book recs needed

[echo74 she/her]

so guys i lowkey haven't read a book outside of school since like december and i want to get back into reading but i literally have no clue where to start

i need a fast-paced book that's short-ish? (short-ish as in like 500 pages or less)

any genre, please send help

THANKS GUYS I LOVE YOU ALL

[Existential]

One that I really liked was Soul Fraud by Andrew Givler, I read the first one and need to find time to read the rest, but I really enjoyed it

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

2 hours ago, echo74 said:

so guys i lowkey haven't read a book outside of school since like december and i want to get back into reading but i literally have no clue where to start

i need a fast-paced book that's short-ish? (short-ish as in like 500 pages or less)

any genre, please send help

THANKS GUYS I LOVE YOU ALL

The Girl With Seven Names

:3 

It's a memoir but it's soooooooo good trust me

OH

OH

OH 

THE NIGHT CIRCUS BY ERIN MORGAN-SOMETHING

mmmm what else

Crown of Feathers :3

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

2 hours ago, echo74 said:

so guys i lowkey haven't read a book outside of school since like december and i want to get back into reading but i literally have no clue where to start

i need a fast-paced book that's short-ish? (short-ish as in like 500 pages or less)

any genre, please send help

THANKS GUYS I LOVE YOU ALL

so. short?

(darn it. my top 3 fav book series are all over 600 pages!)

I have some... Not short books?

oh also: 

Here are my top 3 fav books/book series

3. Eragon. Great series, really long

2. Cosmere. Great universe, really long

1. ORV. Great book, 551 chapters in main novel

pls tell me if u read them.

 

Edited June 12, 2025 by CoderDrag0n8

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Fast paced? Short? There's only one book I can think of: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

The book is about 6 year olds fighting aliens

The MC is 6 at the start and 12 at the end, so it's fast. It's also short.

And It's pretty good. My 17th favourite book of all time so far. One of the sequels took 16th.

Actually Ender's Shadow isn't really a sequel plot-wise, it's mostly the same events from a different perspective and you could read either one, really. 

 

'Tis Sci-fi, as it has the aforementioned aliens and most of the book takes place on a space station orbiting Earth.

Edited June 12, 2025 by KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren

[Treamayne]

7 hours ago, echo74 said:

i need a fast-paced book that's short-ish? (short-ish as in like 500 pages or less)

any genre, please send help

Age Range? Examples of other books you have liked? Based on nothing more than fast paced and relatively short (not including Sanderson - since, you are here and presuambly familiar with his works). Language and/or Content warnings on many of these, since you did not specify MG/YA

• Jumper - Urban Fantasy - abused highschooler finds the ability to teleport, runs away from home, doubts sanity and it escalates from there
• Codex Alera - Fantasy - Book 1 of 6, Complete (laater books are a bit longer
• Caves of Steel - Asimov - Classic SciFi Fast-paced by 1950s standards, an impossible murder in Earth far-future and the introduction of HumaniForm robots to Asimov's universe. Classic characters Elijah Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw are introduced (4(ish) books total)
• Hounded - Urban Fantasy - Iron Druid Book 1 (9 total, complete) + short stories and novellas - Atticus is the last living Druid and it's not his fault that when he tells people he is 22 - they assume years instaed of centuries. The Celtic diety he has been hiding from for centuries has found him again, in Tempe Arizona and Atticus has finally decided to stop running. 
• Storm Front - Urban Fantasy - Dresden Files Book 1 (of 25 - 17 complete, series ongoing). Harry is the only person listed in the Chicago yellow pages under "Wizard" but if you need a PI to take care of problems from the spooky side of life, give him a call. The Chicago PD use him as an advisor when they find things inexplicable, and now somebody is using magic to rip people's hearts from their chest without even entering the building. . . 
• Dungeon Crawler Carl - Sci Fan LitRPG - Book 1 (or 10, 7 complete so far, series ongoing). - You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what. The apocalypse will be televised!

There are many others, but without more guidance it's hard to choose what you may enjoy. 

4 hours ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

so. short?

(darn it. my top 3 fav book series are all over 600 pages!)

I have some... Not short books?

The Recommended Reading list has a bit of information (indexed page one for easy review), but unfortunately page count isn't one - though anythign interesting sounding should be easy to search page count on wikipedia or goodreads. 

3 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

Fast paced? Short? There's only one book I can think of: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

Link to EnderVerse Chronology Flowchart. Notably, only the Original Ender's Game is quite short (about 100k words - <300 pages) most of the rest are between 130-180k words (400-700 pages).

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

3 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Link to EnderVerse Chronology Flowchart. Notably, only the Original Ender's Game is quite short (about 100k words - <300 pages) most of the rest are between 130-180k words (400-700 pages).

I've only the read the full novel version of Ender's Game. I've read the Ender Quartet and am listening to Shadow Puppets, however I only listen to audiobooks while travelling so won't finish it for some time.

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

I've only the read the full novel version of Ender's Game. I've read the Ender Quartet and am listening to Shadow Puppets, however I only listen to audiobooks while travelling so won't finish it for some time.

No worries, just wanted to let you and the OP know the resource was already posted to these forums previously, so you should be able to copy the image if you want it, or ask if you have questions about how I organized the information (Chronology vs Reading Order). Many of the short stories do not have a audio version (and are simply free online), but also many were later incorporated into novels (such as Gold Bug and Young Man with Prospects both being incorporated into "Ender in Exile")

Edited June 12, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[___ He/Him]

20 hours ago, echo74 said:

so guys i lowkey haven't read a book outside of school since like december and i want to get back into reading but i literally have no clue where to start

i need a fast-paced book that's short-ish? (short-ish as in like 500 pages or less)

any genre, please send help

THANKS GUYS I LOVE YOU ALL

I really recommend the hunger games series if you haven't read it (though it's kinda depressing).

Also another I love is the Maze Runner series.

Obviously the entire cosmere

Another that I haven't read in a long time but I really liked was the book Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson

[Tinwatcher I don’t mind]

You can read The False Prince. It’s like only 300 pages 

[Briar King]

Jim Butcher is a fun author. His books are on the shorter side. Dresden Files isn't completely done yet but 16 or 17 out of 23 are out now. Don't really get good good till halfway into bk 3 but bk 4 onwards is pure fire.

Then there is his 6 Codex Alera that are pure gold. That series is done. 

[Treamayne]

46 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Jim Butcher is a fun author. His books are on the shorter side. Dresden Files isn't completely done yet but 16 or 17 out of 23 are out now. Don't really get good good till halfway into bk 3 but bk 4 onwards is pure fire.

As mentioned above - Also, please note that the Worldbuilding for DresdenVerse is large - but Butcher broke it up over the course of the first five books; so each book deals primarily with one aspect of that setting and with Book 6, they all mingle in the best horribly fantastic way. 

Slight Spoilers:

Spoiler

1. Storm Front - Black Magic (sorcerers)
2. Fool Moon - Lycanthropes and other shape shifters
   • Personal Favorite infodump scene is in this book
3. Grave Peril - Vampires and Ghosts (ish)
4. Summer Knight - Fae Courts
5. Death Masks - Demons and Fallen

This allows each early book to be between 86k-120k words, while slowly introducing story elements and not overloading the reader. I have a comprehensive chronology including all microfiction, short stories, novellas and novels - should anybody need it 

Edited June 16, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG