WWW Wednesday – 8 June 2022

On June 8, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW Wednesday4 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading?

Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist (Hardcover)

Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen (Audiobook)

The Sandman – Act II by Neil Gaiman (Audiobook)

What did you recently finish reading?

Warhammer: Broken Honour by Robert Earl

Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf by William King

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

The Sandman – Act I by Neil Gaiman (Audiobook)

What do you think you’ll read next?

Against all Gods by Miles Cameron

That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on My Winter 2022 TBR

On May 31, 2022 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. The official Top Ten Tuesday topic for this week was around comfort reads, however, I decided to instead move up my quarterly post about the best upcoming books to read (TBR) for the following three months. This is a regular post I do at the start of each season, and as this Tuesday is just before Winter (Summer for folks in the Northern Hemisphere), this is the ideal time to put this up.

For this list, I have come up with 10 of the most anticipated novels that are coming out between 1 June 2022 and 31 August 2022. There are quite a few very cool novels set for release in the next few months that I am extremely excited for, including some of my most anticipated books and fantasy novels of the year. Due to how impressive some of these upcoming books are, it took me a little while to finalise my list but I was eventually able to whittle it down into a Top Ten list (with a few honourable mentions). I have primarily used the Australian publication dates to reflect when I will be able to get these awesome novels, and these might be somewhat different to the rest of the world. I have previously discussed a number of these books before in prior Top Ten Tuesdays and Waiting on Wednesday articles and I think all of them will turn out to be pretty incredible reads. I have extremely excited for the next three months as quite a few up these upcoming reads are easily going to be amongst the best books of 2022.

Honourable Mentions:

Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty by M. K. England – 19 July 2022

Another awesome tie-in to the beloved Firefly franchise, What Makes Us Mighty is England’s first entry in this series and will see the crew stuck amid a deadly revolution. This sounds like an exciting and fun read that I will no doubt have a blast with.

Seventeen: Last Man Standing by John Brownlow – 26 July 2022

The Pride by Tony Park – 26 July 2022

Australia’s leading thriller author, Tony Park, returns with another intense and action-packed adventure set in Africa with The Pride. This time his recurring protagonist, Sonja Kurtz, must contend with gangsters and poachers across multiple countries as she finds herself dragged into another deadly conspiracy. Easily going to be one of the best Australia novels of 2022, I am extremely excited for this book.

Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis – 16 August 2022

Top Ten List:

Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist – 1 June 2022

The Omega Factor by Steve Berry – 7 June 2022

In the Shadow of Lighting by Brian McClellan – 21 June 2022

The Martyr by Anthony Ryan – 28 June 2022

Upgrade by Blake Crouch – 12 July 2022

One of the leading names in science fiction, Blake Crouch, will soon unleash his next mind bending, futuristic thriller with Upgrade, sure to be one of the best books of the year. Crouch’s latest novel will deal with genetic manipulation as a new protagonist finds himself being upgraded against his will as he is dragged into a terrible, world-ending plot. I have some major hopes for this book, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher – 19 July 2022

The Accomplice by Steve Cavanagh – 26 July 2022

Glacier’s Edge by R. A. Salvatore – 9 August 2022

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin – 16 August 2022

All of Our Demise by Amanda Foody and Christine Herman – 30 August 2022

Well, that is the end of my Top Ten list. I think it turned out pretty well and it does a good job of capturing all my most anticipated books for the next three months. Each of the above should be extremely epic, and I cannot wait to read each of them soon. Let me know which of the above you are most excited for and stay tuned for reviews of them in the next few months. In the meantime, it looks like I have quite a few books to get through soon and they should all be pretty awesome.

Waiting on Wednesday – Master of Furies and Glacier’s Edge

On May 18, 2022August 24, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Waiting on Wednesday10 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. In this week’s Waiting on Wednesday I check out some awesome upcoming novels from two of my favourite all-time fantasy authors.

Out of all the fantasy authors currently writing, there are two in particularly who I will always make time for in my reading schedule no matter how busy I am. This is because I am a major old-school fan of these authors, as I have been reading them for decades and they were responsible for some of my first major obsession with fantasy fiction. These two authors are Raymond E. Feist and R. A. Salvatore, both of whom are insanely talented masters of the fantasy genre who have substantial number of books under their belts. I have so much love both authors and I have honestly read most of their respective works over the years and enjoyed every word of them.

Feist is best known for his epic Riftwar Cycle, a massive connected series that saw a classic fantasy world invaded by various beings from across a connected series of universes. Starting off with Magician and incorporating, amongst others The Empire trilogy (cowritten by Jenny Wurst), this is an exceptional series, and one that all true fantasy fans need to check out. Salvatore on the other hand has a bit more of a diverse writing portfolio having produced a couple of intriguing and connected series throughout his career. While he has done some substantial work on his Corona universe, such as his recent The Coven trilogy (featuring the outstanding Child of a Mad God, Reckoning of Fallen Gods and Song of the Risen Gods), Salvatore will always be best known for his Drizzt Do’Urden novels. Set in the Forgotten Realms shared universe, the Drizzt Do’Urden novels encompasses multiple connected trilogies and series, all focused on Salvatore’s iconic Drow protagonist and his friends, as they go on various fantasy adventures through a dangerous landscape. Both authors have created some great works over the years and luckily for me they are both going strong and creating some intriguing new works, including two great books for later this year.

