Top Ten Tuesday – Books on My Winter 2020 TBR

On June 16, 2020 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. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants need to list the top ten books on their Winter 2020 (or Summer 2020 for those up in the Northern Hemisphere) to be read (TBR) list.

There are some rather fantastic-sounding novels coming out in the next couple of months, and I am quite excited for a number of them. Surprisingly, producing this list did not go as smoothly as some previous TBR lists that I have done. This is because several books I was hoping to include have been delayed since the last time I looked them up, presumably due to the coronavirus outbreak. While this is a little disappointing, I was still able to come up with a good list of Winter TBR books, and the entries below are some of my most anticipated releases coming out in June, July and August 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. I have also chosen to exclude any books that I have already read or have started reading (such as Stormblood by Jeremy Szal). Overall, I think I came up with quite a diverse list of books.

Honourable Mentions:

Devolution by Max Brooks – 16 June 2020

Star Wars: Shadow Fall by Alexander Freed – 2 July 2020

Out of Time by David Klass – 21 July 2020

Top Ten List (By Release Date):

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso – 9 June 2020

The Return by Harry Sidebottom – 11 June 2020

The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde – 30 June 2020

This is a really quirky and entertaining novel that I received earlier this week, which I think could be a lot of fun to read. Jasper Fforde is an author who I have enjoyed for years, and I had a great time reading his last book, Early Riser. His latest book, The Constant Rabbit, sounds absolutely bonkers as it features anthropomorphic rabbits moving into a human town and facing prejudice in a satire of racism in the UK. I am sure I am going to laugh myself silly with this book, and it should be a really unique read.

Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist – 14 July 2020

World of Warcraft: Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux – 14 July 2020

Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio – 28 July 2020

The Gates of Athens by Conn Iggulden – 4 August 2020

Conn Iggulden is an extremely talented historical fiction author who has produced some amazing novels throughout his career, including his last book, The Falcon of Sparta. His upcoming novel, The Gate of Athens, is the first entry in his new Athenian series, which will take a look at the major wars of ancient Athens. This is probably going to be one of the best historical fiction books that I am going to read in the next few months, and I cannot wait to check it out.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – 4 August 2020

Last year I was blown away by the incredible Gideon the Ninth, which was part fantasy, part science fiction, part murder mystery and 100% non-stop fun. Gideon the Ninth was easily one of my favourite debuts of 2019, and I am extremely excited to read the sequel, Harrow the Ninth. This upcoming novel seems set to continue the crazy adventures of the first book, and I am really looking forward to seeing where the story goes after Gideon the Ninth’s shocking conclusion.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin – 4 August 2020

The Night Swim is the next intriguing release from Australian author Megan Goldin, and it looks set to be one of the most compelling mystery novels of 2020. I really enjoyed Goldin’s previous book, 2018’s The Escape Room, which I ended up reading in a single night, and I am looking forward to getting through the author’s next compelling story.

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by K. J. Parker – 25 August 2020

The final book on my list is How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by bestselling fantasy author K. J. Parker. Parker is a really clever writer who has produced a huge number of impressive fantasy novels over the year. His previous book, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, was an incredible read and it was one of my favourite books of 2019. Due to how much I enjoyed his last book, and because How to Rule and Empire and Get Away with It might have some intriguing connections to Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, I have extremely high hopes for this upcoming novel, and I think it is going to be absolutely amazing.

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 Favourite Pieces of Star Wars Tie-In Fiction

On May 5, 2020May 5, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn Comics/Manga, Extended Universe, List, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel11 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, the official topic is to list Ten Things I’d Have at My Bookish Party, although I’m once again going to do something a little different, mainly due to the date.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday falls just one day after May the 4^th, which is officially Star Wars Day. I have made no secret of my love for the Star Wars franchise, and this blog is packed full of reviews for the various Star Wars tie-novels and comics that have been released in recent years. My current deep obsession with Star Wars tie-in fiction is a surprisingly recent thing, as I only started really getting into Star Wars books and comics in 2018 after reading Last Shot by Daniel Jose Older. Since then I have gone out of my way to read a ton of Star Wars novels and I have dived deep into the current vein of comic books. All of these have been pretty damn amazing so far, and I have really enjoyed some of the comics and novels that I have had the opportunity to read. Due to this, I thought I would celebrate this Star Wars Day by listing my top ten favourite pieces of Star Wars fiction.

For this list, I have pulled together the top Star Wars tie-in novels and comics that I have read and tried to figure out which ones were my absolute favourite. This turned out to be somewhat difficult because I have read quite a few outstanding Star Wars books and comics over the last two years. In order to get a list together that I was happy with, I decided that I would feature whole series of books and comics together as a single entry, which ensured I wouldn’t have to choose which individual volumes were my absolute favourite. This allowed me to come up with a rather good list that contained most of my favourites, although I did also include a rather substantial Honourable Mentions section. I am actually surprised at which pieces of Star Wars fiction I ended up excluding from this list, including some fantastic novels and comics that I wrote multi-page reviews for. However, I am rather happy with what ended up on this list, and without a doubt, these following entries are my absolute favourite pieces of Star War fiction that I have read so far.

Honourable Mentions

Ahsoka by E. K. Johnston

The first entry in my Honourable Mentions is a firm favourite of mine, mainly because it focuses on one of the best characters in the expanded Star Wars Universe, Ahsoka Tano, and bridges the gap between The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels animated show. This young adult Star Wars novel is very good and is best enjoyed in its audiobook format, which is narrated by Ashley Eckstein, the voice actor who portrays Ahsoka in the shows.

Poe Dameron (2016)

The Poe Dameron comic book series is an excellent series written by the amazing Charles Soule and drawn by Phil Noto and Angel Unzueta. This series ran between 2016 and 2018 and focuses on the adventures of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron and his X-Wing Squadron, Black Squadron. Set just before the events of The Force Awakens, this is a fantastic series filled with some rather cool storylines and outstanding characters. I actually still have to finish this series off, and the final volume, The Awakening, should hopefully be arriving by post very soon.

Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott

A clever piece of fiction that tells the tale of a young Count Dooku, showing how he fell to the Dark Side of the Force. While this was released in book format, Jedi Lost was originally an audio drama, featuring the vocal talents of some of the best Star Wars audiobook narrators and actors, and that is definitely the best way to enjoy this piece of Star Wars fiction.

Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp

This is the latest Star Wars novel that I have read, and I only got a review up for it a couple of weeks ago. Lords of the Sith is an extremely fun and action-packed Star Wars novel that is highly recommended for anyone wants to see Darth Vader and the Emperor let loose in some over-the-top ways.

Top Ten List (No Particular Order):

Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

The first entry on this Top Ten List is the excellent new Thrawn trilogy from legendary Star Wars tie-in author, Timothy Zahn. Zahn is one of the best authors of Star Wars fiction, and in this series he brought his most iconic character, Grand Admiral Thrawn, into the new Disney canon, backing up the character’s appearance on Star Wars Rebels. This trilogy is made up of three spectacular books, Thrawn, Alliances and Treason, all three of which I deeply enjoyed. The first book, Thrawn, is probably the best Star Wars novel I have so far read. This is a fantastic series to check out, and I cannot wait to grab Zahn’s next piece of fiction.

Star Wars (2015)

This is the first of several comics series featured on this Top Ten list, and it is a rather impressive series that I literally just finished yesterday. The Star Wars (2015) series is the backbone of the current run of the franchise’s comics and ran between 2015 and 2019, with 75 issues, thanks to the efforts of a massive team of contributors. This series is set between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and follows the adventures of the main protagonists of the Original Trilogy as they fight the Empire and get into all manner of trouble. This series starts off with a massive bang and has some very impressive highs throughout its run. My absolute favourite volume in this series has to be the outstanding first entry, Skywalker Strikes, although other awesome volumes include Rebel Jail, The Last Flight of the Harbinger and Hope Dies. Skywalker Strikes is the only volume of this I have so far reviewed, although I plan to review the other volumes at some point in the future.

Dark Disciple by Christie Golden

The third entry on my list is a rather intriguing novel, Dark Disciple, which follows two fan favourite expanded universe characters, Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos, and concludes their stories after their last appearance in The Clone Wars animated series. Based on unused scripts for a proposed arc in The Clones Wars by Katie Lucas, this was an outstanding tale of love, revenge and hate that I was really glad I checked out.

Darth Vader (2015) by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca

The Darth Vader (2015) comic book series is a particularly awesome series which follows the dark and destructive adventures of the titular antagonist after the events of A New Hope. Strongly connected to the events of the Star Wars (2015) comics, this series ran for 25 issues between 2015 and 2016 and featured some incredible storylines and introduced some cool characters to the canon. I really loved this incredible series, and the two volumes I have so far reviewed, Vader and Shadows and Secrets, each got a five-star rating from me.

Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray

This next entry was a captivating novel released last year that explored the complicated relationship between Quin-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, several years before the events of The Phantom Menace. This was a deeply captivating novel that featured an interesting dive into the Star Wars lore while also presenting the reader with a fun and action-packed adventure. One of the top Star Wars novels of 2019, Master & Apprentice is a fantastic book to check out.

Vader Down

Vader Down is the latest piece of Star Wars fiction that I have reviewed, as I only just featured it in a Throwback Thursday article last week. This is an extremely awesome comic that serves as an outstanding crossover between the Star Wars (2015) and Darth Vader (2015) series. An explosive comic, full of violence, fun character moments and a compelling story, Vader Down is pure entertainment from start to finish.

Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn

This is the second entry on this list that was written by Timothy Zahn and the only book that is from the older Star Wars Legends canon. Scoundrels was an entertaining take on the heist genre that followed Han, Chewie, Lando and a crew of their criminal friends as they attempt to pull off an impossible robbery. An incredibly gripping novel with an exciting premise that I had a blast reading.

Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith by Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli

Another top-rate Star Wars comic book series featuring Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith followed the early days of Vader and is set right after the events of Revenge of the Sith. This was a very impressive series, and it was one of the first Star Wars comics that I really got into. I absolutely loved all four volumes (made up of 25 issues) of this series, and the two volumes I have reviewed, Legacy’s End and The Burning Seas, both got five-star reviews from me.

Tarkin by James Luceno

An early entry in the new Star Wars canon, Tarkin created a new history for the titular character, Grand Moff Tarkin, and showed the events that led to him becoming one of the most powerful men in the Empire. This was an extremely clever and well-written novel that I deeply enjoyed, and it is a great piece of Star Wars fiction to read.

Dr Aphra (2016)

The final entry on this list is the epic and always entertaining Dr Aphra comic book series. The Dr Aphra comics spun off from the Darth Vader (2015) series and followed several of the amazing side characters that were introduced in the series, including the rogue space archaeologist Dr Aphra. Dr Aphra ran between 2016 and late 2019 and followed the crazy misadventures of the good doctor as she spreads chaos across the galaxy. This series only just ended after 40 incredible issues, and it is really worth checking out. This is easily one of my top comic series at the moment, and I loved how this series overlayed a captivating character study with cool storylines, clever action and amazing humour. I loved every second I spent reading Dr Aphra, and the two volumes I have so far reviewed, Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon and A Rogue’s End, are incredible reads.

Well, that is the end of my Top Ten list. I am rather happy with how it turned out, and I think that I have included some rather interesting choices on there. I had a wonderful time coming up with this list, and I think it is something that I will come back to each year around May 4th. I imagine that my next list is going to look substantially different, as there is a huge amount of new Star Wars fiction coming out in the next year. This includes three fantastic new books from authors I read last year (Queen’s Peril, Thrawn: Ascendancy: Chaos Rising and Shadow Fall), a young adult book focused on Poe Dameron, and the books that are going to fall under the new High Republic sub-series. There are also several new Star Wars comic series starting up this year, including Star Wars (2020), Darth Vader (2020), Bounty Hunters and Dr Aphra (2020), all of which I am really looking forward to checking out. I will probably also check out some older Star Wars books in the next year, such as A New Dawn and the Aftermath trilogy, both of which I have heard things about, and I might also check out some books from the old Star Wars Legends canon. All of these should result in a ton of new entries in my next list and I may actually break it up into two separate lists, one for comics and one for novels. Until then I hope you enjoyed the list above and May the Fourth be with you. Let me know what you think of my choices and let me know what your favourite Star Wars books and comics are in the comments below.

