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waterfall_maker  7d ago (text post)   1220 thread views

I am looking for story about nondysfunctional family (or group of friends)

I am looking for story where group of characters (family or friends) form together a group that is NOT dysfunctional.

Them dealing with problematic/oppressive/bureaucratic/evil world is fine, in fact I want to have some conflict. On the other hand I do not want them to win effortlessly or get some insanely OP powers that invalidate any opposition. I do not want tragic/bad ending, I also do not want obvious 100% perfect absurd success thanks to blatant plot armor.

I also want story to not feature blatantly stupid setting or characters that make no sense whatsoever. Initially I phrased it as "no unrealistic stuff" but I am in fact fine with dragon-flying slave traders as antagonists, as long as suspension of disbelief is achievable.

I strongly prefer avoidance of current politics in either direction, I have seen remarkably few cases where it was done well. I also do not want books that would be recommended only due to current politics, quality of that is even worse.

Story may be small scale. I actually prefer to avoid "saving the world" story. I think that within last decade I seen two stories that did it and were done well (House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds, Deepness in the sky by Vernor Vinge). And maybe few more that I read earlier (LOTR, Ursula K. Le Guin)

I was thinking about fiction when I was writing this, but if you have anything that is nonfiction and fits - even better!

I hope that it is fine to ask for book recommendations here? If not, then please delete/downvote this and let me know what went wrong.

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Deepness in the sky by Vernor Vinge

Now there's a book I'm glad to hear about. I remember it made a big impact on me when I read it about a decade ago. Maybe it wouldn't hold up if I read it again, but I recall being very disturbed by the villains (good, villains should be villainous). I never did get read A Fire Upon the Deep, though, not first and not after.

The Boys in the Boat is about a rowing team that won the 1936 Olympic gold. Hard to have dysfunction when you need to synchronize so deeply. Non-fiction, instead of SFF.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet has been described, derisively, as a book where nothing really happens, but it's a character piece and there's no real dysfunction in the crew. I haven't read it, but it came to mind for that reason.

I recall being very disturbed by the villains (good, villains should be villainous)

and ending was really really satisfying

Agree, I actually liked A Deepness in the Sky even better than A Fire Upon the Deep, which was damn good in its own right. In fact, although I've only read several of his books, I've thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. A shame I can't say the same for some other hard sci-fi authors that I favor... cough nealststephenson cough

Agree, I actually liked A Deepness in the Sky even better than A Fire Upon the Deep, which was damn good in its own right.

+1 to both

In fact, although I've only read several of his books, I've thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them.

Sadly, for example sequels to "A Fire Upon the Deep" were extremely terrible and disappointing

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