Master of Furies Cover

Amazon Book Depository

The first of these books is Master of the Furies by Raymond E. Feist which is currently set for release in July. Master of the Furies is the third and final book in the Firemane Saga, an excellent series in Feist’s new fantasy universe that features some classic elements as various compelling characters find themselves thrust into a vast and mysterious conflict. I have had a brilliant time with the first two entries in the series, King of Ashes and Queen of Storms, with both novels containing a fantastic narrative, clever world building and interesting characters. After the fantastic and game changing events of Queen of Storms, the series will wrap up with Master of Furies, but it sounds like there is still plenty of epic adventure to come.

Synopsis:

From King of Ashes to Queen of Storms, it’s all built up to this–the thrilling conclusion to legendary New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist’s epic Firemane saga.

War has swept across Marquensas. Ruthless raiders have massacred the inhabitants of Beran’s Hill, including Gwen, the beloved wife of Declan Smith. Hollow of heart, his hopes burned to ashes, Declan swears to track down and destroy the raiders, an ambition shared by Baron Daylon Dumarch, whose family was massacred as they fled the capital.

Meanwhile Hava, whose gift for piracy has seen her acquire the treasure ship Borzon’s Black Wake and the swift Azhante sailing vessel, Queen of Storms, and won her the name of “the Sea Demon,” is closing in on the whereabouts of those who unleashed the murderous hordes.

Her husband, Hatushaly, the last remaining member of the ruling family of Ithrace, the legendary Firemanes, seeks to control the magical powers he has inherited. He is able now to visualize and even travel among the filaments of energies that power all existence: the furies. But will he be able to channel his magic in time to combat the deepest, darkest threat the world of Garn has ever faced?

This final book sounds really cool and I am highly interesting in seeing how the various storylines that Feist has set up will come together here. The main story will probably focus on the character of Hatushaly, who has been set up as a fiery saviour for most of the trilogy, and it will be great to finally see some magic out of him. The pirate-based adventures around Hava will also be extremely awesome, especially as Feist has some real talent with nautical combat sequences and adventures. However, I mostly looking forward to the part of the book following Declan Smith, who has probably been my favourite character of the series so far. A talented blacksmith who keeps finding himself in battle, Declan’s dream of a simple life was burned up very suddenly in the last book and he now looks set for a massive revenge arc against the mysterious raiders who have been targeting the various characters throughout the series. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens to Declan, as well as the other characters, and I am very hopeful that Master of Furies will all come together into a brilliant and fun final novel.

Glacier's Edge Cover

Amazon Book Depository

The other book I am very excited for is Glacier’s Edge by R. A. Salvatore. Part of Salvatore’s massive Drizzt Do’Urden connected series, Glacier’s Edge will be the second book in the current The Way of the Drow series, following on from last years release, Starlight Enclave, while also continuing some other storylines from the previous Generations trilogy (Timeless, Boundless and Relentless). The Way of the Drow novels takes the series back to its adventuring and exploration roots as some of the key characters set out to explore a hidden Drow settlement, which ended rather badly for them. Set for release in August, Glacier’s Edge will continue this intriguing storyline and see the rest of the series’ recurring heroes take up the fight.

Synopsis:

There’s a lot that Jarlaxle doesn’t know: is he the lone survivor of the raid on the slaad fortress, can he even find a way to get out, and beyond his immediate predicament, could he possibly escape the ice caverns and get help for his friends?

However, what Jarlaxle does know is that if he plans to come back—if Catti-brie, Entreri, and Zaknafein are to have any hope of surviving—he’s going to have to bring back far more firepower. An army of aevendrow seems unlikely, so he must go home and pull together a team with great skill and unimaginable power.

But how will he get home? Will such a collection of warriors and mages come to his aid? And even if he manages all that, will it be enough? For Jarlaxle has seen the slaadi’s power and their god in a most personal and terrifying way.

Trapped in the ice while the world is on fire, Jarlaxle is in a race against time—and burdened with a magical secret—to save a peaceful city and his companions.

