Top Ten Tuesday – Titles with Animals in Them

On April 11, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn List4 Comments

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

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

Honourable Mentions:

Space Wolf by William King

Space Wolf Original Cover

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

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Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz

Dark Horse Cover

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

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The Black Hawks by David Wragg

The Black Hawks Cover

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

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The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean

The Bear Pit Cover

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

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Top Ten List:

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

Usagi Yojimbo Lone Goat and Kid Cover

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

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Dogs of War by Jonathan Maberry

Dogs of War Cover

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

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Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

Talon of the Silver Hawk Cover

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

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The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

Fifth Elephant

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

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

Death of the Black Widow Cover

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

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White Wolf by David Gemmell

White Wolf Cover

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

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The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde

The Constant Rabbit Cover

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

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Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow

Under the Eagle Cover

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

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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Cover

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

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War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell

War of the Wolf Cover

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

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

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

On June 8, 2021 By The Unseen LibraryIn List5 Comments

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

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

Top Ten Tuesday:

Jingo by Terry Pratchett

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

Deep Silence by Jonathan Maberry

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

Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee

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

Star Wars: Last Shot by Daniel José Older

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

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

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

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

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

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

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

The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore

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

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

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

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

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

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

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Colours in the Title

On August 4, 2020 By The Unseen LibraryIn 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, participants need to list their top ten favourite books that feature a colour in their title. This proved to be a particularly interesting topic to do, and I was rather curious to see just how many of the books that I have read had a colour in the title.

While I had a few titles in the top of my mind when I first saw what this topic was, I had to dive through the bibliographies of some of my favourite authors and through my blog archives to see what I could find. This worked out well, and I was able to come up with a final list that I am rather happy with. This list is filled with a great range of different books which includes a combination of recent novels I have read and reviewed, as well as some old favourites. I managed to eventually cull this down to my absolute favourites, as well as including a few special honourable mentions.

Honourable Mentions:

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

When I first heard about this week’s topic this was the book that I initially thought of, even though technically it does not have a true colour in the title. Because of this technicality, I decided to include it as an honourable mention, rather than on the main list, but there was no way I could not mention this amazing first entry in Pratchett’s iconic Discworld series.

Gray Man books by Mark Greaney

This is another one that is technically ineligible for this list, as it is the series name which has the colour in it rather than the individual book titles. However, I have really enjoyed the two Gray Man novels that I have read (Mission Critical and One Minute Out), so I thought I would include it as an honourable mention.

The Red Ribbon by H. B. Lyle

Greenlight by Benjamin Stevenson

Top Ten List (no particular order):

Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio

The first book that I am featuring in this list is the Demon in White, which I only just finished reading today. This was a fantastic and epic read which serves as the third book in Ruocchio’s amazing Sun Eater series of science fiction novels. This book has a couple of different cover designs, but I decided to go with the one above, as not only is it really striking but it features so much of the titular colour in it.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

There was no way that I could create a list about books with colours in their title without featuring this incredible book. I absolutely loved Red Seas Under Red Skies, which is the second book in Lynch’s iconic Gentleman Bastards fantasy series, especially as, in some ways, it is a better novel than the incredible first entry in the series, The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Red Metal by Mark Greaney and Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV

Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist

I had to include at least one book from one of my favourite authors, Raymond E. Feist, and I actually found a couple of good options here. While I was tempted to use Feist’s second book, Silverthorn, I ended up going with Talon of the Silver Hawk. This is mainly because Talon of the Silver Hawk was the first of Feist’s books that I ever read and it started my life-long love for the author’s novels, as I immediately went back and checked out the rest of the books in the epic Riftwar Cycle after I finished reading it.

Black Leviathan by Bernd Perplies

Usagi Yojimbo: Volume 24: Return of the Black Soul by Stan Sakai

Readers of this blog will know that I am a major fan of the Usagi Yojimbo series of comics, so when I started working out what to include in this list I made sure to check out which collected edition had colours in their titles. I ended up being spoiled for choice here as three full volumes had titles that could be featured on this list, and while I could have included Grey Shadows or Red Scorpion, both of which are truly outstanding comics, I decided to use the 24^th volume of the series, Return of the Black Soul, for this list. Return of the Black Soul contains an amazing story that reveals the origins of the compelling and terrifying antagonists, Jei, and it is a major and impressive volume in the Usagi Yojimbo saga.

Star Wars: Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson

Streams of Silver by R. A. Salvatore

R. A. Salvatore has written a phenomenal number of fantasy novels in his 30+ year career but only one of them has had a colour in the title, his second novel, Streams of Silver. This was a particularly good book from Salvatore, which served as a really strong sequel to his awesome first novel, The Crystal Shard, and it is a wonderful example of classic fantasy fiction.

Red War by Kyle Mills (based on the series by Vince Flynn)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Well that’s my Top Ten List for this week. I think it turned out rather well, and I liked the intriguing collection of different novels that I ended up featuring. Not only are all the above books really amazing reads, but each of them have impressive covers and there are some great colour centric titles in there. It looks like the colour red is very popular for book titles, although black and silver are both also used a lot. Make sure to let me know which of the above books you enjoyed, as well as which are your favourite books with colours in their titles.