How to Make Me Care Part 2: Stand-Alone Books

Check out my first post on this topic: How to Make Me Care Part 1: Big Series with Immersive Worlds  in which I explored some series works and tried to pick out the things that made me invested in those worlds and made me read more than one book in the series, eagerly awaiting the next installment if it was not yet out.

In this post I want to explore some great stand-alone books that made me care and pulled me in. I think stand-alone books are a little different because you're getting one complete story and the author has less time to show you around the world, but at the same time, thinking back on the stand-alone books I loved they often have extremely rich world-building that rivals long series!

It's also interesting to note that this list is much more self-pub focused than my last one. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, for the past few years I've been reading much more self-pub stuff than trad published, and second of all, I think the tendency in the "market" is for long series to capitalize on the profits that can be made from one idea, forcing authors to stretch things out, but with self-pub authors are more free to just tell the story they had in mind and then move on. That's my feeling anyway.

There will be minor spoilers ahead! 

Without further ado...


Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
It's been a long time since I've read this but I still remember it vividly and fondly. Charles Dickens has been one of my favourite writers since I was a teen and this is one of his best, in my opinion. And yes, I know it's not fantasy or sci fi, but it's a good book so I'm not going to exclude it from my list just because it doesn't fit my usual genre.

• The humour in this book makes it stand out. Hilarious ways of describing things, fun turns of phrase, and funny awkward situations all helped to pull me in and enjoy reading it despite the very heavy/depressing content. 

• The personal stakes. From the very beginning the readers understands that these characters, this small family grieving the loss of the father, is in danger in a brutal society where they have no money and no agency and no one to stand by them. This makes for a compelling reason to keep reading as you want to know that they will get through the tough times and be ok. 

• The noble characters. The reason I like Nicholas Nickleby and his sister as main characters isn't just because of the danger they're in or the struggles they go through. It's also because they're clearly presented as good people with honorable intentions and principles. It's because I know that when Nicholas realizes the evils being committed around him he's not just going to go along with them for his own benefit. The book provides an alternative to the super self-obsessed profit-seeking Ralph and shows that there are good people in the world and that it's possible to live an honorable life. 

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
I made a "must read" shelf on goodreads just because of this book! It's so well-written and gripping and deals with historical events that are so important to address in fiction as well as non-fiction. It's focused on the life of a young Ojibwe boy who gets sent to a residential school.

• The struggle it portrays. Residential schools and their survivors, their struggle, is so well portrayed in this book. It's told through a child's perspective and allows us to understand these events and horrors from the point of view of one of the most affected. You can't help but feel for the child who is going through all this and it helps you understand how horrible the residential schools were much better than you might through statistics or history books. 

• Coming of age and fitting in. Even though it deals with such a specific setting and struggle the themes in this book of the character wanting to fit in and just wanting to practice a sport that allows him to feel freedom are so universal and so easy to emphasize with. 

Currently by Sarah Mensinga 

This amazing steampunk book manages to have such a depth of world-building and adventure that is hard to find even in long 7-book series. 

• The depth and breadth of the world building and the way its explored throughout the book. Form the very beginning we're introduced to a world that's ruled by the tides, a world with magic and steam technology and all kinds of interesting social structures in the various different cities and it's one of the main things that made me love this book. 

• The immediate dangers the main character is thrown into and the unfairness of the society that puts her in that danger in the first place. It's not just that the tide is coming in and she will die if she's left out there, it's all about the reason why she's being left out there and why it's so hard for her to secure a safe place in the city above. That unfairness and the way the book continues to tackle social issues pulled me right in and made the world seem real. 

• The main character has motivations and powers, but isn't the most powerful or automatically able to solve all problems. Her attempts to start a worker's strike put her and her friends in danger and force her to flee. She has some kind of power, but it doesn't make her able to wield magic or be the most powerful sorcerer, it just makes her someone the sorcerers are after for their own purposes. It's awesome and so much more realistic than the tired old chosen one stuff. 

Godeena by Stjepan Varesevac Cobets 

This is a millitary science fiction tale centering around a brigadier who goes to the planet Godeena on what is, essentially a suicide mission since no other teams have ever returned from it. I don't typically read millitary science fiction, but man am I glad I read this one as it's become one of my favourite sci fi tales and I will now read anything written by this author! 

• The creepy, mysterious power on the planet. It's done so well. We start of with very little understanding of why every team that was sent there disappeared and unraveling that mystery reveals such a cool power and all kinds of interesting lore about the planet. 

• The realistic world-building of this mutli-planet universe with various societies, politics, prison planets, and all kinds of other details. 

• The realistic handling and portrayal of millitary life that doesn't shy away from showing its problems. We get to see first hand how many ordinary soldiers often suffer due to the mistakes of their commanders. 

 

• Weapons specifics and millitary details abound in this book, but the author takes the time to explain these things and show us how the weapons can be used through training so that when the time comes for them to be used in a dangerous battle situation it was easy for me to picture what was happening and visualize which weapon was being used and what effect it would have. This made for very gripping action scenes. 

• The character of Diana. This character is introduced a bit later in the story and her motivations and her journey pulled me in and provided the perfect viewpoint from which to explore the planet. 

Grounded: A Dragon's Tale  by Gloria Piper 

I loved this book which has a mix of sci fi and fantasy and dragons and ecology. Awesome creativity and so well-written. 

• The dragons. I love dragons and I think most fantasy readers do. This book takes that love for dragons and just runs with it. We're introduced to a full blown dragon society with a dragon main character. We get to see how the ecology on this dragon planet works in a realistic way. We get to see human characters who are there to scientifically observe the planet and how they deal with seeing the dragons. It's a very unique handling of a beloved concept. 

• The realistic societies. Another great thing about the world building is that the dragons have a full-fledged society with complex rules and ways to life. And then you have the humans with their views, needs, and social problems coming into the mix along with some other alien races as well.

Askaro of the Falcon by Lady Li Andre 

Another steampunk tale that I absolutely loved. I guess I just love the steampunk genre, although I usually consume it through Miyazaki's movies rather than books. This one starts off on an airship and reveals a very intriguing world. 

• The immediate and very personal stakes. The main character is born into enslavement on an airship and through his personal struggle with the injustice of his society I was immediately pulled in and found myself rooting for him from the first pages. 

• The main character's skill. I like that the main character was really good at what he did and that he understood the workings of the ship he lived on. It's great when a character isn't clueless!

• The detailed portrayals of society on and off the airship. We get a really in-depth understanding of society on the airship, but we also get to explore the capital city when the ship docks in it. It was great world-building throughout the novel. 

TL;DR: Well, that's it for now. After looking at these stand-alone novels from various genres in a bit more depth there are a few things that stand out as important factors that will pull me in and make me care. Right away, it's become obvious to me that I don't necessarily remember world-ending stakes or huge world-changing conflicts. I remember the personal stuff. Here are the common factors among all the stand alone books I liked: 

• Personal stakes. 
• Detailed portrayals of societies and social problems. 
• Main characters with motivation and skill. 
• Dragons, magic, and interesting/myterious powers portrayed in unique ways. 
• Noble/principled characters. 

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about what makes me care about stories and get invested in them.