Book Recommendations for October

 

I've been interested in finding a book like Now We Are Animals for a while. However, every time I've searched for such a book, I found steamy stories using the idea of humans treated like animals for the shock value. This book was exactly what I was looking for. It gets dark, sure, but the themes revolve around what makes us human, what makes us sentient. It resolves with hope, that yes, we are animals, and we are also human, and that's an amazing thing.

You can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett! Admittedly, I've only read a few of his books, but The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents has his hallmark humor that explores deep questions when animals start becoming sentient (so like, the opposite of the previous book?)

Here's my latest kindle vella find, The Assassin's Bride by Anastasis Blythe. Obviously, with assassin in the title, there is violence, but the story doesn't glorify it, use it for shock value, or treat it too lightly. Instead, it deals with the real humanity of the people involved (even the one that's not human)--their trauma, their thoughts and emotions, and very real, relatable reactions.