What are the top book recommendations for 'gritty and real'?
We found 1650 book recommendations
What do readers say about The Blade Itself?
cynical, dark, high fantasy vivid, visceral prose the characters are well-written compelling and wittyThe first novel in the First Law Trilogy and debut fantasy novel from New York Times bestseller, Joe Abercrombie.
Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead ba... More details on The Blade Itself
Logen opened his eyes a crack. Light, blurry bright through leaves. This was death? Then why did it hurt so much? His whole left side was throbbing. He tried to take a proper breath, choked, coughed u...
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What do readers say about The Fifth Season?
ashfall and climate change epic dystopian fantasy broken earth trilogy subtle and well-designedAt the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times)
This is the way the world ends. . .f... More details on The Fifth Season
For the past ten years you’ve lived as ordinary a life as possible. You came to Tirimo from elsewhere; the townsfolk don’t really care where or why. Since you were obviously well educated, you became ...
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What do readers say about The Final Empire?
unique magic system the characters were amazing eloquent without being stuffy creativity and imaginationFrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn series is a heist story of political intrigue and magical, martial-arts action.
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved i... More details on The Final Empire
Vin watched the downy flakes drift through the air. Leisurely. Careless. Free. The puffs of soot fell like black snowflakes, descending upon the dark city of Luthadel. They drifted in corners, blowing...
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What do readers say about The Martian?
an adventure story science and the survival aspects thriller/suspense hilarious and rivetingA survival story for the 21st century and the international bestseller behind the major film from Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.
I'm stranded on Mars.
I have no way to communicate with Earth.
I'm in a habitat designed to last... More details on The Martian
For the record…I didn’t die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought I did, and I can’t blame them. Maybe there’ll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, “Mark W...
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What do readers say about A Little Life?
raw and brutal a life changer unflinching and intense over the top dramaA stunning "portrait of the enduring grace of friendship" (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
A MAN BOOKER PRIZE ... More details on A Little Life
THE ELEVENTH APARTMENT had only one closet, but it did have a sliding glass door that opened onto a small balcony, from which he could see a man sitting across the way, outdoors in only a T-shirt and ...
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What do readers say about Annihilation?
stark and dry thick and luxurious vague and amorphous clear and linguistically appealingA MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC
The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that "reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had w... More details on Annihilation
The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh fl...
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What do readers say about The Hunger?
creepy paranormal elements historical fiction thriller the doomed donner party slow-burn, relatively quiet"Supernatural suspense at its finest…The best thing about The Hunger is that it will scare the pants off you."-The New York Times Book Review
"Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark."-Stephen King
A tense and... More details on The Hunger
He stood that morning in front of the big mirror strapped to the side of James Reed’s wagon. In every direction, the prairie unfurled like a blanket, occasionally rippled by wind: mile after uninterru...
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What do readers say about The Kite Runner?
armchair cultural tourism clear and poetic richness of cultural detail friendship and redemptionThe #1 New York Times bestselling novel that introduced Khaled Hosseini to millions of readers the world over.
"A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violenc... More details on The Kite Runner
I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the fro...
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What do readers say about Night?
simple, stark prose cut and dried terror simple and spare heart wrenching bookIt is 1944. The Jews of Sighet, Hungary are rounded up and driven into Nazi concentration camps. For the next terrible year, young Elie Wiesel experiences the loss of everything he loves - home, friends, family - in an agonizing journey through Birke... More details on Night
THEY CALLED HIM MOISHE THE BEADLE, as if his entire life he had never had a surname. He was the jack-of-all-trades in a Hasidic house of prayer, a shtibl. The Jews of Sighet—the little town in Transyl...
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What do readers say about Shards of Honour?
classic space opera character driven story space politics saga science fiction space warfareFIRST BOOK FEATURING CORDELIA NAISMITH. Journey back to where it all started, from multiple New York Times best selling author, Hugo Award winner, Lois McMaster Bujold.
When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from ... More details on Shards of Honour
A sea of mist drifted through the cloud forest—soft, gray, luminescent. On the high ridges the fog showed brighter as the morning sun began to warm and lift the moisture, although in the ravine a cool...
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