And he’s running out of tricks in his bag of holding…

Glacier’s Edge sounds like another pretty impressive novel and I am very excited to check it out. I love the idea of a novel mostly dedicated to the tricky Jarlaxle, one of Salvatore’s more entertaining characters. Watching him trying to escape a frozen wasteland without any of his magic to bring back some of the other protagonists is going to be fun, and I can’t wait to see what interesting new elements are brought into the plot as a result. I imagine that Salvatore will try and continue some of the fascinating character work that was featured in the previous novel, and I am intrigued to see how some of the series more complex protagonists further develop. Overall, Glacier’s Edge looks set to be another epic novel and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Honestly, just based on who is writing these upcoming books, there was no way I wasn’t going to get copies of Master of Furies and Glacier’s Edge when they come out. I already know that I will have a great time with Feist and Salvatore’s latest novels, and I really want to see how their respective series continue. 2022 is turning out to be a pretty awesome year for fantasy fiction, and these additional novels are going to keep making it even better.

Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Books with Dragons on the Cover

On April 26, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, List11 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday participants are tasked with listing their top books that have covers with a specific design element chosen by the blogger, for example books with certain colours, items or animals on their cover. I thought that this was a pretty clever idea for a topic and I decided to go big with it and choose book covers that have the ultimate animal for my list, dragons.

Let’s face it, we all love dragons! They are some of the coolest creatures in mythology, with multiple cultures having their own version or alteration of the dragon in their storytelling traditions. Due to how iconic there are, the use of dragons in storytelling naturally transferred itself across to the world of fantasy fiction, becoming one of the most classic and well utilised monsters or companion creatures in books and movies, such as The Hobbit and the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As such there are multiple book covers out there that feature dragons to some degree and I was curious to see which ones amongst them were my favourite.

To pull this list together, I had a think about all the best books that featured cool dragon-related cover art. There were quite a few of these awesome, dragon-covered novels so I decided to limit myself to only using books that I have actually read. In addition, because dragon-centric series tend to use images of the creatures across multiple entries, I will limit myself to one novel from each franchise, just to create a bit of variety. This still leaves me with a pretty impressive collection of novels to choose from and I had to do some severe cutting to get it down to a top ten list with my typical honourable mentions section. I think the list turned out pretty well as there are some great novels below with awesome dragon imagery on their covers.

I will quickly note that I did have a couple of issues finding good quality pictures of some of the relevant covers I wanted to feature here, particularly for some of the older novels, but I have still tried to feature them as best I can. Apologies in advance if some of them don’t turn out perfect.

Honourable Mentions

The Voyage of the Forgotten by Nick Martell

The Voyage of the Forgotten Cover 2

I love the cover but chose to only feature this as an honourable mention as the book hasn’t come out yet.

A Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond E. Feist

A Darkness at Sethanon Cover

A couple of the alternate covers for this great book feature dragons on them, but this was the best looking one of them.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker Chan

She Who Became the Sun Cover

Usagi Yojimbo: The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy

A great use of a dragon in the cover, even if the dragon in the title is more of a metaphor for firearms.

Top Ten List:

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

The Shadow of the Gods Cover

An incredible novel with an incredible cover. Easily one of the best uses of dragons in cover art that you are likely to ever see.

Dragonslayer by William King

Dragonslayer Cover Combined

This fantastic Warhammer tie-in novel is spoiled for choice when it comes to dragons on its various covers.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Guards! Guards! Cover 2

One of the best Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, I love how well the dragon is used, both in this original cover, and in the novel’s exceedingly clever mystery.

Black Leviathan by Bern Perplies

Black Leviathan Cover

An extremely epic and distinctive cover for a fun action fantasy novel. Black Leviathan, which is the English edition of Perplies’s original, German novel, The Dragon Hunter, actually has two fantastic cover variants with dragons on them, although I think the one the English version shown above is a lot more visually impressive.

Black Leviathan alternate cover

The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker

The Bone Ships Cover

All three books in Barker’s The Tide Child trilogy featured iconography of the series’ water-dragons, but I think the first entry, The Bone Ships, looks the best.

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Eldest Cover

You can’t have a dragon-based list without featuring an entry from Paoloini’s Inheritance Cycle. All four novels in this series featured dragons on their cover, although I think that this cover from Eldest was the most striking.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree Cover

A very beautiful cover for this complex and intricate fantasy novel.

Warcraft: Day of the Dragons by Richard A. Knaak

Warcraft - Day of the Dragon Cover

Several great Warcraft and World of Warcraft tie-in novels feature dragons on their covers, but my favourite of these is Day of the Dragons by Richard A. Knaak, which was an awesome story.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Cover

Was there ever a chance I wasn’t going to feature this classic cover on this list? Of course not.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Cover 2

Dragonclaw by Kate Forsyth

Dragonclaw Cover

The original cover of the first entry in Australian author Kate Forsyth’s The Witches of Eileanan series, Dragonclaw, had a great dragon picture on it, and it serves as an excellent first impression of an amazing fantasy book.

Well, that’s my list. As you can see there are some incredible books out there that make great uses of dragons on their covers. All the above novels are really good, and you will have an incredible time reading them, while also appreciating their stunning, dragon-filled covers. I had a lot of fun coming up with this list, and I will have to think about replicating it with another creature, item or colour in the future. In the meantime, let me know what your favourite books with dragons on the cover are in the comments below.

