Top Ten Tuesday – Books From My Past Seasonal TBR Posts I STILL Haven’t Read

On July 26, 2022 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. In this latest Top Ten Tuesday participants need to go back to their old Seasonal TBR lists and see which books from them they have still not read. This was a very interesting and useful topic to look at as this once again reminds me about all the awesome books out there that I was excited for but which I never got around to reading.

There are quite a few books out there now that I have been meaning to read for a very long time. Many of these books have been featured to a degree on my blog either through optimistic Waiting on Wednesday posts or in shameful “I wish I had read” Top Ten lists, where I air my great regrets about not checking out a certain release (to be fair, I only have so much time and there are so many awesome books out there). So now again it is good to go back and see which ones I have missed to remind me of what I need to read and provide some motivation for it. I just did a similar post last week regarding books from the first half of the year that I still need to read, however, I like the idea of going back and looking at some previous Top Ten Tuesday posts and seeing what other books lie there.

To appear on this list, a potential book needed to be both unread by me and have appeared on a previous Top Ten Tuesday Seasonal TBR post that I have done. I chose to exclude a couple of my more recent Seasonal TBR posts, namely those from 2022, as that would have just doubled up my list from last week. Despite these exclusions, there were still several lists to scour for potential entries and I was able to determine several books that would be appropriate for this list. However, this wasn’t as easy as I had thought, as it turns out I’m pretty good at getting through the books on these TBR lists, and most had been read and reviewed by me. In the end, I did manage to find 10 entries, as well as a few honourable mentions, and the results below are quite intriguing. So let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Providence by Max Barry

Star Trek: Rogue Elements by John Jackson Miller

The Liar’s Knot by M. A. Carrick

Top Ten Tuesday:

The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston

Gamora & Nebula: Sisters in Arms by Mackenzie Lee

The Righteous by David Wragg

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

A Fool’s Hope by Mike Shackle

Star Trek: The Dark Veil by James Swallow

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

Eagle Station by Dale Brown

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett

Daughters of Night by Lauren Shepherd-Robinson

Well, that ended up being a rather interesting list. As you can see from the above, there are still several outstanding novels that I really need to read, and I hope that I get the chance at some point in the future. All 10 of the above sound like incredible reads, and I honestly have not purposely chosen not to read any of them, I just haven’t had the time or ability to check them out. Hopefully that will eventually change, as I am extremely keen for several of them, and I have no doubt they will be epic reads.

Top Ten Tuesday – Autumn 2020 TBRs

On March 17, 2020March 17, 2020 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 need to list the top ten books on their Autumn 2020 (or Spring 2020 for those up in the Northern Hemisphere) to be read (TBR) list.

There are a huge number of novels coming out in the next couple of months which I have my eye on. Many of these are very impressive sounding books, and I am extremely excited for several of them. As a result, I was able to come up with a good list of Autumn TBR books, and each of the entries below are some of my most anticipated releases coming out in March, April and May 2020. I have previously addressed several of these books before in my weekly Waiting on Wednesday posts, and there is also likely to be some crossover between this list and some of my previous Top Ten Tuesday lists, such as My Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020 list and my Predicted Five Star Reads list. So let’s get to it and see which books I am most looking forward to reading in the next three months.

Honourable Mentions:

Providence by Max Barry (31 March 2020)

Providence Cover

Execution by S. J. Parris (30 April 2020)

Execution Cover

Lionheart by Ben Kane (14 May 2020)

Lionheart Cover

Top Ten List (By Release Date):

Cyber Shogun Revolution by Peter Tieryas (3 March 2020)

Cyber Shogun Revolution

The Grove of the Caesars by Lindsey Davis (2 April 2020)

The Grove of the Caesars Cover

Usagi Yojimbo: Bunraku and Other Stories by Stan Sakai (21 April 2020)

Usagi Yojimbo Bunraku and Other Stories Cover

There was no way that I wasn’t going to include the new Usagi Yojimbo on this list (especially after I just did Throwback Thursday posts for the first three volumes in the series, The Ronin, Samurai and The Wanderer’s Road). This has been one of my favourite series for years, and I really enjoyed Sakai’s last two entries, Mysteries and The Hidden. This upcoming volume, Bunraku and Other Stories, has a lot of potential and some cool features to it. Not only is it the first volume to be released completely in colour but it sounds like it is going to have some fantastic stories, including one that revisits the very first Usagi Yojimbo comic.