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

On April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, List15 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, I’m veering away from the official topic (this week it was Top Ten Books I Enjoyed but Rarely Talked About), and instead choosing to revisit and update a fun post I did last year. I have always been a major fan of audiobooks, and in my mind it is often the best way to enjoy a good book. I have been lucky enough to listen to quite a substantial number of audiobooks over the years, and some of them have been quite long, often taking me weeks to get through. About a year ago, I started getting curious about all the audiobooks I had listened to, and I wanted to know which ones were the longest ones that I had every listened to. As a result, I sat down and worked out which ones had the longest run time. This turned into such an interesting endeavour; I ended up wanting to share it, and turned it into my first Top Ten Longest Audiobooks I Have Listened To list. I actually had an amazing time coming up with this list, and I ended up expanding it to cover 20 books, all of which were substantially long reads.

Now, I always intended to come back to this list and see how the new books I listened to recently stacked up against the books already on the list. In the year since I published that original list, I have managed to listen to quite a few new audiobooks, several of which had a pretty lengthy run time. As I just finished a rather substantial audiobook over the weekend, I thought that this would be a good time to update this list and see what differences have been made in the last year. The list below is going to be pretty similar to the list I posted up last year, just with a few new additions added in, and I’ll make sure to highlight them. This will no doubt change the order around a little, and I am interested in seeing how the new list turns out.

Top Twenty List:

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

WAY OF KINGS MM REV FINAL.indd

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

The Wise Mans Fear Cover

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

Magician Cover

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

A Game of Thrones Cover

5. Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurst, narrated by Tania Rodrigues – 32 hours and 1 minutes

Mistress of the Empire Cover

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

Inheritance Cover

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

Servant of the Empire Cover

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

the ember blade cover

The first new entry on this list is the rather good fantasy novel by Chris Wooding, The Ember Blade. The Ember Blade was an interesting-sounding novel that I had included on my Top Ten Books I Wish I Read in 2018 list and which I managed to get around to listening to last year. It took me a while to get through, but it was really worth it, as this proved to be an excellent book that I really enjoyed. I ended up including this novel on a couple of my best-of lists of 2019, including my Top pre-2019 Books list, and I included Wooding on my Top New-To-Me Authors list. I am eagerly awaiting a sequel to this great book, although nothing has been announced so far.

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

Brisingr Cover

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

Howling Dark Cover

This was another fantastic audiobook I checked out last year. Howling Dark was the incredible sequel to Empire of Silence, and I ended up having an amazing time listening to this second audiobook from Ruocchio. This book was one of my top books and audiobooks of 2019, and I strongly recommend checking out its audiobook format. I am looking forward to the third book in the series, Demon in White, which is set for release later this year, and I may end up listening to the audiobook version of that as well.

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

The Name of the Wind Cover

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

House of Earth and Blood Cover

The latest addition to this list, I only finished House of Earth and Blood a couple of days ago. This was an incredible audiobook that took me a few weeks to get through, but it was really worth it. I ended up really enjoying this outstanding novel, and I’m hoping to get a review up of it in a few days, but it comes highly recommended from me.

13. 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

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

Red Seas Under Red Skies

15. The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page – 23 hours and 43 minutes

The Republic of Thieves Cover

16. Eldest by Christopher Paolini, narrated by Gerrard Doyle – 23 hours and 29 minutes

Eldest Cover

17. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey – 22 hours and 38 minutes

Before they are Hanged

18. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey – 22 hours and 15 minutes

The Blade Itself

19. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page – 21 hours and 59 minutes

The Lies of Locke Lamora Cover

20. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale – 21 hours and 36 minutes

Deathly Hallows

Hmm, well that turned out to be a rather interesting result. I was honestly expecting more than three new entries onto the list, but those were the only ones that made the cut. Ironically, three substantial books I had listened to throughout the year, Red Metal by Mark Greaney and Hunter Ripley Rawlings, A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie and Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey would have made the old top twenty list, if they hadn’t been booted off by the new entries above. Still, the three new additions altered the list a bit, and it was interesting to see that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cold Iron and Promise of Blood ended up getting knocked out of the top twenty.

Well, that’s it for this latest Top Ten Tuesday. I plan to revisit this list in another year or so and I will make an effort to listen to some additional audiobooks with a long run time in order to add them to the list. In the meantime, let me know what you think of the results above; I am curious to see what the longest audiobook you ever listened to was. Also, if you are stuck at home, you might want to check out some of the novels above. Each of them are really good and can help pass the time, especially in their audiobook formats, which are a lot of fun to listen to.

Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

On April 4, 2020March 7, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery4 Comments

Rules for Perfect Murders Cover

Publisher: Faber & Faber (Trade Paperback – 3 March 2020)

Series: Standalone

Length: 272 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon Book Depository

In a mood for a complex and rather clever murder mystery? Make sure to check out Rules for Perfect Murders, the curious latest release from bestselling crime fiction author Peter Swanson.

Across the greater Boston area a series of unsolved murders have been committed. None of the deaths appear to have anything in common, except for the fact that each one bears a similarity to a famous literary murder. However, there is one other tenuous link that could tie the murders together, and FBI agent Gwen Mulvey is curious enough to meet with the owner of the Old Devils mystery bookshop, Malcolm Kershaw, to test her theory.

Years ago, Malcolm posted an article on his bookshop’s blog titled Eight Perfect Murders, detailing the eight homicides in literary fiction that he thought were the cleverest ways to kill someone and get away with it. This list features some of the most devious cases ever conceived by some of the history’s greatest mystery writers, from Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders to Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Now it appears that several of the killings match the unique selection of books that Malcolm listed all those years ago. Is the killer using his post as a guide for his gruesome work?

