Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Honorifics in the Title

On July 15, 2025 By The Unseen LibraryIn List4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently reside 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 books with honorifics in the title. The prompt for this topic states that “…an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person’s name, e.g.: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Mx., Sir, Dame, Dr., Cllr, Lady, or Lord, or other titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person’s name, as in Mr. President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor, or Earl.”

This was a very interesting idea for a topic, and I always have a lot of fun with the fun unique title lists that appear in this series. To fill out this list I did a deep dive through my book lists and shelves, and I was able to find a healthy collection of books with honorifics in them. While I might have relied a little too much on the “Lord” honorific, for the most part I was very happy with the various books I found to include here, and it resulted in a very impressive and varied final list. It turns out that I have quite a few favourite books with honorifics in their titles, including some fun unique ones, so let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett

A fantastic Star Trek novel that focuses on The Captain, Kirk, and his early days in the chair.

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Lords of the Lance by Graham McNeill

A great recent Warhammer Fantasy novel that features knights and lords facing off against undead hordes.

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The Kaiser’s Web by Steve Berry

Fun history spanning conspiracy at its best.

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Lord of the Night by Simon Spurrier

A deeply compelling Warhammer 40,000 novel that shows the true dark side of this awesome universe.

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Top Ten List:

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

I had to start this list off with the epic Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, Lords and Ladies. A fantastic entry from the Witches sub-series, Lords and Ladies is an exceptional read, and it has two honorifics in the title, making it an outstanding entry for this list.

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Centurion by Simon Scarrow

Let’s go back to classic honorifics with Centurion by one of my favourite historical fiction authors Simon Scarrow. Both a rank and an honorific that has important use in this series, Centurion was an excellent entry in Scarrow’s Eagles of the Empire series, and it was an amazing inclusion for this list.

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How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

A very, very fun fantasy novel I had an amazing time reading last year, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, is a very worthy addition to this list, especially as both lord and Dark Lord could be considered honorifics in the context of this novel.

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Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Stephen King makes great use of the classic Mr. honorific in this title, as the Mr gives some extra power to the novel’s serial killer antagonist. A particularly impressive read from King, Mr. Mercedes was a very easy choice to include on this list, and it comes highly recommended.

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Doctor Aphra: Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon by Simon Spurrier

Next up we have the incredible entry in the Doctor Aphra comic, Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon. The honorific of course belongs to series protagonist Doctor Aphra, an infamous and manipulative archaeologist, whose doctorate was obtained in dodgy circumstances. Despite this, she still has the doctor honorific going for her, so this was an easy inclusion to this list. I honestly could have included any volume of the incredible Doctor Aphra series here, or even the Doctor Aphra audiobook, however, Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon was one of my favourite entries in the series, and I really cannot recommend it, or anything with this outstanding character enough.

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Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! by Nate Crowley

Next, we have one of my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels, Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! by Nate Crowley. I am including Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! on the list not only because it is a highly entertaining read, but also because prophet is an excellent honorific, especially in the context of the lore surrounding the titular character.

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

Mistress was another unique honorific I wanted to include here, and the fact that is attached to an outstanding fantasy classic like Mistress of the Empire ensured this was an easy inclusion for this list.

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Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

I had a fun revelation as I was pulling together this list that Darth from the Star Wars universe counts as an honorific, especially as it seems to be granted to all the sith lords we see in the franchise. Based on that, I decided to go with the classic Star Wars novel, Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, which is an incredible book in the Legends canon. A great read that shows the infamous Plaguesis become one of the darkest Darths who ever darthed.

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Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick

Another cool Warhammer 40,000 novel with an honorific in the title I had to include here was Lord of Excess by Rich McCormick. One of my favourite books, debuts and audiobooks of 2024, Lord of Excess was a particularly awesome read, and the honorific Lord that appears in the title helps to highlight just how crazy the pleasure and excess obsessed protagonists would go when they take over a troubled planet.

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Mr Einstein’s Secretary by Matthew Reilly

The final book with an honorific in the title I wanted to include here was the excellent historical fiction novel, Mr Einstein’s Secretary by Matthew Reilly. A strong and complex read, Mr Einstein’s Secretary was an outstanding novel to include here, and it makes for an outstanding final entry in this list.

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As you can see I’ve had the pleasure of reading some excellent books over the years that make use on honorifics in their titles. All the above are amazing reads and come very highly recommended, especially if you’re in the mood for some intense or exciting stories. I’m really glad I decided to participate in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, and it was a lot of fun diving into honorifics and their use in my favourite books.

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 – My Favourite Literary Trilogies – April 2024

On April 16, 2024 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. While the official topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday required participants to list the 10 characters they would like to go on vacation with, I have decided to do something a little different, and instead I will be updating my favourite literary trilogies list from a few years ago.

Trilogies in literature are a long-running and deeply fun tradition that packs an epic connected tale, into three consecutive novels. There are some truly amazing trilogies out there, from the classics, like The Lord of the Rings, to some recent trilogies that I have been deeply enjoying. Indeed, 2023 just saw the end of several epic and outstanding literary trilogies, while 2024 will see some intriguing new trilogies start up. I have had the great pleasure of reading some truly awesome and exciting trilogies over the years, and back in 2021 I had a wonderful time coming up with a list that featured my absolute favourite literary trilogies. Since I had so much fun last week updating my favourite Warhammer 40,000 fiction list, I figured it was also time to update my previous trilogy list, especially as I had more than enough new entries to highlight.

This proved to be a fun update to pull together, especially as I had a great wealth of new potential trilogies to feature on this list. To be eligible, the proposed trilogy must consist of three, inter-connected novels. I only included series that were intended to end after three novels, rather than by happenstance, so that means that series like The Gentleman Bastards will not be featured (it technically has a fourth novel on the way). This meant that a previous entry, the Planetside books by Michael Mammay (made up of Planetside, Spaceside and Colonyside), had to be taken off this new list because Mammay has just announced a fourth book. I also excluded trilogies that I have not yet completed, even if I have already read and deeply enjoyed the first two novels. This is because I really need to see how the third book turns out, as a bad third entry can easily spoil a trilogy that starts out strong.

Even with these restrictions, I ended up with a descent list of trilogies, which took me a little while to cull down and which resulted in a generous honourable mentions section. I am judging these trilogies on several factors, including how complete their story is, how well connected the novels are, and whether the component novels provide good introductions, conclusions and connections to the other books in the trilogy. Overall, I am very happy with how this latest version of this list turned out, even though I combined a couple of entries together, and I think that this accurately represents the best trilogies that I have so far finished.

Honourable Mentions:

Swords and Fire trilogy by Melissa Caruso

My first honourable mention is the debut trilogy from talented fantasy author Melissa Caruso. Featuring The Tethered Mage, The Defiant Heir, and The Unbound Empire, the Swords and Fire trilogy tells the tale of the unlikely partnership of an ambitious noble and a reckless, ultra-powerful mage, whose fates are literally bound together. This is an amazing and inventive fantasy trilogy that pits this duo against conspiracies, a nation of terrifying magical users, and their own substantial personal issues.

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Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy by Alexander Freed

There are some great Star Wars series out there, and one of the very best is the Alphabet Squadron trilogy by Alexander Freed. Made up of Alphabet Squadron, Shadow Fall and Victory’s Price, this trilogy followed a group of pilots in the immediate aftermath of Return of the Jedi, as they continue to fight the brutal war to claim the universe. This trilogy combined a gritty and complex war story with the iconic Star Wars universe to create three impressive novels that work brilliantly as an overarching series.

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The Century trilogy by Ken Follett

A massive and comprehensive historical fiction trilogy, made up of Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity. These books take place throughout the 20^th century and follow three generations of several families as they navigate the century’s big historical events, including two world wars and the Cold War. Some of the best historical fiction writing you are ever likely to see; this is a powerful and captivating series.

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The Icewind Dale trilogy by R. A. Salvatore

Iconic fantasy author, R. A. Salvatore, has made a career out of writing trilogies, and there were several I could have included, especially his Dark Elf trilogy. However, I think that his debut Icewind Dale series, is his most consistently impressive trilogy. While the first novel, The Crystal Shard is a tad rough, the second and third books, Streams of Silver and The Halfling’s Gem, more than make up for it, and produce a brilliant overall story that perfectly set up all his iconic characters for decades to follow.

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Top Ten List:

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Let us start this list off with the dark fantasy masterpiece that is Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. Consisting of The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, this amazing trilogy follows a group of extremely complex and damaged characters as they attempt to navigate a dark world filled with betrayal, uncontrolled ambition, and all manner of human monsters. All three books are really incredible, with The Blade Itself providing an outstanding introduction, while Last Argument of Kings wraps everything up perfectly and leaves the reader with a troubling but memorable conclusion. I powered through this trilogy in a very short time, and it remains one of my all-time favourite pieces of fantasy fiction.

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Warhammer 40,000: Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett

It was inevitable that a Warhammer 40,000 trilogy was going to end up on this list at some point, and no trilogy deserves it more than the Eisenhorn books (Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus) by Dan Abnett. Considered one of the pillars of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, the Eisenhorn books follow an Imperial Inquisitor, the titular Eisenhorn, as he attempts to root out hidden alien and Chaos threats to humanity. However, throughout the course of the trilogy, Eisenhorn starts to use the methods of his enemies and slowly becomes corrupted by them without even noticing. A brilliant collection of three books that spawned some intriguing sequel series, I cannot recommend this trilogy enough and it is essential readding for all Warhammer fans.

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The Empire trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

I was spoiled for choice when it came to Raymond E. Feist and his multitude of great trilogies, from his iconic Riftwar Saga to his more recent The Firemane Saga (King of Ashes, Queen of Storms and Master of Furies). However, I think his most consistent and impressive trilogy were The Empire books he cowrote with Janny Wurts. Set at the same time as the Riftwar Saga, this trilogy explored an alien fantasy world with some major Japanese influences. An intense and action-packed fantasy trilogy loaded with political intrigue, family feuds and a female ruler battling for control in a male-dominated world, The Empire books, Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire, form an exceptional trilogy that is really worth reading.

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The Siege trilogy and Corax trilogy by K. J. Parker

Since my original list in 2021 I have finished two awesome trilogies by K. J. Parker, The Siege trilogy and the Corax trilogy, both of which were outstanding pieces of fantasy fiction that leaned heavily on humour and cynical insights into human nature to tell their entertaining tales. While the Siege books tell three separate stories connected to the siege of a massive city, the Corax trilogy follows the misadventures of the titular Saevus Corax, a conman battlefield salvager. The Siege books featured three amazing reads, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It, and A Practical Guide to Conquering the World, while the Corax series featured the excellent books Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle and Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder (review to follow soon). Both series were very exciting, clever, and featured a heavy dose of dark wit I honestly found irresistible, enough so that all six books mentioned here got five-star reviews from me. Due to the similarities in style, comedic inclusions, and the fact they are set in the same universe, I had an extremely hard time determining which of these trilogies I enjoyed the most. In fact, it proved so impossible to choose, I ended up calling it a tie and combined the trilogies together into a single entry. Both trilogies are quite impressive, and you are guaranteed to have an outstanding time with all the books in them.

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The Tide Child trilogy by R. J. Barker

The trilogy that inspired me to write the first version of this list was the exceptional The Tide Child trilogy by rising fantasy fiction start R. J. Barker. Barker did some incredible work here producing an intense and addictive dark fantasy series that takes place primarily on a naval vessel made from dragon bones. With some exceptional character work, beautifully written scenes, and some truly unique fantasy features, The Tide Child series is one of the absolute best fantasy trilogies out there. All three novels, The Bone Ships (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019), Call of the Bone Ships, and The Bone Ship’s Wake, are incredible and enchanting reads, which come together to form a brilliant and highly recommend trilogy.

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Lessons of the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik

Few trilogies impressed me more in recent years than the Lessons of the Scholomance books by veteran fantasy author Naomi Novik. Essentially a dark take on the magical school genre, the Scholomance books follows a trouble and ultra-destructive teenage magic user who has been sent to the Scholomance, a magical school filled with harsh lessons and infested with hungry monsters. I really got drawn into this elaborate series, especially with its unique setting, damaged characters, and fantastic stakes. Made up of three excellent reads, including A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate and The Golden Enclaves, the Scholomance books were a very powerful series that traumatised the reader (I still haven’t recovered from The Last Graduate’s ending) and took its characters through hell and back, all while also making great use of Novik’s inventive concepts. A brilliant, beautiful, and intense three books that you will not regret picking up.

