.

5. Throne of Glass (Sarah J. Maas)

The immensely popular Throne of Glass series from Sarah J. Maas starts off with a bang when its protagonist, Caleana Sardothien, enters what appears to be a deadly dueling tournament. The winner of the competition will become the king’s champion for four years, and afterwards will supposedly be free to go. Since Caleana is an assassin, she hopes to use her skills in the contest to escape the salt mines where she works. However, there’s more waiting for her in th??is story besides a few good fights. The novel’s central mystery and unexpectedly funny moments make it a page-turner that just about anyone can enjoy.

6. Nevernight (Jay Kristoff)

Nevernight is a relentless revenge thriller with an engaging lead character and a premise that’s guaranteed to keep you hooked from start to finish. The book follows the journey of Mia Corvere as she learns to master both blades and shadows as a member of the Red Church. This mysterious organization is a school for assassins that’s vaguely reminiscent of Hogwarts, but significantly more sinister since everyone within its walls worships a goddess known as the Lady of Blessed Murder. The writing style here is somewhat ornate, especially in its use of footnotes. However, once you’re used to them, the author’s artistic flourishes simply add another layer of atmospheric depth to what becomes a truly dark an?d gruesome tale.

7. London (Edward Rutherford)

Learn more about the historical development of England’s great capital city in Edward Rutherford’s London for a more complete understanding of just how amazing the setting is from Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. This novel perfectly blends fact with traditional narrative stories to tell the tale of the city itself, through the eyes of five influential families that lived there across the eras. These characters witness some of the most famous moments in history, from the Roman invasion to the signing of the Magna Carta and the industrial revolution. In addition to covering the Victorian age from Syndicate, the book also passes through the viking-era rendition of the city that players can explore in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.

8. A Clean Kill in Tokyo (Barry Eisler)

Fans of Assassin’s Creed who are interesting in exploring a more modern story will love the John Rain series by Barry Eisler. The first book, A Clean Kill in Tokyo, creatively explores the psyche of its lead character and raises plenty of interesting questions about what it means to be an assassin in the first place. After Rain makes his latest kill, he finds himself involved with the daughter of the man?? he’s just dispatched, which forces him to confront the realities of his employment. Eisler’s descriptions of Tokyo create an atmosphere for the novel that’s neatly akin to a 1940’s noir film, which makes the book even more engaging.

9. The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia (C. W. Gortner)

C. W. Gortner’s The Vatican Princess details the life of Lucrezia Borgia and her attempts to free herself the blood-stained influence of her family’s rule over Rome. While Lucrezia appears in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood as a fairly straightforward villain, Gortner’s depiction of her uses a more complex shade of grey. The book does not excuse or exonerate her, but better explains why history remembers her as a poisoning seductress. The characters of Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia appear often, and play key roles in the story. It’s a fascin?ating look into the lives o?f Ezio Auditore’s most infamous adversaries.

10. Assassin’s Creed: The Secret Crusade (Oliver Bowden)

The official Assassin’s Creed books and novelizations are, of course, all great reads for fans of the franchise who want to delve into its lesser known lore. However, The Secret Crusade is arguably the most essential entry in the series because it properly details the life of Altaïr, the legendary protagonist from the first game. The stories from Altair’s Chronicles on the Nintendo DS and Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines on the PSP are woven into the larger narrative, which eventually connects to the reclaiming of Masyaf and the creation of the memory seals that Ezio is looking for in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

The post 10 Great Books That Are Perfe?ct for Fans of Assass?in’s Creed appeared first on Destructoid.

American Primeval has hit Netflix, and in the two days since its release, it has already become a hit. The American Frontier setting, coupled with the characters created for the sho?w, have pulled people in around the globe. 

If you’ve binged all six episodes and a??re itching for more tales from the American Frontier, there are a lot of options available to you, including TV and movies alike. However, perhaps the best way to lose yourself in tales from the Midwest is throu?gh books, and there are a lot of tales to choose from. 

If you want something to read, here are ten of the best books you can pick up that will provide the same haunting feeling as American Primeval. There’s a mixture of fact and fiction h??ere, and even some entries that bridge the gap between both. 

The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks

Although American Primeval is based in fiction, there are historical events featured in the timeline of the show. One of? these is the very real Mountain Meadows Massacre, which took place in September 1857 and saw the deaths of at least 120 members of the Baker-Fancher emigrant wagon train at the hands of the Mormon militia.

The true events of the event featured in the show can be learned from Juanita Brooks�non-fiction retelling of them in The Mountain Meadows Massacre. The events themselves are harrowing, but the aftermath is almost scary thanks?? to the oath made by those who were there to never speak of it again, with justice only being handed down to one ??of the perpetrators 20 years later.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Although the events described in Killers of the Flower Moon tak?e place after the turn of the 20th century, it’s still worth a read if you want to truly learn about the persecution and unfair treatment of Native Americans throughout history. This book is also non-fiction, and tells the story of what happened in the early 1920s when oil was discovered in Osage County, Oklahoma and a series of murders killed wealthy members of the Osage community. 

