Top Ten Tuesday – Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books on my TBR

On November 19, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn List9 Comments

Like most book lovers, I have a huge backlog of novels out there that I want to read but I haven’t been able to fit into my schedule due to lack of time or other books I needed to get through first. As such, this is a rather interesting list to pull together, and I hope that it inspires me a little to go back and read some books on my TBR pile. I also love the shoutout to the older TBR books I have, especially as I am easily distracted by new and shiny things.

I must admit I struggled a little to pull together some really old titles, so my list is most made up of books from the 80s and 90s. Still, this ended up being a rather interesting, if slightly predictable list if you know who some of my favourite authors are, although I made sure to limit myself to one inclusion from each author. Despite these limitations, I really like how it came together, so let us see who made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman – 1985

A classic crime fiction book from an author still going strong.

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Space Marine by Ian Watson – 1993

An old-school Warhammer 40,000 novel I currently have on my shelf. While not the first Warhammer 40,000 novel ever written, it sounds bonkers, and I’m curious to see original universe from before they established the current canon.

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Killing Floor by Lee Child – 1997

The first book in the epic Jack Reacher series. I loved the television adaptation of this book and I’m curious to read the series from start to finish.

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Excavation by James Rollins – 2000

A fantastic older thriller I have sitting on my shelf.

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Top Ten List:

Carrie by Stephen King – 1974

After some awesome recent experiences with Stephen King’s writing, I’ve been meaning to read more of his amazing books and there is no better place to start than his first novel, Carrie. A classic piece of horror fiction, Carrie is a bloody and complex read that I hope to check out one day.

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Sharpe’s Eagle by Bernard Cornwell – 1981

I’m a massive fan of Bernard Cornwell, who is one of the biggest names in historical fiction. While I have read a couple of books in his iconic Richard Sharpe series, I need to read more, including the first book he published, Sharpe’s Eagle. A compelling historical adventure, Sharpe’s Eagle was the book that introduced the world to Richard Sharpe and Cornwell’s vision of the Napoleonic War. Thanks to Cornwell releasing his books out of chronological order, Sharpe’s Eagle is now the eighth book in the series, but it remains a key entry. I look forward to reading Sharpe’s Eagle one day and it sounds like a lot of fun.

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Magician by Raymond E. Feist – 1982

I am slightly cheating by including Magician here, as I have read it a couple of times before. However, I really want to do a big re-read of Feist’s entire Riftwar Cycle and Magician is the best place to start this series. A particularly iconic fantasy novel, Magician sees a young boy discover his destiny as a mighty mage after the kingdom he lives in is invaded by soldiers from another world. This is a really, really good book and I cannot wait to read it again at some point.

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The Black Company by Glen Cook – 1984

I have long wanted to read the epic The Black Company fantasy series by Glen Cook, which started back in 1984 with this book of the same name. Generally considered to be one of the best dark fantasy novels/series of all time, The Black Company follows a band of dangerous mercenaries as they find themselves drawn into a bloody and all-consuming war. I already know that I am going to love this book, and I will hopefully be able to make time for it at some point in the future.

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The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell – 1985

A few years ago, I had the great pleasure of reading David Gemmell’s classic fantasy debut, Legend, which is honestly one of the best books I have every read. Gemmell was a very skilled author, and I have been meaning to check out more examples of his work. The obvious next step would be to read The King Beyond the Gate, which is the second novel in the series that started with Legend. Another compelling read that follows a small band of aging heroes as they face a seemingly unbeatable foe, The King Beyond the Gate sounds awesome, and I need to dedicate some time to getting through the rest of Gemmell’s books.

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The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis – 1989

Long-term readers of this blog will know that I am a huge fan of historical fiction author Lindsey Davis, who has greatly impressed me over the years with her Flavia Albia series, which follows some deeply unique murder investigations in ancient Rome. However, the Flavia Albia books are only the latest series from Davis, who originally started back in the 1980s with her Falco novels. Following the father of Flavia Albia as he solves his own crimes, the Falco books have been on my radar for a while, and I fully intend to read them at some point. The obvious starting point for this would be The Silver Pigs, which introduced the world to Falco and Davis’s distinctive style. I have a copy of The Silver Pigs sitting on my bookshelf, and I look forward to the day when I get around to reading it.

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Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn – 1991

Some of my very favourite Star Wars novels were the recent Thrawn trilogies written by legendary author Timothy Zahn. A complex and compelling collection of books, the Thrawn and Thrawn Ascendancy trilogies follow Zahn’s best original character, Grand Admiral Thrawn and help to reintroduce him into the new Disney canon. However, Thrawn first appeared back in 1991 when Zahn released the iconic Star Wars novel, Heir to the Empire. A sequel to Return of the Jedi, Heir to the Empire was one of the very first proper Star Wars tie-in novels, and it set the stage for the massive Star Wars Extended Universe that followed. As a massive Star Wars fan, I have been remiss in not going back to check out this important novel, although I hope to change that in the future. From all accounts this book is extremely epic, and I am very curious to see the novel that first introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn to the galaxy.

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The Black Echo by Michael Connelly – 1992

The next entry on this list is The Black Echo by Michael Connelly. The very first book from Connelly to feature his famous detective character Harry Bosch, The Black Echo set up the author’s shared universe which would later expand to feature so many memorable protagonists. I have had an exceptional time reading all of Connelly’s most recent works and I have been meaning to go back and explore his universe from the beginning, starting with The Black Echo. Like The Silver Pigs, I have a copy of The Black Echo sitting on my bookshelf, and when my reading schedule opens up, I hope to grab it and power through it. I have no doubt that I will love The Black Echo, and I am curious to see what Connelly’s writing style was like in this first book.

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The Demon Awakens by R. A. Salvatore – 1997

I am a huge fan of R. A. Salvatore various additions to the expanded Forgotten Realms universe, having read nearly all of them over the years. However, I am also keen to read more books in Salvatore’s original Corona universe. I had a ton of fun reading the latest trilogy set in this world (The Coven books made up of Child of a Mad God, Reckoning of Fallen Gods and Song of the Risen God), and I felt that this was an excellent fantasy universe that I’d like to see more of. As such, I will try to explore this series from the beginning, which means starting with The Demon Awakens. An exciting adventure novel with some great characters, The Demon Awakens should be a ton of fun and I am keen to read it in the future.

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A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin – 1998

The final book on this list is A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. The second book in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Clash of Kings doesn’t need a massive introduction. I have been meaning to continuing this series after reading A Game of Thrones a few years ago, which means going through A Clash of Kings next. I am sure I will deeply enjoy this major book, and I am curious to see how it differs from the television show.

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And with that, my list concluded. I felt that this latest Top Ten Tuesday post came together well, and I like the intriguing collection of books I listed above. It turns out there are a ton of older novels on my to-be-read list, and I hope I get the opportunity to get through them soon. In the meantime, let me know what older books are on your TBR lists in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Covers with Ships on the Cover

On November 5, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn List6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants are required to list their top ten favourite covers with an item of the blogger’s choice on them. This is an interesting topic that I have done in the past, producing a striking list about book covers featuring dragons that I felt really popped. However, I’ve been in a nautical mood lately, so I’m going to do a list focusing on book covers where ships are prominently featured.