Working with Agent Mulvey, Malcolm soon discovers a link between himself and the killings, as one of the victims was a former customer of his store. Convinced that the killer is someone he knows, Malcolm attempts to find them before they finish off his list. However, not everything is as it seems, and Malcolm must come to terms with some of his darkest secrets if he is to find the killer stalking him from the shadows.

This is the sixth novel from Swanson, who debuted back in 2014 with The Girl with a Clock for a Heart. I have not previously had the pleasure of reading any of Swanson’s books before; however, I really loved the concept behind this novel, and thought it would be a fun one to check out. Rules for Perfect Murders, which was also released as Eight Perfect Murders, is an intriguing and compelling novel that presents the reader with a fantastic murder mystery while also acting as a love letter to the murder mystery genre. This turned out to be an excellent read, which I was able to power through in just over a day.

I rather enjoyed the way that Swanson wrote Rules for Perfect Murders, mainly because he emulated some of the classic murder mystery novels which he clearly loves throughout the story. The book is told in first person, from the point of view of the protagonist, Malcolm Kershaw, and it is made to represent a manuscript, recalling the events that he experienced. The story than details the investigation into the murders that are occurring in the present day, while also diving back into the protagonist’s past, while also featuring a number of examinations about elements of the protagonist’s world, including his opinion about certain mystery novels. This first-person perspective really fits the tone of the book extremely well, and Swanson did an excellent job winding the various elements of the story, including the protagonist’s flashbacks, into a tight and captivating read. The various writing methods that Swanson employs throughout the book are direct references to a number of famous mystery novels, as the fictional author of the book is inspired by them as he writes. It was really fun to see the protagonist discussing the pros and cons of things like unreliable narrators, red herrings and other elements, right when he was utilising them in his manuscript. At the same time, the way that parts of the story go down, are very similar to some classic mystery stories. All of this helps create a very unique tale, and I think that Swanson did an amazing job bringing this clever concept together.

In the midst of Swanson’s homages and descriptions of classic and great mystery novels lies a rather good murder mystery storyline, as the protagonist attempts to find out who using his blog post as a basis for the killing spree. Swanson is able to produce a thrilling and clever mystery, full of twists, false leads and intriguing motive that tie into the protagonist’s complex past. It was also rather interesting to see the killer craft modern murders out of the classic scenarios featured in the fictional Eight Perfect Murders list, especially as these elements served as a complicating factor in the investigation. I thought that the end result of the mystery was pretty satisfying, and while I was able to make some guesses about parts of the protagonist’s past, the identity of the murderer was a bit of a surprise for me. I had a fantastic time getting to the bottom of this mystery, and the compelling murders that Swanson painted did an amazing job catching my attention and interest, which ensured that I powered through Rules for Perfect Murders in short order.

In addition to utilising a number of classic murder mystery tropes and techniques in Rules for Perfect Murders, Swanson also spends considerable time discussing or analysing a number of classic and iconic murder mystery novels. Swanson really dives in and does several mini reviews of a swath of great murder mystery novels, providing what I assume are his own opinions, while also examining the book’s featured murders, the strengths and weakness of their stories, the cultural impact that they had and so much more. The main focus is on the books that appeared on the fictional Eight Perfect Murders list which is made up of such classics as The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne, Malice Aforethought by Anthony Berkeley Cox, The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie, Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith, The Drowner by John D. MacDonald, Deathtrap by Ira Levin and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. However, Swanson also references and discusses a bunch of other mystery novels, the plots of which or the lessons they contained often having some impact or bearing on the story. I loved this dive into each of these mystery novels, and I found it really cool that Swanson was able to insert his own opinions and obvious love from each of these books into this story.

Due to the author’s examination of all these classic novels, Rules for Perfect Murders is highly recommended for those hardcore murder mystery fans who are familiar with the books featured on the list, who will really love all the references and discussions that Swanson features throughout his novel. Those who are particularly knowledgeable about murder mystery stories will be able to guess where the story is going based on the literary clues the author leaves throughout the narrative. At the same time, Rules for Perfect Murders is also a great book for readers who are less familiar with these mystery novels. I personally have not read any of the eight books on the fictional list, although I was familiar with how some of the plots went. However, despite this lack of knowledge, I was in no way disadvantaged while reading Rules for Perfect Murders, as Swanson gives concise and knowledgeable summaries of each of the relevant books, which allowed me to follow the plot without any issues. I was able to appreciate most of the references that the author included throughout the book, and I am tempted to go out and read some of the featured books, as most of them sounded extremely interesting. I think that this examination and utilisation of classic murder mysteries works well with story Swanson came up with, and I honestly had fun learning more about these books and seeing the impact that they can have on a modern story.

It was kind of cool to read this novel from the perspective of a blogger and book reviewer, as this is novel written by a book lover, about a book lover. I found myself relating to the protagonist in a number of ways, and his observations about the joy books can bring really resonated with me. His habit of analysing the various books he reads is something many reviewers are going to appreciate, and I really liked that this novel is based around a best-of list. As someone who regularly produces top ten lists, I had a fun time with this concept, and I couldn’t help imagining what I would do in a similar situation (gasp, what if someone used my one of my lists to commit some crimes? Think about all the Star Wars themed murders that would happen!). I also had a good chuckle when the protagonist starting reminiscing about all the troubles he had creating his lists, such as leaving key books off, going back and reconsidering his choices and troubles with including entries that technically don’t belong on the list, as I have been there multiple times. This was a fun part of the book, which I rather enjoyed, although it didn’t take away from the darker tone of the book’s murder mystery and character elements.

Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson was a rather interesting and unique read that I am glad I decided to check out. Swanson crafts a fascinating and captivating tale, that not only contains a fantastic central whodunnit, but which acts as an amazing homage to the murder mystery genre. Filled with some excellent and entertaining elements, this is an outstanding read which I had a great time reading. This is a book perfect for all murder mystery fans, Swanson is definitely on my radar from now on, and I look forward to seeing what he writes next.

Amazon Book Depository

Top Ten Tuesday – Books to While Away the Lockdown

On March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn List2 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 was Ten Signs You’re a Book Lover. While that did sound like an interesting topic, I thought I would do something a little different. Today was actually my first day working from home due to the current coronavirus outbreak. While my city is not officially locked down yet, I am going to be spending a lot of time indoors for the next couple of months, which I fully intend to use as an opportunity to catch up on some reading that I have been meaning to do. Unfortunately, it is very likely that I am going to get a limited number of new books coming in, due to businesses shutting down and release dates being knocked back (the main bookshops in my city literally just announced they were closing their doors today). Luckily, I have a huge number of books already on my shelf which I have been hoping to read for some time. As a result, I thought I would take this opportunity to list the top ten books from previous years that I want to go back and read during this homebound period.

Over the last couple of years, I have been building up a massive collection of books which I have been meaning to read. This is a pretty eclectic mixture of novels from across the various genres, featuring an interesting range of topics and authors. I am hopefully going to get around to reading all of them at some point, but for this list I went through and selected the top ten (with an honourable mentions section) that I want to try and check out first. I figure that this list will be a good focusing tool, and hopefully by the time this whole crisis is over I will have managed to get through a reasonable chunk of them. For this list, I am limiting my choices to those books that I physically have on my shelf right now, and I won’t be including books that I want to read that I have to go and buy. I have to admit that this is a pretty random collection of books, and I haven’t always chosen the best books on the shelf. These are the ones that I want to read first, either because I enjoyed the previous entries in the series, I have heard good things about them or because the plot sounds really interesting and I want to finally check it out. So let’s see which books made the list.

Honourable Mentions:

State of Fear by Tim Ayliffe – 22 July 2019

State of Fear Cover

The sequel to the excellent 2018 Australian thriller The Greater Good.

The Warehouse by Rob Hart – 13 August 2019

The Warehouse Cover

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris – 20 August 2019

The Second Sleep Cover

Top Ten List (By Release Date):

The Deathless by Peter Newman – 14 June 2018

the deathless cover

This first entry on my list is rather intriguing-sounding fantasy novel that I picked up a couple of years ago but never got a chance to read. I have been quite keen to check this out for a while and I even featured it on my Top Ten Books I Wish I Read in 2018 list. Newman has already written two fantastic-sounding sequels to this book, so I definitely need to pick up my game and have a go at reading The Deathless.

Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe – 10 July 2018

Watch the Girls Cover

This next book is a rather cool-sounding thriller novel, which I rather regret not reading back in 2018. I really liked the interesting concept that Watch the Girls had, and I always thought that this would be quite a fun book to read.

The Winter Road by Adrian Selby – 13 November 2018

The Winter Road Cover

Now this is one that I have been really trying to read for ages. The Winter Road was probably one of the more awesome-sounding fantasy novels of 2018, with amazing plot about a massive merchant caravan trying to get through a dangerous wilderness. I honestly have no idea how I never got around to reading this one, and I will be extremely happy if I finally get a chance in the next few months.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons – 5 February 2019

The Ruin of Kings Cover

The Ruin of Kings is one of the biggest fantasy releases of last year, and I have been hoping to check it out since I first got it. Unfortunately, it has just been sitting unread on my shelf instead, even though I included it on my Top Ten Books I Wish I Read in 2019 list. The third and final book in this series is just around the corner, so I really cannot afford to waste any more time with this one.

The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean – 11 July 2019

The Bear Pit Cover

The Bastille Spy by C. S. Quinn – 1 August 2019

The Bastille Spy Cover

This was one of the more fascinating historical fiction releases of last year, and I am truly sorry I did not get around to enjoying The Bastille Spy. Following a female British spy who helps free and smuggle noblemen from revolutionary France, this book sounded absolutely incredible. I really need to have a look at this book soon, as the sequel is hopefully coming out soon.

Magebane by Stephen Aryan – 6 August 2019

Magebane Cover

The third and final book in the Age of Dread trilogy, Magebane sounded like an extremely fun and explosive fantasy novel, which I did hope to check out last year. I really enjoyed the previous novel in the series, Magefall, so I have high hopes for this latest book.

Grave Importance by Vivian Shaw – 20 August 2019

Grave Importance Cover

Duplicity by Richard Evans – 1 September 2019

Duplicity Cover

Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton – 29 October 2019

Salvation Lost Cover
Well that’s my list. I am hopeful that I will get a chance to check out all of the books featured above in the next few months, and I am sure that they will keep me extremely entertained and sane during my time at home. I hope everyone is staying safe during these hard times, and I wish you all luck during the difficult coming year. In the meantime, let me know which of the books above you enjoyed and what novels you are hoping to read during your lockdown period.

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 -Books with Single-Word Titles

On March 3, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn List3 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants are tasked with listing books with single-word titles.

It turns out that I have read quite a few such books in the last couple of years, and I was actually a little surprised by how many there were. In order to cull this list down to 10, I decided to focus on the best single-word title books I have featured on this blog and go from there. Many of the entries on this list were amongst some of the best books I have read in recent years, and most of them have featured on my Top Ten Books lists for 2018 and 2019.

I may have been a bit cheeky and added in more than then 10 books on this list. In instances where authors decided to give every book in their series a single-word title, I may have blended a few books together into one entry, especially if I loved each of the books in the series equally. I have also included a rather generous Honourable Mentions section as well, just to showcase how many amazing single-word title books have recently been published. While this is cheating somewhat, I think it makes this list more interesting so I’m sticking with it.