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Legacy of the Mercenary King trilogy by Nick Martell

Out of all the exceptional fantasy trilogies I have enjoyed over the years, few have struck me as hard as the Legacy of the Mercenary King trilogy from Nick Martell. Martell’s debut trilogy, the Legacy of the Mercenary King books follows the scion of a disgraced family who fights to uncover various conspiracies and lies inflicting his city as dark forces move to destroy everything. Starting with The Kingdom of Liars (one of my favourite books, debuts and audiobooks of 2020), the series kept moving from strength to strength as the following two books, The Two-Faced Queen (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and The Voyage of the Forgotten (one of my favourite books of 2022), moved the story in some outstanding directions while continuing to introduce and expand on the series’ impressive characters. Easily one of the best trilogies from a debuting fantasy author I have had the pleasure of reading, the Legacy of the Mercenary Kings books are extremely exceptional, and a guaranteed hit for anyone looking for something fresh and addictive.

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The Age of Madness trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Not content with only having one exceptional fantasy trilogy, Joe Abercrombie had to double down and write the epic sequel trilogy, The Age of Madness, which frankly I had no choice but to give a separate entry on this list. Set a generation after The First Law trilogy, the three Age of Madness novels, A Little Hatred, The Trouble with Peace and The Wisdom of Crowds, contains another outstanding dark fantasy tale following a whole new group of complex and troubled protagonists. This brilliant trilogy featured Abercrombie’s trademark character work, dark storytelling, and cynical edge, which resulted in three outstanding five-star reads. These amazing novels form a deeply thrilling and powerful trilogy which is just as good, if not better than the original First Law novels.

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The Covenant of Steel trilogy by Anthony Ryan

Another brilliant fantasy trilogy that I fell in love with recently is The Covenant of Steel books by acclaimed author Anthony Ryan. Made up of The Pariah, The Martyr and The Traitor, The Covenant of Steel books tell the tale of a bandit turned scribe who finds himself caught up in deadly, kingdom changing events, including war, religious upheaval, and supernatural calamities. All three books in this series were quite exceptional, and I love the intricate and impressive overarching narrative they told, which drew you in with powerful storytelling, great characters, and dark twists. I will have to go back and check out some of Ryan’s other series in the future, but for the moment, my eye is on a new trilogy of his, debuting later this year with A Tide of Dark Steel. I have no doubt this new trilogy will be a strong contender for future versions of this list, and I cannot wait to see how Ryan’s next captivating adventure unfolds.

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Star Wars: Thrawn and Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy by Timothy Zahn

The final entry on this list is another joint entry with the epic Thrawn and Thrawn Ascendancy trilogies by Timothy Zahn. Bringing back his iconic extended universe character, Grand Admiral Thrawn, to the new Star Wars canon, these trilogies expand on the character’s appearances in recent shows and provide a whole new history to the character. The first trilogy, made up of Thrawn, Alliances and Treason, provides a great coverage of Thrawn’s service to the Empire before the finale of Star Wars: Rebels, while the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, made up of Chaos Rising, Greater Good and Lesser Evil, dives into his complex past on his home world. Both trilogies are very well balanced, although I would say they each have a strongest and weakest point to them. I was initially going to feature these as two separate entries, much like I did with John Abercrombie’s books above, however, due to the way they support each other, and because they are both very similar, I felt it was better to combine them into a single entry. All six book are very awesome, and feature some of the best novelised Star Wars space combat sequences you are likely to see. A must read for all Star Wars fans, I really hope that Zahn comes back and writes more Thrawn books, especially after the character had his live action debut last year.

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Well, that’s the end of this list. As you can see, I have read some awesome trilogies over the last few years, and I think this update does a great job highlighting some of the best recent additions. I am planning to come back to this list again in a year or two, especially as there are some more outstanding trilogies, I am currently in the middle of that will easy make this list in the future. In the meantime, let me know what your favourite trilogies are in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Longest Audiobooks That I Have Listened To – Part IV

On February 13, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, 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 were given a love themed freebie in honour of Valentine’s Day. As such, I’m going to focus on something that I have a lot of love for, the audiobook format, as I once again revisit and update a fun post I last looked at nearly two years ago.

As readers of this blog will be aware, I am a massive fan of audiobooks, and it is often the best way to enjoy a good book. I have been lucky enough to listen to an impressive collection of audiobooks over the years, with some of them being extremely long, often taking me weeks to get through. Back in 2019, I got curious about all the audiobooks I had listened to, and I wanted to know which was the longest one that I had ever listened to. As a result, I sat down and worked out which ones had the longest run time and turned it into a massive list. This ended up being such an interesting endeavour that I posted it on my blog here, with the longest 20 books featured. I had such an amazing time doing this that a year later I had a go at updating it, adding in a few additional audiobooks I had listened to, and then I once again updated it in 2022.

Well, it has been nearly two years since I last updated this list and I always intended to keep coming back to this list to see how the recent long audiobooks I have listened to stacked up against the books already on this list. Since the last update in 2022 I have managed to listen to quite a few new audiobooks, several of which had an excellent run time. The list below is similar to the list I posted a couple of years ago, with several new additions added in (see the highlight posts). I ended up returning the list back to the original 20 entry format I previously had, and the resulting post turned out pretty damn well.

Top Twenty List:

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading – 45 hours and 48 minutes

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The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, narrated by Nick Podehl – 42 hours and 55 minutes

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Magician by Raymond E. Feist, narrated by Peter Joyce – 36 hours and 14 minutes

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A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, narrated by Roy Dotrice – 33 hours and 45 minutes

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The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding, narrated by Simon Bubb – 32 hours and 37 minutes

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The longest new entry on this list is the exceptional audiobook, The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding. The sequel the Wooding’s previous novel, The Ember Blade (the audiobook version of which also appears on this list), The Shadow Casket proved to be a remarkable piece of epic fantasy fiction, and I loved the elaborate narrative that emerged. The impressive narration by Simon Bubb helped to turn this massive audiobook into something very fun to listen to, and The Shadow Casket ended up being one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023.