For this list I am envisioning old, classic seafaring ships, or at least something that could be sailed in a terrestrial setting. As such, I am excluding spaceships from this list, primarily because I think that is a separate list that I could do at some other point. Even with this restriction I was able to come up with a fun collection of book covers where ships are featured prominently. This list looks really awesome, and I had a fun time pulling it together.

Honourable Mentions:

The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd

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Black Leviathan (German Cover) by Bernd Perplies

I’m slightly cheating by featuring the German version of this cover, but as its cool, I’ll allow it. I loved this whole book, and it was fun to follow an airship crew (technically a ship) as they hunt dragons.

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Seas of Swords by R. A. Salvatore

The use of the ship is subtle in this cover, but I just love seeing Drizzt framed by the rigging.

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Top Ten Tuesday:

The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne

I just had to feature the cover of the book I’m reading now, The Fury of the Gods, which looks so damn awesome. Gwynne’s Bloodsworn trilogy has featured some brilliant covers the last couple of years, although this one might be my favourite. The ship featured in this cover is really small, but it’s placement in front of the rampaging snake god ensures it has a lot more impact. I love the contrast in sizes between the ship and the giant monster, and it helps to make this such an amazing cover.

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Jingo by Terry Pratchett

A cover that has long been stuck in my mind, as Jingo was one of the first Discworld novels I ever read. The original cover art of Jingo featured two ships bordering the main battle on the weathercock, with various characters from the books dawn in Josh Kirby’s distinctive style. Later versions of the cover removed the ships and only featured the central conflict. This meant that I had a bit of a hard time finding a good picture of the cover that fully showcased the two ships in detail, so sorry if the full awesomeness doesn’t come across in the above shot.

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Heastward Ho! by Garry Kilworth

Few covers are as much fun as the one for Heastward Ho!. The final book in Garry Kilworth’s Welkin Weasels series, which is set in a world with sentient rodents, Heastward Ho! featured a great adventure tale that I loved when I was younger. The cover for Heastward Ho! is very distinctive, especially with the weasel crewed ship firing cannons, and I love the fantastic blend of colourful elements. An overall excellent cover, although I must give a special mention to the other Welkin Weasels’ novel, Windjammer Run, which also featured a cool ship-focussed cover.

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Pieces of Eight by John Drake

An awesome historical fiction book that provided a new take on the Treasure Island characters, Pieces of Eight has a fantastic cover that not only shows a cool pirate ship in the background, but also had two of the character’s fighting in the ships rigging.

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Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

The hardcover copy of Queen of Storms featured a great seascape shot with the titular ship, Queen of Storms, right in the middle. An excellent cover that really captures the imagination.

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The Eagle’s Prophecy by Simon Scarrow

The sixth book in Simon Scarrow’s Eagles of the Empire series, The Eagle’s Prophecy, took the protagonists on a very different adventure, as they stopped fighting the British and took on pirates instead. The have been a few different versions of the cover released over the years, although the one I originally got was the simple, but effective, cover with the ship’s sail above. A great cover with some detailed art that immediately tells the reader that there is something nautically themed about this book.

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Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

The second Gentleman Bastards novel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, features quite a lot of nautical elements, including a good half of the book spent out at sea, so it’s inevitable that they would feature some fantastic ships on the cover. There have been several different covers for Red Seas Under Red Skies released over the years, all of which look quite excellent and matched the themes of the book very well. However, my favourite is the one above that really captures the chaotic nature of the plot. The ship on fire references a key scene in the novel, and it blends beautifully with the titular red skies and red sea to create a striking image. An awesome and memorable cover that I have a lot of love for.

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The Fathomless Caves by Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth’s brilliant Witches of Eileanan fantasy series featured some great covers throughout its run, although the best one with a ship is The Fathomless Caves, which was the last book in the original series. Setting the ship in front of an erupting volcano, the original The Fathomless Caves cover has always stood out to me, and I love the contrasting colours and imagery. There were actually a few books in this series I could have used, with The Forbidden Land and The Skull of the World also featuring distinctive original paperback covers that also made great use of ships, but I think the above cover for The Fathomless Caves is the only choice.

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The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

There is a lot of Viking imagery in the Last Kingdom books by Bernard Cornwell, and I love the various shots of longboats and other watercraft that are routinely featured on the cover. One of the best can be found on the first book in the series, The Last Kingdom, which features two cool longships ploughing the waves to battle. Viking/Danish ships are so damn awesome, and I think this is one of the better cover art versions of them in this series.

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Mossflower by Brian Jacques

The final book cover I want to feature on this the fantastic novel Mossflower by Brian Jacques. Like many fantasy fans I spend my youth reading the fun and distinctive Redwall series by Brian Jacques that featured some brilliant art depicting the animal protagonists in action. Quite a few of these covers features boats or ships to some degree, so I was spoiled for choice here. Of them, I love the cover for Mossflower the most, as it really captures the magic of the plot and features outstanding artwork of the ship in question. This was a great cover and an awesome final inclusion for this list.

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Well, that’s my list. As you can see there are some incredible books out there that make great use of ships and boats on their cover. All the above books are really awesome as well, and you can have an incredible time reading them while also appreciating their great covers. I had a lot of fun coming up with this list, and I will have to think about replicating it with another item in the future. In the meantime, let me know what your favourite books with ships on the cover are in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I was Assigned to Read in School

On October 15, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn List8 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday I s a weekly feature that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants are tasked with listing ten books that they were assigned to read in school, with bonus points awarded if you provide a little review or your thoughts on the book in question. This proved to be a rather interesting topic, and it really got me thinking about the random works of fiction I read or had assigned to me during my turbulent school years. My resulting list on the subject proved to be an eclectic mixture or classic novels and several distinctive reads that have followed me into my later reviewing/blogging career. A such, I rather like the list below and I think it is a simultaneously fun and depressing look back at my academic past.

Top Ten List:

Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

Whilst in college (year 11 in my school system) I signed up to do a fantasy fiction course which I thought sounded fun. Unfortunately, the teacher was absolutely rubbish, but luckily there was a silver lining in that Daughter of the Empire was a required reading. A deep and compelling fantasy book about a young woman forced to take up the reigns of leadership of her noble family, Daughter of the Empire was a brilliant read and the first book in the Empire trilogy. As a fantasy nerd, I was very familiar with Feist, having read multiple books in his Riftwar Cycle already, but I hadn’t made the leap over to the Empire trilogy yet. Naturally I loved this required reading and powered through Daughter of the Empire faster than anyone in the class. I even went a step beyond and grabbed the next two books in the series, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire, that’s how much I loved it. Daughter of the Empire remains one of my favourite fantasy books to this day (see my blog’s review for the series here), and I cannot recommend this series enough. Literally the only good thing to come out of a terrible, semester-long class.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A true American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird was an excellent coming-of-age story that also featured a complex tale of racial inequality in small-town America. I read To Kill a Mockingbird as part of a pretty good general English course, and it proved fascinating and insightful to analyse this book. We also watched the Gregory Peck film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird in the same class, which proved to be an impressive black and white watch. A wonderful read whose message still resonates to this day.