Honourable Mentions:

Timeless/Boundless by R. A. Salvatore

Timeless and Boundless Cover

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

Supernova Cover

Commodus by Simon Turney

Commodus Cover

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Foundryside Cover

Top Ten List (No Particular Order):

Eragon/Eldest/Brisingr/Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Inheritance Cycle

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn

Thrawn Cover

Legend by David Gemmell

Legend

Skyward/Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Skyward, Starsight cover

Rage by Johnathan Maberry

Rage Cover

Planetside/Spaceside by Michael Mammay

Planetside, Spaceside Covers

Tombland by C. J. Sansom

Tombland Cover

Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton

Salvation Cover

Restoration by Angela Slatter

Restoration Cover

Deceit by Richard Evans

Deceit Cover

And that rounds out my latest Top Ten list. I think it turned out pretty well, and there is an interesting range of different novels there. Let me know which of the above novels you enjoyed as well as what your favourite books with single-word titles are in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on my TBR I Predict Will Be 5 Star Reads

On February 4, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn List14 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly series that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. In this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, we need to list the top ten upcoming books on our to-read list that we think will be five-star reads. To that end, I have scoured through those upcoming books that I want to read for those exceptional sounding entries that I think I will end up awarding a full five stars rating to.

There are actually quite a few novels I am planning to read that I think have the potential to get a five-star rating from me. I have already identified several of these books in my Waiting on Wednesday posts, as well as in my prior Top Ten Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020 list. Not only do all of these books have amazing-sounding plots, but quite a few of them are either written by an author I really like or part of a series that contains entries that I have previously awarded five-star reviews to.

There were quite a few upcoming books that I felt could have been included this list, but I ended up culling it down to my top ten favourites (in addition to my usual honourable mentions section). I decided to only include those books whose titles and plot synopsis have been officially revealed, as that made it easier to determine whether I am likely to award it a five-star rating. This does mean that I had to exclude several books that are coming out in the next year which have not been officially announced or which we know very little detail about. This includes sequels to some of my favourite books of 2019, include Rage, The Bone Ships, Starsight and A Little Hatred, which, while I know nothing about them now, I am extremely confident that they are going to be incredibly awesome. In the end, I was able to come up with a great list of books that I am happy with, so let us get to it.

Honourable Mentions:

The God Game by Danney Tobey – 14 January 2020

The only book on this list that I currently have a copy of, The God Game sounds like an amazing read, and I have heard some great things about it from some other reviewers. I am planning to read this book next, and based on its cool plot, I think this book has a real shot of getting a full five stars from me.

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett – 21 April 2020

The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell – 7 May 2020

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson – 25 June 2020

Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s debut book, Blood & Sugar, was an outstanding piece of historical crime fiction that got a full five stars from me and was one of my favourite debuts of 2019. This second book is set to explore another intriguing murder in 18^th century London, and I am hopeful that the author’s second novel will be just as good as her first.

Top Ten List (By Release Date):

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch – 20 February 2020

Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn – 7 May 2020

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

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso – 2 June 2020

Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio – 9 July 2020

Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist – 14 July 2020

This is the sequel to 2018’s excellent King of Ashes, which is written by one of my favourite authors, Raymond E. Feist. I am a huge Feist fan and I have been looking forward to this book for a long time. I really enjoyed the intriguing new story that Feist came up with in his previous novel and I cannot wait to see where the story goes from here.

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It by K. J. Parker (cover not yet released) – 25 August 2020

One of my favourite books of 2019 was Parker’s exceptional fantasy novel, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, which featured a desperate attempt to save a besieged city by a bunch of engineers and their duplicitous commander. This new novel, How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It, appears to contain a similar story, except that this time the book will focus on a playwright whose talents are utilised to win a siege. Based on how incredible his previous novel with, I am really excited for this upcoming book, and I fully expect it to be another funny and compelling five-star read.

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett – 15 September 2020

There is absolutely no way that the new epic novel from Ken Follett is not going to get a full five stars from me when it comes out later this year. Follett is another one of my favourite authors, and he has produced some incredible pieces of historical fiction over the years. The Evening and the Morning is the prequel to Follett’s iconic The Pillars of the Earth, and is set over 100 before during the Dark Ages. This is sure to be another captivating examination of history that explores the lives of several great characters over a period of years, producing a truly compelling story. This is going to be a massive read, but I am sure I will deeply enjoy every single page of it.
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – 17 September 2020

The next book on my list is an incredible-sounding novel from Australian author Jay Kristoff. Kristoff, who is best known for his young adult fiction, is working on an adult fantasy novel which focuses on a world where vampires rule after the sun failed to rise one day. This book will apparently chronicle the life of the last vampire hunter, who attempted to save the world but is now imprisoned by the vampires and awaiting his execution. I have to admit that I really like the sound of this upcoming book, and I think that Kristoff is onto a real winner with this intriguing story.

Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke – 1 December 2020

Hawke’s debut novel, City of Lies, was a fantastic story about a family of poison experts as they tried to win a siege and keep their king safe from treachery, which was easily one of my favourite books of 2018. I have been looking forward to Hawke’s sequel for a while now, and Hollow Empire is currently set for release later this year. I have really high hopes for this sequel, especially as Hawke is apparently branching out into witchcraft and war in this new book.

Well, that’s it for this week’s list. I truly think all of the above books have the potential to be five-star reads, and I cannot wait to get my hands on all of them. Let me know what you think of the above books in the comments below, and tell me which upcoming pieces of fiction you think have the potential to be five-star reads.

Top Ten Tuesday – Unseen Library’s Top Australian Fiction

On January 28, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, List14 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 the assigned topic was a freebie associated with book covers; however, I decided to do something a little different. Because it was Australia Day on Sunday, I thought it would be good to highlight some of the best pieces of Australian fiction I have read in the last couple of years. To that end, I am raiding the Australian fiction category of the Unseen Library and presenting my Top Ten favourite entries from it.

Each year Australian authors produce a huge range of amazing fiction across the various genres, and I am usually lucky enough to receive copies of some of these from the local publishers. As a result, I tend to read a lot of Australian fiction (which I am defining here as either fiction written by an Australian author or fiction with an Australian setting) most of which turn out to be pretty awesome reads which I review either here on in the Canberra Weekly. I am happy to once again highlight some of the top pieces of Australian fiction I have reviewed since I started the Unseen Library, as several of these outstanding books might not have gotten the international attention they deserved.