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Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, narrated by Tania Rodrigues – 32 hours and 1 minute

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Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, narrated by Gerrard Doyle – 31 hours and 29 minutes

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Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, narrated by Tania Rodrigues – 30 hours and 42 minutes

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The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding, narrated by Simon Bubb – 30 hours and 40 minutes

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Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, narrated by Gerrard Doyle – 29 hours and 34 minutes

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The Will of the Many by James Islington, narrated by Euan Morton – 28 hours and 14 minutes

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Another exceptional audiobook from last year was The Will of the Many by James Islington. An awesome and complex fantasy book that saw a young, fugitive prince infiltrate an elite academy of his enemies, The Will of the Many had so many fun elements to it, and I was quickly enthralled by its brilliant narrative. Narrator Euan Morton added his unique voice to the mix, and this helped to turn The Will of the Many into a pretty fun listen, and one I managed to power through quickly despite its over 28 hour long run time. A highly recommended audiobook, especially if you are looking for a long listen to get lost in.

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Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio, narrated by Samuel Roukin – 28 hours and 3 minutes

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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, narrated by Nick Podehl – 27 Hours and 55 minutes

The Name of the Wind Cover

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House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas, narrated by Elizabeth Evans – 27 hours and 50 minutes

House of Earth and Blood Cover

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Dragon Mage by M. L. Spencer, narrated by Ben Farrow – 27 hours and 18 minutes

Dragon Mage Cover

An intriguing and powerful fantasy audiobook from a couple of years ago. Dragon Mage was an impressive book, that featured some great classic fantasy elements to it. Following two young protagonists dragged into a deadly war for the fate of magic and its dragon protectors, Dragon Mage was an awesome listen that I couldn’t get enough of.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale – 27 hours and 2 minutes

The Order of the Phoenix Cover

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Son of the Poison Rose by Jonathan Maberry, narrated by Ray Porter – 25 hours and 55 minutes

Son of the Poison Rose Cover

One of my favourite author and narrator combos, Jonathan Maberry and Ray Porter, made its way onto this list with Son of the Poison Rose. The sequel to Kagen the Damned, Son of the Poison Rose is an excellent and very brutal dark fantasy read that I could not get enough of. Maberry makes full use of the extra runtime of this novel to tell an impressive story, and this audiobook comes highly recommended, especially with Porter’s exceptional voice work.

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Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page – 25 hours and 34 minutes

Red Seas Under Red Skies

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In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan, narrated by Damian Lynch – 24 hours and 52 minutes

In the Shadow of Lightning Cover

An epic and highly addictive new fantasy novel by Brian McClellan, In the Shadow of Lightning was one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022, and I really fell in love with its elaborate story. I honestly flew through In the Shadow of Lightning’s near 25-hour runtime, and narrator Damian Lynch ensures the action and intrigue laden narrative really flows along. An exceptional piece of fantasy fiction that comes alive in its audiobook version.

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Murtagh by Christopher Paolini, narrated by Gerard Doyle – 24 hours and 32 minutes

Murtagh Cover

Considering how some of the other original Inheritance Cycle audiobooks dominate the top half of this list, it is unsurprising that Christopher Paolini’s latest addition to the series, Murtagh, also makes an appearance. Featuring original narrator Gerard Doyle, Murtagh was a great addition to the series, and I had a wonderful time getting through this lengthy audiobook at the end of last year.

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Well, those are some cool new additions to this list. I am pretty happy with how this new version of the list turned out, although I should work on listening to some longer audiobooks in the coming year. I will have another go at updating this list in a couple of years or so, but in the meantime let me know what the longest audiobook you have listened to is in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Mainstream Popular Authors that I Still Have Not Read

On November 15, 2023 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. In this latest Top Ten Tuesday, participants are tasked with listing the top mainstream authors they have not read. This proved to be a very interesting topic to pull together, as like many reviewers and book bloggers out there, I already had a pretty substantial list of big-named authors I wish I’d had the chance to read at some point. As such, this proved to be a relatively easy list for me to pull together, and it didn’t take me long to come up with a list of impressive mainstream authors that have been on my radar for years. I think the resulting list turned out pretty well, even if it is slightly fantasy fiction skewed, so let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Peter V. Brett

The Core Cover

I have been meaning to dive into Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle series for years as it’s a major bit of fantasy fiction I’ve been missing out on.

Janny Wurts

The Empire Trilogy Cover

I left Janny Wurts as an honourable mention, mainly because I have some experience with her writing thanks to the Empire trilogy she co-authored with Raymond E. Feist. However, Wurst has an impressive catalogue of her own classic fantasy fiction that I really need to check out.

Chris Hammer

The Tilt Cover

A major Australian crime fiction author I always regret not reading anything from is Chris Hammer, who has produced some awesome sounding books over the years.

James Rollins

Sandstorm Cover

I’m slightly cheating featuring James Rollins on this list as I have read a few of his books in the past. However, that was at least 15 years ago, and I honestly don’t remember too much of the details, except for the fact that I really enjoyed his Sigma Force books. I have been meaning to go back and try them again, especially after having so much fun with the similar Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, and I definitely need to reacquaint myself with James Rollins in a big way.

Top Ten Tuesday:

Steven Erikson

Gardens of the Moon Cover

I’m starting this list off with one of the biggest fantasy fiction authors I haven’t had the pleasure of reading yet, Steven Erikson. I’m pretty much always on the R/Fantasy subreddit and not a day goes by that someone doesn’t recommend or gush about how good the Malazan series is. Partially cowritten by Erikson’s friend, Ian Cameron Esslemont (who I guess I’m also including on this list by default) the Malazan books are an elaborate and character-driven series that features an epic world, massive scope and complex plot. The first 10 books in the series are written by Erikson, so he’s the author I’m featuring on this list, and it sounds like he covers the major story of the franchise. I really want to check out the Malazan books, especially as they have been so hyped up for me, and it sounds like such an exceptional series to get into.

Lee Child

Killing Floor Cover

I love a good and exciting thriller and one of the biggest thriller series out there that I still need to read are the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child. Following the titular protagonist, Jack Reacher, as he drifts around America solving crime and righting wrongs with extreme violence, the Jack Reacher novels sound like a ton of fun. I really enjoyed both the film and television adaptation of the Jack Reacher novels, so I should dive into the original source material at some point and see how good an author Lee Child is.

V. E. Schwab

Vicious Cover

One author that I have had my eye on for a while is the very talented V. E. Schwab, who also writes as Victoria Schwab. Schwab is very highly regarded in fantasy fiction circles, and I honestly have seen so much praise for her work over the years, especially her Villains series, which gets a ton of love from some reviewers I follow. Many of Schwab’s other works, including her Shades of Magic series and her intriguing standalone novels, sound pretty damn awesome and I hope that I can get around to reading some of her work at some point in the future. I reckon I would start with the Villains series first, as a fun take on supervillains and superpowers is always something I’m going to love.

