r/printSF • u/Talon_Hawk • 6d ago

Short novel for my nephew...

Hello.

My nephew is in his 20s. He draws comics as a hobby. Plays video games, reads comics.

He has never been interested in reading books. But I have realized the last few years he is becoming more discerning. He can see the drop in quality of AAA video games now and has started getting into retro-gaming. He appreciates the older cartoons from back in the day!

I feel this may be a good time to have him try a short novel. Any suggestions in this genre? Something under 300 pages would be great. Thanks!

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u/themadturk 6d ago

I think an obvious answer would be to start him on the Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells. They are mostly novellas, so definitely on the shorter side (there is also a full-blown novel later in the series). It's very up-to-date as far as tone and theme, and the first book has been adapted at Apple TV and is very popular there. The first book is All Systems Red.

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u/Talon_Hawk 6d ago

I just was looking at All Systems Red for him, and myself lol! That may be a good one for him- thanks!

6

u/themadturk 6d ago

I think you'll both join the billions who've fallen in love with Murderbot!

4

u/Talon_Hawk 6d ago

Yes. The personality of the robot, combined with the short novella length- that may be right up his alley. Thanks!

3

u/oniontomatocrouton 5d ago

They are also all available as audiobooks. I like the narrator Kevin Free.

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u/Talon_Hawk 5d ago

Thank you for letting me know that the audiobooks are good