This event is credi??ted as the “birth of the FBIâ€? with the newly formed organization taking charge of the investigation into the murders and eventually convicting a cattleman named William King Hale as ??the mastermind behind the gruesome plan. There is a movie adaptation of events, released in 2023 and starring Robert De Niro as Hale. 

The Revenant by Michael Punke

The Revenant skirts the border between fact and fiction, with the story based on very real, and very gruesome events. The Revenant is based on a series of events in the?? life of Hugh Glass, who was left for dead by his expedition mates in?? 1823 when he was mauled by a grizzly bear, and carrying him began to slow them down. 

Alone and without protection or provisions, Glass went on to reset his own leg and allowed maggots to eat the infected flesh in the wounds leftover by the bear attack. He crawle?d over the land and eventually built a raft to take him downstre?am to Fort Kiowa. This whole story is one of absolute perseverance, determination to survive, and is incredibly inspiring to read, although I wouldn’t recommend doing so if you’re squeamish. 

The Journals of Lewis and Clark

If you want to know how the American Frontier became to be mapped and understood, then look no further than the Journals of Lewis and Clark. Meriweather Lewis was commissioned by Thomas Jeffer?son to lead the expedition from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast, mapping the things they found and reveali?ng the frontier for all to see. 

William Clark was the co-captain on this expediti??on, and their joint journal is filled with information about not only the rivers and locations, but also the flora and fauna they encountered, meetings with native tribes, and everything they came to learn on the trip. Factual and awe inspiring, definitely wor??th a read in your lifetime.

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker

The American Frontier was a vast swathe of mostly unknown land and sometimes neighbors could be few and far between. The Bemis and Webber families were the only people around for miles, and must rely on each other to survive. However, when Mrs. Bemis is found in a less than favorable position with Mr. Webber, things take a turn when Mr. Bemis kills Mr. Webber, gets a??rrested and thrown in prison, and the two wives are left to fend for themselves. 

In One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, Cora Be?mis and Nettie Mae Webber, understandably, have fallen out over the whole ordeal. With winter c?oming and no one to help either of them aside from each other, they have no choice but to work together to keep themselves and their children alive through the cold months. 

Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton

Voices from the Kansas Frontier is actually a rescued collection of hundreds of accounts written by Kansas pioneer women close to the tur??n of the 20th century. Stratton gathered these accounts and put them together in this book, and reading of the courage shown by those pioneer women is illuminating and inspiring. 

These women made up the backbone of the American frontier, acting as schoolmarms, homesteaders, and riders. In this collection, their tales of locust plagues, prairie fires, and cowboy shootouts are all shared to give possibly the most ac?cu??rate portrayal of what life was really like in the 1800s when they settled. 

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Set in 1757, events in The Last of the Mohicans take place a century before those depicted in American Primeval, but war was already raging in North America and both sides are utlizing the Native Am??erican tribes in their battle to g??ain land and power. 

The Last of the Mohicans sees Uncas, Chingachgook, and Hawkeye thrown into the middle of the French and Indian War in order to rescue the daughters of a British colonel after they’re kidnapped by an unhappy scout. As with American Primeval, the novel takes heavy inspirat??ion from real life events, including the Siege of Fort William Henry.&nb?sp;

True Grit by Charles Portis

Mattie is the main protagonist of True Grit, and she is on a mission to seek retribution for t?he murder of her father at the hands of a farmhand named Tom Chaney. The book was turned into a now infamous movie starring John Wayne just a year after its initial release, earning it a place in Western history. 

Mattie is only 14 when she sets out to seek revenge for her fathers death, and is eventually joined by a Texas Ranger named Reuben J. Cogburn and a Marshal named LaBouef??, who become central to the tale. This ends up being less a tale of revenge, and more about perseverance and begrudging friendships, and is always worth a read if you want to dive into the setting of the Wild West.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

First published in 1985, Blood Meridian has since gone on to be considered one of the greatest American novels of all time, and is now judged as McCarthy’s magnum opus, remaining one of his most well-known works. Events in this bloody tale revolve around a runaway named only as “the kid� and his experience as part of the Glanton Gang. Like American Primeval, Blood Meridian takes a very real historical thing and fictionalize??s it. 

The Glanton Gang was a very real organization that was formed in 1849 and was hired by Mexican authorities to seek out Native war tribes and scalp them in retribution for attacking settlers. The gang were also partners in the Yuma Crossing on the Oklahoma River, rumoured to kill Native and American passengers to steal their possessions and money as they crosse?d. 

To the Wild Horizon by Imogen Martin

I’ve saved possibly the best for last. If you want a fictional tale that’s similar to American Primeval, then you probably won’t find better than To The Wild Horizon, because it essent?ially has the exact same basic premise with a few of the details being changed. There are fewer Mormons to worry about, and relationships between characters are altered. However, with To the Wild Horizon being published in February 2024, it’s possible that it served as inspiration for the Netflix series, although that’s purely speculation on my part.