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Tomorrow series by John Marsden

A series I particularly enjoyed having to read at school was the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. An iconic Australian young adult series that follows a group of teenagers caught up in an invasion of Australia by a foreign army, the Tomorrow books are an exceptional series with a brilliant story behind it. I love all seven books in this excellent series, and I really got into them thanks to some required reading in high school. I honestly read more of this series than I needed to for school purposes, and the Tomorrow series really influenced me growing up. I remember doing some basic reviews of this book back at school, and I have since done a more detailed review of the series on my blog. A highly recommended series that still holds up.

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Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Thanks to a holiday project, I read Jurassic Park during my summer break one year and it proved to be very epic. As a fan of the film and a massive reader, even as a teenager, it honestly wasn’t a great trial for me to read Jurassic Park during my holidays, and I really got caught up in Michael Crichton’s unique science fiction thriller. Another classic, Jurassic Park really stands on its own as a novel and I can see why a movie adaptation from it was so successful. It is quite fascinating to see the differences between the novel and the later film, and I really liked Crichton’s original science focussed and darker story. I honestly need to read this book again at some point, but I enjoyed reading it while younger, and it’s a book all science fiction and thriller fans should check out at some point.

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The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

One of the more memorable novels I was assigned to read in college was the emotionally charged book, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. A dark and powerful read that followed the aftermath of a tragic murder, The Lovely Bones proved to be an interesting addition to my reading list while at school. While not something I probably would have chosen to read on my own, The Lovely Bones had a distinctive and intense story behind it, that dealt with the aftermath of tragedy and regret by following the victim’s surviving family. An outstanding book that allowed for a lot of literary analysis, The Lovely Bones is an excellent addition to this list.

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The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

Required to give a presentation on a specific fantasy novel, I of course chose one of my favourite books, The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett. A particularly hilarious Pratchett novel, set in the Discworld’s equivalent of Australia, The Last Continent proved fertile ground for an in-depth presentation, and I made sure to re-read the book in advance. I have a lot of love for this book (see my review for it on this blog), and I’m sure that came through in my passionate presentation.

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Odyssey by Homer

A particularly interesting English class studying myths and legends let to me reading the Greek epic poem Odyssey. The stylised and distinctive tale of legendary figure Odysseus, Odyssey was a great read to get lost in as a student, and it really appealed to my love of Greek mythology. While I remember struggling with the classic prose and language, Odyssey lived up to epic in epic poem, and I had a great time learning about it at school.

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Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

As part of a decent crime fiction English course at school, we dove into the debut novel of Patricia Cornwell, Postmortem. The first book in her long-running Kay Scarpetta series, Postmortem introduced readers to world of modern forensic fiction with this in-depth and dark murder mystery. Postmortem proved to be a fantastic read, and my class had an excellent time examining the clever mystery it contained. While this is another book from school that I should probably re-read at some point, I did deeply enjoy Postmortem and I recall writing a descent essay about it.

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The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

One of the more entertaining recommendations/assigned readings I had during my education occurred in a hectic Post-Roman Britain archaeology course while attending university. The professor, an occasionally funny figure, would often provide us with a list of suggested readings to help us with the course. While most of these readings were academic books and papers, he also recommended The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell, which he believed perfectly captured the period we were studying. I was already a fan of this series before taking on this class, but I dutifully read more The Last Kingdom books to benefit my academic career (and for no other reason). Cornwell clearly did a ton of research on the setting for his books, and I appreciated the historical and archaeological detail he included in his story, as well as the fantastic and intense narrative that accompanied it. While I’m slightly stretching the definition of assigned reading with this entry, I’m going to leave The Last Kingdom in, as I did technically read it after a university lecturer told me to.

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Animal Farm by George Orwell

The final book I want to feature on this list is the classic book, Animal Farm by George Orwell. More suggested reading than an assigned book, I read Animal Farm in my high school library over the course of several lunchtimes and classes (I was popular at school as you can no doubt tell). While I didn’t get all of Orwell’s clever satyr and commentary on the Soviet Union, I still found Animal Farm to be an interesting read that has stuck with me years after. A clever and unique examination of complex history and society, Animal Farm is a classic for a reason, and I’m glad I made an effort to read it at school.

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That’s the end of my list. As you can see, I had some intriguing and memorable assigned reading during my school years. Despite often being forced to read the above, I had a great time with all these classic and distinctive books, and they are really worth checking out. I hope you find this list interesting and make sure to let me know what books you had to read in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Weather Events/Words in the Title

On October 18, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn List3 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly task that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this latest Top Ten Tuesday, participants are tasked with listing their top books that have a weather event or weather-related word in their title (i.e. wind, storm, flood, frost and more). This was a pretty interesting topic and it is one I had a lot of fun pulling together as it forced me to look at some of the more obscure novels that I have read. I eventually managed to work out a full list of novels that qualified, although it turned out to be a somewhat harder challenge than I imaged and I possibly ended up with too many books where “Storm” was the defining title word. Still, I am pretty happy with the final result and each of the entries below are quite exceptional.

Honourable Mentions

Stormblood by Jeremy Szal

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Before the Storm by Christe Golden

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Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Top Ten Tuesday:

In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan

The first entry on this list was a very easy one with In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan. One of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022, In the Shadow of Lightning is an addictive and clever introduction to a new fantasy world where battles are fought using magical glass. The weather event in the title is referring to the man character, who goes by the monicker “the Lightning Prince” and the many shadows that cover his life. A highly recommended read for those looking for a new fantasy series.

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Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Iron by Graham McNeill

The next book I want to highlight is a fantastic and very fun Warhammer 40,000 novel that sees a literal storm of iron descend on a fortress in the form of the infamous Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines. A clever and dark siege novel, Storm of Iron is an outstanding read and one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels.

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The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden

One of the easiest inclusions for this list had to be The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden which is the third book in the Tomorrow series. I have a lot of love for this iconic Australian young adult series, and The Third Day, The Frost is probably my favourite book in the series, especially is this is where things get particularly dark for the protagonists. The weather themed title has a lot of meanings to the plot, as well as being a reference to Shakespeare and I was very glad I got to highlight this excellent book here.

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Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

I had to feature one of the latest books from one of my favourite fantasy authors here with Queen of Storms. The second book in The Firemane Saga, Queen of Storms is a very cool read with some bloody surprises hidden in its centre.

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Star Wars: The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott

Probably one of my favourite books so far from the High Republic range of Star Wars fiction, The Rising Storm is an exciting and complex read, and the title refers to the catch phrase and motifs of the insidious antagonists.