Due to huge plethora of fantastic Australian fiction that has fallen into my lap over the last couple of years, this list actually turned out to be a really hard one to pull together. I had way too many choices when it came to the best pieces Australian fiction I have read from the last couple of years, so in a few places I have combined a couple of books into one entry. In the end, I was able to work out what my top ten favourite pieces were, although I did also have to include a generous honourable mentions section. So let us see how this list turned out.

Honourable Mentions:

In a Great Southern Land by Mary-Anne O’Connor

In a Great Southern Land Cover

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Aurora Rising Cover

Ghosts of the Past by Tony Park

Ghosts of the Past Cover

Blood in the Dust by Bill Swiggs

Blood in the Dust Cover

Top Ten List (No Particular Order):

Tomorrow series by John Marsden

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There was absolutely no way that I could write a list about my favourite Australian fiction without having John Marsden’s Tomorrow series at the very top. Individually the books in the Tomorrow series are amongst some of the best pieces of Australian fiction I have ever read, and together they are a perfect series. Words cannot describe how much I love this amazing series (although I tried really hard in the review linked above) and I have no doubt that it is going to remain my favourite Australian series for a very long time.

Deceit by Richard Evans

Deceit Cover

Deceit is an extremely clever thriller revolving around Australian politics that came out in 2018. Thanks to its incredible realism and excellent story, I really enjoyed this book when it came out, and it ended up getting an honourable mention in my Top Ten Favourite Books of 2018 list. I absolutely loved this book and I have been meaning to read the sequel, Duplicity, for a little while now, especially as I suspect I will be just as good as this first fantastic book.

City of Lies by Sam Hawke

City of Lies Cover

Another book that featured on my Top Ten Favourite Books of 2018 list. City of Lies was an incredible fantasy debut which featured a superb story about a family of poison experts trying to keep their king alive during a siege. This was an awesome read, and I cannot wait for the sequel to this book, which is hopefully coming out later this year.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

The Escape Room Cover

The Escape Room was the second book from rising thriller star Megan Goldin, who has gotten a lot of positive attention over the last couple of years. The Escape Room was a very compelling novel that contained a clever revenge plot against a group of ruthless Wall Street traders. Goldin did a fantastic job with The Escape Room, and her upcoming book, The Night Swim, will hopefully be one of the reading highlights of the second half of 2020.

Restoration by Angela Slatter

Restoration Cover

Restoration was the third book in Slatter’s Verity Fassbinder series (following on from Corpselight), which follow the titular character of Verity Fassbinder as she investigates magical crimes in modern day Brisbane. Restoration was a really fun read that got an easy five stars from me due to its incredible story, great use of an Australian setting and fantastic humour. Slatter outdid herself with Restoration, and I hope we get more Verity Fassbinder novels in the future.

All-New Wolverine series by Tom Taylor

All-New Wolverine Volume 1 Cover

Tom Taylor is an Australian-born author who has been doing some amazing work with some of the major comic book companies over the last few years. While I have read a bunch of his stuff (such as his run on X-Men Red), my favourite piece of his work has to be the All-New Wolverine series. All-New Wolverine was a deeply entertaining series that placed one of my favourite characters, X-23, into the iconic role of Wolverine. Not only did this series do justice to both X-23 and Wolverine’s legacy (before his inevitable resurrection) with some well-written and heavy storylines, but it was also a lot of fun, especially thanks to the introduction of Honey Badger.

The Queen’s Colonial and The Queen’s Tiger by Peter Watt

Peter Watt Covers

Peter Watt has long been one of the top authors of Australian historical fiction, and I have been a big fan of his work for a couple of years now. While I was tempted to include his Frontier series (make sure to check out my reviews for While the Moon Burns and From the Stars Above), in the end I thought it would be better to feature his current Colonial series. The Queen’s Colonial and The Queen’s Tiger are excellent pieces of historical fiction containing an exciting and compelling story.

After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson

After the Lights Go Out

After the Lights Go Out is one of the few pieces of Australian young adult fiction which I feel matches up to the Tomorrow series in terms of quality and substance. This book about a family of survivalists being thrust into an actual doomsday scenario was extremely captivating, and I loved this extraordinary novel. Really worth checking out.

Half Moon Lake by Kirsten Alexander

Half Moon Lake Cover

Half Moon Lake is an amazing historical drama that was one of my favourite debuts from 2019. This book is a clever historical drama that was inspired by the real-life historical disappearance of a child and the tragic events that followed. A gripping and memorable book that comes highly recommended.

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

The Last Smile in Sunder City

The most recent addition to my Australian fiction category, The Last Smile in Sunder City is another impressive debut which I had an incredible time reading. Arnold has come up with an excellent mystery set in an inventive new fantasy world with a conflicted central protagonist. This was an amazing first book from Arnold and I will hopefully be able to read his follow-up books in the future.

Well, that concludes my list. I am so happy that I got the chance to highlight some of the great pieces of historical fiction I have been fortunate enough to enjoy over the last couple of years. Each of the above books are exceptional reads, and I had a wonderful time reading all of them. While I was a little disappointed that I had to leave a few great books off this list, such as Greenlight by Benjamin Stevenson, DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff and The Secret Runners of New York by Matthew Reilly, I really like how my list turned out. I think that I will come back and update this list in the future, probably close to next year’s Australia Day. I am highly confident that this next version of my list will contain some new books from 2020, and I look forward to seeing which pieces of upcoming Australian fiction I am really going to enjoy next. In the meantime, I hope all my fellow Australians had a great long weekend and please let me know which pieces of Australian fiction are favourites in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Wish I read in 2019

On January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 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. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, I am going to take a look at the top ten books I wish I had read in 2019. 2019 was an absolutely great year for books and I managed to get through a massive pile of fantastic reads (make sure to check out my top reads of 2019 list). However, there are always going to be some outstanding releases that you miss, and 2019 was filled with some amazing books that I wish I had gotten a chance to read. So, I thought I would take the time to highlight which 2019 releases I most regret not getting the chance to read. Hopefully by including them on this list, I will encourage myself to read some of them throughout this year.