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

On March 8, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, List16 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 with your Favourite Trope/Theme), and instead I chose to 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 were the longest ones that I had ever 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 that I ended up posting 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 reads.

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 2020 I have managed to listen to quite a few new audiobooks, several of which had an excellent run time. As I just reviewed one of these yesterday, I thought this would be a good time to update the list again and see what differences have been made in the last year. The list below is similar to the list I posted a couple of years ago, with several new additions added in (see the highlighted posts). I ended up extending the list to 25 entries, mainly to fit a couple of extra recent audiobooks in, so prepare for even more awesome covers.

List:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16. The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey – 23 hours and 36 minutes

The Wisdom of Crowds Cover

The longest book I am adding to this list is the epic dark fantasy novel, The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie. This incredible book, which was one of the best novels and audiobooks of 2021, ends Abercrombie’s Age of Madness trilogy on a very high note. Containing a brilliant story, some incredible characters, and some major twists, this is an essential read for all fantasy fans. At nearly 24 hours in length, this is a pretty hefty audiobook, although once you get caught up in the epic story, you will power through it.

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

18. Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn, narrated by Marc Thompson and The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick, narrated by Nikki Massoud, 23 hours and 13 minutes

Lesser Evil and The Mask of Mirrors Covers

I was very surprised to find myself with a tie for the number 18 position, especially as both were audiobooks I only recently listened to. These two awesome audiobooks, which come in at 23 hours and 13 minutes each, are the third book in the epic Thrawn Ascendancy Star Wars trilogy, Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn, and the excellent fantasy epic The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick. Both novels were impressive 2021 releases, with Lesser Evil perfectly wrapping up the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy (which included Chaos Rising and Greater Good), while The Mask of Mirror ended up being one of the best debuts of 2021. Both audiobooks were very good, with Lesser Evil featuring legendary narrator Marc Thompson, while The Mask of Mirrors was expertly told by Nikki Massoud (loved her various accents). Both outstanding performances really helped me to enjoy these great books and I powered through them in no time.

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

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

21. Engines of Empire by R. S. Ford, narrated by various – 22 hours and 3 minutes

Engines of Empire Cover

The most recent book on this list that I have listened to, Engines of Empire was an epic fantasy novel that introduced readers to an excellent new world. Filled with intrigue, action and magic, I had a lot of fun with this audiobook, and I particularly liked how it featured several separate narrators. This impressive team of narrators ensured that Engines of Empire turned out to be a pretty awesome audiobook, and it was one that I had a lot fun getting through.

22. The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey– 21 hours and 56 minutes

The Trouble with Peace Cover

Wow, this list is just loaded with Joe Abercrombie’s epic novels, as another book from his Age of Madness trilogy is featured here. The Trouble with Peace is the second entry in the series, and it perfectly follows up the first book, A Little Hatred. I deeply enjoyed this cool book, especially as it once again featured the cool narration of Steven Pacey, and this was easily one of the best books and audiobooks of 2020. Easy to power through thanks to the incredible story and brilliant characters, this near 22-hour long audiobook will just fly by.

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

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

25. Altered Realms: Ascension by B. F. Rockriver, narrated by Maximillian Breed – 21 Hours and 26 minutes

Altered Realms Cover 2

The final new audiobook on this list is the interesting novel, Altered Realms: Ascension by B. F. Rockriver. An intense and clever LITRPG novel, Ascension featured an NPC who is given the powers of a player and must adventure through his world with a whole new set of eyes. Not only was this a great novel (one of the best debuts of 2020), but the audiobook version of it was a lot of fun, especially as narrator Maximillian Breed perfectly captures the computer-generated voice anyone who has played an RPG will be familiar with. A cool audiobook that is worth the substantial time investment.

Well, those are some pretty cool new additions to this list. I am probably being a little over generous moving it up to 25 entries, but I think it turned out alright. I am a little disappointed that none of my recent books got anywhere the top ten, so I think I will have to work on listening to some longer audiobooks this year. I will hopefully have another go at updating this list in a year 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 – Books I Enjoyed, but Have Never Mentioned on My Blog

On March 1, 2022 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. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday participants are tasked with listing the top books that they have enjoyed, but which they have never mentioned on their blog. I thought this was a pretty interesting topic to undertake and I had to dive deep into my book collection to find several great reads that I have so far failed to talk about before on my blog.

To appear on my list, the books in question had to be ones that I haven’t talked about to any real degree before during my blogging career. That means that I am featuring a bunch of older novels I read before I started my blog which I have been unable to re-read and review for an appearance here. I have also decided to exclude any books or series that I have mentioned in other Top Ten Tuesday posts, especially as there are a few awesome series I have really praised without doing any reviews for them (The Kingkiller Chronicles and The Gentleman Bastards series come to mind). I must admit that I struggled a little here with finding enough awesome books, so I ended up featuring some comic series as well. The result is a pretty varied and interesting list that I feel fully conveys the best series that I have really enjoyed and which I need to do some extra reviewing for.