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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

I feel this is going to be a popular entry for many fantasy fans participating in this Top Ten Tuesday as The Name of the Wind is a pretty iconic and bellowed novel for very good reason. The first entry in Rothfuss’s exceptional Kingkiller Chronicles, The Name of the Wind is such a damn good novel and the catchy title refers to a key magical concept that sees the protagonist harness the ability to control wind.

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Storm Front by Jim Butcher

The first epic book in one of the best urban fantasy series out there. The title Storm Front refers to intense weather magic that is being used as a clever murder weapon, and I have so much love for this epic book.

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We Are Blood and Thunder by Kesia Lupo

A brilliant debut where the title refers to an unnatural storm surrounding a doomed city.

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Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell

A bold and fun inclusion in one of my favourite historical fiction series.

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Usagi Yojimbo: Seasons by Stan Sakai

Now I may be slightly cheating with Seasons, however, as the name refers to the four different seasons featured throughout the book which results in distinctive weather and landscape shots for the story, I felt it was very appropriate to feature here.

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Well, that is the end of this list. As you can see there are some fantastic novels out there that uses weather-based terms in their titles, and there honestly some very interesting usages for it throughout fiction. All the above novels are wonderful and highly recommended reads, and I had an incredible time reading them. Let me know which books with weather-based phrases or terms in the title you have enjoyed the most in the comments.

Top Ten Tuesday – Titles with Animals in Them

On April 11, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn List4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants are tasked with listing their top books with animals in the title. This is a rather interesting topic and it has several similarities to other topics that have been featured as part of the Top Ten Tuesday meme before.

I ended up coming up with quite a few good books that had animals in the titles, far too many if I’m going to be honest as it turns out it is quite a common practice to feature some form of animal in a title. To make this list a little more manageable, I decided to exclude any mythical creatures or animals from this list, mainly because I don’t think that was in the spirit of the topic, but also because this book would end up being very similar to my recent list that looked at book covers featuring dragons. When this exclusion still left me with way too-many options, I decided to further limit myself by restricting this list to only one book per author. This ensured that I had reasonable input from several authors who favour animal-themed titles, or who I have a great deal of books from. The resultant list, which still required some cutting, ended up looking pretty good and I think that I ended up covering the top books I have read with animals in the titles. So let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Space Wolf by William King

Space Wolf Original Cover

Following the genetically enhanced and wolf-like members of the Space Wolves Space Marine chapter, this intriguing Warhammer 40,000 is pretty damn awesome, and the title fits extremely well.

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Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz

Dark Horse Cover

A great entry in Hurwitz’s awesome Orphan X series, Dark Horse was a fantastic book and its animal-themed title had great multiple meanings within the plot.

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The Black Hawks by David Wragg

The Black Hawks Cover

An amazing and captivating fantasy read; The Black Hawks references the titular mercenary group the book follows who get into all manner of trouble in a dark fantasy realm.

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The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean

The Bear Pit Cover

An excellent historical murder mystery which features a fighting bear as a potential suspect and lethal murder weapon.

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Top Ten List:

Usagi Yojimbo: Volume 5: Lone Goat and Kid by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo Lone Goat and Kid Cover

Now, realistically I could include any of the Usagi Yojimbo comics on this list, as Usagi is Japanese for rabbit. However, I chose to ignore that and instead the animal in the title I am focusing on can be found in the fifth collected volume, Lone Goat and Kid. A great addition in the Usagi Yojimbo series, this is a pretty epic volume, and I loved the story focussing on the titular Lone Goat and Kid, who are animal parodies of Lone Wolf and Cub. I really like the fun homage contained in this title, which is why I included this volume, rather than the later volumes Fox Hunt and Red Scorpion, which I could have also used.

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Dogs of War by Jonathan Maberry

Dogs of War Cover

The always amazing Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry has some great titles to it, but the only one I could fit here was the fantastic novel Dogs of War. This was an outstanding read, and while the title, Dogs of War, is a play on the famous saying, it also refers to robotic attack dogs featured within the book. As such, I had to include this here, and this book is an outstanding addition to the series.

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Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

Talon of the Silver Hawk Cover

Legendary fantasy author, Raymond E. Feist has featured a couple of animals into his fantasy titles over the year, such as with King of Foxes, but the one I’m going to focus on in this list is Talon of the Silver Hawk, which was the first Feist novel I ever read. Not only is this an incredible and eye-catching title, but Talon of the Silver Hawk also references the main character, who gains his name early in the novel when he witnesses a hawk on a vision quest. An epic inclusion that has a very special place in my heart.

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The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

Fifth Elephant

I’m featuring a few of my favourite authors on this list and that includes the legendary Terry Pratchett who used animal names in a few of his books. I was very tempted to use one of my favourite Discworld books, Hogfather, here, although that is more of a character name rather than a reference to an animal. So instead, I used The Fifth Elephant, which is a fantastic and impressive entry to the series. Elephants are a very important part of the Discworld books, as four of them hold up the titular Discworld while standing on-top of a giant turtle, so The Fifth Elephant is a title that is guaranteed to get reader’s attention. The book itself is a compelling addition to the City Watch sub-series and this entry sees the main characters to travel to a Transylvania-esque land, which has been gifted great riches by the crashing fifth elephant, to solve several murders and resolve political discord. This is an outstanding entry in the series and I’m glad I could feature it on this list.

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Death of the Black Widow by James Patterson and J. D. Barker

Death of the Black Widow Cover

An excellent, animal-themed book title I wanted to highlight was Death of the Black Widow by the excellent team of James Patterson and J. D. Barker. The black widow in the title refers to a mysterious, supernatural figure who seduces and kills many people over an extended period. I had an amazing time with this novel, which was one of my favourite books of 2022, and I will admit the cool title was one of the reasons I chose to read Death of the Black Widow.

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White Wolf by David Gemmell

White Wolf Cover

One of the more interesting books I wanted to feature on this list was the epic fantasy novel White Wolf by the late, great David Gemmell. I’ve mostly only ever talked about Gemmell’s debut novel, Legend, on this blog, but I also deeply enjoyed one of his later novels, White Wolf. Following a deadly warrior who attempts and fails to leave his life of violence behind, White Wolf is an incredible novel that has so many great moments to it. This was one of the earlier big pieces of fantasy that I read when I was younger, and it has stuck with me for years. I have been meaning to go back and read this series for a while and White Wolf is one of the main reasons for this.

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The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde

The Constant Rabbit Cover

When it came to books with animals in the titles, I just to include The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde, which is such an awesomely fun book. The Constant Rabbit is a complex novel set in a version of England where anthropomorphic rabbits have emerged and started living with humans. This ended up being a very impressive novel that is simultaneously inventive, hilarious and a brilliant parody of British politics. One of my favourite books of 2020 and a great addition to this list.

