Wow The Blind Assassin sucks? Go read Twilight, maybe?

Not going to lie, I don't think I got further than 3 pages into the blind assassin before I gave it up.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a fantasy novel but with more of a Feudal Japan influence than Medieval Europe? I just watched Princess Mononoke the other week and have been craving something fantastical, but without the generic Western fantasy tropes.

[QUOTE=ThePhanastasio;1241476]You really think The Blind Assassin sucks? That kind of hurts my heart. That's one of my absolute favorite books I've ever read. The only problem I have with Margaret Atwood could also be considered a tremendous compliment to her: I sometimes find myself distracted by her prose, by her writing as a whole, and certain passages really hit and resonate with me. As such, I find myself re-reading them over and over again, unable to move on with the book because I'm just so overcome with how well something has been worded. I don't know why or how; I think she just writes in the exact way I wish I was able to write, and it really hits me.

I may have to give it another go, since others feel so strongly about it. I read it after completing two Joyce Carol Oates novels, and well she's a tough act to follow.

The Blind Assassin: Yes,the writing is brilliant, don't get me wrong. It just didn't move me. I couldn't get going in it.

If you`re still interested in distopias, Vanilla, the book called We, written by Yevgeny Zamyatin in 1921, is something of a forgotten classic. Unfortunately, I remember it as being a rather dry read. Also, some of Yevgeny`s ideas were later used more dramatically in George Orwell`s 1984 - so if you`ve already read that, the impact of We is furthur reduced.

I feel more comfortable recommending A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, which has been mentioned a couple of times on MB, and is endorsed by plenty of people :-

Always been a big fan of Heinlein. The Door Into Summer was probably the last one I've read of his. Haven't read anything other than instruction manuals in a long time.

Why thank you kind Sir, I will certainly add them to my list of books I'm going to read! I am obsessed with this genre!

I've only read a little of Heinlein, but loved what I've read so far. I was so young and dumb that I actually thought that the political messages in Starship Troopers were a great idea when I was like ten. More recently I read Stranger In a Strange Land which was amazing. Makes you wonder just what kind of a weird dude Heinlein was.

Oh yeah, Stranger In A Strange Land is probably my all-time favorite by Heinlein, and Methusalah's Children is a close second.