Honourable Mentions:

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Pirate Latitudes Cover

A brilliant and clever pirate novel by legendary author Michael Crichton, that was released after his death.

Batman: Detective Comics (2016) by James Tynion IV

Batman Detective Comics - Rise of the Batmen Cover

I deeply enjoyed this new series of the iconic Batman: Detective Comic series that started in 2016 as part of the DC Rebirth line. This series follows Batman as he forms a new team to face off against a deadly army threatening Gotham. Featuring some of the best and most complex Batman supporting characters, this is an excellent run I really need to review.

World of Warcraft: War Crimes by Christie Golden

World of Warcraft - War Crimes Cover

One of my absolute favourite World of Warcraft tie-in novels must be War Crimes by Christie Golden. Set between the Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor expansions, this novel featured the trial of major antagonist Garrosh Hellscream after he drags the entire world into war. A surprisingly deep and emotional read that recaps key parts of Warcraft history and make the iconic characters relive their worst decisions, this is an epic, must-read for all Warcraft fans.

Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang

Wonder Woman - War Cover

In 2011 DC rebooted their entire comic line in an event known as the New 52. Despite having some initial promise, the New 52 was a massive mess, especially as it ended several awesome series and brought in sub-par replacements. Despite my dislike of this reboot, there were some good titles released here, with my personal favourite being the impressive Wonder Woman series written by Brian Azzarello. A dark and gritty reimagining of the iconic character that proved to be highly addictive and impactful, especially as several ideas introduced here were eventually featured in the Wonder Woman films. If only the rest of the New 52 could have measured up.

Top Ten Tuesday:

The Athenian Mysteries by Gary Corby

The Pericles Commission Cover

An excellent historical murder mystery series set in ancient Greece that has a brilliant mixture of intrigue, investigation and outrageous humour.

The Cleric Quintet by R. A. Salvatore

Canticle Cover

I often mention Salvatore’s excellent Drizzt Do’Urden fantasy novels on this blog but I barely ever talk about his amazing Cleric Quintet. Set in the same world as the Drizzt Do’Urden novels, the Cleric Quintet is a compelling and tight five-novel series that follows a young priest and his unusual friends as they defeat the various evils surrounding their temple.

Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer

Idenity Crisis Cover

I honestly can’t believe that I haven’t talked about this amazing comic on my blog before, especially as it is one of my favourite limited series. Written by acclaimed author Brad Meltzer, Identity Crisis is an exquisite and powerful read that sees the families of the various DC superheroes being targeted by a serial killer. Featuring all the best DC characters at their very worst and revealing some damning secrets, Identity Crisis is an epic read and it is easily one of my favourite comics of all time.

Empire of the Moghul by Alex Rutherford

Raiders from the North Cover

A brilliant series that details the rise and fall of the Moghul empire in India. Filled with innumerable betrayals, deadly war sequences and an impressive depiction of one of history’s most dysfunctional dynasties, the Empire of the Moghul books are a brilliant historical fiction series that I had a lot of fun reading.

The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth

Dragonclaw Cover

One the first fantasy series I ever really got into were The Witches of Eileanan books by Australian author Kate Forsyth. While Forsyth is mostly known for her historical dramas, I prefer this exceptional fantasy series that followed a young witch as she battled through a land where magic is outlawed. Filled with an excellent cast of characters and containing a dark and elaborate narrative, this is a great fantasy series, and it is one that I really need to reread at some point.

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

Gates of Fire Cover

One of the best historical fiction novels ever written, Gates of Fire is an excellent novel that provides one of the most accurate and moving depictions of the Battle of Thermopylae. Told from the perspective of a Spartan slave, this amazing novel really dives into the Spartan warrior culture and shows the nation’s darkest hour in all its bitter and brutal glory.

Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z by Akira Toriyama

Dragon Ball Cover

Despite my love of anime, I have honestly never read that much manga in my life, which is one of my many literary regrets. The big exception to this is the impressive Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z manga by Akira Toriyama. Bought because of my childhood love of the Dragon Ball Z anime, this manga is really good and tells an elaborate and wildly entertaining story, which is a lot of fun to check out. While considered one of the more basic manga to check out, I still deeply enjoyed it and I have done multiple re-reads of it over the years.

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

An Officer and a Spy Cover

An impressive historical fiction novel that perfectly recreates the infamous Dreyfus Affair from French history.

The Serpent War Saga by Raymond E. Feist

Shadow of a Dark Queen Cover

Part of Feist’s amazing Riftwar Cycle, this sub-series of books is one that I haven’t talked about before, but it contains some of Feist’s strongest writing. Bringing in several great new characters and setting them lose in his established world, The Serpent War Saga novels were extremely intense and saw several established favourites meet their end.