Set in Missouri in 1846, To the Wild Horizon center?s around Grace, who is on the run after murdering her landlord (not husband) in self-defense, accompanied by her younger brother (not son) Tom. To escape the law, she joins the wagons en route to Oregon and crosses the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, doing whatever she needs to do so that they c??an both survive the journey. See what I mean about the premise, here?

The post 10 Bes?t books to read if you like the American Primeval ?series on Netflix appeared first on Destructoid.

The I Survived series ?of books, written by Lauren Tarshis??, is a collection that takes significant historical moments and brings them to life through the eyes of fictional children. There are 23 books in total, and over 20 million copies of it have been sold around the world. 

I’m a huge advocate for history education, and I believe we can learn a lot about how we should act in the future based on h??ow we’ve already acted in the past. I’m passionate about passing this education on to the younger generation as well, and what better way to do that than to give them characters who can bring the past to?? life through their imaginations? 

The I Survived series does just that, and Tarshis does a wonderful job of creating characters that young readers can easily relate to. Imagining yourself in someone else's shoes is the best way to learn through their story, and that’s what the I Survived s??eries allows you?? to do. Here are ten of the best, although the entire series is worth checking out. 

I Survived the Black Death, 1348

The Black Death is the name given to a pandemic outbreak of the Bubonic Plague that took place across Europe during the Middle Ages, from 1346 to 1353, taking the lives of milli??ons of people. 

Although Tarsis doesn’t go into too much detail surrounding the more gruesome and terrifying aspects of the plague (for good reason, it wouldn’t do anybody any good if young readers were given nightmares by her work), I Survived the Black Death does an excellent job of explaining how widespread the pandemic really was, and how quickly it could take root i??n a comm?unity. 

I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944

On June 6, 1944, British and American troops descended on the coast of Normandy in an attempt to take back France from its German occupiers. I Survived the Battle of D-Day focuses on a French boy called Paul whose town has been occupied for years. His Jewish best friend? is missing, and his family is close to starving when the Allied troops begin to take back the land. 

Although this, like all of the I Survived books, is heavily fictionalized, it does an amazing job of bringing that horrifying moment of history to life. With Paul trying to help a par??atrooper who got stuck in a tree near his home, it’s easy to get sucked into the story and learn without realizing that you are. 

I Survived the American Revolution, 1776

I Survived the American Revolution centers around an 11-year-old boy named Nathaniel, who flees his abusive uncle’s home and enters a world of battles and bloodshed in the middle of the Revolutionary War. With little knowledge of the goings-on between t??he British and the Americans, Nathaniel ends up in New York on the eve of the Battle of Brooklyn. 

Although children in America gro?w up learning about the American Revolution in schools, it’s not taught in detail outside of the USA. As a British person with ties to America, I Survived the American Revolution was hugely educational for me, while also entertaining enough that I didn’t feel like I was reading a study book. 

I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967

In the same way Smokey Bear delivers his lesson about being fire-safe around forests, the memory of the ‘Night of the Grizzlies�in 1967 teaches how h?ikers should act in national parks. Back in 196?7, grizzly bears attacked and killed two strangers who were camping in Glacier National Park. 

I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies focuses on the fictional 11-year-old?? Melody, who finds herself in Glacier National Park on that fateful night. She comes face to face with a hungry grizzly and must find a way to survive. 

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871

Between Octo?ber 8 and October 10, 1871, a disastrous and unforgiving fire swept through 3??.3 square miles of Chicago, killing over 300 people and leaving more than 100,000 people without homes. It did $222 million worth of damage, equivalent to more than $5.7 billion today. 

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire revolves a??round Oscar Starling, who never wanted to move to Chicago in the first place but finds himself in the middle of hell on earth when t?he entire city seems to go up in smoke. There are subplots interwoven effortlessly with the main story, and the action never stops as Oscar and his friends fight to survive the blaze. 

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912

Imagine the awe a child would feel stepping onto the “unsinkable�Titanic all those years ago, only to find out in the most terrifying way that it is very much sinkable. That’s the situation faced by the fictional star of I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, George, and his younger sister, Phoebe. 

This installment of the I Survived series was the first to be released back in 2010, and while it’s not likely ??to provide new details about the disaster to anyone familiar with it, it’s an eye-opening read for those who may be too young to truly appreciate the true extent of the life-changing night back in 1912.

I'd recommend the graphic novel version of this one because ??the illustrations are beautiful and really help with immersion.

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916

Between July 1 and July 12, 1916, a series of shark attacks occurred off the coast of New Jersey. Four people died, and one was critically injured, leavin??g beach-goers fearing to step foot in the ocean despite the increased numbers near the coast thanks to a heatwave and the polio epidemic?? in the US at the time. It’s still unknown what type of sharks were responsible for the attacks. 