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett (21 April 2020)

Shorefall Cover

Firefly: The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove (28 April 2020)

Firefly The Ghost Machine Cover

The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell (5 May 2020)

The Kingdom of Liars Cover

The Lion Shield by Conn Iggulden (14 May 2020)

The Lion Shield Cover

Iggulden is one of the top historical fiction authors in the world today, and he has created some exceptional novels in the past, including his Emperor and War of the Roses series, as well as the 2018 standalone novel The Falcon of Sparta. I have deeply enjoyed Iggulden’s work in the past, and I cannot wait to check out his new novel later this year. The Lion Shield is the first book in a new series that will focus on the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. This is an extremely fascinating historical conflict that is criminally underutilised in the historical fiction genre. I cannot wait to see what outstanding novels Iggulden weaves around this conflict, and I am sure that The Lion Shield is going to be an impressive first entry in this series.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (19 May 2020)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Cover

Eagle Station by Dale Brown (26 May 2020)

Eagle Station Cover

Fair Warning by Michael Connelly (26 May 2020)

Fair Warning Cover

Michael Connelly is an author that needs very little introduction, having produced some amazing and creative murder mysteries over the years. I have only recently started reading his books, but I loved his last two novels, Dark Sacred Night and The Night Fire (the latter of which was one of the best books I read in 2019, as well as one of my favourite audiobooks of 2019). As a result, I am extremely keen to check out his next novel, Fair Warning, which will be his third Jack McEvoy novel. Fair Warning sounds like it is going to be a thrilling and exciting novel, and I cannot wait to see Connelly’s reporter protagonist go up against a deadly and well-hidden serial killer.

Well that’s my latest top ten list. I am very happy with the final list that I pulled together, especially as this is a great mixture of impressive sounding novels. I think each of the books listed above have incredible potential, and I cannot wait to read each and every one of them. Let me know which of these books interests you the most in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – My Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

On January 6, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn List9 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. In this first Top Ten Tuesday for the year, participants need to list their most anticipated book releases for the first half of 2020. The upcoming year is full of some very impressive sounding novels, and there are quite a few out there that I am really looking forward to getting my hands on.

I actually managed to pull together a substantial list of books that are coming out between January and June 2020. I was eventually able to narrow it down to my top ten absolute favourite upcoming releases (that have been announced), with a few honourable mentions included. I have already featured the vast majority of these books in some of my Waiting on Wednesday posts, but there are a couple of inclusions I have not had the chance to talk about yet. I like how the list below turned out and I hope you enjoy it.

Honourable Mention:

Song of the Risen God by R. A. Salvatore – 28 January 2020

The Warsaw Protocol by Steve Berry – 25 February 2020

The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell – 5 May 2020

The Return by Harry Sidebottom – 11 June 2020

Harry Sidebottom has been on a fantastic roll over the last couple of years, producing some amazing Roman historical fiction novels which take inspiration from various modern thriller sub-genres. His previous two books, The Last Hour and The Lost Ten have been very impressive, and his new upcoming novel, The Return, is set to mix Scandi-noir elements with the ancient Italian countryside. This sounds like quite an exciting and enjoyable novel, and I am really looking forward to it.

Top Ten List (by release date):

To the Strongest by Robert Fabbri – 2 January 2020

Highfire by Eoin Colfer – 28 January 2020

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch – 25 February 2020

While I was really hoping to read this book last year, its release date was knocked back to February 2020. Still, it is only a short while until this book comes out and I have no doubt it is going to be another five-star novel from Aaronovitch.

Cyber Shogun Revolution by Peter Tieryas – 3 March 2020

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett – 21 April 2020

Firefly: The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove – 28 April 2020

Lovegrove has already produced two amazing Firefly novels in the last year or so, with Big Damn Heroes and The Magnificent Nine both proving to be outstanding reads. This new upcoming Firefly book, The Ghost Machine, sounds extremely compelling, and I look forward to seeing what interesting adventures Lovegrove takes the crew of Serenity on next.

Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn – 5 May 2020

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – 19 May 2020

Eagle Station by Dale Brown – 26 May 2020

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso – 2 June 2020

I think that the above list is a nicely varied and intriguing collection of novels, and I like how I am interested in such a wide variety of different genres and authors. All 10 of the featured books (as well as the honourable mentions) are sure to be excellent, first-rate reads, and I have high hopes for all of them. Let me know which of the books above you are most interested in, as well as which upcoming novels are your most anticipated for the first half of 2020.