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect

The final book on this list is the impressive historical drama The Paris Architect. Set during World War II, this book followed a young French architect who risked everything to create elaborate hiding places for Jews in Paris. Very moving and extremely good, this was an excellent novel that hit you right in the heart with its amazing story.

Well, that is the end of this list. As you can see there are several awesome books out there that I have so far neglected to include on this blog. All the above are really worth checking out and I must make an effort to review some of the above in the future.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Character Names in the Titles

On February 1, 2022 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 required to list their favourite books that have character names in the title. I rather liked the idea of this topic, especially as I was unsure if I would be able to really complete a full list about it as only a few book titles really came to mind when I initially thought about it. However, after a bit of research I was able to come up with pretty substantial list of potential entries, which included some amazing releases.

To make this list a bit of a challenge I tried to avoid books or comics that had series names included in the title (for example, all the Harry Potter books). I also tried to avoid entries where they added on a name to the main title to designate that a book is going to be about a specific character in a franchise, such as Maul: Lockdown from Star Wars or Kal Jerico: Sinner’s Bounty from Warhammer 40K. I did, however, include a few books from these franchises where the primary version of its title had a character name in it. Despite these limitations, I still had a massive list of awesome books, which I then had to cull down. I ended up having to remove several fantastic reads, but I think the below list really captures the absolute best books I have read with character names in the titles. So, let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Tarkin by James Luceno

A compelling Star Wars novel that does exactly what it says on the packet, tell the story of Grand Moth Tarkin, one of the most distinctive villains from the original film.

Steel Tread by Andy Clark

I am being slightly cute with this Warhammer 40K novel, as Steel Tread is the name of a tank, rather than a human or alien. However, I would argue that Steel Tread was a proper character, due its presence, impact on the protagonists, and because machines are partially sentient in this universe.

Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames

The second book in Nicholas Eames’ The Band series, Bloody Rose is a fantastic fantasy read that centred around a group of mercenary monster fighters. The title of this book refers to the infamous leader of this mercenary group, Bloody Rose, who serves as quite the distinctive figure. A fun and captivating book that is really worth checking out.

Vader by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca

The first volume of the epic 2015 Darth Vader series was simply named Vader. While this was an unimaginative title, the volume itself is extremely epic as it followed Vader in the aftermath of A New Hope. Perfectly written and filled with some amazing artwork, this was a major volume that not only introduced the amazing character of Doctor Aphra, but also contained an exceptional ending where Vader discovers that the pilot who destroyed the Death Star was named Skywalker.

Top Ten List:

Mort/Eric by Terry Pratchett

I have a hard time not including as many of Terry Pratchett’s masterful Discworld novels as possible on lists like these, and luckily for me there were only two Discworld books with character names in the titles, so I figured I would include both. The first is the excellent novel Mort, which sees Death decided to recruit an apprentice, the titular Mort, who almost immediately starts messing with reality by trying to save the life of a doomed princess. This was a hilarious novel, especially the bits following Death’s midlife crisis, and it sets up a bunch of other interesting Death-led Discworld novels. The other book is Eric, one of Pratchett’s shorter books, that follows a teenage demonologist, Eric, who attempts a Faustian demon-summoning for absolute power. Unfortunately, rather than summoning a demon, Eric instead gets the incompetent wizard Rincewind, who naturally stuff everything up. This was another funny Discworld book, and I love how the cover of this book crosses out Faust and replaces it with a pen-drawn Eric, just to hammer home what this novel is satirising.

The Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I had to mention one of the best trilogies of recent years with The Aurora Cycle by Australian authors Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, especially when all three entries contain a character name in their titles. Made up of Aurora Rising, Aurora Burning and Aurora’s End, these titles all refer to the titular character Aurora (also known as Auri) a time-displaced psychic who ends up being the key to saving the entire universe.

Billy Summers by Stephen King

One of the more recent releases on this list was Stephen King’s Billy Summers. An interesting and intense thriller, Billy Summers follows the titular character, an honourable assassin, as he embarks on his final job, only to encounter betrayal, introspection and a girl who changes everything. This was one of the best books of 2021, and I really loved finding out all about Billy Summers.

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn

Easily the best Star Wars book that focuses on a specific character is the epic Thrawn by legendary author Timothy Zahn. This novel perfectly reintroduced Zahn’s greatest character, Grand Admiral Thrawn, into the new canon and is one of my absolute favourite Star Wars novels. Eventually leading to another five connected books (Alliances, Treason, Chaos Rising, Greater Good and Lesser Evil), this was an exceptional read, and I like how the simple title Thrawn tells you everything you need to know about this book.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Years ago, when I was first getting into fantasy I received a cool novel I knew nothing about apart from the title, Eragon. Intrigued by its closeness to dragon, I dove into this great book and quickly became utterly engrossed by the story of teenager Eragon who finds a dragon egg and becomes a legendary hero. I have a lot of love for this book and the Inheritance Cycle series that followed, so I just had to feature this novel on this list.