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Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow

Under the Eagle Cover

Out of all the authors I’m featuring on this list, few have as many books with animals in the title than historical fiction author Simon Scarrow. That is because his long-running Eagles of the Empire series, features eagle in the titles of the first seven books (i.e. The Eagle’s Conquest, The Eagle and the Wolves and The Eagle in the Sand), as well as some other animals, like The Blood Crows. I decided to feature the very first book in the series, Under the Eagle, which is a brilliant introduction to a gripping and powerful Roman history series, and which comes highly recommended.

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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Cover

Next, we dive into Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, which had a lot of bird imagery involved with it. While the third book does have an animal in the title with Mockingjay, I decided against featuring it as this was a fictional species. Instead, I decided to feature the prequel novel Collin’s released a couple of years ago with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which features two separate animals in the title. This was an excellent prequel to the very cool young adult trilogy and I look forward to seeing it turned into a movie later this year.

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War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell

War of the Wolf Cover

The final entry on this list is War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell, which served as a great addition to his long running Saxon series. This great book sees the aging protagonist engage in another series of battles against enemies on all fronts. Serving as the beginning of the end of this brilliant series, I have a lot of love for War of the Wolf and it was an outstanding addition to both the Saxon series and this list.

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Well, that’s the end of my list. It turns out that I’ve read a good number of books with animals in the title, so this ended up being a great list for me in the end. I am pretty happy with how this turned out and it was fun to figure what to include. Let me know what your favourite books with animals in the titles are in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books by My Favourite Authors That I Still Need to Read

On September 28, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn List1 Comment

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. The official topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday called for participants to list their favourite books with typographical covers. However, I really didn’t have much for that one so instead I decided to dive into the backlog of topics from the Artsy Reader Girl’s past and choose one that I didn’t have a chance to do. The one that caught my eye involved listing books by my favourite authors that I still need to read, and so that is what I am going to do.

As a reviewer, and indeed as a reader in general, it is very hard not to quickly pick up some favourite authors. We all have that select group of awesome writers whose work just seems to naturally click with you, and you must go out of your way to read more of these books. I honestly have quite a few of these favourite authors, and I am having a great time exploring their impressive reads. However, due to time constraints I rarely have time to read an entire author’s catalogue of works and there is always some book or series of theirs that I need to check out. As such, I had quite a few options to include in this latest list and I think I made some interesting choices, even if some of the authors I chose were a little predictable.

To fill out this list I went through all my favourite authors now and tried to figure out which of their books I haven’t had a chance to read yet, I would probably enjoy the most. This resulted in a very big collection of books, which took a bit of choosing to get through. I tried to narrow it down by excluding books that are part of a series that I am currently in the middle of reading, which removed a few books of this list (including the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney and more). I also tried not to include recent releases from my top authors that I haven’t had a chance to read yet, as that would likely mimic some of my recent most anticipated reads lists. This ended up being quite a fun list to pull together, so let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Malice by John Gwynne

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Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

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Star Wars: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed

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Warhammer 40,000: Xenos by Dan Abnett

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Top Ten List:

The Demon Awakens by R. A. Salvatore

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The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

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Sword and Scimitar by Simon Scarrow

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Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry

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Sharpe’s Eagle by Bernard Cornwell

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Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

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The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

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Bright Steel by Miles Cameron

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The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

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While I Live by John Marsden

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Well, that’s the end of this list. As you can see, there are several epic and intriguing books out there from some of my favourite authors that I really want to read. I have no doubt that all the above books are going to be pretty damn epic and I cannot wait to eventually try them out when I get a chance. In the meantime, let me know which books do you need to read that that were written by your favourite authors.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Loved that Made Me Want More Books Like Them

On June 8, 2021 By The Unseen LibraryIn List5 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this latest Top Ten Tuesday, participants are challenged to list books that they loved and which subsequently made them want to read more books like them. While this is a rather wordy topic, I am choosing to interpret it as any amazing book or comic that, upon completion, immediately made me want to read or enjoy something similar, be it in the same genre, format or by the same author.

This was a rather interesting topic to consider, and for a while I was not certain that I could field a Top Ten List for it. However, after a long think, I was able to come up with 10 incredible books or comics that awoke something in me and helped to shape what I would read in the future. Each of the entries on this list really spoke to me for some reason or another, and many of these are responsible for my current reading choices.

Top Ten Tuesday:

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

Let us start off this list with the outstanding and funny Discworld novel, Jingo by Terry Pratchett, which really ignited my passion for this amazing series. Funnily enough, I actually read this novel for the first time while waiting in line for a Terry Pratchett book signing in a book shop here in Canberra. Due to the long line, I was able to get through a good swath of the novel while I waited and found myself deeply enjoying the outrageous and clever story within. While I had read some of Pratchett’s novels before, such as The Carpet People or The Nome trilogy, I do not think that I ever fully appreciated the Discworld series until that moment as I swiftly got caught up in Jingo’s great humour, clever satire, and fun characters. After getting my copy of Jingo signed (it remains one of my most prized possessions), I immediately went about reading or re-reading some of the other Discworld novels, and soon I was hopelessly addicted to this fantastic series. Since that day I have read every entry in this amazing series innumerable times and in my opinion it is the best and most impressive literary series of all time. I still deeply, deeply love all the Discworld novels (check out my reviews for Moving Pictures and The Last Continent), and I owe my love of this series to Jingo.

Deep Silence by Jonathan Maberry

Next, we have the awesome and exciting Deep Silence by Jonathan Maberry, the 10^th and final entry in the crazy Joe Ledger series. When Deep Silence came out, I grabbed an audiobook copy of this book because I thought it sounded interesting and I wanted to try something different. However, I was unprepared for just how much I would enjoy Deep Silence’s cool thriller/science fiction hybrid story, as it ended up being one of the best novels I read in 2018. I loved this amazing book so much that the moment I finished Deep Silence I immediately started reading the first novel in series, Patient Zero. Since then, I have gone on and read all 10 novels in the Joe Ledger series, as well as the first novel in the Rogue Team International series, Rage (one of the best books and audiobooks I read in 2019), and standalone novel Ink (one of the best books and audiobooks of 2020). I am now a deeply devoted fan of Jonathan Maberry’s writing, and I will be grabbing every single novel that he realises in the future, including the upcoming Relentless.

Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee

The third entry on this list is the epic Batman comic, Hush, which is responsible for my current love of comic books. Years ago, I happened across a copy of Hush while in the library. Looking for anything to do other than the very important maths homework I had, I chose to read Hush, figuring it would be interesting. At that point I really had not read any mainstream comics before, but Batman is Batman, so I thought it would be worth it. What I found was a really cool Batman story that saw Batman face off against all his greatest enemies, as well as new foe Hush. I really liked this comic, especially as it serves as an excellent introduction to key elements of the Batman mythos, and I had a wonderful time getting through it one sitting. Right after finishing it, I immediately started reading some of the other comics the library had, which kept enhancing my love for superhero comics and hooked me for life. While I have read many comics since then, I fully blame the existence of my multi-shelf comic collection on Batman: Hush.