Pierce Brown

Red Rising Cover

Probably the science fiction author I have the biggest regrets about not reading anything from yet is Pierce Brown, who is best known for his iconic Red Rising series. An epic dystopian science fiction series with some intriguing class and race elements behind it, the Red Rising books are generally considered one of the top science fiction series of the last decade and I have always wanted to check it out. I honestly did a quick read of Red Rising’s plot as research for this list and it sounds so damn awesome, with betrayal, subterfuge and war all across futuristic Mars. I definitely need to check this series work out and I know I’m going to love Brown’s creativity and epic storytelling.

Jenn Lyons

The Ruin of Kings Cover

Another major fantasy author who is very high on my to-read list is Jenn Lyons thanks to her awesome sounding A Chorus of Dragons series. Set around a complex protagonist who finds himself dragged into tangled events surrounding dragons, demons, gods and treachery, this series sounds like a ton of fun and I’ve been meaning to dive into it for a while. I’ve actually got several A Chorus of Dragons books currently sitting on my bookshelf and I’m hoping to make a dent in them soon.

David Baldacci

Absolute Power Cover

David Baldacci is a prime example of a major crime fiction author whose work I never seem to get the chance to read. It’s actually a little embarrassing to me as I always get copies of Baldacci’s books, but I never end up reading them. This seems like such a real shame to me, especially as each of his novels sound really cool and interesting, but I can never make the time to get into them. I’m hoping to change that one day and I am sure when I do, I know I will be blown away by how much I enjoy his fantastic crime fiction.

R. F. Kuang

The Poppy War Cover

When fantasy fans online talk about the best recent fantasy fiction the name R. F. Kuang constantly comes up thanks to her highly acclaimed Poppy War trilogy. A complex and dark fantasy series with compelling Chinese influences, the series follows a young woman who is dragged into a bloody war and must overcome prejudice, addiction, and other traumas to survive. I really love the sound of the Poppy War books, which has so many awesome elements to it, and I am also quite intrigued by some of Kuang’s standalone novels such as a Yellowface and Babel, or the Necessity of Violence, which have all come highly rated. I really need to make an effort to read some of Kuang’s work in the future and I think I will start by grabbing her next standalone novel when it comes out in 2024.

Glen Cook

The Black Company Cover

Another pretty essential fantasy author whose work I’ve missed out on is Glen Cook, who is best known for the fantastically dark The Black Company series. Generally regarded by many as the gold standard of dark fantasy, The Black Company novels follow a group of amoral mercenaries who find themselves caught up in a series of brutal wars. This gritty series sounds pretty damn amazing, and I have heard a lot of positive reviews of it over the years. As such, The Black Company and Glen Cook are book very high on my to-read list and I really must check them out before someone adapts them into a television show.

Ian Rankin

Knots and Crosses Cover

Over the last couple of years I have been making some major strides to fill in some gaps in my crime fiction appreciation by reading more from established big name authors. However, one of the main ones that I have missed is Ian Rankin, who has been writing since 1986. Best known for his Inspector Rebus series, Rankin has produced some amazing books over the years and I’m sorry not to have enjoyed any of them. This will hopefully be something I can overcome in the future, and I am sure I will have a great time with Rankin’s unique take on murder mystery.

Brent Weeks

Night Angel Nemesis Cover

The final mainstream author I need to highlight on this list is acclaimed fantasy author Brent Weeks. Weeks is a pretty major fantasy fiction writer whose work I haven’t had the chance the read, which always seems like such a big shame. His two major series, the Night Angel trilogy and the Lightbringer books, sound extremely compelling, presenting the reader with complex fantasy concepts and elaborate stories. Both series are very iconic and highly regarded and I feel like I’m missing out by not reading them. Hopefully this is something I can rectify in the future and I am sure that I will be enthralled by all of Weeks’ amazing writing.

That’s the end of this latest fun Top Ten Tuesday post. As you can see, there are some pretty awesome mainstream authors out there that I still need to dive into and I am hoping that is something I can start rectifying in the new year. I have heard some amazing things about all the above authors and I can’t wait to find out just how good they are some point soon. In the meantime, let me know which mainstream authors you still need to read in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Sieges in Literature

On October 19, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn List12 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. The official topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday revolves around favourite words, which, while interesting, isn’t something that I felt I could really contribute to. So instead, I thought I would dive into one of my favourite story elements from fiction, the good old-fashioned siege.

Now I have made it very clear over multiple reviews that I absolutely love sieges in fiction. To me, there are few battle scenarios more awesome, more epic, and more impressive than watching a powerful attacker attempting to wipe out a fortress garrisoned by a group of desperate defenders. Whether you are rooting for the besiegers or the defenders, there are so many outstanding moments that can be woven into a siege scenario. From fighting on the walls, to a desperate stand in a breach, to watching an attacker slowly gain ground on the defender by a careful and elaborate series of siegeworks, artillery bombardments and the careful administration of traitors from within the walls, everything about a siege is just so amazing to me and I love reading about them in fiction. Sieges don’t even have to be that long or epic, as even a quick and bloody siege can be pretty impressive, especially if the attackers are desperate to achieve their goals.

Fans of this blog might have noticed that in recent weeks I have read a couple of books that contain some great sieges. Well, after getting really caught up in a few of them, it started making me think back to all the other awesome sieges scenes I have enjoyed over the years. Naturally my only option then was to come up with a list of my favourite sieges in literature and it did not take long for me to come up with an intriguing list of books.

This proved to be quite a fun list to come up with, and it was really interesting to dive back into some books from the past to see what great sieges I could find. I didn’t put a lot of limits on this list, and if the scenario in the book could be considered some sort of siege, I would consider it for this list. I did try to come up with a few examples that were outside the traditional medieval castle situation most people would associate with a siege, and I wanted to show a little variety. Despite that, most of the books I have featured on this list ended up being fantasy reads, which isn’t too unexpected. There are a few good historical fiction reads thrown into the mix, as well as entries from other genres, and I think this ended up being a very well-balanced top ten, with my usual generous honourable mentions section. So, lets dive into the breach and find out which glorious sieges made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

River of Gold by Anthony Riches

River of Gold Cover

A fantastic historical fiction read that saw an outnumbered group of elite Roman soldiers take control of an abandoned fort in the middle of Africa to stop an invading army. An excellent example of a Roman siege from historical fiction.