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 is the book in the serie??s that focuses on perhaps the least famous event, so it will be shocking to anyone who reads it. Tarshis settled on a Great White Shark as the villain in the fictionalized retelling, focusing on a boy named Chet who was on t??he coast at the time, witness to the terrifying events. 

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, 79 AD

It’s hard to imagine anyone surviving the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which buried at least four Roman towns and killed thousands within a single night. However, that’s the premise of I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii. Of all the I Survived books, this one is the furthest removed from the date of? the event, but no less intere??sting or educational to read. 

Focusing on Marcus and his family, the father of w?hich is a man of science rather than mythological ?creatures. When the ground beneath Pompeii begins to rumble, the townsfolk believe that the creature beneath the volcano is angry but will eventually go back to sleep. Marcus and his father, on the other hand, believe differently. The race to escape Pompeii before it’s buried begins. 

I Survived True Stories: Nature Attacks!

The final two entries on this list are slightly different from the others because they are compendiums of true stories of events that took place in recent history. The first is Nature Attacks!, which features stories of animals who ??turned against humans and natural disasters, told using the stories of actual children who su??rvived the scary events. 

In Nature Attacks!, you’ll be ?able to read true accounts of the following events:

• The shark attacks off the coast of New Jersey in 1916
• The great Peshtigo fire that took place in Wisconsin in 1871
• A venomous Box Jellyfish attack in Australia in 2010
• The eruption of Mount Tambora, Malaysia, in 1815

I Survived True Stories: Courageous Creatures

To r?ound off this list with an entry that proves the series isn’t always harrowing to read, I Survived True Stories: Courageous Creatures focuses on animals who have helped humans rather than attacked them or have otherwise acted bravely in their own right. I’ve always lo?ved stories of animals who prove their courage, so this is a favorite of mine. 

In Courageous Creatures, you’ll learn the heartwarming true stories of the following ani?mals:

• The pigeon hero of World War I 
• Two dolphins who were captured, and the hero who returned them to the ocean
• 20,000 penguins and their rescue from a disastrous oil spill
• Two cheetahs who got orphaned before going on to adopt an unlikely new father

The post 10 Best I Survived books for kids appeared first on Destructoid.

The best board games based on books extend the story from which they’re drawn with adventures that maintain the look and feel of the original tale. The gameplay of these adaptions makes you feel like you’re stepping into the world of the novel, and the characters often have thematic powers that match their abilities from the author’s works. In this list, we’re highlighting a handful of fantastic tabletop titles ????that bring your favorite books to life with both smart game design and enjoyable mechanics.

1. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

As Sauron’s shadow lengthens, the world of Middle Earth grows full of both adventure and peril. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and its saga expansions take players through the most iconic moments in the books, from the Fellowship’s journey through Khazad-Dûm to the battle of Helm’s Deep and the siege of Minas Tirith. However, the fun doesn’t stop there. With a team of your favorite heroes and allies, you can explore the wastes of Angmar, sail to?? the ruins of Númenor, travel to Harad, or keep the darkness of Mirkwood at bay. The deck-building aspects of this tabletop title are richly rewarding, and the cooperative gameplay mechanics make every scenario an interesting p?uzzle.

2. Game of Thrones: The Card Game

In Game of Thrones: The Card Game, you play as one of seven great houses in Westeros or as the Night’s Watch. Your goal is to collect fifteen power tokens before your opponents do and conquer Westeros. To do this, you’ll need to play a mix of powerful characters,?? locations, attachments, and events that come straight from George R.R. Martin’s books. You’ll also need to choose your plot cards carefully before the game since they’ll give you the element of surprise. Each house has its own strengths drawn directly from the source material. The Lannisters, for exa??mple, are fabulously rich and win intrigue combats with ease. The Starks attack quickly and seek early victories. The Targaryens can burn their opponents to the ground with dragon fire.

3. Arkham Horror

The terrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s original works have been adapted into numerous board games, but there are few with as high quality a gameplay experience as Arkham Horror. The ?town of Arkham, Massachusetts, has tons of interesting clues to un?cover and locations to visit, but it’s also overrun with horrific monsters. Through a mix of investigation and combat, your team will hopefully close all the portals to the beyond before the Ancient One awakens. Should you fail, you’ll have to face off against this demon one last time.

4. Dune Imperium: Uprising

As the leader of one of the Imperium’s Great Houses, your goal in Dune Imperium: Uprising is to tame the planet Arrakis before your op??ponents and l?et the spice flow. You’ll start with a unique signet ring ability, and two agents. You’ll then interact with various locations from the books, including everything from Sietch Tabr to the Landsraad council chamber, by sending your agents to them. Increase your standing with factions like the Spicing Guild and the Padishah Emperor, recruit powerful character cards for your deck, and win battles against your opponents to claim victory.

5. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Carlton House & Queen’s Park

Fans of the famous detective residing at 221B Baker Street will love the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series. Every entry makes you feel smarter than the master sleuth himself, and Carlton House & Queen’s Park is no exception. For some of the? cases you’ll find in this box, you’ll need only the storybook and a map of the Carlton mansion. For others, you’ll get a sizeable map of Victorian London that you can explore, plus a stack of period-accurate newspapers that are full of clues. These cases can be particularly challenging, but that also makes them immensely satisfying.

6. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

The Wizarding World from the Harry Potter books and films comes to the tabletop in style with Hogwarts Battle, a cooperative, easy-to-understand deck builder. Those who pra?ctice the Dark Arts are attempting to control some of the most famous locations from the series, including Diagon Alley, the Forbidden?? Forest, and the Chamber of Secrets. Players must work together to defeat these villains over the course of seven games. Each game corresponds with one of the years that Harry is in school and increases in difficulty over time.

7. The Witcher: Old World

In The Witcher: Old World, you’ll roam the Continent before the days of Geralt and collect trophies by slaying monsters and defeating rival witchers. The game map is gigantic, and the branching choice story mechanics add plenty of immersion. The deck-building and character upgrade systems that the game offers are also fantastic. The individual player boards and other components are surprisingly high-quality. Plus, the deluxe edition of Old World comes with a ton of satisfying miniatures. For fans of the fr?anchise, this game is an absolute must-?have.

8. Golem

Golem is an underrated engine-building board game that’s full of excitement for seasoned tabletop gamers. It’s based on not one but several books, which are, in turn, based on a classic folktale from the Jewish Quarter o??f Prague. Players take on the role of a rabbi, who, as in the story, created a monstrous being from clay to protect the city. The creature soon became unruly and difficult to control, and this aspect of the story is perfectly portrayed in the game mechanics, which situate your engine on the edge of a knife. If your golem becomes too powerful, it will destroy everything it was meant to protect.

9. Friday

Friday is an enjoyable solitary experience that’s based on the classic novel Robinson Crusoe. To begin a game, you’ll draw two pirate cards, which become the adversaries that you’ll need to defeat in order to win. Before you can take them on, however, you’ll need to face off against the island’s hazards. Defeating a hazard adds a stronger fight card to your deck and strengthens your?? odds for when the pirates finally come. Aging cards, on the other hand, weaken your character and make it tougher to ??get Robinson off the island.

10. Unfathomable

Hidden roles and s??ecret agendas take center stage on an old-fashioned steamship surrounded by Lovecraftian Deep Ones in Unfathomable, which borrows many of its mechanics from the classic Battlestar Galactica board game. When it’s your turn, you can move about the ship and perform the action on the location you pick. In the boiler room, you can risk fuel to advance the ship’s travels. In the cargo hold, you can pick up items. If you visit the captain’s quarters, you might be able to send another player to the on-board prison. Human players need to defeat strange monsters and protect the civilian population on ?board in order to win. If you’re a hybrid, you win when the Deep Ones manage to sink the ship.

The post 10 Great Board Ga?mes Based on Books That Perfectly Capture Their Source Material appeared first on Destructoid.

With the end of Yellowstone, our cowboy-loving, Wild West?-yearning hearts are once again left without a consolation prize, but that doesn’t mean we can’t mimic the feeling o?f living through the history of the Dutton family with other works.

Taylor Sheridan (the creator of the Yellowstone universe) may be the go-to ?maestro of modern Westerns at the moment, with the genre going through ??a general stupor at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t quench your thirst through other mediums. Specifically, Western literature is full of underrated and often overlooked gems that could make you fall in love with this genre all over again.

So, grab your hat and spurs and giddy up, partner, because we're giving you a list of the top 10 books you should pick up if you’re a fan of Yellowstone and that cowboy life.

10. The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

Following McCarthy’s tradition of exploring philosophical dilemmas and existential crises in the guise of the modern novel, The Crossing is part of a trilogy of books called the “Border Trilogy,�set between 1992’s All the Pretty Horses and 1998’s Cities of the Plain. You follow the tale of a cowboy named Billy Parham, who, with his family, is living in Southern Mexico. McCarthy’s potent prose, combined with his profound exploration of themes such as loss, the nature of good and evil, and the struggle for justice, has turned The Crossing into a timeless novel. This i??s essentially a coming-of-age tale in a Western setting, but with a McCarthy novel's grim and brutal workings as Billy traverses the so-called frontier life and struggles to return a captured wolf to the wild.

9. The Virginian by Owen Wister

We all know Yellowstone is a modern take on the declining way of cowboys. More than its compelling characters, more than the beautiful vistas of the Montanan landscape, and even more than the iconic soliloquies delivered by John Dutton, Yellowstone is about a way of life that’s getting destroyed. So, if you’re looking to find what it means to be a cowboy and live by the principles and moral code of the American frontier life, then reading The Virginian by Owen Wister is a must.

This is the essential novel for the cowboy archetype, revolving around a nameless figure who goes b??y the Virginian; a man of few words but iron-hard principles, who has to balance his sense of justice with a world that’s slowly leaving him behind. Moral ambiguity, great romance, and the representation of nature as a character, as opposed to a backdrop.? What more could anyone want from a Western novel?

8. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

The main reason I chose this novel is its setting. A River Runs Through It takes place in Montana, and deals with two brothers as they grow up in a world where nature and fly fishing are the two pillars that hold up their lives. Yes, this isn’t a cowboy story, per se, but Norman Maclean’s lyrical prose and evocative themes revolving around family, identity, grace, honor, and the passage of time all shine through A River Runs Through It, turning the novel in?to a timeless classic. And the icing on the cake? The book is actually semi-autobiographical, which means that some of the events you see in it are directly inspire?d by Maclean’s own life in the beautiful, landlocked state of Montana.

7. True Grit by Charles Portis

One of the most popular classics of the Western genre, True Grit follows the tale of an old maid who recounts her brutal escapades 50 years before the present day. Written by Charles Portis and originally published in 1968, True Grit centers around Mattie Ross�story as she teams up with a grizzled, drunk U.S. Marshal and a ranger to track down her father’s murderer in Indian territory. If that premise sounds familiar to you, it’s because you’ve probably read or watched it a dozen times over in the form of other Western stories, but the fact remains that True Grit was one of the forerunners of this timeles????s storytelling tradition.

Portis�story has also been turned into two highly acclaimed ??movies, one in 1969 starring John Wayne and another in 2010 directed by the Coen brothers and led by Jeff Bridges. If you like Westerns with a bit of true grit (I’ll see myself out) then do yourself a favor and pick up this book.

6. Hondo by Louis L'Amour

You may think that cowboy life is all about enjoying the moment, basking in the tranquility of nature, and perhaps putting a little bit of work in to make sure that the herd is taken good care of. Sure, there’s brutality and grit in Yellowstone, and?? the Dutton family gets up to a lot of sketchy activities when the law?? isn’t looking their way, but the lush Montanan landscape and its challenges are nothing compared to the Old West.

That’s where a quintessential read like Hondo by Louis L'Amour comes along, following the tale of a gunman for the U.S. Army who has to navigate a treacherous territory filled with the Apache. This iconic protagonist named Hondo Lane, who embodies every stereotype about the classic Western hero, becomes entangled in a tale of morally complex situations, emotionally charged sequences, and a timeless tale of heroism and valor against the backdrop of the harsh frontier life. While Hondo is one of Louis L'Amour's many novels, it goes a long way to prove that?? no one does it quite like him when it comes to ??Westerns.

5. Close Range by Annie Proulx

Consisting of a collection of short stories set in rural Wyoming, Close Range is a poetic, raw depiction of the lives of its protagonists, who have to weather the hardships of their time period and come to terms with universally human ideas like love, loss, resilience, and regret. One of the most famous stories in this collection is Brokeback Mountain, which was adapted for the big screens in 2005 and s?tarred Jake G?yllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger in the lead roles.

Proulx delves into the lives of ranchers and cowboys, and while there’s a certain serenity underlining the entire work, there’s also a point to be made about the harshness and isola?tion of the Ameri??can West, offering both extremes of life and a range of all it has to offer. The prose is lyrical and beautiful, with Proulx still lauded as one of the best authors of this genre in literary circles.

4. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove is the most archetypal We??stern novel you could lay hands on. The story is set during the last breath of the Old West and revolves?? around a group of retired rangers who have to drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. On this road, they face adventures, dangers, hardships, and natural disasters as they come to terms with their slowly diminishing way of life and their place in this world now that the frontier is essentially fading into nonexistence.

Lonesome Dove features a cast of compelling multifaceted characters, as well as a visceral depiction of the Old West, blending action, tragedy, and drama into what’s arguably a classic of the genre now, even though it came out a little less than four decades ago. Lonesome Dove is one of Taylor Sheridan's favorite novels.

3. Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

When it comes to Westerns, there’s a lot of mysticism and bravado attached to the life of the protagonist undergoing trials in the Old West. It’s as if the frontier has, over time, turned into a mythological tradition of its own, always depicting heroes that are larger than life, situations that allude to the absurd, and challenges that take more than one’s natural acumen to overcome. Novels like Butcher’s Crossing by John William walk in the opposite direction of this tradition, trying to make the story more grounded and the characters more relatable. It’s sort of like what Taylor Sheridan did with a few of the Yellowstone cast by depicting them in a more modern hue, even if a little u??nwittingly and inevitably given the constrai?nts of the period.

Butcher’s Crossing, similarly, follows the st??ory of a young Harvard student, who, inspired by the writings of ?Ralph Waldo Emerson, hops into the wild and finds himself in the great West. Our protagonist Will Andrews joins a buffalo hunting expedition and goes on to confront the gritty everyday life found in nature’s uncaring bosom.