Star Wars: Last Shot by Daniel José Older

Those familiar with my blog will know that I have a certain fondness for Star Wars tie-in fiction, having read and reviewed a ton of Star Wars novels and comics over that last couple of years. However, the book that started my current obsession with Star Wars media was the fun Last Shot by Daniel José Older. Serving as a tie-in to the Solo film, Last Shot was an impulse buy I made as I thought it would be an interesting novel to review. This proved to be correct as I really enjoyed Last Shot and soon after I started grabbing more and more Star Wars books. This obsession continues to this day, and I have already enjoyed several great Star Wars books this year alone (make sure to check out my recent list of favourite Star Wars novels).

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

The next entry on this list is a rather interesting Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist. I received a copy of Talon of the Silver Hawk as a birthday present years ago and while I was unfamiliar with the author, I thought it was a great gift and immediately started reading it. I swiftly became engrossed with this awesome novel and despite it being the 20th book in Feist’s Riftwar Cycle, I had an incredible time reading it. I had so much fun with this book that I immediately grabbed a copy of Feist’s debut novel, Magician, from the library and from there, every single Riftwar Cycle novel, as well as the tie-in Empire trilogy. The Riftwar Cycle proved to be an interesting grounding in fantasy fiction, and I fully blame Talon of the Silver Hawk as the reason why I currently have a massive stack of Feist hardcovers in my study, including his latest two novels, King of Ashes and Queen of Storms.

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Another series that I instantly became addicted to, is the epic Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. I had long meant to read this amazing urban fantasy series, but I only got a chance to do so last year when I received a copy of the latest book, Battle Ground. I had such a great time reading Battle Ground that I went on to read some of the early entries in the series, including Storm Front, Fool Moon and Grave Peril. This is turning into such an incredible series to explore in full, and I am so very glad that I read Battle Ground last year.

Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015): Volume One: Vader by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca

In a similar vein to Last Shot and Hush above, I owe my current love for Star Wars comics to one specific release, the first volume of the awesome Darth Vader (2015) series, Vader. This was an incredible comic that showcased Darth Vader right after the events of A New Hope and includes the moment that he found out that his son was alive. I have a lot of love for this awesome comic especially as it convinced me to grab the rest of the Darth Vader series, and then several other awesome series. I have since gone on to read most of the current comics in the canon (check out my list of favourites) and I am eagerly awaiting the next batch of awesome Star Wars comics.

The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore

Salvatore is another author whose works I have greatly enjoyed over the years, and my appreciation of his novels begun when I read The Crystal Shard. The Crystal Shard was an impressive fantasy novel released as part of The Forgotten Realms shared fantasy universe and contained a fantastic story that introduced many of Salvatore’s iconic characters. I really enjoyed The Crystal Shard and after I finished I quickly read the rest of the books in The Icewind Dale trilogy as well as all three books in prequel Dark Elf trilogy. I have since gone on to read over 30 of Salvatore’s novels, including his recent releases Timeless, Boundless and Relentless, and he remains one of my all-time favourite writers.

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

While I currently enjoy novels from a great range of different genres, for many years I predominantly read historical fiction novels. While much of this was a professional choice, the reason I started reading this genre in the first place was because I happened across a copy of Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell. Sword Song was an excellent historical fiction novel and the fourth entry in The Last Kingdom series. Despite reading it out of order, I had an incredible time with Sword Song, and I swiftly started reading the rest of Cornwell’s novels, as well as several other great historical fiction reads. Historical fiction still remains one of my absolute favourite genres to this day, and much of this is thanks to the awesome story contained in Sword Song.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

The final entry on this list is The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. As I mentioned above, for many years I primarily read historical fiction novels, which meant that my fantasy fiction reading was severely neglected. However, once I started reading and reviewing recent fantasy novels, I decided that I would be useful to go back and check out some of the bigger fantasy series that I had missed. One that particularly appealed to me was Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards series, including the first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora. I had heard amazing things about The Lies of Locke Lamora and this praise was well deserved, as this novel was a clever and outstanding piece of fantasy fiction. I had such an incredible time reading The Lies of Locke Lamora that I instantly started the rest of the Gentleman Bastards books. I was also inspired to check out several other great fantasy series I had heard mentioned in the same breath as Lynch’s books, such as The Kingkiller Chronicles, The First Law series, and The Stormlight Archive. My adventures in these epic fantasy series has proven very enjoyable and I am so glad that reading The Lies of Locke Lamora led me to them.

That is the end of this latest Top Ten list. I think I came up with a really interesting and varied list of books that inspired me to read similar titles and I ended up having a fun time producing this article. Each of the novels and comics above comes highly recommended and you may be surprised how inspired you may find yourself after checking them out. Let me know which of the above entries are your favourites and I cannot wait to find out what novels inspired you to read more of the same.

Top Ten Tuesday – Book I Need to Clear Off my to-read List

On March 9, 2021 By The Unseen LibraryIn List3 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week, Top Ten Tuesday participants have been given a spring-cleaning freebie where we can do any list we want provided it falls within the general them of spring-cleaning. In this spirt (even though it is autumn where I am) I have decided to list the top ten books that I need to “clean” off my to-read list by reading and reviewing them.

Over the years I have received or written about a huge number of different awesome novels, many of which I would love to read and feature on this blog. However, there are only so many hours in the day, so quite a few books fall through the cracks, or more accurately they end up on a bookshelf, silently judging me. I do fully intend to read these books at some point, especially as in several cases I have enjoyed previous entries in the series. So, in the spirit of spring-cleaning, I have decided to focus this list on books I want to read that are currently clogging up my bookshelf (or digital equivalent).

Using these criteria, I was able to come up with a list filled with an interesting variety of different books. I tried to mainly feature amazing-sounding books that have been on my shelf for an extended period, but in a few cases I chose some more recent novels that I particularly want to check out. I have featured several of these books in Waiting on Wednesday articles in the past, which adds to the reasons why I want to check them out. Hopefully, this list will light a bit of a fire under me to encourage me to read some, if not all of these books, soon. So let us see what was on the list.

Honourable Mentions:

Duplicity by Richard Evans

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

Ashlords by Scott Reintgen

Grave Importance by Vivian Shaw

Top Ten List:

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

The first entry on this list is one of the books that I most regret not reading last year, The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton. The Devil and the Dark Water is the second novel from Turton following his epic debut, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which was one of my favourite books of 2018. Due to how awesome Turton’s first novel was, I have been really keen to check out The Devil and the Dark Water for a while but have just not been able to add it into the reading schedule. This is definitely one of the top books I want to read soon, and I look forward to seeing what sort of outstanding narrative Turton came up with in his second novel.

Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton

I have been meaning to check out Salvation Lost for a very long time ever since I finished off the preceding novel, Salvation. Salvation was an exceedingly epic science fiction novel set on a futuristic Earth, filled with some cool technology, fantastic mysteries, and a subtle alien invasion. I am a little annoyed with myself that I have completely failed to read Salvation Lost, especially as the third novel in the series, The Saints of Salvation, came out last year. I really want to read this book this year and I know that I am going to love the complex tale contained within.