Amazon Book Depository

Devolution by Max Brooks – Siege of Greenloop

Devolution Cover

One of the more unusual examples I could think of was the fantastic novel Devolution by World War Z author Max Brooks. Devolution sees the residence of a small, elite community get cut off from the rest of the world by a natural disaster, only to be then attacked by a group of sasquatches driven out of hiding by the same calamity. Forced to defend themselves against the hungry beasts, the community finds themselves in an impromptu siege against a group of monsters, which results in a very inventive and intense read.

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Warhammer: Beastslayer by William King – Siege of Praag

Beastslayer Cover

William King has featured several awesome sieges in his legendary Gotrek and Felix Warhammer Fantasy series, however, my favourite so far had to be the siege of Praag in Beastslayer. This book-long siege sees the doomed duo face off against all manner of monsters and demon worshipers on the walls, while traitors attempt to destroy them from within. A classic siege scenario that fit perfectly into the iconic Warhammer setting.

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Inheritance by Christopher Paolini – Siege of Aroughs

Inheritance Cover

I have a lot of love for Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, especially as it features several awesome sieges. However, my favourite probably occurred in the final book, Inheritance, when the protagonist’s cousin, Roran, is sent to take the fortified town of Aroughs with a small force. Running out of time and resources, Roran uses some unconventional tactics to invade it. Not only did this show how much Roran had grown as a tactician and commander over the series, but it featured some fantastic scenes of a great siege.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Legend by David Gemmell – Siege of Dros Delnoch

Legend

Let us start this list off with the book that might have the very best siege scenario I have ever read, with Legend by David Gemmell. Legend is an exceptional read that sees an invincible army attempt to conquer their world’s most impregnable fortress, Dros Delnoch. Utterly outnumbers, the defenders of Dros Delnoch have one advantage aside from their six walls, they are led by Druss the Legend, the greatest hero of all time. This is such an epic siege, which the late, great, David Gemmell, set up perfectly. Loaded with amazing characters, you really grow close to the defenders as you watch their desperate battle to hold off an unstoppable enemy till the very end. A must read for all fans of the siege; you will not be disappointed by this book.

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Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist by Janny Wurts – Siege of the Acoma Suite

Servant of the Empire Cover

Next, we have a book that shows that sieges don’t have to feature giant fortresses to be epic, with Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. The second book in the outstanding Empire trilogy, Servant of the Empire has many amazing moments, but the best is the compelling and intense siege of the Acoma Suite in the Imperial Palace. Following a massive calamity that plunges the Empire into chaos, all the great lords flock to the Imperial Palace to be close to the action. However, many take this as an opportunity to take out their rivals and the protagonist, Mara of the Acoma, finds herself one of the main targets. Barricaded in her suite in the palace, Mara, her allies, and their bodyguards must fight off waves of assassins that come for them during the night. This proves to be extremely impressive, and you really get caught up in the action watching the defenders attempting to hold a luxury apartment against an unending horde of assassins. A clever and amazing siege that makes full use of its smaller setting and intriguing scenario to create some exciting moments.

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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker – Siege of the City

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City Cover

I had to feature the brilliant and hilarious Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker, as it contained an extremely fun take on the siege concept. This hilarious read sees the massive City besieged by an army of vengeful folk, intend on killing everyone within. With their army already destroyed, the defence of the city falls to a conman siege engineer, who uses his engineering knowhow and ability to BS anyone, to establish one of the most elaborate and inventive defences ever. This ended up being an incredible story, that perfectly blends humour and fun characters with the compelling siege scenario, to create an utterly addictive read. I have so much love for this siege novel, and Parker followed it up with the equally good How to Rule and Empire and Get Away With It, that showed the surprising outcome to the siege, which I really loved.

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Fire in the East by Harry Sidebottom – Siege of Arete

Fire in the East Cover

While much of this list is focussed on fantasy fiction, I had to include the outstanding historical fiction read, Fire in the East, the debut novel of the amazing Harry Sidebottom. Set in AD 255, this book follows Roman siege specialist, Ballista, who travels to the Roman town of Arete to reinforce it against a besieging Persian army. Forced to hold out for months with no reinforcements, Ballista prepares a complex and deadly defence, while dealing with traitors and discontent from within his walls. A fast-paced, but extremely detailed read, this is easily one of the best historical sieges I have ever read, and it made me a life-long fan of Harry Sidebottom, who is still releasing distinctive and captivating historical fiction reads.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling – Siege of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Cover

After six books spent within the magical castle of Hogwarts, it was appropriate that the Harry Potter series end there, and the author chose to finish everything off in a big way. With Harry, Ron and Hermione attempting to find and destroy the final Horcrux, Lord Voldemort sends all his forces in a massive assault on the magical school, facing off against students, teachers and the Order of the Phoenix. This is a pretty epic siege, which, while great in the movie, comes across as a lot more exciting and complex in the novel. Seeing the various dark forces attempt to destroy the castle you have come to know and love is pretty heartbreaking, and you can’t help but cheer at the desperate defence the supporting characters put up to give Harry time. Throw in a ton of tragic deaths, as many of your favourite characters are brutally killed off, and this becomes a key moment in the series that you will never forget.

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The Martyr by Anthony Ryan – Sieges of Walvern Castle and Highsahl

The Martyr Cover

One of the more recent siege-based books I have read, The Martyr is the second Covenant of Steel novel by Anthony Ryan, and its elaborate chronicle narrative quickly drags the reader in with an amazing siege scenario. The Martyr actually has two sieges in it, but as they occur back-to-back early in the book, I decided to combine them. The first, sees the protagonists occupy and defend a dilapidated castle against a massive host in a foreign land, which proves to be a lot of fun as the series canny protagonist and his apparently blessed leader, engage in quite an elaborate defence of their new bastion. I got pretty stuck into this book during the first siege and was pleasantly surprised when Ryan immediately followed it up with a second siege, with the protagonists this time acting as the attackers. Using the lessons they learned from defending the first time, they soon attempt a deadly attack on the city, which results in a particularly bloody and intense struggle through the breach. I had an outstanding time with this book, and I was absolutely spoiled with the two sieges it contained.