Readers of my blog might remember that I did a similar list to this at the start of last year, with my Top Ten Books I Wish I Read in 2018 list. For this earlier list, I looked at which books I most regretted not reading in 2018, and made it a priority to try and get through them at some point. I actually made a little bit of progress getting through the books on this list last year, as I ended up reading three out of the 10 books that featured on this earlier list (like I said, a little bit of progress). Each of these three books that I ended up reading in 2019, which included Cold Iron by Miles Cameron, The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding and King of Assassins by R. J. Barker (review still pending), were extremely epic books, and each of them received a full five out of five stars from me. I am still going to try and read some of the other books that were featured on this 2018 list in the future, but it is definitely time to look to the releases of 2019. Hopefully I will enjoy some of the inclusions on this new list as much as the books I went back to check out last year.

For this list any book with a 2019 release date that I have not yet read is eligible to be included. I had a feeling before I started that this will be a pretty diverse list as there were quite a few intriguing-sounding novels out there that I did not get a chance to try out. It turned out that there were quite a few books out there that I wish I had read last year, but I was eventually able to work out what my top ten were. I think that each of the novels featured on this list have a great amount of potential, especially those where I have already read an earlier book in the series. So, let us get to the list.

Honourable Mentions:

Grave Importance by Vivian Shaw

The Russian by Ben Coes

Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

Top Ten List:

The Institute by Stephen King

For the second year in a row, the latest Stephen King tops my list of books I wish I had read. While The Institute sounded extremely interesting, I just could not fit it into my reading schedule. I think that I will really have to try and get through this book at some point this year.

The Ruin of Kings and The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons

I’m going to do a double feature for this second entry and feature the first two books in Jenn Lyons’s A Chorus of Dragons series. Both of these books were released last year, and they sounded like particularly intriguing pieces of fantasy fiction that I really wanted to read. Unfortunately, I had to prioritise other books in front of The Ruin of Kings, and I did not want to take a look at The Name of All Things until I’d gotten through the first book. The end result is that I didn’t read either of them, which is a real shame. I must try and have a go at reading both of them this year, especially as the third book in the series, The Memory of Souls (which has a rather cool picture of an elephant on its front cover), is set for release in August.

Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton

This is probably the most surprising novel I did not read last year. Salvation Lost is the sequel to 2018’s Salvation, which was one of my favourite books in 2018. I have been meaning to read this sequel since about July, and yet somehow, I keep completely failing to even pick it up. I will hopefully get to this one very soon, and it is probably the book on this list I am most likely to read next.

The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean

The Bear Pit is another book whose preceding novel, Destroying Angel, I found to be pretty spectacular. I was really looking forward to The Bear Pit, especially as it featured a really cool sounding mystery in a fascinating historical period. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a copy of this book (the one copy I saw in the shop was damaged, the horror, the horror) and so didn’t get around to reading it. I will read this book at some point in the future and I cannot wait to dive into another one of MacLean’s compelling and complex murder mystery storylines.

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

An Alien book, written by horror extraordinaire Mira Grant! How have I not read this book yet? I was really looking forward to Alien: Echo earlier in the year, especially after I enjoyed Grant’s last novel, Into the Drowning Deep. I actually have a copy of this book currently sitting on my shelf, silently judging me, and I will have to carve out some time to get through this one.

We Are the Dead by Mike Shackle

We Are the Dead was a rather intriguing-sounding 2019 fantasy debut that I very much regret not getting a copy of. I have heard some pretty amazing things about this book, and I really wish that I had managed to check it out. The sequel, A Fool’s Hope, is set for release in July, and I will have to make an effort and read We Are the Dead before this second book comes out.

Duplicity by Richard Evans

This was the second book in Evans’s Democracy series, the first book of which, Deceit, was also featured on my favourite reads of 2018 list. Deceit was an excellent political thriller that expertly portrayed chaotic events that occur within Australia’s Parliament House. I was really looking forward to the sequel, especially as it was going to look at Australia’s electoral process, but unfortunately I just didn’t get a chance to read it. This is another one I am probably going to try and read in the next couple of weeks, and I think it is going to be a really outstanding piece of Australian fiction.

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C. J. Tudor

This was fantastic-sounding novel that I heard some good things about from other reviewers. The Taking of Annie Thorne, also titled The Hiding Place, was another dark thriller from Tudor, acclaimed author of The Chalk Man, which featured another of the author’s clever-sounding plots. I really want to check this one out in its audiobook format as it was narrated by Richard Armitage, and I look forward to hearing him tell the story.

Star Wars: Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott

Somehow I failed to read all the Star Wars books that were released last year, which is just disappointing. Dooku: Jedi Lost is a deeply intriguing Star Wars novel that somehow failed to turn up on my radar until after its release. This piece of Star Wars fiction began life exclusively as an audio production, although a printed version has since been produced. The book examines the life of Star Wars antagonist Count Dooku and shows why he left the Jedi Order and how he was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. Because it is a Star Wars novel, I already know I am going to love it, and it is pretty much guaranteed that I will listen to this at some point. I am really looking forward to learning more about the history of Count Dooku, and from the sounds of it, this book will have some strong ties to one of my favourite Star Was book of 2019, Master & Apprentice.

The Wolf’s Call by Anthony Ryan

The final book on this list is The Wolf’s Call by bestselling fantasy author Anthony Ryan. The Wolf’s Call is the first book in Ryan’s new Raven’s Blade series, which follows the adventures of a legendary warrior forced to fight another bloody war. This book has a really intriguing-sounding plot and received some very high praise from reviewers, so I will have to try and read it at some point. I might actually read the three books in Ryan’s Raven’s Shadow series first, as they are set in the same world.

It looks like I have a lot catch-up reading to do if I am going to make a dent in this list. There are some truly amazing-sounding novels on this list and I fully intend to get through all of them at some point, although with all the outstanding books coming out in 2020, it might take me a little time. In the meantime, let me know what books you most regret not reading in 2019 in the comments below.