Hey, I am a big fan of HPMOR too, and can absolutely feel your pain of not being able to discuss the book with anyone. Do you have more books that went in a similar direction?
I started reading the Eternal Golden Braid after, which was really good but dense, and for some light fantasy The Name of the Wind was an overall impressive book.
HPMOR is my all time favorite book, I've read it multiple times and I am still in awe of it. From the same genre I liked stuff from Alexander Wales, mainly The Metropolitan Man [1], The Dark Wizard of Donkerk [2] and, to a lesser extent, Worth the Candle which was just finished.
While not really intended as rational fiction, Threadbare was a nice read too if you enjoy litRPG.
I’ve recently discovered fan fiction and am feeding like a pig at a trough!
Sadly Hpmor didn’t click with me though. I liked the science but found the characters themselves undeveloped. Acting rationally is great and all, but with rational people have feelings too and that felt completely missing. I just couldn’t get far into the story sadly.
I encourage you to keep at it a bit more. Lots of folks are put off by the initial "more rational than thou" style of the main character, but what's not immediately apparent is that the book is partially a critique of this kind of thinking
What's more, since this is a well written story, there are good reasons why the character is so off-putting (to some) at the start. It is definitely NOT a case of the author espousing some limited view of elite rationalists as unemotional arrogant know-it-alls.
All the main characters do reveal rich emotional lives as the story progresses.
It's well worth the read.
(I've read every book discussed in this thread, and HPMoR is my definite favorite.)
Sorry for the confusion; the parent comment was different when I replied to it.
It initially started with a quote like:
>as a big fan of Harry Potter
So I was under the impression they may've believed the post was talking about the regular Harry Potter series and recommending something based on Harry Potter rather than HPMOR.
Anyone with an analytical/rational mindset will probably love both, even if you're normally not into fiction.
Don't expect to be able to discuss it with anyone that hasn't read it - or something like it - though.