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Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie – Siege of Dagoska

Before they are Hanged Cover

The First Law trilogy is one of the bloodiest dark fantasy series out there, so naturally it is going to feature at least a couple of great sieges. There are actually several impressive sieges I could talk about here, especially in the third book, Last Argument of Kings, but my favourite siege occurred in the second book, Before They Are Hanged. This novel sees fan-favourite character, the crippled Inquisitor Glokta, take control of the city of Dagoska and hold it against a massive Gurkish army. Striking a devil’s bargain with a mysterious benefactor for resources, Glokta is able to fund a sustained defence, while trying to keep the city from turning against his forces. However, his greatest threat is within the walls, as several magical assassins are planning to kill and eat him to win the battle. This is such an awesome siege, especially as it sees Glokta in his element as a master manipulator, and there are some amazing scenes set around it.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkein – Siege of Helm’s Deep

The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers Cover

I was never not going to include a siege from The Lord of the Rings on this list, and naturally I had a couple of good choices here, such as the siege of Minas Tirith in The Return of the King. However, based on the recommendation of my wife, who recently re-read these books, I went with the siege of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers. A much more fast-paced siege, the battle of Helm’s Deep sees a small force from Rohan face off against a giant army of Uruk-hai over a single night in their ancestral fortress. A classic siege which got an easy place on this list.

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Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Iron by Graham McNeill – Siege of Hydra Cordatus

Storm of Iron Cover 2

I had a hard time coming up with any good science fiction books for this list, but luckily, I only just finished reading an older Warhammer 40,000 novel, Storm of Iron by Graham McNeill, that was essentially one giant siege. This book sees the defender of the planet Hydra Cordatus, come under attack by a massive army of Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines, who besiege the planet’s seemingly impregnable fortress. However, the Iron Warriors are the universes’ best siege engineers, and they soon start smashing down the walls to get to their foes. A very elaborate and detailed siege book, there is so much incredible action in this book, and McNeill did an outstanding job setting up a siege story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

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City of Lies by Sam Hawke – Siege of Silasta

City of Lies Cover

The final entry on this list is the extremely impressive City of Lies by Australian author Sam Hawke. Another great fantasy read, this novel sees the culturally rich city of Silasta suddenly come under attack by a mysterious army, intent on destroying it. With their army mostly away, the cities artists are forced to abandon their works and take up weapons. At the same time, the book’s protagonists, a pair of poison-eating siblings, work to defeat a massive conspiracy that is building within their walls. The encroaching attackers adds a great layer to the intrigue and politics going on within the walls in City of Lies, and I loved how well Hawke established this siege in this fantastic book.

Amazon Book Depository

Well, that is the end of this list. As you can see from the above entries, I have had a lot of fun reading about sieges over the years, and I love when they are fit into a good book. All the above books have some exceptional sieges in them, and they all come highly recommended to those people who love a great siege storyline. I am pretty happy with how this list turned out, and I will probably revisit this at some point in the future, especially if I am lucky enough to read some more siege-focussed books. In the meantime, let me know what your favourite sieges in literature are in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Literary Trilogies

On November 23, 2021 By The Unseen LibraryIn List10 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. While the official topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday required participants to list the 10 characters they would love an update on, I have decided to do something a little different, and instead will be listening my favourite literary trilogies.

Trilogies in literature are a long-running and deeply fun tradition that packs an epic connected tale, into three consecutive novels. There are some truly amazing trilogies out there, from the classics, like The Lord of the Rings, to some recent trilogies that I have been deeply enjoying. Indeed, 2021 alone has seen the end of several epic and outstanding literary trilogies. I just finished one particularly incredible trilogy, and it got me thinking about some of the other amazing three-book series I have read. That inspired me and I thought I would take this opportunity to try and list my 10 favourite novel trilogies of all time. I have had the great pleasure of reading some truly awesome and exciting trilogies over the years, and I feel this is the perfect time to highlight them, especially if anyone is looking for a new trilogy/series to get addicted to.

This proved to be a fun list to pull together, especially as I had a great wealth of potential trilogies to feature on this list. To be eligible for this list, the proposed trilogy must consist of three, inter-connected novels. I only included series that were intended to end after three novels, rather than by happenstance, so that means that series like The Gentleman Bastards will not be featured (it technically has a fourth novel on the way). I also excluded trilogies that I have not yet completed, even if I have already read and deeply enjoyed the first two novels. This is because I really need to see how the third book turns out, as a bad third entry can easily spoil a trilogy that starts out with some fantastic novels.

Even with these restrictions, I ended up with a descent list of trilogies, which took me a little while to cull down and which resulted in a good honourable mentions section. I am judging these trilogies on several factors, including how complete their story is, how well connected the novels are, and whether the component novels provide good introductions, conclusions and connections to the other books in the trilogy. I am pretty happy with how this latest Top Ten Tuesday turned out, and I think that perfectly represents the best trilogies that I have so far finished.

Honourable Mentions:

The Wounded Kingdom trilogy by R. J. Barker

A fun and awesome dark fantasy trilogy that follows an assassin as he finds himself fighting for the future of a kingdom. Featuring a great first novel (Age of Assassins), a powerful middle entry (Blood of Assassins) and an epic ending (King of Assassins), this debut series from R. J. Barker was pretty damn awesome and really worth a read.

Discworld – Moist von Lipwig trilogy by Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett’s exceptional Discworld series featured several interconnected sub-series and standalone reads, but only the Moist von Lipwig books can really be considered a trilogy. Made up of Going Postal, Making Money and Raising Steam, these are some of Pratchett’s final books, and have a different, but still entertaining, writing stye to them. While I love these three novels, I have decided to leave this trilogy as an honourable mention due to its potential premature ending and its complex status within the larger Discworld series.

Royal Bastards trilogy by Andrew Shvarts

A fantastic and clever young adult fantasy series that followed the illegitimate children of treacherous nobles as they try to right the wrongs of their parents. Consisting of Royal Bastards, City of Bastards and War of the Bastards, this is an impressive and captivating trilogy with some dark storylines and complex characters.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I had to include the iconic Hunger Games novels by Suzanne Collins on this list. Made up of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, this is a great and fast-paced dystopian series that I have read a few times now. All three novels are a lot of fun, although the first book is probably the best. A recent prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out last year and is also worth a read.

Top Ten List:

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Let us start this list off with the dark fantasy masterpiece that is Joe Abercrombie’s epic and exceptional The First Law trilogy. Consisting of The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, this amazing trilogy follows a group of extremely complex and damaged characters as they attempt to navigate a dark world filled with betrayal, uncontrolled ambition, and all manner of monsters. All three books are pretty incredible, with The Blade Itself providing an outstanding introduction, while Last Argument of Kings wraps everything up perfectly and leaves the reader with a troubling but memorable conclusion. I powered through this trilogy in a very short time, and it remains one of my all-time favourite pieces of fantasy fiction.

Star Wars: Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn

Next, we have an amazing and complex Star Wars series by the legendary Timothy Zahn, who brings back his iconic extended universe character, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Based in the new Disney canon, the Thrawn trilogy seeks to expand on the character’s appearances in Star Wars: Rebels and presents a complex and intriguing picture of this master tactician. Featuring Thrawn, Alliances and Treason, this is a very well balanced and fascinating trilogy that is a must read for all Star Wars fans and is probably worth checking out before the character’s live action debut next year. I was also tempted to include Zahn’s Thrawn Ascendancy novels (made up of Chaos Rising, Greater Good and Lesser Evil), but I am only halfway through the final book, and I really want to see how it concludes first.

The Icewind Dale trilogy by R. A. Salvatore

Iconic fantasy author, R. A. Salvatore, has made a career out of writing trilogies, and there were several I could have included, especially his Dark Elf trilogy. However, I think that his debut Icewind Dale series, is his most consistently impressive trilogy. While the first novel, The Crystal Shard is a tad rough, the second and third books, Streams of Silver and The Halfling’s Gem, more than make up for it, and produce a brilliant overall story. This series expertly introduces several of Salvatore’s key protagonists (who he is still writing about to this day) and sets up some outstanding plot points. High fantasy at its very best, The Icewind Dale trilogy is an intense, classic trilogy that I can read again and again.

The Century trilogy by Ken Follett

Another author with some big series under his belt is talented thriller and historical fiction author Ken Follett. My personal favourite Follett series is The Century trilogy, a massive and comprehensive historical fiction trilogy, made up of Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity. This book takes place throughout the 20^th century and follows three generations of several families as they navigate the century’s big historical events, including two world wars and the Cold War. Some of the best historical fiction writing you are ever likely to see; this is a powerful and captivating series.

The Tide Child trilogy by R. J. Barker

The trilogy that inspired me to write this list was the exceptional The Tide Child trilogy by rising fantasy fiction start R. J. Barker. Barker did some incredible work here producing an intense and addictive dark fantasy series that takes place primarily on a naval vessel made from dragon bones. With some exceptional character work, beautifully written scenes, and some truly unique fantasy features, The Tide Child series is one of the absolute best fantasy trilogies out there. All three novels, The Bone Ships (one of the best books and audiobooks of 2019), Call of the Bone Ships, and The Bone Ship’s Wake, are exceptional and enchanting reads, which come together to form a brilliant and highly recommend trilogy.

Planetside trilogy by Michael Mammay

Another great trilogy I finished this year was Michael Mammay’s outstanding Planetside science fiction thriller trilogy. Consisting of Planetside (one of the best books of 2018), Spaceside and Colonyside (one of the best books and audiobooks from the first half of this year), this epic trilogy follows a cynical military veteran who is dragged in to investigate a series of conspiracies, which continually forces him to commit genocide. One of the cleverest series I have read in recent years, Mammay is an exceptional author, and I had a lot of fun getting through this trilogy.

The Age of Madness trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Not content with only having one exceptional fantasy trilogy, Joe Abercrombie had to double down and write the epic sequel trilogy, The Age of Madness. Set a generation after The First Law trilogy, the three Age of Madness novels, A Little Hatred, The Trouble with Peace and The Wisdom of Crowds, contains another outstanding dark fantasy tale following a whole new group of complex and troubled protagonists. This brilliant trilogy has only just come to an end and featured three outstanding five-star reads. These amazing novels form a deeply thrilling and powerful trilogy, and The Age of Madness books are some of the best pieces of fantasy fiction of the last three years.

The Empire trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

I was spoiled for choice when it came to Raymond E. Feist and his multitude of great trilogies, from his iconic Riftwar Saga to his current The Fireman Saga (King of Ashes and Queen of Storms). However, I think his most consistent and impressive trilogy was The Empire trilogy he cowrote with Janny Wurts. Set at the same time as the Riftwar Saga, this trilogy explored an alien fantasy world with some major Japanese influences. An intense and action-packed fantasy trilogy loaded with political intrigue, family feuds and a female ruler battling for control in a male-dominated world, The Empire books, Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire, form an exceptional trilogy that is really worth reading.

Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy by Alexander Freed

Another exceptional trilogy that finished this year was the amazing Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron series by Alexander Freed. Made up of Alphabet Squadron, Shadow Fall and Victory’s Price, this trilogy followed a group of pilots in the immediate aftermath of Return of the Jedi, as they continue to fight the brutal war to claim the universe. This trilogy combined a gritty and complex war story with the iconic Star Wars universe to create three impressive novels that work brilliantly as an overarching series. All three books are really good, although Victory’s Price proved to be an exceptional conclusion that brought everything together perfectly. A great read for Star Wars fans looking for some darker tie-in content.

Swords and Fire trilogy by Melissa Caruso

The final entry on this list is the debut trilogy from talented fantasy author Melissa Caruso. Featuring The Tethered Mage, The Defiant Heir, and The Unbound Empire, the Swords and Fire trilogy tells the tale of the unlikely partnership of an ambitious noble and a reckless, ultra-powerful mage, whose fates are literally bound together. This is an amazing and inventive fantasy trilogy that pits this duo against conspiracies, a nation of terrifying magical users, and their own substantial personal issues. I deeply enjoyed this cool trilogy and I really need to start reading the sequel series Caruso is currently working on.

Well, that’s the end of this list. As you can see, I have read some awesome trilogies over the years, and I think this list does a great job highlighting them all. I will probably end up coming back to this list at some point in the future, especially as there are some outstanding trilogies, I am currently in the middle of that will easy make this list in the future. In the meantime, let me know what your favourite trilogies are in the comments below.