War Lord by Bernard Cornwell

This is another book that I am quite surprised I have not gotten around to reading yet. War Lord is the latest book from one of my favourite authors, Bernard Cornwell, and serves as the final entry in his long running The Last Kingdom series. I have loved this series for a very long time, and I think I may be holding off reading it because I don’t want the series to end. Still, this is one that I really must read this year and it should turn out to be another fantastic historical read.

#MurderFunding by Gretchen McNeil

The young adult thriller #MurderFunding is the intriguing sequel to the insanely entertaining #MurderTrending. It sees several teenagers get brutally murdered on live television as they get caught up in a dangerous conspiracy. I love the premise of this series and I am hoping to read this book soon, especially after I just finished off the prequel novel #NoEscape a couple of months ago and absolutely loved it.

Star Wars: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I love Star Wars novels, so it should come as no surprise that one will show up on this list. While I have plans to eventually read all the Star Wars tie-in novels, both in the current canon and in the Star Wars Legends range (an admittedly big job), the entry that I have been meaning to check out the longest is A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. Serving as a tie-in to the outstanding Star Wars Rebels animated series, A New Dawn is an awesome-sounding origin tale of two of the series’ main characters, and I have had it loaded on my phone for over a year. I am particularly keen to check it out after enjoying one of Miller’s other novels last year, Star Trek Discovery: Die Standing, which was a particularly clever and impressive read. Hopefully I will get through A New Dawn at some point this year, although I may have to prioritise several upcoming Star Wars novels first.

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

This next entry is an intriguing young adult science fiction novel that ties into the Alien franchise, Alien: Echo. I must admit that while I have never had an amazing amount of interest in the Alien films or expanded universe, this is one book that I am particularly keen to check out. The main reason for this is that it was written by the outstanding Mira Grant. Grant is a talented author who has come up with some epic horror reads, including the incredible Into the Drowning Deep (killer mermaids!), the cool-sounding Newsflesh trilogy, and even a great entry in a Night of the Living Dead anthology. Due to how awesome her previous books are, I really want to see her take on an Alien novel and I have a feeling that Alien: Echo is going to be pretty amazing.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

The Ruin of Kings is an intriguing fantasy novel that I have been trying to read for over two years now. I really loved the concept of The Ruin of Kings, the first book in the A Chorus of Dragons series, when I received it and I then went on to hear some amazing reviews from a substantial number of fellow reviewers, making it an extremely appealing option to check out. I will have to read it at some point, especially as I also received copies of The Ruin of Kings’ two sequels, The Name of all Things and The Memory of Souls. A fourth book in the series, The House of Always, is set for release in a couple of months (with a really gnarly octopus cover on it), and it would be cool if I could read The Ruin of Kings before that.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

I had to include the epic novel Words of a Radiance on this list as I have been thinking about reading it for some time. The second novel in Brandon Sanderson’s massive and highly acclaimed Stormlight Archive series, Words of Radiance follows on from the outstanding The Way of Kings, which is quite frankly one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. Words of Radiance continues the amazingly complex story started in The Way of Kings, and I really want to see what happens to the captivating characters next. However, I honestly have just not had the time to check out Words of Radiance due to the sheer length of the book. The Way of Kings was the longest audiobook I ever listened to and Words of Radiance is even longer, with a 48+ hour runtime. Finding that sort of window in my reading schedule is hard, but it will probably be worth it, especially as it will allow me to finally get onto the copies of the third and fourth books of The Stormlight Archive that are currently on my shelf (I received copies of Oathbringer and Rhythm of War), both of which I have not touched because I wanted to read Words of Radiance first.

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

This is the latest novel from rising fantasy star Melissa Caruso, set in the same world as her awesome Swords and Fire series. I absolutely loved all three novels in the Swords and Fire series (The Tethered Mage, The Defiant Heir and The Unbound Empire), so I am extremely keen to see how Caruso continues her epic universe. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to read The Obsidian Tower when it came out and it has languished on the shelf ever since. I really want to read this book and I will have to check it out soon before Caruso releases her next novel, The Quicksilver Court, in November this year.

Bright Steel by Miles Cameron

The final entry on this list is the outstanding sounding release Bright Steel by Miles Cameron. Bright Steel is the third and final entry in the Masters & Mages series, which charts the adventures of a farmer’s son who is thrust into the midst of world-altering events. I had an incredible time reading the first two novels in the series, Cold Iron and Dark Forge, both of which were amazing five-star novels, and I have been hoping to read this final book for some time. I will probably get around to finishing this trilogy off later this year, although I will be reading Cameron’s latest novel, Artifact Space, first.

That is the end of this latest Top Ten list. I think it came out quite nicely and hopefully it will entice me to read some of the above novels soon. All of the above sound really cool and I am highly confident that I will have a blast reading each and every one of them. While I get around to doing that, why don’t you let me know which books you want to clean off your to-read list, as well if you have enjoyed any of the above

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Meant to Read in 2020 but Didn’t Get To

On January 20, 2021 By The Unseen LibraryIn List6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s topic, Top Ten Tuesday participants need to list the books they most regret not reading in 2020. I ended up having an outstanding reading year in 2020, managing to get through a solid collection of cool new releases and older novels, most of which proved to be amazing and entertaining reads. However, no matter how hard one tries, there are always a couple of books each year that I did not get a chance to read, either due to time constraints, lack of access or from being overwhelmed with other books that I really wanted to read. As a result, this is a list that is rather tinged with regret, as each book I plan to mention below is one that I really wish I had taken the time to read.

In order to complete this list, I pulled together some of the more interesting and compelling sounding novels that I did not get a chance to read in the last year. Each entry was released last year and while I knew that they were coming out, I did not get a chance to read any of them. In many cases I have these books sitting on my shelf at this moment, silently and constantly judging me, and I think I will have to try and read them to stop their bookish glares. I was eventually able to cull my list of regret down to 10 entries with an honourable mentions section. The final list is an interesting collection of books from across the genres and includes a couple of big 2020 releases I did not get a chance to look at.

Honourable Mentions:

Sons of Rome by Gordon Doherty and Simon Turney

Sons of Rome Cover

Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir

Black Canary - Breaking Silence Cover

I only found out about this book a few days ago, and I had no idea that it was coming out in advance of the end of 2020. This is the fifth novel in the DC Icons young adult fiction series, a fantastic series that sets teenage versions of some of the biggest DC superheroes on some compelling standalone adventures (check out my reviews for Catwoman: Soulstealer and Superman: Dawnbreaker). Black Canary: Breaking Silence sounds particularly good as it features a teenage Black Canary in a dystopian future Gotham City ruled over by the tyrannical Court of Owls, where women have no rights. I am really keen to check this book out and I am planning to grab it in the next few weeks. While this is a really cool sounding novel, I decided to leave this book on my Honourable Mentions section because it was only released on 29 December 2020, and even if I had known it was coming out I would have been hard pressed to read it last year anyway. Because of that, I may try to consider Breaking Silence as a 2021 novel, but I am still a tad annoyed I did not get a chance to read it last year.

Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanagh

Fifty-Fifty Cover

Providence by Max Barry

Providence Cover

Top Ten List:

War Lord by Bernard Cornwell

Either Side of Midnight by Benjamin Stevenson

Either Side of Midnight Cover

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

The Obsidian Tower Cover

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

The Devil and the Dark Water Cover

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall Cover

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and Dirk Maggs

The Sandman

This next entry is for the full cast The Sandman audio drama that was released in the second half of 2020. I currently have a copy of this cool-sounding audio drama loaded up on my phone and I hope to listen to it soon, I have just been a bit overwhelmed with audiobooks in the last few months. This audio drama features an amazing collection of celebrities who are helping to bring Neil Gaiman’s iconic The Sandman comic to life in a new format. I have heard some amazing things about both the comic and the audio drama and I cannot wait to see how this adaptation turns out.

The Bluffs by Kyle Perry

The Bluffs Cover

The Bluffs is a grim and dark Australian crime fiction novel that came out a few months ago. The debut novel of Australian author Kyle Perry, The Bluffs sounds like a fantastic read set deep within the wild Tasmanian bush, and I hope to get a chance to read it soon.

Gallowglass by S. J. Morden

Gallowglass Cover

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

The Bone Shard Daughter Cover

This is another debut that I am particularly sorry I have not read yet. The Bone Shard Daughter is a very cool-sounding fantasy novel by Andrea Stewart that deals with bone magic and the fate of a nation. I have heard some very impressive things about The Bone Shard Daughter and I will need to read it in the first half of the year in order to grab any potential sequels coming out in 2021.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Black Sun Cover

The final entry on my list is Black Sun by acclaimed author Rebecca Roanhorse. Roanhorse has released a lot of interesting novels in the last few years, and while I did enjoy her Star Wars tie-in novel, Resistance Reborn, I have not had the chance to read any of her original series. I was hoping to check out her 2020 release, Black Sun, which served as the first entry in a new series, but alas I failed to do so. This is a real shame, as Black Sun was another Roanhorse novel that got an immense amount of praise from reviewers. I must try and read this one soon as I am sure it is going to be an epic and outstanding read.

Well, that is the end of my latest list and it looks like I have a lot catch-up reading to do if I am going to make a dent in it. There are some truly amazing-sounding novels on this list and I fully intend to get through all of them at some point, although with all the outstanding books coming out in 2021, it might take me a little time. In the meantime, let me know what books you most regret not reading in 2020 in the comments below.

Book Haul – 31 November 2020

On November 30, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn Book Haul1 Comment

2020 is nearly at an end but the books keep on rolling in. I have been rather lucky over the last couple of weeks to receive several awesome new novels, and I have also gone and bought a few cool comics as well. As a result, I thought I would do a quick Book Haul post to share which recent releases I am hoping to read in the next month. I am extremely happy with the haul I received, as not only have I managed to get my hands on several books I have been really looking forward to, but I also received a couple of intriguing new releases from the start of 2021. All of these should make for some fun reading and I cannot wait to start diving into the books/comics below.

Call of the Bone Ships by R. J. Barker

The first book on this list is the second book in the Tide Child trilogy, Call of the Bone Ships, by rising fantasy phenom R. J. Barker. Barker has been doing some incredible work over the last couple of years, including last years extraordinary release, The Bone Ships. The Bone Ships was one of my favourite books (and audiobooks) 0f 2019 and I have been eagerly waiting to see how the series continues for some time now. Call of the Bones Ships should be a pretty epic read and I think it has the potential to be one of the best books of 2020. I am hoping to read it in the next week or so and I am very eager to finally pick it up.

Fool Me Twice by Jeff Lindsay

Next on this list is Fool Me Twice, the cool new thriller from bestselling author Jeff Lindsay. Fool Me Twice is the fun sounding sequel to Just Watch Me, which follows the adventures of a master thief as he completes a dangerous heist. Fool Me Twice has a really cool plot and it should make for a fantastic read.

Gallowglass by S. J. Morden

Gallowglass is a cool science fiction novel from S. J. Morden, an author who I am a little unfamiliar with, but whom I am quite eager to try out. Gallowglass has a very interesting plot to it and I cannot wait to see where this fun adventure in space goes.

The Last Convict by Anthony Hill

Anthony Hill is a compelling Australian author who specialises in interesting historical fiction novels. His latest novel, The Last Convict, will follow the life of the last convict ever sent to Australia and should make for an excellent read.

Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

Lightseekers is an extremely fascinating upcoming crime fiction novel set in Nigeria. The will be the debut release from author Femi Kayode and it is already getting a substantial amount of buzz. I reckon this will be a fantastic read and I look forward to seeing how Kayode’s first book turns out.

War Lord by Bernard Cornwell

I went out and grabbed my copy of War Lord last week and I should hopefully get to it soon. War Lord is the final entry in Cornwell’s long running The Last Kingdom series and it will extremely awesome, if a little sad, to see how Cornwell finally wraps these books up.

In addition to the impressive novels above I also received my pre-ordered copies of the latest Star Wars tie-in comics. This new range of Star Wars comics are set in the aftermath of The Empire Strikes Back and takes Star Wars fans on a series of new adventures between the second and third movies in The Original Trilogy. I have been eagerly waiting for these comics for some time and each of them brings something different to this fantastic franchise. Naturally, I read them the moment I got them and I am hoping to get some reviews for them up soon.

Star Wars: The Destiny Path

The Destiny Path is the first volume in the new Star Wars comic series and it follows the protagonists from The Original Trilogy as they attempt to recover from the events of The Empire Strikes Back. This was an awesome comic and it answers several cool questions about what happened to these characters between the movies.

Star Wars: Darth Vader – Dark Heart of the Sith

Out of the three Star Wars comics I recently received I have to say that Dark Heart of the Sith is probably my favourite. Dark Heart of the Sith is the first volume in a new Darth Vader series and it follows an enraged Vader as he attempts to get revenge on anyone who crossed him. This volume contains an impressive storyline that sees Vader confront the ghosts of his path in the most brutal way possible.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters – Galaxy’s Deadliest

The final Star Wars comic I received was Galaxy’s Deadliest, the first volume in the new Star Wars: Bounty Hunters series. Bounty Hunters follows some of the toughest and most dangerous hunters in the Star Wars universe as they all compete for a major bounty and a lot of revenge. Spinning off from last years Target Vader, this first entry in the Bounty Hunters series is chocked full of action and is an amazing comic to check out.

Well that’s the end of this latest Book Haul post. As you can see I have quite a bit of reading to do at the moment thanks to all these awesome books that have come in. Let me know which of the above you are most interested in and make sure to check back in a few weeks to see my reviews of them.