2. The Son by Philipp Meyer

Much like Yellowstone, this 2013 novel by Philipp Meyer depicts three generations of the McCullough family as they try to survive in the wild. You first follow Eli McCullough, who is adopted by the Comanches at a young age and brought up as one of their own. Eli goes on to fight in the American Civil War, shaped by a cruel life that turns him into a vicious cattle owner in the future. Eli’s son, the second POV in the novel, disagrees with his father’s vindictiveness but has to weather storms of his own to deal with it. Lastly, there’s Jeanne McCullough, Eli’s great-granddaughter, who goes on to become an oil baroness. If there ever was a book that perfectly captured Yellowstone’s spirit, it would be The Son.

1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

One of the greatest novels in the English language, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is a must-read even for people who don't like Westerns. It's also another instance of the anti-Western movement, bringing a sense of realism to subvert the romanticization of the Old West tradition. McCarthy's prose is, as usual, full of strange sentence structures and archaic-sounding words. The novel is gritty, and sometimes even grotesque, dealing with the life of a teenager who joins the Glant??on gang, a real-life group of scalp hunters who massacred Indians for sadistic pleasure.

Blood Meridian is not for the faint of heart, and reading through it for the first time is not necessarily an enjoyable experience, nor a breeze like so many other books on this list. What makes it worth the hassle, though, is McCarthy's exploration of human themes in their rawest form. Blood Meridian was so incongruous that it was at first received with mixed ??reactions, but it has since grown to be hailed as McCarthy's magnum opus (which says a lot) not to mention one of the greatest American novels of all time.

Bonus: Cattle Kingdom (The Hidden History of the Cowboy West) by Christopher Knowlton

While many of the authors on this list have done their homework when it comes to the Old West history, their novels mainly center around their respective narratives and don't expand to encompass a larger picture of the so-called "cowboy west." To that end, reading Cattle Kingdom will prove to be the most illuminating experience out of all of them. In Knowlton's own words: "Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West ros??e and fell, and how its legacy defines us today. The tale takes us from dust-choked cattle drives to the unlikely splendors of boom-towns like Abilene, Kansas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming."

So, if you're looking for ?a strictly historic, scholarly take on cowboy life, picking up Kwollton's book is your best bet.

The post 10 books to read if you like Yellowstone appeared first on Destructoid.

Whatever your opinio?n is on TikTok as a social media platform, it works really well when it comes to pinpointing the things you like—the algorithm definitely works as intended. If you’re a bookworm like ??me, you’ve likely got stuck on BookTok at least once. 

All it takes is sticking around on a?? book review for a little too long, or visiting a ??BookTok profile, and you’ll find your For You Page (FYP) throwing endless book recommendations in your direction. It can be hard to tell what’s truly worth the hype, with some books falling short of expectations, but as someone who is absolutely in no way easily influenced whatsoever (that’s a lie), I can help. 

In my many ??hours of scrolling TikTok and ordering books that seem interesting, I’ve come across some true gems that I wouldn’t have found if it wasn’t for BookTok. Here are 12 of th??e best that I’ve read thanks to BookTok.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

I’m willing to bet that you likely clicked on this article knowing ??full well that Ms. Hoover would make an appearance at least once, but you’ll be glad?? to know that I’m keeping her entries here in the singular. 

Colleen Hoover is a master of romance and mystery, dragging you into the world she creates within the pages of her books and getting you all invested in the lives of her characters. If you’ve never given her a chance, or you’re avoiding it because you’re wondering whether she’s worth the hype, then I highly suggest starting with Verity. 

Even I, a complete book nerd, had low expectations for Verity thanks to what seems like a massive amount of hype, but I was pleasantly surprised and you probably wil?l be too. 

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Maybe I’m more prone to loving books that have a heavy focus on historical events, but The Song of Achilles left me wanting so much ?more, and viewing the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus is definitely a memorable experience. 

There’s love, death, betrayal, murder, humor, and everything else you could possibly imagine within the pages of Miller’s story, and you could never say that the Romans were boring. At a base level, The Song of Achilles is a story of friendship and perseverance through har??dship, but there’s so much more to it that I couldn’t even begin to explain here. You’ll just have to give it a go yourself.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

This has all the ingredients ?for a classic will-they-won’t-they rom-com that will stick with you for a long time. Olive doesn’t believe in relationships, but she needs to convince her friend that she’s in one. Rather than thinking about it even a little bit logically, she smooches the first man she sees and it causes utter chaos in her life. 

It’s not all that deep, but there’s definitely a connection between the reader and the characters in The Love Hypothesis, as well as between the characters themselves, that doesn’t leave you as soon as you finish the last pa?ge. There’s even some science thrown in for good measure, but to be honest, science can’t begin to explain the madness you’ll experience while reading. 

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

For a little while, I couldn’t open TikTok without seeing at least five posts on my FYP about A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and that was before it was turned into a series by the BBC and got picked up by Netflix before the entire so?cial media app ??seemed to implode with love for the story.

Anyway, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder focuses on Pip, who takes it upon herself to re-investigate a murder-suicide that happened five years prior in her town. Her snooping takes her down a dark pa??th, which ends up turning the town upside down and making people question whether they actually knew what really happened all along. 