Usagi Yojimbo: Gen’s Story by Stan Sakai

I really do tend to hit my classics when it comes to lists like this, so naturally I had to see if there was an entry from one of my favourite comic series, Usagi Yojimbo, that I could feature. There were actually several Usagi Yojimbo volumes that contained character names in the title, including Lone Goat and Kid, Travels with Jotaro, and Tomoe’s Story. However, the one I went with was the volume Gen’s Story. This great volume contains a brilliant story that showcases the childhood of fantastic supporting character Murakami Gennosuke, better known as Gen. This comic examines why the often disrespectful and uncouth bounty hunter has such dislike for samurai honour and discipline and served as a brilliant bit of backstory for one of the best characters in this series.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

I was spoiled for choice for this list when it came to the works of Tamsyn Muir, as several of her books feature character names in the title. While I was very tempted to feature her first novel, Gideon the Ninth (one of the best debuts of 2019), I instead went with her second book, Harrow the Ninth. Harrow the Ninth was an incredible read that ended up being one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020. Containing a trippy and exceedingly clever narrative, this book follows Harrow, a spacefaring necromancer who is going through some major identity issues. An exceptional read, I am really looking forward to Muir’s next book, the 2022 release Nona the Ninth.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

I had to include the extremely compelling The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Another brilliant debut and one of the best books of 2018, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle follows a mysterious time-displaced man who awakens in several different bodies during a fancy party at an old British estate. Forced to experience the entire party again and again, the protagonist only has seven chances to discover who murdered the party’s host, Evelyn Hardcastle. Compelling, unique and with a title that immediately grabs your attention, I deeply enjoyed this cool book.

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

Another excellent book I had to feature on this list was the impressive Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist. While on the surface this title doesn’t appear to contain a character name, Talon of the Silver Hawk is the main character, as it was the name he chose during a tribal vision quest. While he goes by other identities and names throughout the novel, this is the one closest to his heart and it makes for quite a catchy book title. I have a lot of love for this novel, especially as it introduced me to Feist’s excellent and extended Riftwar Cycle, and it is really worth checking out.

Vader Down by Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen, Mike Deodato and Salvador Larroca

The final entry on this list was the cool comic Vader Down. Written and drawn by the join teams behind the 2015 Star Wars and Darth Vader comic book series, this comic follows Darth Vader who is shot down above a Rebel-controlled planet, and must contend with a Rebel army, traitors, the original trilogy protagonists, and all manner of other dangers. An exceedingly epic and exceptional limited crossover series, this is one of my favourite Star Wars comics of all time and it is guaranteed to make you a fan of the current Star Wars extended universe.

That’s the end of this list. As you can see, there are some really cool books and comic volumes out there that make good use of character names in their titles. I am very happy with how this list turned out and I think it captures my absolute favourite books that make use of this naming convention. This might be a list I revisit in the future, especially as there are several other excellent books that I am planning to read soon featuring character names in the titles (for example, the upcoming fantasy book Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry). Until then, let me know what your favourite book was a character name in the title is in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2022 (fantasy)

On January 4, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, List23 Comments

Welcome to my second Top Ten Tuesday list of the week, were I look at my most anticipated fantasy novels coming out in the first half of 2022. Traditionally I usually only do one list to represent the top upcoming books for the year, however, I was inspired to separate out the fantasy novels into a second list due to all the awesome and impressive fantasy reads coming out extremely soon.

2022 is shaping up to be one of the absolute best years for fantasy books with a ton of epic and amazing sounding novels set for release throughout the year. I am particularly excited about the next six months as there are some deeply impressive books coming out that I am extremely excited for. This includes some fantastic sounding sequels, continuations to brilliant series, and several cool new novels for some very talented authors. I have already highlighted several of these books in some previous lists and Waiting on Wednesday articles. Indeed, the last three Waiting on Wednesday posts I have published have all highlighted some particularly epic upcoming fantasy novels. This, as well as some other recent novels I have talked about, made me really appreciate just how awesome the upcoming year is going to be fantasy wise, hence this list.

Just like with my other list of the night, I am only featuring books that are set for release in Australia between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022 which I have some descent details about. I also excluded one of the top fantasy books of the year, A Practical Guide to Conquering the World by K. J. Parker, because I have already read it (spoiler alert, it is incredibly awesome and hilarious). Despite only being fantasy books, I ended up with a huge collection of exceptional novels that I wanted to feature, which made completing this list surprisingly difficult. I was eventually able to break it down to the best 10 books (with honourable mentions), and I feel that I have capture the books that are going to be the best fantasy reads of 2022. So let us see what made the cut.

Honourable Mentions:

Rise of the Mages by Scott Drakeford – 25 January 2022

Rise of the Mages Cover

An interesting start to a fun new series.

League of Liars by Astrid Scholte – 22 February 2022

League of Liars Cover

A brilliant sounding young adult fantasy book with a great story about a magical prison break. I already have a copy of this book and I look forward to seeing what happens in it.