Waiting on Wednesday – Eagle Station by Dale Brown

On December 25, 2019December 25, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday4 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday I check out the latest book in one of my favourite military thriller series, Eagle Station by Dale Brown.

Eagle Station Cover

For the last 30 years, Dale Brown has been one of the leading authors in the military thriller genre, writing some deeply entertaining and extremely exciting novels packed full of intense action and advanced military technology. His main body of work has been the Patrick McLanahan series, which revolved around the titular character of Patrick McLanahan defending America from high-tech attacks from the country’s various enemies, including Russia, China and several countries in the Middle East. In recent years, the series has switched its focus to Patrick McLanahan’s son, Brad McLanahan, who continues the same fight as his father (who, after being blown up, is essentially a cyborg) on whole new battlefields. Eagle Station will be the 24^th book in the Patrick McLanahan series, and the seventh book in the Brad McLanahan series.

I only started getting into this series in the last couple of years, when I picked up a copy of 2018’s The Moscow Offensive. After really enjoying The Moscow Offensive’s plot about advanced Russian combat suits invading America, I went on to listen to the audiobook version of the next book in the series, The Kremlin Strike, earlier this year, and was once again really impressed by the fun and exciting story it contained. This is now a bit of a must-read series for me, as I am planning to grab every new Patrick/Brad McLanahan book that comes out in order to see what amazing adventures Brown writes next.

As a result, I was really excited when I saw that the latest book in the series, Eagle Station, is coming out in May 2020. Eagle Station will continue the storylines from the previous couple of books and will once again pit the protagonists against America’s opponents in the space race. The plot synopsis for this upcoming book sounds really cool, and I think that Eagle Station is going to be a truly amazing read.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Because its enemies never stop trying to undermine the United States’ security, the men and women who serve to protect America must always be vigilant. Few know this better than warriors Brad McLanahan and Nadia Rozek. Newly married, the two are just beginning to settle into their new life together when they are called back into action.

Though the Russians were badly defeated by Brad and the Iron Wolf Squadron in their previous bid for world dominance, they are back and doubling down on their quest for control of outer space. In addition to their cutting-edge weaponry, they have a formidable new ally: China’s energetic and ruthless leader, President Li Jun.

To protect America and the rest of the free world from the Russians and the Chinese, the Americans plan to mine the moon’s helium-3 resources, which will allow them to fully exploit the revolutionary fusion power technology Brad and his team captured from the Russians aboard the Mars One weapons platform.

But Leonov and Li have devised a daring plan of their own. They are building a joint secret base on the moon’s far side fortified with a powerful Russian plasma rail gun that can destroy any spacecraft entering lunar orbit. If the heavily armed base becomes operational, it will give America’s enemies control over the world’s economic and military future.

As this latest skirmish in the war for space accelerates, Brad, Nadia, and their compatriots in the Space Force must use their cunning and skill—and America’s own high-tech weaponry—to derail the Sino-Russian alliance and destroy their lunar site before it’s too late for the U.S. . . . and the entire world.

There are a lot of awesome plot elements contained within the above synopsis and I really like that Brown is continuing to focus on the space-based storyline from the last book. The examination of what a war for the control of Earth’s orbit could look like was one of the most interesting parts of The Kremlin Strike, and Brown crafted together an outstanding story about orbital weapons stations, advanced spaceships and powerful potential weapons. It looks like he is upping the ante in Eagle Station, as not only will the protagonists be facing off against both Russia and China this time, but their opponents have also constructed a secret moon base. I am really looking forward to seeing the eventual battle to take control of that base, especially as Brown did an excellent job coming up with some zero-gravity space combat sequences in the last book, which are sure to be replicated in this upcoming book. The idea of an alliance between China and Russia should also be a fascinating part of this book, especially as the author likes to mirror modern geopolitics into his stories.

Overall, I think that Eagle Station is going to be another incredibly fun and enjoyable book, and I am confident that Brown will craft another compelling and exciting story. I will probably end up grabbing the audiobook version of Eagle Station when it comes out, as I enjoyed listening to The Kremlin Strike’s audiobook earlier this year. However, I am sure that no matter which format I grab, this should prove to be one of the highlights of my May reading list and I am really looking forward to it.