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

It’s a weird sensation, to go into reading a book knowing that both of the characters you’re about to get to know will be dead before you reach the final page, but They Both Die at the End is u??nforgivably heartwarming?? despite the bizarre concept. 

Two total strangers learn that they’re going to die within 24 hours, and both decide that rather than go out quietly, they want to have one last adventure. Through an app, they meet on their final day of life, resulting in something that will undoubtedly make you cry (make sure to have some tissues at hand) and inspire you to simply do more at the same time. Life is short, and Adam Silvera is real??ly good at reminding you to make the most of it. 

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably watched the movie adaptation of The Hating Game without even knowing that it was based on a rather funny book b??y Sally Thorne. It takes a lot to make me outwardly giggle while reading a book, and Thorne manages to do that in The Hating Game. 

Two colleagues who apparently despise each other are competing for the same high-paying job at the office, and their interactions are filled with sarcasm, bickering, and outright hate. However, hate and love are very similar emotions if you really think about it, and it’s just not possible to think about someone that much without being intrinsically conn??ected to th?em. 

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Red, White & Royal Blue is an LGBTQ+ romance novel that won’t fail to utterly sweep you away in the romance between the son of an Americ?an politician and ?a member of the British royal family. It all begins with them both falling into a cake, which results in them having to pretend to be friends and develops into something a lot deeper. This ends up being revealed to the world before anyone is ready.

Obviously this is a very alternative reality kind of story, with a very different royal family to the one we’re all familiar with, and America’s first female president hailing from Texas, but it’s definitely worth reading if you’re a fan of romance, drama, or inter-continental re??lationship stories. 

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica 

I make this recommendation with a heavy warning: Do not read this book if you’re particularly squeamish about blood, death, or graphic depictions of cannibalism. All feature heavily in this incredible altern?ate-future story of a dystopian world where animal meat will kill those who eat it, so humans begin being farmed for consumption instead.

Told you it was heavy.

Admittedly, Tender is the Flesh is massively different from every other book on this list, and it’s definitely a book you should start reading lightheartedly. However, I first read this bo??ok a long time ago and I still find myself thinking about it at random moments. I will always recommend this book to anyone who thinks they have the stomach for it. 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing is what you might get if you take the magical concept of Harry?? Potter and slap an R rating on it. It’s considered a romantic fantasy (Or “romantasyâ€? if y??ou will), and is the first installment in the Empyrean series. 

Violet is 20 years old and canonically suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, although this is never explicitly stated in the book itself, Yarros has confirmed it to be true and suffers from the condition herself, using the books as a way to raise awareness about the symptoms. Violet has trained for years to be a Scribe, but her mother pushes her to be a Dragon Rider. Her condition makes it hard, but Fourth Wing is all about ?perseverance and overcoming adversity. 

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

If you’ve ever spent even 10 minutes on BookTok, I can guarantee you’ve seen this book at least once and thought “Well, that seems a bit harsh� but I urge you to give this memoir a chance. Being the daughter of an abusive mother is an incredibly isolating, lonely existence, and reading Jennette’s words is absolutely soul-soothing for an?yone who has gone through a similar experience. 

You’ll probably know Jennette from her time as Sam Puckett in Nickelodeon’s iCarly, and the book goes into some detail about her experience working alongside an unnamed producer at Nickelodeon described only as “The Creator� It’s speculated by those who have read I’m Glad My Mom Died to sound?? very much like the now-shamed Dan Schneider, but there is no confirmation of that from Jennette. 

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

Another example of â€??œHarry Potter with an R ratingâ€? but this one absolutely stole my heart and kept me reading until the early hours of the morning because I just couldn’t put it down. It all starts with an exploding chicken in Mariel’s kitchen, but ends with an accidentally summoned demon who is burdened with a soul and—wa?it for it—feelings. 

With Mariel being understandably attached to her own soul and unwilling to strike ?a bargain with her now immovable demon, the two are stuck together, and we all know how that’s going to end. It’s a bumpy road, filled with hiding his horns and convincing her friends that maybe he isn’t out to ruin her life, even though he spends all of his time trying to convince himself that that’s exactly what he wants to do. 

And, if you fall in love with A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon like I did, there are two other books in the Glimmer Falls series ??that bring back familiar characters. 

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

If there was ever a BookTok book that I desperately want to see turned into a movie or series, it’s The Silent Patient. I love a good thriller, and it doesn’t come more thrilling than a seemingly perfect marriage destroyed when the wife shoots her husband five times in the face and then never tal??ks again. Your first question will undoubtedly be "why?" but you’re going to have many more as you read through this masterpiece. 

What The Silent Patient turns into is a story of obsession and deep secrets. It’s filled with twists and turns that you probably won’t see coming, but even if you do, that doesn’t take away from how clever they actually are. I cannot recommend The Silent Patient enough, you won’t regret curling up to read it, and youâ€??™re unlikel??y to ever forget it.

The post 12 Best Booktok book??s to spend those holiday?? gift cards on now appeared first on Destructoid.