One Foot in the Fade by Luke Arnold – 26 April 2022

One Foot in the Fade Cover

The third book from Australian author Luke Arnold that follows on from his fantastic first two novels, The Last Smile in Sunder City and Dead Man in a Ditch.

Engines of Empire by Richard S. Ford – 31 May 2022

Engines of Empire Cover

This is a compelling and interesting fantasy novel that I think has a bit of potential. Focusing on a family of industrialists in a fantasy landscape, this sounds like a great start to an awesome new series, and I am very keen to read it. It looks like we have a bit of a later release date here in Australia, but hopefully I will get a chance to read it at some point this year.

Top Ten List:

The Starless Crown by James Rollins – 4 January 2022

The Starless Crown Cover

The first book on this list is the impressive sounding The Starless Crown by James Rollins. Rollins, who is best known for his thrillers, is making an interesting jump back to fantasy with this novel and I like the cool and intriguing plot this book has.

The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan – 22 February 2022

The Justice of Kings Cover

The next entry, The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan, is another awesome fantasy read with a great deal of potential. Set to combine legal thriller elements with a fantasy setting, I love the sound of this amazing sounding novel and it is already receiving some very positive reviews. I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the best books of the year and I can’t wait to check it out.

Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham – 22 February 2022

Age of Ash Cover

One half of the team behind The Expanse series (make sure to check out my review for the last book, Leviathan Falls), Daniel Abraham heads back to the fantasy genre with the epic Age of Ash. An interesting sounding novel filled with political intrigue and a murder mystery, I think this will be an amazing read and I cannot wait to check it out.

The Bladed Faith by David Dalglish – 5 April 2022

Bestselling fantasy author David Dalglish presents a cool and intriguing first novel in a new series with The Bladed Faith. This book follows a deposed prince who takes up a role of a legendary hero and assassin to avenge his parents and gets sucked into a deadly mission of vengeance. I love the sound of this outstanding read and I look forward to seeing how its fantastic story turns out. No cover yet unfortunately, but hopefully that will come out soon.

The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne – 7 April 2022

The Hunger of the Gods Cover

After having one of the best books (and audiobooks) of 2021 with The Shadow of the Gods, fantasy author John Gwynne continues his brilliant Bloodsworn Saga with The Hunger of the Gods. This intense and action-packed series had an incredible introduction and I am extremely confident that The Hunger of the Gods will be an exceptional and excellent read, especially with that epic cover.

The Girl and the Moon by Mark Lawrence – 26 April 2022

The Girl and the Moon Cover

The always enjoyable Mark Lawrence continues his great Book of the Ice series with The Girl and the Moon. The previous two novels, The Girl and the Stars and The Girl and the Mountain have been extremely compelling and I cannot wait to see how this cool series continues.

Kagen the Damned by Jonathan Maberry – 10 May 2022

Kagen the Damned Cover

One of my favourite thriller authors, Jonathan Maberry, is diving into the fantasy genre this year with Kagen the Damned. Set to be an intense and brutal revenge read, I really love the sound of Kagen the Damned and have no doubt it will be another exceptional five-star read.

Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist – 9 June 2022

Master of Furies Cover

One of the best fantasy authors of all-time, the exceeding talented Raymond E. Feist, brings his fantastic Firemane Saga to an end with Master of Furies. Following on from King of Ashes and Queen of Storms, this should be an excellent read and I look forward to seeing how this trilogy concludes.

In the Shadow of Lighting by Brian McClellan – 21 June 2022

In the Shadow of Lightning Cover

After wowing the world with his exceptional Powder Mage novels, Brian McClellan is returning with a brand-new series this year. The first book in this series, In the Shadow of Lighting, sounds like an excellent and captivating read and with the talented McClellan at the helm this will easily be one of the best books of the year.

The Martyr by Anthony Ryan – 28 June 2022

The Martyr Cover

The final entry on this list is The Martyr, the follow up to Ryan’s epic 2021 novel, The Pariah. I had an amazing time reading the first book in this series and I already know I am going to deeply love The Martyr when it comes out later this year.

Well that’s the end of this second list. As you can see, there are some mighty impressive fantasy books coming out the first half of this year. All the above entries on this list have an incredible amount of potential and I have a feeling I am going to deeply enjoy every single of one of these great reads. I honestly think that 2022 is going to be an outstanding year for fantasy, not only with these amazing books, but because of some of the other ones potentially coming out later this year (I’m really hoping Joe Abercrombie, Jim Butcher and R. J. Barker all have new novels this year). I look forward to seeing how all these cool novels turn out and I think I am going to have an incredible time reading fantasy in 2022.

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.

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

On June 8, 2021 By The Unseen LibraryIn List5 Comments

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

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

Top Ten Tuesday:

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

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

Deep Silence by Jonathan Maberry

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

Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee

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

Star Wars: Last Shot by Daniel José Older

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

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

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

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

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

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

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

The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore

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

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

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

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

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

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